Picking Up Etiquette - Article...

[Dan Newcombe]

Always handy to be told. You will never see them all!

[ips]

Always handy to be told. You will never see them all!

Good because i make a point of doing so

[Judy]

Oh how the other half live! Most of the shoots I've been to will have some pickers up nearish to the guns and others way back, depending on the layout of the drive. Runners are to be picked and put out of their misery asap pretty much regardless of where they are, apart from when they land 3 feet in front of a gun's peg dog of course. The bigger commercial shoots dispense with the niceties of guns telling pickers up how many birds they have down, we just sweep through picking up the marked down birds along with those that escaped attention. You can never see them all so sweeping is the order of the day. If its a 300 bird day that's around 60 birds per drive, if we waited to ask the guns how many they'd shot each drive the day wouldn't get finished. Having said which its nice when a gun does hang back and ask if you'd managed to find "that runner" but only if you did of course.

There have been a few 'discussions' between guns and the pickers up over the years, on one occasion it resulted in the 'Keeper chucking the gun off the shoot at lunchtime for being rude to the pickers up! On another the reverse was true. It can get interesting from time to time.

[PRH]

It is always pleasing to be able to say yes to the gun who asks if you’ve managed to pick that runner. You do get to know the guns though....some are convinced they’ve hit everything and you can waste a lot of time looking for a bird that ‘must have some how flown through the shot pattern’

[Naj]

A good picker up should rarely see the guns at all.

I don't generally start working dogs until the end of the drive, runners will go a distance and then lay up and be easier to pick, you can almost predict where you are going to find these birds and its easier when there isn't stuff coming in left right and centre.

Dead stuff will still be there and you don't have to split concentration between dogs and birds coming in.

Just mt personal thoughts on it all and there obviously does need to be some interface with guns to check what they have marked but its pretty limited usually, you are less likely to fall out with guns if you arent in their pocket.

old school. this is how it was done back in the day. As Dan says, when you knew the drives the knew where the runners would eventually tuck in. Keepers would go bonkers if you made any movement or noise during a drive, especially when driving greys. A noisy, obtrusive picker up could ruin a drive.

Naj

[Judy]

But you wont ruin the drive if you are far enough back will you? These days its customary to pick runners asap to be above reproach re leaving birds suffering. On some drives we have pickers up quite close to the guns as most guns these days don't like to see birds suffering hobbling around the pegs, they'd rather a momentary distraction of a quick clean pick up. I've only been embarrassed a few times by a low flying pricked bird going the whole length of the gun line with a Cocker or Flatcoat in hot pursuit...

[Dan Newcombe]

Unfortunately this is a discussion that is re-run time and time again but in all fairness i think that the article was one of the better ones I've read.

I am afraid that I have always been a 'hold off until the drive ends' / keep out of the way person. I've put spaniels onto cock birds in crop fields when hosting days and had them struggle to get on terms with a strong runner, ending up with chasing all over the place and no control over whats going on. I've also waited and picked birds with the same / similar injuries in the hedge because they have either just died or have hidden up and relaxed / stiffened up after a time and then the dog has often nailed them with no chase at all so i know which i would prefer.

There is a lot of field craft and etiquette that goes into picking up which i think is often missed by people new and straight into the role.

This also extends to conduct before the drive - convoys go - Host, Guns, Loaders, Staff. Walking out to drive the pickers up should be either ahead, behind or away from the guns not mingling in with dogs going everywhere (this is commercial shooting not smaller syndicates / friendly days).

The guns are there to enjoy the day and giving their dogs time to work is part of that, i have never understood a picker up who cannot get their head round that basic fact. If they don't pick everything it doesn't matter, sweep thorough in the same way you would when a gun doesn't have a dog - that's the job, to make sure as little as possible is left behind.

How to go about it is individual to each shoot but personally i like to see picking up teams with plenty of dogs each (4 or more really) and more accurately not see a great deal of them. If, at the end of the day someone sees you and says that they didn't realise you were there that's probably a good thing.