Double Stones: unearthing a gem

Digby Taylor sets himself a personal challenge to find one hidden gem of a shoot each season, but, he writes, he may have found this year's 'stone' already.

When the topic of conversation on a shoot day turns to the different words the English language has to describe rain, you might imagine a somewhat miserable scene; mizzle, dimpsey, dreich. That was what we were discussing at the end of the day at Double Stones Shoot last saturday, but the mood couldn’t have been further from dreich as we wrung out our wet socks and got into our cars for the journey home.

Discussing the forecast the night before didn’t bring the nervous laughter it usually would, it was simply shrugged off as we were going to take in our stride whatever was thrown at us. The anticipation was greater than many days I can remember, partly because of the company - we had taken the day as a team at GunsOnPegs, and invited some of our good friends and clients in the shooting world - and partly because of the uniqueness of the day we had before us - driven partridge with the promise of a couple of grouse drives in the mix.

A step into the unknown

You never know what to expect from a new shoot. I know Steve Bosacki very well from numerous conversations on the phone over the years, and had even visited the shoot in March 2018 as I was passing through; even so, the pressure rises when you’ve been tasked with finding a day for a team of experienced shots. A host of questions fill the mind: will the hospitality be right? What will the quality of birds be like? What tone will the hosts - brothers Steven and Paul - set? And an added one for this season: will the COVID restrictions impact our fun? Almost immediately upon arriving those fears were wiped away. Without needing to see a bird in the sky, our welcome and introduction, together with views of stunning topography from the barn in which we were hosted put me at ease.

The Bosacki brothers have found themselves an absolute gem of a shoot! 1,000 acres of grouse moor gives way to moorland fringe, perfect for showing partridge, which in turn gives way to ghylls and valleys running through the hillside which we would find out later would make cracking pheasant drives for later in the season.

We always bang the drum though for most of the success of a day’s shooting being down to the hosting - or host, and this was no exception. Steve got into shooting through his passion for hawking. He told me how he used to fly his Harris Hawk - now 25 years old which he raised from a chick - in the area, and soon found himself taking the reins of the Double Stones Syndicate. It is his passion for the countryside that really shone through though. The range of wildlife you can admire from your peg at Double Stones is second to none, and with so much negative press surrounding shooting and birds of prey, at Double Stones, they are prized above all else. On some days you can see Buzzards, Kites, Merlins, Peregrines, Kestrels, Goshawks and Sparrowhawks - true credit to the pride they have for all wildlife on the shoot.

Great hosting makes for great shooting

The day was hosted perfectly, the pace was slow enough for us to have a good chat between drives, but never be kept waiting, the COVID measures were rigorously explained and held up, without being overbearing or irritating, and both Steve and Paul were charming to chat to, eagre to explain what changes they’ve made to the shoot, and show their passion behind the shooting.

The shooting itself will always play second fiddle to stunning scenery and a fun atmosphere in my opinion. We all agreed after the first two drives that despite terrible conditions for flying partridge, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. For the first, I was drawn second from the end, with the line stretching downhill, looking across the moorland edge. It was explained to us that in these conditions we would enjoy it most if we shot the partridge like grouse. With thick fog covering the hillside, and visibility just 100 yards uphill of me pretty much zero the partridge came whipping in, were on you in a flash and gone. Never having never shot driven grouse myself it took a full drive to get into the swing of things, but others came back to the gun bus grinning from ear to ear.

(Double) Stone the crows! And the snipe, grouse and partridge...

The second drive, similarly, I was on the end of the line, highest up the hillside, this time facing a different direction. The low cloud had descended further so we were actually in the cloud at this point. Partridge could be heard calling from all around, as could the occasional grouse which really built anticipation. Within seconds, a covey of partridge would be seen whipping over the moorland and gone out of sight behind. I was desperately trying to pick out the grouse that were in amongst, but to my untrained eye I only shot at one grouse - and missed - and the rest were partridge. One of the guns, two pegs down, shot the only grouse that drive, and also somehow managed to bring down both a snipe and a crow as well! Again, broad grins on everyone’s faces, mainly due to how different an experience that was for anyone there.

Members of the GoP team who did not attend have heard lots about this crow, but have seen no evidence.

Fog on hills, grouse cut off

Very sadly, the weather decided to intervene at this point, and it became clear that we weren’t going to be able to get onto the moor higher up - it was just too dangerous - and so we retreated to the valleys where we spent the rest of the morning and afternoon. We pushed out a couple of pheasant drives where we shot mainly partridge, it being so early in October. As I mentioned above, these birds really will be spectacular come mid November. We enjoyed a lovely, socially distanced lunch for which special mention must go to Steve’s Partridge Paté (see the recipe below), and generally made the most of a thoroughly enjoyable day out.

I set myself a little personal challenge each year… I like to find for myself one ‘hidden gem’ of a shoot per season. Somewhere you might not perhaps expect, somewhere that would not make a top 100 shoots list. I know for sure that everyone who’s shot at Double Stones will be logging this one in their memory as somewhere to return to. The only danger - which I discussed with Steve a couple of days after - is that once you let slip of it, you’ll never get a chance to shoot there again. Thankfully I was reassured that the GunsOnPegs team will be kept front of mind when filling the shoot calendars next year.

Partridge pate recipe

Ingredients

2 shallots
1 clove of garlic
400g butter
A few sprigs of fresh sage
Ground mase or nutmeg
A small glass of brandy
300 grams of partridge liver and hearts
Olive Oil

Method

Place 100 grams of butter in a heat proof dish and leave in the oven for about 20minutes until it completely melts and separates.
Mean while finely chop the shallots and garlic.
Heat a good size frying pan with the olive oil and a good knob of butter.
Add the sage leaves as the oil is hot to release the sage oils and remove after about 30 seconds. Add the shallots and garlic and fry until nice and tender. Remove to a plate and allow to cool.
Bring the pan back onto the heat with fresh oil and butter and fry the hearts and livers.
Add the brandy and flambé the livers and hearts with extra caution. It is important to cook them until the Center is slightly pink. About 3 to 4 minutes should be fine. Keep the livers and hearts moving and keep cutting them until you are sure they a just slightly pink in the Center.
Add to the food processor with the sage, shallots and garlic season with salt and pepper and the mase.
Add the 250 grams of really good butter to the processor and blitz it all until smooth and creamy.
Transfer into an nice sized dish and allow to cool. Add a couple of fresh sage leaves to the top and then cover them with the clear clarified butter from the oven. Allow about 5 mm of clear butter topping and again allow to cool before placing in the fridge to finish and set.
Enjoy with french toast or bruschetta.