Leaving the lurchers and going lead free

Simon Whitehead enjoys a day of shooting bolting rabbits with his ferrets around his new home in prime Yorkshire grouse country

- Simon Whitehead

The hills surrounding me were basking in the late summer sun as we wandered up towards the rabbit warrens. Purple and inviting, they were thankfully seemingly free of dreaded heather beetle, which has contributed to the awful grouse count this year. Some estates that I ferret on have been forced to cancel not just the odd day, but the whole season.

With the gallery of heather proud and in bloom, the walk gave me a chance to obtain a different perspective. This year, as well as exploring and learning where the rabbits are, I have had to familiarise myself with the drives on the estate I now live on, as this year, I will be hosting high bird days. There is great joy to be found in heading out alone with a box of ferrets but there CR is greater joy still in walking with friends. I had decided to invite my friend Shaun Grace over. The plan was to take our guns and two of Shaun’s labradors in place of Tawny the lurcher, my usual companion.

Too fast

Normally with my extra-long stride, I cover the ground at pace but Shaun takes a different tack. He reminded me in his blunt military manner of a quote by Eddie Cantor: “Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery that you miss by going too fast,you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

Wise words, as we were in no rush, especially as we were also fitting in a bit of dog training. I think it was also because he is a little bit closer to the ground than me, but don’t tell him I said so. Shaun had brought a brother and sister from his Tintwistle gundog picking-up team, Heather (Tintwistle Clearwater) and Hugo (