diff --git a/src/grib_accessor_class_bufr_extract_subsets.c b/src/grib_accessor_class_bufr_extract_subsets.c
index e32c138f6..fc0295366 100644
--- a/src/grib_accessor_class_bufr_extract_subsets.c
+++ b/src/grib_accessor_class_bufr_extract_subsets.c
@@ -172,7 +172,11 @@ static int pack_long(grib_accessor* a, const long* val, size_t *len)
 
     v[0]=1;
     err=grib_pack_long(self->packAccessor,v,&l);
-    if (err) return err;
+    if (err) {
+        if (err == GRIB_ENCODING_ERROR)
+            grib_context_log(a->context,GRIB_LOG_ERROR,"Could not extract subset(s).\n\tHint: Did you forget to set unpack=1?");
+        return err;
+    }
 
     return err;
 }