NickNic Ted

& The little cocker excels himself on a retrieve and shows how he has honed his skills, says Nick Ridley ‘Easy’ driver

Right from the off I knew this shooting season would be about exposing Ted to as many different situations as I could and letting him experience the numerous aspects of gundog work that I expect him to undertake during his career. This month has been relentless with picking-up, shooting and beating and the little dog has exceeded all my expectations. He has made some spectacular retrieves and is hunting like a demon. I have always maintained that dogs that work in the beating line are often underrated and yet they have to be the best trained.

Unleashed

Let me explain. A Gun’s dog can be tethered at the peg and at the end of a drive it is let off and it picks-up a few birds — dogs in a picking-up team can be kept on a lead during a drive and then let off to sweep up and collect the game.

A beater’s dog, however, is no good on a lead. It is being worked under the greatest of temptation and can cause huge embarrassment to the owner and even ruin a drive should it run-in on a flushing point. So far, Ted has proved rock-solid when beating, though I have had to watch him when blanking-in the hedges, as he tends to follow the foot scent of the birds running along the bottom of the cover. I insist he stops to every flush, as this is exactly what I need him to do when out shooting over him. There can be quite a bit of hanging around during drives and that early training of standing around doing nothing with him sat next to me really has paid off. It is like he slips into neutral gear.

Last week, a team of Americans came over and shot on Sporting Gun’s “Our Shoot” (see pages 36 and 37) and we were drafted in to help with the picking-up. As I have mentioned in a previous article, I don’t plan to do too much picking-up with Ted as I feel it can spoil a dog if you have to send them for too many runners. That said, it is a really good way of developing a dog’s marking abilities, which is a vital attribute when shooting over it. Most of the drives were duck and Ted hasn’t had the opportunity to retrieve many duck, so it was a good opportunity for him to gain a bit more experience. It never fails to amaze me how these little cockers can manage to carry such big retrieves, though Ted didn’t really make it easy for himself as nearly every one he brought back he carried by the shoulder, so he had to lift his head up as high as he could so the duck wasn’t dragging along the ground. He’ll learn.

Locked-on

His marking skills were really put to the test a few days ago when we were out rough shooting. We have been to this particular ground a few times and the quarry is nearly always partridge, with the odd pheasant. This particular day, Ted was working the bottom of an old ditch alongside a field of winter wheat when he punched out

“It can spoil a dog if you have to send them for too many runners”

I spoke to a chap yesterday who decried walked- up shooting as “easy”. He likes his driven shooting. I have nothing against that other than it is not my thing. While cooking the pheasants that I shot yesterday, I mused that it had taken me more than two years to train my spaniel to hunt, stop to flush/ gunshot, handle and retrieve gently to hand so I can eat what I shoot. I normally walk — along with my fellow COT Guns — between seven to 10 miles to get our bag of around 20 birds. When shooting, I must watch my footing, my dog, my fellow Guns, trees and bushes to make sure my shot is safe. I have to concentrate every second of the day ready for a sudden flush, a snap shot and make sure I watch where the bird has landed so I can send my dog to retrieve what I have shot. I alone am responsible for what I shoot, for making sure any bird I shoot is despatched humanely and retrieved. All the game that we shoot is taken and eaten or used to further train our gundogs. I prefer this “easy” kind of shooting. You just can’t beat “gun to tum”.