Game Over

Phil Moorsom recounts the highlight of his season, where good company, terrific birds and youthful enthusiasm came together to make it a day to remember

- Rough Rovers

It always surprises me how rapidly the shooting season seems to pass. It takes an eternity for September to come around and once it arrives it’s gone in a flash. For those involved in running shoots all over the country, February offers a bit of respite with January often seen as a difficult month managing the expectation of teams booked in and keeping tabs on the number of birds on the ground.

For the Rough Rovers, January always seems to be a busy month. With the Christmas break over, the reality dawns that only a couple of weeks of the season remain. Following urgent requests we added quite a few additional days to our calendar plus several clean-up days, all of which were quickly filled and over-subscribed.

However, come 2 February, with tweeds and guns stored away, we all have the chance to reflect upon the season gone and perhaps dare to think ahead to the next. Personally, I enjoy reading through my game book reliving each day out in the field, all of which were memorable and the majority for the right reasons. Needless to say, we did have a couple of days that were a bit tricky, mainly due to the weather.

As a rule, our syndicate always meets up in February for what is grandly called our AGM. My local puts on a game-themed set menu and there is the inevitable speech summing up the season and several hotly contested awards. Most importantly, it gives everyone an opportunity to voice their opinions on the season and to start to determine which shoots should remain in next year’s calendar and, on the odd occasion, those which might be avoided.