The Field

Have big teams had their day?

NE of the familiar sights in the British shooting field, at least on driven shoots, is that of a picker-up walking with half-a-dozen dogs at heel. It’s something that we take for granted, but it’s a relatively new phenomenon. Half a century ago, few people worked more than a couple of retrievers at the same time, but the growth in commercial shoots and the demand for bigger bags led to handlers recruiting more and more dogs to their teams. A 500-bird day requires a lot of dog power, so

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