Calling all the shots

Elizabeth Walton examines scottish shooting, from the thrill of the hunt through to the practical side of the experience

The silence is broken only by a faint susurration of wind through the heather and the cackling mockery of the grouse, the most difficult gamebird to shoot. A shower of rain has knocked the pollen from the heather and alerted the birds. The beaters are away in the distance and the horizons are appallingly close to the line of butts that follows the contours of the land: no quarter will be given by this quarry. All of a sudden, a tightly-grouped set of black spots are skimming low across the heather. Your heartbeat quickens, and you release the safety-catch on your shotgun. In a flash the spots become a twisting, flashing covey of birds hurtling towards the butts: the most challenging shot you can imagine.

It was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who established the Highlands as a Mecca for sportsmen. Longing to escape to a semi-private world, they discovered Balmoral in Aberdeenshire, and bought in 1848. Here the Prince was reminded of the valleys, lakes and rushing streams of his native land, and Her Majesty recorded her delight in ‘the wilderness and solitariness of everything.' The beauty of the austere landscape where the elusive red grouse is found is the other reason why gameshots love the bird, and August 12th marks the annual pilgrimage to Scotland for the start of the season.

No self-respecting shot misses an opportunity to pit his skill against the unforgiving grouse. This quarry is wild; it has the will to live. The most fortunate guns will be invited to an o...

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• By : Elizabeth Walton
• In : Outdoor Scotland
• Issue : 4
• Page : 22
• Words : 1,156