Walked-Up Grouse on Buckden Pike Shows Fieldcraft Passed to the Next Generation

A walked-up grouse day on a Yorkshire Dales moor turned into a lesson in fieldcraft, dog work, and why the next generation of keepers matters more than another bird in the bag.

Snapshot

Writer Charles Hartley spent an August day on Buckden Pike with John Close and his 16-year-old daughter Ellie, the shoot's vice-captain and assistant gamekeeper. Hunting a dry, heat-stressed moor with spaniels, the trio worked lower, wetter ground to find grouse, and both Hartley and Ellie each took a bird. Hartley's account, published by ShootingUK, centers on Ellie's skill and dedication as a sign of hope for shooting's future.

Key points

• Read the ground: With the moor top baked dry after weeks of heat, the party dropped to lower, damper terrain where grouse were more likely holding, a tactic Hartley says paid off.
• Dog work mattered: Springer Ghillie and cocker Billie quartered the broken moorland, with Ghillie flushing a covey and later recovering birds for both Guns.
• Young but seasoned: Ellie Close, 16, runs Langstroth Gundogs with her father and became the youngest person to qualify for the Gundog Junior Handling Championship at age four.
• Two birds down: Hartley dropped one grouse early with a long lead, and Ellie later took a second bird solo on a steep edge as a split covey lifted.
• Future ambitions: Ellie hopes to study estate management and eventually work on a Highland estate, feeding birds and working pest control alongside her father.

Quick take

For preppers who value woodcraft and self-reliance, this piece is a reminder that reading terrain, weather and animal behavior still beats raw firepower. Ellie's early-morning feeding rounds and hands-on dog breeding show the unglamorous groundwork behind good fieldcraft, and her story is a useful nudge to bring younger family members into hunting and land skills before that knowledge gap widens.

Read the full story: shootinguk.co.uk