I have worked the girls in the past doing a mixed role on small shoots both beating and picking up, but last Saturday was Rhuna's first day picking up, which requires them to sit steady and wait for long times, inbetween picking birds that have been shot. All the action was on the first drive, where a white pheasant was shot, which ended up in a fine for two of the guns, £25 each, and then one of the guns asked me to take Rhuna to pick a hen pheasant he was certain he'd pricked. I'd seen it land but thought it had got away without being shot, so hadn't sent Rhuna for it straight away, but as he was adamant he'd hit it, then it was all the more important to find the bird rather than leave it wounded. So I let Rhuna off where he was sure it had gone down to hide, then just let her do her job; she was very keen in some cover, so got her to check it twice, then she tracked down the edge of a stream, to some thick vegetation growing over the stream, pointed, and pulled the bird straight out. The gun was suitably impressed with her ability, after that drive, there were a few straight forward retrieves but mostly a lot of standing around, and nearly getting hit by the occasional pheasant that got away and was gliding towards the woods at the back of me. I didn't manage to get any good photos I'm afraid, will try again this weekend as it's our last day out, Zasa's in season so has to miss out on the fun till next season.
What bad timing, it's a long wait till August. I presume you have plenty of cold ones in the freezer. Great that she gave such a good account of herself. Well done you!
