I spent some very enjoyable time yesterday with Mark Westall - who taught me a lot about picking-up whilst working his team of three labs.Mark knew tons about the land that we were on, and managed to point out a number of deer and other animals that we were sharing the area on. He was also very knowledgeable about the shooting that was going on and how the birds would fly from different drives. I later found out that he's a previous county FITASC champion.I'd hope that every beginner would spend some time with an expert like Mark before stepping onto a peg.Mark runs an established Deer Stalking and Fox Hunting company - providing Deer Stalking holidays and courses to support. I was impressed with his depth of knowledge and promised I would provide a link from ShootClay.If you want to read more about Mark and his work - he's here : http://www.topgunandrod.co.uk/