The one date in the sportsman's calendar that everyone knows is the The Glorious Twelfth – the day when grouse shooting begins on the hills and moors of England and Scotland. It is a date to stir the blood of the shooting man and raise the ire of those who want fieldsports to be banned.

It is the date that marks the culmination of a year's hard work for the moorland gamekeeper. Above all, it is the date for those of us who are fortunate enough to be involved to be out in the heather, working our dogs, tramping across the moor in a beating line or, for those most blessed, to be standing in a grouse butt waiting for the first covey of the season to come swinging through the line.

The red grouse is only found in the British Isles and is also a completely wild bird. Pheasants, partridges and ducks can be reared and released to provide support on low ground shoots but the grouse lives in the wild hills and moors where it is at the mercy of predators such as foxes, crows, hawks and harriers and subject to the vagaries of the weather.

If it is cold and wet at hatching time and the grouse chicks are denied the protein-rich diet of insects that they need to sustain them during the first two weeks of life, there will be no birds to shoot on the Twelfth.

The moorland gamekeeper is always at the mercy of the weather. In the spring, much of his time is spent heather burning in order to create the familiar patchwork of long and short heather we see on the moors.

Grouse need long heather to hide from predators and shelter from the cold and wet weather interspersed with shorter, younger shoots for them to eat.

Carefully controlled burning in the winter and spring is needed to create these conditions, but heather can only be burnt when it is dry and when the wind conditions allow the moor to be fired safely. All too often when the wind is right the heather is too wet and when the heather is dry the wind is too strong for fires to be lit.

Foxes and crows must also be controlled all year round, especially in the spring when the grouse are nesting and rearing their chicks and when a vixen with a litter of cubs can create havoc.

There are two methods of shooting grouse. Driven grouse shooting sees the sportsmen concealed in butts with a line of beaters waving flags to flush the birds out of the heather and send them flying over the line of waiting guns. The alternative is for the guns to go to the grouse: "walking up" where the guns tramp across the moor in a line shooting as the grouse rise ahead of them, or shooting "over dogs" using pointers or setters to find the grouse for them.

Back in the early 19th century, before the development of breech-loading shotguns, practically all grouse shooting took place over pointing dogs. For many sportsmen it is still the best way to shoot grouse. You are assured of a long, healthy tramp over some beautiful country combined with the pleasure of watching a team of highly-skilled dogs working.

There's the excitement of going into a point knowing that birds will be exploding from the heather at any moment and the prospect of some challenging shooting.

Ten brace of grouse (20 birds) would be a good bag over dogs for three or four guns and should see them sunburnt, exhausted and very, very happy at the end of a day on the moors.

The essence of shooting over dogs is that a pointer or a setter will range far out from the guns and then stop "on point" when it scents grouse and stay motionless for however long it takes the guns to walk across to where it is pointing.

Walking up grouse usually involves spaniels or labradors that will flush the birds as soon as they find them. In this case, the guns walk in a line, perhaps 50 yards apart and rely on quick reactions
to shoot when the grouse burst out of the heather in front of them.

It doesn't take long for a grouse to fly beyond the range of a shotgun and snap shooting is often the order of the day. In August and early September, the grouse will usually sit tightly enough for shooting over dogs or walking up to be practical, but as the days get shorter the grouse get wilder and driving becomes the only way to fill a game bag.

Driven grouse shooting is widely regarded as the most exciting and exclusive shooting available. Waiting in a butt as the line of beaters slowly creeps across the hill towards you, seeing the tiny dots of a covey rising and falling over the heather is enough to raise the heart rate and the blood pressure of the calmest of sportsmen. Grouse tend to fly low, hugging the contours of the ground and then suddenly exploding out of the heather in front of the butts, twisting and jinking as they spot
the guns.

It presents them with some of sharpest and most difficult shooting they will meet anywhere in the world. It also carries more than a hint of danger. "Swinging through the line" – or following a grouse with the muzzles of your gun so that you are pointing the barrels at the occupant of the neighbouring butt – is all too easy in the excitement of the moment but extremely disconcerting for the unfortunate individual next door.

The quality of the shooting combined with the splendour of the heather moorland and (hopefully) the warmth of an August sun make the risks more than worthwhile. A good day at driven grouse might see a bag of 200 brace or even more shared between eight to 10 guns.

To achieve such a result takes a real team effort with perhaps 20 beaters being used to flush the birds from the heather, half a dozen "flankers" with flags positioned along the sides of the beat to try and prevent the grouse curling out of the side of the drive and six or eight pickers-up with spaniels and retrievers working to collect all the
shot birds.

Not surprisingly, grouse shooting is relatively expensive when compared with other forms of shooting. Driven grouse will cost about £140 per brace, so a 200-brace day would see little change out of £30,000 – say £4,000 each for a team of eight guns once accommodation, cartridges and tips have been added in.

Don't despair though. Four guns shooting 10 brace over pointers might get their day out for as little as £300 each and walked up grouse shooting on some of the rougher and more marginal moorland can often be found for as little as £100 per day. You won't shoot 200 brace though...

There are a number of sporting agents advertising on the internet and in the shooting Press who will be more than happy to arrange
a day or week on the moors for you.

If you live near the moors and can spare the time, you may even be able to take part and get paid for your trouble. Many estates struggle to find enough beaters, particularly at the start of the season. If you are reasonably fit, own a good pair of walking boots and are prepared to tramp perhaps 10 miles per day over the heather then you may be able to enjoy some grouse shooting this August and show a modest return – £20 to £25 per day – for your efforts.

Whatever your views on shooting, it is undeniable that were it not for the red grouse and its prowess as a sporting icon much of our precious heather moorland would now be covered with forestry or grazed into oblivion by sheep.

If you are out on the moors and in the hills on the Twelfth look around at the miles of glorious heather and listen to the song of the skylark, the curlew and the golden plover and think of what we would lose if it were not for the hard work of the moorland keeper, the enthusiasm of the sportsman and the continued presence of that wonderful bird, the
red grouse.

David Hudson is the author of Grouse Shooting, newly-published by Quiller Publishing, £19.95p. To order from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop, call free on 0800 0153232 or go online at www. yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk. Postage and packing is £2.75.