On Saturday we ran our training day for the KC Working Gundog Certificate on Game. The day before the event we had some heavy rain in the region so many of our normal meadows and cover crops were compromised and under water, which made the day slightly more challenging for all.
The morning started with a bacon and egg roll before we headed out to our first drive. There were six guns, seven beaters, one flag man and one photographer. There were ten handlers attending the training day, four handlers and dogs training in a beating role, five handlers and dogs training in a picking up role and one handler and dog training in both roles. We also were accompanied by seven volunteers from the committee and membership.
There were a total of four drives completed on the day encompassing mainly cover crops, hedgerows and copses. As it was a training day, it was an opportunity to get to know the handlers and dogs and work on individual elements important to them.
The beating team comprised of three spaniels and one wire haired pointer. We had four beaters and Helen Philips who worked as the head of the beating line. The spaniels were focusing on working the hedgerows and looking to build their skill and confidence going into thick bushes. It was a first time for the wire haired pointer who was working on experiencing a live shoot and building confidence around the sound of shot. Working in cover crop, open fields with long grass and hedgerows, this team got a varied experience as well as negotiating stiles and barbed wired fences. Some beautiful flushes and a clear indication from our pointer of where the birds were.
Initially picking up there were two labradors, two flat coat retrievers and a german shorthaired pointer. A couple of these were opting for building steadiness within the retrieve, whereas others had less experience with duration of watching, marking or picking up warm game. Some of the retrieves landed over ditches and fences, which were water logged so handling the dogs remotely was key. Some of the retrieves also landed on some of the flooded meadow so we also had some unplanned water retrieves. Later on in the day one of the handlers who had been beating joined us for some picking up experience and their first bird was a runner which needed some remote handling and teamwork which was lovely to watch, you could visibly see the dog learning about how to track the scent of a fallen runner.
By the end of the day we had a total of 27 pheasants, 1 goose and 1 pigeon for a total of 107 shots.
Well done to all the handlers and dogs, the conditions were challenging and wellies definitely came in handy for all!! Thank you to all the volunteers that supported the day including the amazing guns. Without volunteers that work so hard behind the scenes days like these would be so difficult to achieve. Thank you to Clicker Gundog for hosting the day and Shoot Captain Chris Phillips for providing us with some lovely birds.
Here are a selection of photos from the day, taken by the very talented James Palmer, more can be found here
