Gunner's Calendar - September

Gunner at Benniworth Shoot 3 December 2014 11.36 a.m.

Ditto - 11.36 a.m

Ditto .... 11.37 a.m. !

I think this is possibly one of my favourite photos. How can a December day have been so glorious? How can a working day have been so enjoyable. Looking back, it was vintage Gunner.

We'd worked on this shoot since it started up in 2008. It only has 6 or 7 days a season but it was one of our favourites and we didn't miss a single day.
This was Gunner's 7th working season so there was not much he did not know and he was not beyond telling me what his job was!
However, on this particular day my records show that he was behaving impeccably. He'd been very attentive all morning,  only breaking out from his 'beat' to pick up a nicked bird that, everyone agreed, would undoubtedly have otherwise run into the next county & been lost!
He was extrememly focused on the birds. There was not a single one flushed or shot near him that he didn't mark!
By the afternoon his focus turned to watching the guns ...... On the first 'drive' after lunch we were in our usual position on the edge of a thick wood - able therefore to be both inside and outside. Gunner took full advantage. Working hard in the thickets along the edge he flushed a number of hard flying birds for the gun on our right...... running out from the wood each time a bird broke to focus on the shot. When the bird was hit Gunner would immediately rush off to pick it and bring it back to me. I soon gave up whistling him back; he was not listening to me. He was just getting on with what he'd decided his job was.
If the gun 'missed' Gunner stood rock steady for a measurable period - probably just a few seconds - staring with blatant 'disgust' at the poor chap , before charging back into the wood and  locating more birds. He collected five  birds in this way. I was mortified. The Gun, however, was delighted:
"He's incredible! It's just like having my personal picking up dog! I've never had so much fun on a shoot"
Quite!
On the next drive Gunner mostly stuck to his proper job whilst keeping one eye on the Guns. "Phew" I thought to myself; "Perhaps now he'll behave himself."
My idea of behaving was not his. Clearly the sun had gone to his head! On the next and final 'drive' we were working in the middle of a very thick wood. Halfway through he disappeared, only to rejoin me near the end, looking extremely tired and carrying a shot, but not yet dead, cock bird. I learned later from the gun who had shot it that it fell in the heavy kale and would undoubtedly have been a lost runner had Gunner not pursued it to the end! The Gun was most impressed!

Taking a bath at the end of the day...

The dog was so filthy after that I persuaded him into the lake for a bath before returning to the beater's wagon. He didn't mind one bit. He'd had a wonderful day doing what he loved best of all.
He was tired and wet so I persuaded him into his fleece jumper and told him to get in the back of the truck. At which request he turned his back, walked to the front end of the vehicle, which was up against a barn, sat down facing me and refused to move!
A couple of members of the shooting party thought it was very droll and stayed beside me for a while making jokes and trying to jolly the dog into getting in the truck.

One that didn't get away

But would he move?
No.
He just stared at us all as if we'd formed a party for the specific purpose of beating him up! He was having none of it. He would not move.

And another......

The last bird of the day

It was a good 10 or 15 minutes before he finally deigned to jump in the back of the car, but he kept that look on his face. Not for the first time I felt he really resented me for taking him home!!!

 

"I am not getting in the car & going home"