Top Tips For A Glorious Season

Grouse shooting luminary Matt Smith shares his secrets of success with Simon Reinhold

- Simon Reinhold

As a game shooter living in the deepest partridge country, I consider any time spent on a grouse moor as a treasured experience.

The chance to shoot grouse in that landscape is a privilege, though one available to us all. But how do we make the most of our chances when the opportunity arises? For insights into driven, walked-up and grouse over pointers, I spoke to Matt Smith of the Calvert Sporting team, who are world-renowned for their specialist grouse tuition.

DRIVEN

Matt emphasizes: “Shooting grouselike targets before you go will give you the mechanics. For driven you need to practise on a flat, fast incoming target and you also need to be able to practise shooting in front and behind at the same target.”

This is not easy to do on any clay ground; a specialist grouse layout comes into its own and Calvert Sporting runs the best I’ve shot.

“You need to be able to deal with multiple birds, not just coming at you, but also crossing behind each other, taking your eyes away from you. Like all practice, it needs to be meaningful practice,” says Matt. “We will prepare you for the intensity you could face in a grouse drive when it really does switch on — train hard, fight easy.

“At your clay ground, if rules allow, make the target simulate a grouse. Take the going-away bird on a sporting stand by turning round to shoot it. This you must do safely with your gun up as you would turn safely in a butt. As many as 40% of driven grouse shot are taken as back birds, so it’s important to practice this.