The opening day of the season here at the Game & Wildlife Scottish Demonstration Farm at Auchnerran saw Harold Napier (pictured above) and two other guns get the 2018/19 season off to a flying fast paced start. Zilverein Fraoigh eagerly awaiting the first day alongside the business of ferrets.
Andrew Muszynski and his team after a full and fun days ferreting. David Morgan and his son Forbes had a particularly memorable day with the young gentleman shooting his first rabbits over ferrets on GWSDF Auchnerran. They will both be back for one of our two fathers & two son rabbit days later this season.
Charlie Thorburn and his merry band of bandits. This day was hard fought for with the rabbits not exactly playing ball, but a good day was had none the less……. with plenty of misses as well to keep the gentleman on their toes. A big thank you must go to Richard Vainer for his continued support of GWCT through purchasing this day at our Prestonfield Scottish Auction.
The calm before the storm. A party of Dutch guns enjoying the autumnal Scottish weather, challenging rabbits and the GSP retrieving work.
A returning party of Dutch falconers. Martin, Kevin and Hans have been coming to Scotland for many years with their goshawks to mainly hunt rabbits. Their company and sportsmanship were second to none and we are already looking forward to welcoming them back again this season for a third time. Their working dogs (the two pictured looking away keen as mustard to start hunting) just can’t get enough of the rabbits here in Deeside, nor can their hunting companions.
One of the Finnish female goshawks called Leica, sits on one of our welcome to the farm signs after a great days hunting.
Our first mixed species day of the season with delighted guests and now good friends after one of our signature drives, The Woodcock Willow Wood. Alistair Biggart has won this auction lot at our Glasgow Dinner fundraising event for the last 3 years now and adores the wild bird shoot we have here at GWSDF Auchnerran. When he and his son returned for their second rabbit day he excitedly admitted that that their mixed species day with us on the 19th of January 2018 was one of the best days shooting he had ever experienced.
The numbers of breeding brown hare have never been higher in 2018, since we took over management of the farm 5 years ago. We saw 28 hares on this rough shoot day around the farm in early December. This team of guns love the wildness element to the shoot we run here in Royal Deeside and each time they visit they see something uniquely different every time. A massive thank you to Rory Cooper (our Grampian Regional Chairman) and his trusty black lab Zip for his continued support in beating and picking up every season.
Our last day of the 2018/19 season saw a lovely covering of snow on the ground which helped push the woodcock our way in good numbers. Auchnerran Farm has one of the highest breeding densities of resident woodcock that the GWCT has ever recorded anywhere in the British Isles. When there is a big fall of these wonderful waders, this adds that extra bit of magic to the shooting experience here.
David Cruickshank and his team from Aberdeenshire won the Grampian Auction and were a delightful team of guns that fully understood and respected the elements of a wild bird shoot such as this one. It was a pleasure to give Rory Copper the opportunity to shoot on the farm for the first time as a small thank you for all his support with the shoot over the past two years.