┌──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
│ Year. │ Total bags in braces. │
├──────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1829 │60 │
│ 1830 │77 │
│ 1831 │14½ │
│ 1832 │31 │
│ 1833 │82 │
│ 1834 │69½ │
│ 1835 │90 │
│ 1836 │12 │
│ 1837 │25 │
│ 1838 │42½ │
│ 1839 │26½ │
│ 1840 │26 │
│ 1841 │35½ │
│ 1842 │21 │
│ 1843 │91 │
└──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘
GROUSE KILLED ON BLUBBERHOUSES AND DALLOWGILL MOORS IN SEASONS
FOLLOWING THE ABOVE
(_About 1862 a little driving began_)
┌─────┬───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┐
│Year.│ Year’s bag at Dallowgill. │ Year’s bag at Blubberhouses. │
│ │ Braces. │ Braces. │
├─────┼───────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┤
│1865 │ │239 │
│1866 │ │691 │
│1870 │ │478 │
│1871 │2149 │ │
│1872 │2417 │807½ │
│1873 │208½ │disease. │
│1874 │177½ │disease. │
│1875 │508 │no record. │
│1876 │1576 │725 │
│1877 │1345½ │781 │
│1878 │1892 │704 │
│1879 │781 │241 │
│1880 │1015½ │no record. │
│1881 │945 │388½ │
│1882 │1551 │770 │
│1883 │2948½ │346½ │
│1884 │2519 │622 │
│1885 │1620½ │277 │
│1886 │1312½ │646 │
│1887 │2125½ │no record. │
│1888 │2501½ │919 │
└─────┴───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┘
The last figure was given to the author by Lord Walsingham about the
time the bag of 1070 grouse made in the day by his gun was discussed,
and might possibly have been added to later in the season.
Two points are likely to arise in an examination of the bags. First, was
it that the birds were not upon the Yorkshire moors, or only that they
could not be killed, that made the season’s bags so poor prior to
driving?
The other point is: Do big day’s bags point to great stocks of game on
the moors; and arising out of that, do great bags help to improve the
stock?
The answers, from the bags to be mentioned, will be found to be that in
the early days the birds were not on the Yorkshire hills, and if they
had been there they could have been killed in numbers, except the wild
old cocks. The proof is to be found in the facts that, as lately as
1872, there were 1099 brace of grouse killed in a day on Bowes moor
_over dogs_, and that the day after Lord Walsingham made his great
one-gun bag at Blubberhouses by driving, he walked up and shot in half a
day 26 brace, or more than the whole moor had yielded in many a previous
anti-driving season. It will be found, also, that big day’s bags do not
necessarily point to big stocks of grouse, since, at least twice, one
gun has in one day taken more than half the season’s total bag off a
moor. But that very big driving days on a small moor are better than a
constant worry by smaller drivings of the grouse is almost too obvious
to name.
Lord Walsingham killed to his own gun in one day of 1872 421 brace of
grouse when the season’s bag was 807½ brace; and in 1888, after a very
bad breeding season, he killed 535 brace to his own gun in the day, and
there were 919 brace bagged in that season. Similar proof of the skill
of drivers and shooters when the stocks of game were but moderate are to
be had elsewhere. The late Sir Fred Milbank’s best year at Wemmergill
was in 1872, when he got 17,074 grouse, and his best bag was 2070
grouse. Lord Westbury, his successor on that moor, had a best day of
about the same number, but his best year gave but 9797 grouse. Mr. R.
Rimington Wilson killed 2743 birds in the day in 1904, but the season
was not perhaps as good as that of 1905, when only 1744 grouse were shot
on the best day, when Mr. Rimington Wilson was good enough to inform the
author that the season was above the average, and that the direction of
the wind makes all the difference. In 1906, the day, chosen months
ahead, happened to be one of those heat record-breaking ones that caused
the grouse to refuse to fly more than once, and only about 1320 grouse
were killed on the first day, which, however comparatively bad there,
would be absolutely splendid as times go elsewhere.
Again, in 1905, Mr. Wynne Corrie had his record season, but his big days
were larger in the previous season. In 1904 they were 760½ and 781 brace
respectively, and in 1905 there were 638½ brace shot on the best day.
This is not as remarkable as the fact that in 1901 there were killed
there 3341 brace, before big bags were started; and there were but 2103
brace killed in the year of the record bag.
The apex of grouse stock having been reached in Yorkshire in 1872,
within a decade of the general beginning of driving, it was felt that
the way to enormous stocks was discovered, and that these stocks were
worth every attention and large capital outlay in the improvement of
moorlands, but as a matter of fact it is difficult to find that all the
improvement since has done any good to the head of game. If it has, it
can only be discovered over periods of years, and not by comparing any
one year with the results obtained in 1871 and 1872. The period of years
is the better test if it can be fairly applied, but results come out
differently altogether in accordance with the arbitrary selection of
dates to begin and end these periods.
It has already been mentioned how wonderfully grouse have done in the
absence of one of these improvements, namely the removal of sheep on the
Ruabon Hills, and sheep are just as plentiful at Askrigg, in Yorkshire,
where nevertheless Mr. Vyner has killed on a moor of 2000 acres, in
1894, 2775 grouse; in 1897, 2959 grouse; in 1898 there was a total of
2095 grouse; in 1901 there were shot 2686 grouse; and in 1902 there were
2898 grouse bagged.
Mr. Wynne Corrie has improved the best season’s bag at Ruabon Hills by
about 1000 brace, or one-third more than the previous best. He has given
the author four reasons to which he attributes the improvement, and as
his is nearly the only South Country grouse moor that at once shows a
great stock and also a great improvement over season’s bags of four
decades ago, they are here stated:—