This remarkable bag on a 12,000 acre moor establishes many things, one of which is that the grouse in Yorkshire could have been killed in quantities at any time had there been enough guns, so that the broods after being flushed by one shooter were quickly found by another, and given no time to collect after being scattered. But the wildness of the grouse on this moor is shown by the top scorer getting only about half the bag that some shooters obtained on the Scotch moors of the time. For instance, at Glenquoich Lodge, near Dunkeld, there were killed 124½, 114, and 88½ brace by three guns on the Twelfth; thus the three guns got 327 brace in the day, and this kind of bag was by no means unusual. In Yorkshire there were numerous bags of 1000 brace, and over, made that season. They occurred at Wemmergill, Dallowgill, Broomhead, Bowes, and High Force (probably); at any rate, at the latter place, there were in 19 days driving 15,484 grouse killed, and at Wemmergill adjoining there were 17,074 grouse shot for the season.
| Bags made at Broomhead | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date. | Guns. | Brace in the day. | Brace in the best two days. |
| Sept. 6, 1872 | 13 | 1313 | |
| Sept. 3, 1890 | 8 | 819 | |
| Sept. 9, 1891 | 8 | 630 | |
| Aug. 30, 1893 | 9 | 1324 | 2125½ |
| Sept. 1, 1893 | 9 | 801½ | |
| Aug. 29, 1894 | 9 | 1007 | 1694 |
| Aug. 31, 1894 | 9 | 687 | |
| Sept. 4, 1895 | 8 | 624 | |
| Aug. 26, 1896 | 9 | 1090 | |
| Aug. 25, 1897 | 9 | 1006 | |
| Aug. 24, 1898 | 9 | 1103½ | |
| Aug. 30, 1899 | 9 | 1013 | |
| Aug. 29, 1900 | 9 | 586 | |
| Sept. 4, 1901 | 9 | 712 | 1447 |
| Sept. 25, 1901 | 9 | 735 | |
| Aug. 27, 1902 | 9 | 693 | 950 |
| Aug. 29, 1902 | 9 | 257 | |
| Aug. 26, 1903 | 9 | 703½ | 1188 |
| Aug. 28, 1903 | 9 | 484½ | |
| Aug. 24, 1904 | 9 | 1371½ | 1777 |
| Aug. 26, 1904 | 9 | 405½ | |
| Aug. 30, 1905 | 9 | 872 | 1476 |
| Sept. 1, 1905 | 9 | 604 | |
| 1906 | 660 | (roughly) | |
Writing in 1888, Lord Walsingham said he thought that the great increase of grouse was to be attributed to the burning of the heather in Yorkshire during the previous twenty-five years. But no moors the author saw in Yorkshire about that time could bear comparison for regular burning with the moor of Dunbeath, in Caithness, where the strips were as regular and as well defined as the different crops in a market garden; and again, about 1875, the author went over Bowes moor to inspect for a possible purchaser, and he never saw any heather so badly neglected for want of burning. Although there were very few grouse there at that time, this was obviously due to the disease, for there had been any number of them three seasons before.
Driving the grouse at Moy Hall moors was started in a partial manner, without butts, in 1869, and the driving done between then and 1872 was limited to the birds round the corn-fields, and could have had no effect on the stock.
| In 1871 the bag was | 2836 grouse. |
| In 1872 the bag was | 3002 grouse. |
Between 1876 and 1879 no driving was done there, but in 1879 there were 103 grouse killed in six drives on the 1st of September.
In that year the kill was 5172 grouse, when the bag was assisted by driving, but the preservation had not been so assisted.
In 1888 there were killed 5822 grouse by means of dogs first and driving afterwards, and in the next season, which was a bad one, dogs were used for the last time.
| In 1891 there were shot | 3612 grouse. |
| In 1892 the bag was | 3513 grouse. |
| In 1893 there were killed | 4480 grouse. |
| In 1894 the season produced | 4563 grouse. |
| In 1895 the total fell to | 2511 grouse. |
| In 1896 it fell lower, to | 1402 grouse. |
| In 1897 it touched lower, to | 1131 grouse. |
| In 1898 it began to rise to | 1943 grouse. |
| In 1899 there were shot | 3416 grouse. |
| In 1900 the bag was | 6092 grouse. |
| In 1901 the apex was | 7127 grouse. |
Since that year the season’s bags have not been published, and it is believed that they fell off very much until 1905, when there was a good recovery, but not a record, and disappointment occurred again in 1906.