Nick Ridley joins some friends for a days rough pheasant shooting in Buckinghamshire with his Circle of Trust Roughshooting Syndicate
Ask most people who go shooting what they enjoy about it and many would say that as well as being able to spend a few hours in the countryside, they especially enjoy the company of and conversation with like-minded people. This is exactly the case with the Circle of Trust Roughshooting Syndicate that I formed with three friends four years ago. We formed it to find inexpensive and informal roughshooting and walked-up shooting days we could enjoy with our guns and our dogs. Since then we have travelled up and down the country visiting various shoots and indulging in our passion, but for our first day of the 2013-14 season we headed to a Buckinghamshire estate just a few minutes up the road.
There is no doubt that many shoots now realise that having informal days, where small teams of Guns walk the hedgerows and boundaries are beneficial, not only in financial terms but also in pushing birds back away from the outer edges of the shoot. On this particular day, that was our aim. We had a bag limit of 20-25 birds, so we decided that any birds heading for the neighbouring land were going to be fair game, but we would hold back on anything heading towards the centre of the shoot unless it was a particularly good bird or the dogs had worked hard and deserved a retrieve.
The estate holds a number of high-bird driven days and puts down pheasants and red-legged partridges. It also has an ongoing scheme to create a wild bird habitat for English partridges and hopefully to increase the wild population of other gamebirds, hares and the ever-present red kites.
The gamekeeper pointed out the ground to cover, mainly hedgerows and rough grass headlands. There were five Guns — Andy Gray, Luke Holman, Steve Dearne, Paul Stork and me — and my wife Debbie and Jake Edmonds were beaters. Andy, Luke and Steve all had new dogs, two springers and a cocker — it was to be the first time they had shot over the dogs in the field, so there were a few anxious faces. I had my two cockers and Paul had his cocker-whippet cross.
We split into two groups, and I headed off with Andy and his springer Flick. We worked either side of a hedge and it wasn’t long before my cocker flushed a pheasant from a strip of dead grass. He stopped to the flush and I swung through and pulled the trigger. I missed with the first barrel and in an instant I fired the second barrel — and the bird just kept going. I was shaking my head in disbelief when my wife kindly explained to me that I was well behind with both shots. In no time Andy was joining in, giving me plenty of advice and a fair dose of leg pulling.
I was not too disheartened. The dog had stopped nicely to the flush and was as steady as a rock, but then I saw a stratospheric pigeon heading our way and I quickly made up my mind that I was not going to embarrass myself by even raising my gun. Andy, however, had other plans.
I am not brilliant at judging distances but I am quite sure the pigeon had scorch marks on its wings from the sun. I heard a bang and the bird stopped dead in mid-air. Andy sent his springer for it and then he decided to pace out the shot — at a rough guess it fell about 65 yards away. It was a pretty impressive shot by any standards, and if it had been a pheasant you would have had to pay handsomely for one that flew that high.
Meanwhile, Luke, Paul and Steve were all warming their barrels on the pheasants that were taking refuge in a wild bird winter-feed covercrop. The estate has quite a few acres of this cover. As well as holding the gamebirds, it will also provide plenty of winter seed for the numerous small birds that were being flushed by the spaniels alongside the blue-backed Kansas pheasants. The cover consisted of triticale, wheat, quinoa and some kale.
Luke was shooting over his young springer Whiz. It was her first time being shot over in the field and in the company of other dogs, and she was having a thoroughly good time as she buried herself in the cover. There were a lot of birds being punched out by the dog and Luke was being selective in the ones he shot at. After a couple of near misses, a cock bird clattered out of some brightly-coloured quinoa and headed for the shoot boundary. Luke made sure Whiz had stopped to his whistle and took his shot. The bird was hit and landed just over the brow of a small dip, so the dog couldn’t get a good mark on the fall. Luke lined her up and sent her. She went straight to the area and took the line and was soon running back with a dead bird. During the drive home, we all had to relive this moment over and over again — fortunately, we only live a few miles up the road!
Work to a plan
Steve and his cocker Lewi were positioned further up the field in an effort to head off any birds that tried to cross from one coverstrip to another. Though these walkabout days are informal, we still try to work to a plan. More importantly, we always make sure we know where each of us is located, whether we are walking or standing. That is one reason we called our little syndicate the Circle of Trust — we are all quite confident and comfortable shooting in each other’s company.
Steve’s positioning was perfect and a cock bird headed straight over the stubble towards him. He killed the bird with his first barrel and Lewi watched it land just short of the coverstrip. It was also Steve’s first time shooting over his dog, so he was a little apprehensive. The moment when the dog came back with the bird will be one that he will remember for a long time.
As the day drew on, my shooting improved slightly and I managed to connect with a couple of pheasants, one of which I was particularly pleased with. My fellow Guns all had some quite impressive kills.
At the end of an enjoyable day, the bag consisted of 18 pheasants, five crows, two pigeon and a rabbit — which Whiz flushed out into a stubble field. And I am now booked into the local shooting ground just to see if I am, in fact, “well behind” on my shots!
Find out how you can go pheasant shooting on a budget of as little as £80 to £250!
To minimise costs we were pheasant shooting in Suffolk, on a mixed walk-one, stand-one day. East Anglia offers some of the best-value pheasant shooting in the UK and, contrary to popular belief, the sport can prove extremely challenging. Alongside our group of eager young sportsmen were several wise heads. The resulting team of fathers and sons seemed a good way to organise the day as it would allow these experienced countrymen to pass their vast knowledge to the next generation.
We had chosen to shoot in late January on a cocks-only day. Although the choice of days at the end of January becomes limited, the timing afforded us the chance to secure a bargain. Also, by this point in the season we knew that any birds shown would likely make sporting targets.
Most of the team had been fortunate enough to enjoy some sport already during the season. For some, however, the clay range had provided ample opportunity to practise ahead of the day. But what these young guns lacked in experience they more than made up for with their enthusiasm, which was just as well because this type of day requires a good amount of physical exertion and determination.
The rules of engagement
When we had all arrived at the shooting lodge, our host explained the rules for the day, more pertinent than ever on a walk-one, stand-one shoot. We were 15 guns in total: nine standing and six walking on each drive. The plan was to follow the format of a traditional driven day with six drives, two drinks breaks, and that all-important lunch at the end of the day. Furthermore, the walking and standing guns would change between drives to ensure everyone saw their share of the action.
Naming the game
Finally, the briefing took us to our quarry. Cock pheasants and partridge were fair game, but only exceptional hens were to be attempted. Even then, we were to adhere to a limit of only one hen per gun per drive. Birds that flew back over the walking guns were theirs to shoot, whereas birds that rose and flew forwards were to be left for the standing guns. Duck could be shot – with non-toxic loads – as could vermin. But no ground game. This point was made more than once and seemed eminently sensible given our pheasant shooting arrangements.
After the briefing had ended and the standing guns had numbered up, we darted off to the vehicles to prepare for departure. We would not return to the lodge until the end of the day, so needed to take enough cartridges with us. By 9.40am the team had divided and left for opposite ends of the first drive. The walking guns accompanied the team of eight beaters, including the gamekeeper, while the standing team loaded into the gun bus and headed off to their pegs, pickers-up in hot pursuit.
Unlike my pigeon shooting and wildfowling adventures, both of which afforded a certain amount of flexibility in their organisation, this day involved more precision planning. To ensure a safe environment and good sport for all, our two teams would have to co-ordinate their moves carefully. That said, there was some flexibility and our host swapped a couple of drives during the day to ensure we experienced the best pheasant shooting given the prevailing conditions. The weather was dry and dull, with a gentle breeze from the south-west. And fortunately, the ominous-looking clouds that filled the sky did no more than look threatening.
Early partridge
Once at the first drive, the standing team moved quickly to their pegs while the walking team lined out ready to bring two large fields – one stubble and one winter wheat – towards a central wood. The whistle went and the walking team began to move. Almost immediately shots rang out as partridge broke back over the right-hand beating flank. The first birds of the day were safely in the bag. These early shots seemed to push forward several coveys. Some partridge landed at the back of the wood and ran in, while others continued over the trees and on to the standing team.
By the time the walking team reached the wood, partridge were flying thick and fast over the standing guns. Interspersed were some challenging pheasants. The seniors seemed to be shooting well but the young guns were holding their own. Eventually, the whistle signalled the end of the drive and the pickers-up went to work. As the two teams reunited, everyone exchanged compliments and all seemed pleased with their efforts and rewards.
This first drive set the tone for the day and, although the second drive was somewhat quieter, our team reached the drinks break in high spirits. Plenty of strong coffee combined with delicious homemade chocolate brownies suitably refuelled the team.
Due to the prevailing wind direction, the third drive was turned around and driven north. This drive consisted mostly of pheasants and then mainly hens: some good ones were shot, as per the rules, although most guns focused exclusively on the cock birds.
Sloe gin and sausage rolls
The bag was already starting to fill when we moved to the fourth drive. Little did we know that we still had three super sessions to come. This next drive provided a real challenge for all guns as large blocks of woodland were driven across a wide woodland ride. Numbers 4, 5 and 6 saw most of the action and dropped some fine cock pheasants as well as a couple of pigeon and two woodcock. After this hectic sport, the team was ready for a break. The weather had held and it was a pleasure to relax in the beautiful woodland and reflect on the last drive over a glass of sloe gin and some homemade sausage rolls.
The penultimate drive consisted of two large woods and two cover crops pushed to a high point and then out over our standing team. Due to the topography and the cover crops, the team enjoyed plenty of partridge in this particular drive. Many broke out the sides, providing some testing crossing shots for the team of walking guns. Fortunately, the team proved up for the challenge and managed to bag some fabulous birds. As always at this time of year, a few wily cock birds flew low out of the sides of the drives. Thankfully, all the guns ignored these birds.
A grand finale
Then the time arrived for one last exchange of roles before the final drive. Here we would, once again, blank in a mixture of cover crops and woodland belts before taking a large wood toward the standing team. This proved a good conclusion to an excellent day. Early in the drive, the two flanks of the walking line seemed to push partridge almost towards each other, which created an interesting array of driven and crossing shots for the team. From the middle of the drive onwards the serious sport began for the standing guns. Pheasant after pheasant flew high over the line, heading for a distant wood. The guns picked the best of the many birds available and acquitted themselves admirably. It was a grand finale and the day had provided an affordable way for our team to enjoy a day in the field.
This third leg of my sporting odyssey allowed a group of young friends to spend a great day together and to learn more about our sport from those who have lived their entire lives in the countryside. We finished with a good bag of 70 cock pheasants, six hen pheasants, 57 partridge, four woodcock, two duck and five various, giving a total of 144 head of game.
Lessons learnt
Although the team had all shot game many times before, this was the first walk-one, stand-one day for some. While gun handling and safety are critical in all shooting situations, they seemed particularly important in this instance. During the shoot briefing, those more experienced guns advised us to walk with our guns broken to reduce the risk if we tripped. Also, they reminded us to unload our guns when crossing a ditch or fence. Furthermore, we learned to take no chances with regards to barrel obstructions. It is easy to get mud in your gun when walking for long periods. So keep your barrels well off the ground and check regularly that they are clear.
The team was pheasant shooting on a cocks-only day, which is typical for late January. By focusing on cock birds, one can preserve a good stock of hen birds for the approaching breeding season and also reduce unhealthy competition between cock pheasants. Finally, during the day the team had the opportunity to view a shoot day from the gamekeeper’s perspective. This turned out to be an incredibly useful exercise: by walking a drive, one can appreciate all the work that goes in to producing a first-class driven day. And for some reason, when everyone pulls together, the fruits of the labour seem sweeter.
Walk-one, stand-one days can be physically demanding, so good, lightweight kit is important.
The costs and equipment
Due to the high number of guns involved in a walk-one, stand-one day, the costs are shared between more people. Also, because fewer beaters are required for the day and fewer birds need to be shown to make the bag, such days can be considerably cheaper than traditional driven days. Walk-one stand-one days can be secured for between £80 and £250 per gun for 80- to 150-bird days, depending on the number of guns and the hospitality included.
To minimise costs, consider buying a day locally to save on travel and lodging expenses. It is also a good idea to negotiate a fixed fee for the day with no overage provision. You can find opportunities for walk-one, stand-one days by searching on www.gunsonpegs.com or by visiting BASC’s www.goshooting.org.uk website. Alternatively, ask your local gunsmith or game dealer. If you are able to get your team together at short notice and you can be flexible, you may be able to get a good discount on the price of the day.
The team shot with a variety of guns from side-by-side 12 bores to over-under 28 bores. Light, breathable clothes were the order of the day due to the physical exertion involved in walking. Personally, I recommend good walking boots and waterproof gaiters. But really, anything comfortable and waterproof will do. Several of the new lightweight tweeds satisfy all the above criteria, although they are expensive.
Additionally, this type of day is the ideal time to make use of the game pocket in your shooting jacket. Most good jackets have a game pocket – and as a walking gun, stowing your prize in your clothing is certainly preferable to holding it in your hand. Alternatively, you could employ a game carrier or game bag.
The Clovelly Shoot is 2,000 acres of land by the sea able to show challenging pheasant from all four corners of its famed topography.
Timmy Dymond in action on the Gardens drive.
I hate to use this word but it was a ‘unique’ start to the shoot day, in that I left the modern confines of my room at the Red Lion Hotel in full shooting attire only to be pinned back by the shock of watching the groaning green and white sea pushing its way towards my door, the hissing waves exploding with a fizz and a crack on the pebble beach below my feet before retreating. I had arrived the previous evening feeling a little like Jonathan Harker in Transylvania, my belongings clutched to my flapping coat in the windy darkness, the light from a lone streetlamp shaking violently at the bottom of a cobbled lane guiding towards my billet on the harbour. But what a change the sunshine brings. Come daylight I was now able to appreciate the tight wooded coastline of Clovelly Bay at high tide as its cliff faces deflected the clutching swell of the Atlantic Ocean charging headlong into the Bristol Channel.
Guns who had either stayed overnight at the Red Lion or negotiated the steep, snaking road through the woods down to the harbour in the morning had begun to congregate at its front entrance. One jokingly screwed his shooting cap onto his head, another attempted to see how far he could walk towards the wild waves before nerves got the better of him. It was at this moment I caught the attention of Charles Goucher, a game farmer and RAC graduate who took on the lease at Clovelly seven years previously. The cold wind was blowing words back into people’s mouths as they tried to say their hellos but we were all soon in the dry (and audible) confines of the Red Lion’s snug bar to draw pegs, sink coffee, press palms and get used to the smell of sea salt in our nostrils.
Clovelly shoot captain Charles Goucher.
Charles was already running the noted Minal shoot near Malborough in Wiltshire before taking Clovelly on in 2007. He went into his new venture almost blind, having virtually no knowledge of the shoot even after signing the contract. “I didn’t even know which gateways to go through,” he joked as we drove through the woods towards the day’s opening drive, Gardens.
It was a tough opener, and perhaps the perfect metaphor for Charles’s first few seasons at Clovelly. Only now is the shoot getting to where he wants it to be, and the gradual success has come at the expense of quality sleep and under the cloud of the recession which hit at the end of their first season.
With the pressures the economic downturn brought Charles came to the decision that less would ultimately be more. After two years of running Minal, Clovelly (which are three hours and 163 miles apart) and a game farm in Devon, Charles, who lives in the nearby village of Dolton, chose to devote his energies to business closer to home. The marketing of the shoot is a family effort; the website, built by Charles’s son Luke and managed by his wife Gillian, is the source of bookings not taken via word of mouth.
Building Clovelly from the ground up
Charles has been grateful for the freehand he has received from the Rt. Hon. John Rous, the owner of Clovelly village and the estate itself. “It’s a very simple relationship,” Charles explained. “The estate doesn’t get involved in the shoot but it’s good to have the Rous family so close by. We don’t have a strategy about what sort of shoot Clovelly should be; as long as it has a good reputation – and that’s what we’re building here – that is enough for all concerned.”
Clovelly headkeeper James Dickson (left) with beatkeeper Simon Higgs.
Also central to Clovelly’s recovery and plans for the future is headkeeper James “Jim” Dickson, aged 32 who has worked for Charles in one guise or another for the past 12 years. A quick succession of personnel changes added to the difficulties felt in those early years at the new Clovelly, but even now, as more bookings come in and the shoot’s reputation builds, and while Charles views gamekeeping as “a way of life”, his relationship with James is such that he is not constantly looking over his young charge’s shoulder. “As long as the job is done there’s no reason why James or our invaluable beatkeeper, Simon, can’t afford to take time out from the shoot during the week and stay fresh. They’re both the same age and possess the same work ethic ensuring things are getting done a lot quicker now across the two beats we have here.”
Georgina was keen to be put to good use as soon as possible.
So how does this relationship manifest itself on shoot day and how is it helping the shoot to grow? As someone who loves watching people shoot, it’s important for Charles to be in “captain mode” from the moment he arrives at the shoot following the 40-minute drive from home. His day will start at 6am and a meeting with James and Simon will have taken place before many guns have even risen. There are some 50-odd days taken each season across the shoot’s two beats – the inland Hobby Hill and coastal Mouth Mill – and after each day data about the team’s performance, from cartridge to kill ratios to drives shot, is catalogued in preparation for their next visit.
Alistair Dickson, who had taken the day’s shooting.
Teams can take their pick from bags of between 200-500, and while a shot count is written into each contract, given that he prefers drives to go on for as long as possible on those larger days, Charles is not adverse to granting requests for drives to be extended – sometimes by up to 30 minutes – when teams find they are really starting to enjoy themselves. Keen on bringing new blood into shooting and making Clovelly as accessible as possible, he is also able to show his birds to those with shallower resources through a series of smaller bag days – around 150 head – during the season.
Guns take in Clovelly Bay at White Seats during lunch.
Being able to alter the flight of the birds to bring everyone into the action isn’t something that just happens on the day of course. Over the course of the summer, while guns are sunning themselves, watching the cricket or thinking about that pre-season sharpener, Charles and the team are already conditioning their birds to fly between woods and pens – “even the nine-week-old birds are getting used to flying on set wings before the start of the season,” said Charles.
Martin Shute pulls the trigger on London Lodge.
“People’s enjoyment is paramount in this sport, so for me to be able to come to the shoot in the morning, to speak to James and Simon and know that what we’ve planned will – barring any disasters – work well is fantastic. A good shoot is nothing without good communication. James and I are in contact with each other throughout the day – we have to be. During the drives he can’t see what the guns can, just as I can’t tell the beaters were they should be, so we have to be in constant communication to ensure an even spread of birds over the line of guns.”
Clovelly: Upholding the county’s reputation
While the pressure is on to produce “classic Devon sport” Charles is confident his approach will deliver time and again. “Our deep valleys, woodland and the tricks played by the coastal winds mean even our lowest birds at Clovelly are higher than those you’ll find in, say, eastern counties,” explained Charles, citing examples elsewhere where birds billed as “extreme” are simply unhittable and guns don’t know they’ve connected until the pickers-up come past laden with birds. Here at Clovelly though, there was always something in each drive a gun could hit and see fold in the air, even if they might have had to be have been more flexible than they thought as stock went to cheek. Clovelly is apparently at its best when the weather is damp and still, and Charles is proud that regardless of the weather the quality of his birds is what is getting guns talking. The party shooting on the day of my visit were brought together by James’ father Alistair, and even while the wind played havoc with their swing the number of birds being brought back by the pickers-up showed they could be hit by those who know what they are doing.
Head picker-up Sarah Garrigan laden with some of the spoils from the day’s final drive.
“It’s a package here at Clovelly. It’s not just the pheasants, it’s the scenery, the hotel… Some 95 per cent of teams shooting at Clovelly stay at the Red Lion, an asset that was under-used before we arrived. We find that the guns who’ve woken up and taken in the sea air are in a much better frame of mind before they’ve even pulled the trigger.”
How many shoots can say that?
For more information about shooting opportunities at Clovelly visit theclovellyshoot.co.uk
Distilling five decades in the pheasant shooting field to 10 stand-out memories - including Warter Priory, Alnwick Castle and Duncombe Park.
The flatlands of the eastern counties can provide breathtaking sport.
Editing a shooting magazine has its perks. In spite of the constant pressure of immovable deadlines, continually chasing contributor’s for copy and trying to meet the demands of the suits upstairs, you actually can find time to go shooting if you get the juggling act right.
In my best (or most tiring?) season, I managed 55 driven days between mid-October and the end of January. Not that it has always been so hectic.
The fun of living out of a suitcase that winter wore thin fairly soon, but it had to be done. And on the in-between stopovers at home when conditions were right I would be out on the flooded Washes, under the moon, shooting duck. Talk about burning the candle at both ends – even now I can’t work out how, in among all that pheasant shooting, I also got three magazines to the printer on time. Just goes to show that miracles do happen!
Back then I used to keep a record of most trips detailing the shoots and people I met, but annoyingly that massively precious game diary went missing in a house move. I still live in the hope it will turn up, but the reality is it’s very likely now buried miles deep in some council landfill site or other. So all that’s left are hazy memories of so many shoots.
Which 10 from all of them would feature first on a return-visit list, asked Shooting Gazette editor Will Hetherington? What an unfair question. It would’ve been easier had he said top 50 because there are so many that deserve a mention, and for so many different reasons.
Still, he stipulated 10, and 10 he’s got. Here they are:
1. Fernylea, Lothian
I’ve travelled up and down the A1 (The Great North Road) scores of times with gun and rod and never once has the rolling countryside between Berwick and Edinburgh ever struck me as having high-bird potential. On a grey winter’s day with the rain blowing in from the North Sea just yards away, it can also be one of the dreariest places in Christendom. Yet what do they say about books and covers? Hang a left off the main drag as you head north near Cockburnspath and a couple or three miles inland you run slap bang into a series of deep, steep valleys sweeping down from the Lammermuirs. Now the tops of these hills are well known for their grouse shooting which, in recent years, has been going very well indeed for those lucky few who enjoy this majestic sport. But, as with all hills, there is some interesting sport to be had in the valleys too…
I had my eyes opened when my brother-in-law John Hamilton invited me on a small mixed pheasant and partridge day on Fernylea – a shoot that takes in his own farm, as well as those of a few neighbours, including that of shoot organiser John Robertson. John considers that for height and consistency, Fernylea’s partridges would make it into the top five shoots in the country. And the pheasants he puts over the line aren’t far behind. In fact they’re absolute stonkers.
The downside to the place can be the wind, which when it really blows cancels out a number of excellent drives: the birds are there and do flush… it’s just they are so high and fast they can be almost impossible to hit. Hopefully I will be back again this season and John (Robertson) will have done what he said he would do last time – release more pheasants with the partridge. If the wind behaves itself, it should be a real thrill.
2. Vincent Sporting, Crewkerne, Dorset
I’m not at all sure this shoot still exists under this banner but it certainly made a decent enough name for itself when headkeeper Colin Ford was in charge.The Vincent shoot showed some wonderful birds – nothing silly high, just good, sporting pheasants. Yet what made my first visit there so memorable was when I didn’t hit a damned thing all day!
I travelled down the night before with photographer Bob Atkins and stopped en route to buy a pork pie from a retail outlet I won’t name here. It went down a treat but unfortunately it wasn’t quite so delectable when it reappeared unexpectedly in the early hours. Man, was I sick all the next day. The retching was bad enough but the real killer was getting vertigo and not being able to focus whenever I looked up at a bird.
The other notable thing that day was having European FITASC Sporting Champion Brian Hebditch – who then worked for Gunmark (now GMK) – back-gun me for a few drives. He was also a great deal lower; knocking down birds as clean as a whistle, one after another with a little 20 bore. In fairness he benefited very nicely from my illness but he must have wondered what the hell I was doing missing all these birds…
So, what did I learn from this experience? First, I discovered just how effective a 20 bore can be in the right hands and, second – NEVER to touch pork pie again the night before a shoot!
3. Thimbleby, North Yorkshire
Pity, I only once got to shoot this attractive estate sitting below the North Yorkshire moors, and that was when sharing a gun with a former member of the Royal Protection squad, a retired police officer who had gone on to set up his own sporting agency.
My word, though, what a party he put together for the day – a multi-billionaire Texan oil man with his own Jumbo 747, and half a dozen sundry multi-millionaire businessmen friends, also American. They were a good sporting bunch, and decent shots too. Kevin, the organiser (and other half of the gun), kindly let me do some picking-up with my newly trained Springer, Cassie, while he shot the first four drives before lunch, and photographer Tim Scrivener took a few pictures. I remember lighting up a wee cheroot in the morning with Jesse, the Texan, looking at me askance, saying: “What, BOY, do you call that?” He then produced a 10-inch Havana costing $400, all of two inches across. “Now that,” he said, handing it to me “is what WE call a ceeeegar…” Turned out he chewed four of the logs every day. “Can’t smoke ‘em any more. Doctor’s orders,” he told me. No kidding, that cigar was still smouldering a week later, and my jaw ached.
The signature drive after lunch saw us lined out at the bottom of an impossibly steep slope with a quarry face towering up 200 feet or more above. The early birds were well out of range but, as the beaters came a little lower, the pheasants fizzed over very high, but killable. I shot 19 pheasants stone dead without a miss – the first a singleton and the rest all rights and lefts. I’ve never repeated the feat since! To this day I still can’t understand why Winchester stopped loading its magical compression-cased Westerns. But, just maybe, I hit on the real winning formula for high-bird superstar status…$400 ceeegars.
4. Fenland pheasants
The Lincolnshire/Cambridgeshire fens with their flat tracts of featureless land can be forbidding in winter but, given the right weather at nesting time, they can produce prodigious numbers of wild pheasants. If you have never shot them before, grab the chance if it ever comes your way. It’s a driven experience like no other.
I count myself lucky to have shot on numerous fen farms and most notable among these are Nicholas Watts’ multi-award winning shoot at Deeping St Nicholas and Nick Harris’s farm at Newborough. No matter how carefully you go about getting around them, these birds will often be up as soon as they see the shoot trailer park up half a mile away. And unlike most reared pheasants, his wild cousin can, and will, turn 360 degrees if it spots something it doesn’t like the look of in front.
My first fen day came courtesy of the late Jack Pennington on his family farm near Holbeach and I will never forget the first drive. When I eventually got to my peg I took a look around my neighbouring guns but none were in sight… all were laid flat keeping out of sight of the oncoming pheasants.
Warter Priory is a big shoot that delivers memorable days for all the right reasons.
5. Bryn Mellin, Wales
Wales and its countless fine pheasant shoots has always been a happy hunting ground for me, but a trip to Bryn Mellin was particularly memorable. On this occasion I had been invited on a day organised by Mike Ross, then of cartridge giant Eley Hawk, to showcase its new range of non-toxic Bismuth loads.
After a couple of warm-up drives I heard cheering from the guns to my left as bunches of birds, disturbed from a mountain ridge, passed over, tiny specks, hundreds of feet above. A bit later, after the beaters had come off oxygen, a stream of high birds started to fan out across the line giving us all some extremely testing phesant shooting, John Wraith from Wards Gunshop catching the eye with a stylish and deadly performance. We were all a little sceptical about how the bismuth loads would perform in comparison to lead, but perform they did. In fact one of the highest birds I have seen killed, before or since, dropped to Mike’s own gun. It was an absolute corker that took an age to hit the ground. After the drive we tipped his pockets and cartridge bag out on the grass (and searched the empties) to make sure he hadn’t slipped something illicit into the chambers when nobody was looking…
6. Beaulieu, Hampshire
Mention of that bismuth test day reminds me of a thoroughly enjoyable autumn day trialling Gamebore’s rival non-toxic offering, the tungsten matrix cartridge. These killed well, too. No way can you say Beaulieu’s birds are in the high bracket, but what struck me on this and subsequent visits was their condition: fully feathered and strong fliers even early season thanks to a then policy of early release. It was also there I met that somewhat remarkable lady deer stalker, Jan Andrews, a meeting that eventually led to her joining the Sporting Gun team as a valued contributor on all matters deer related. Jan stayed with the title a number of years before election to the BASC Council soaked up what little free time she had. In an interview, Jan admitted in the magazine that her all-time favourite song was, of all things, Two out of Three Ain’t Bad by Meatloaf. She wouldn’t reveal why this incongruous choice struck such a deep chord but, who knows, maybe one day she will spill the beans?
7. Warter Priory, East Yorkshire
Thanks to the job, I have been lucky and privileged enough to shoot, or report on, more than a few commercial shoots across the UK, mainly in England and Wales, yet strangely enough, not as many as I would’ve liked in Scotland.
Cynics might say that once you’ve seen one big pheasant shoot you have seen ‘em all. Maybe there’s some truth in it: all the big hitters in the West Country show terrific birds, know how to entertain guests and without exception run like clockwork. Warter Priory in East Yorkshire ticks all three boxes as well, but then there are a few more pluses besides… and all thanks to the team involved.
Lots of commercial shoots can throw in a handful of drives and call themselves ‘high-bird’ venues but Warter is one of the select few that can put you under serious birds from start to finish, if that’s what you want, and your team can cope. To watch headkeeper Frank Croft marshal his often unseen beating team is a revelation in itself. Big it might be, but there’s always a friendly family feel to the proceedings here, thanks to a great beating team and bank of pickers-up.
8. Esh Shoot, Co Durham
Years ago a bunch of us formed a little roving outfit with well-known goose guide Alan Murray as shoot captain. First port of call was the Esh Shoot, tucked away in coal mining country near Eshwhinning – a small syndicate affair overseen by landowner John Hankey, who let a couple of days each season to help offset some shoot costs. We shot there every Armistice Day weekend for 10 years or more. Why go anywhere else? All we wanted was great craic and a bag of 70-80 sporting birds. Esh proved perfect, with three drives showing superb birds. Then John, for his own reasons, decided to put the shoot in mothballs. Glad to say he has since had a change of heart and the shoot is up and running with some of the original syndicate members back, steering things. And guess what? We’ve managed to bag a return visit this season! There’s a saying you should never go back in life, but nothing will deter our little syndicate renewing acquaintances with the Esh mob. Only make sure, John, I draw pegs 3, 5 and 7 on the high-bird drives…
9. Duncombe Park, Helmsley
The Feversham Estate has been in the driven pheasant shooting Premier League for the past 50 years or more, and it is still a first choice for countless shooters. It’s a star act in its own right but for me the attraction is personal, and for nostalgic reasons. As boys, cousin Steve Barker and I used to look down on the gun line in Ricaldale on the edge of his parents’ farm and watch princes, MPs and captains of industry such as Henry Ford ‘fill their boots’ on double-gun days. On dank mornings the valley would fill with gun smoke. And we always said one day we’d be in that valley – not to pick up spent cases for our own reloading needs – but to do the ‘shuttin’ ourselves.
Sadly, we never did get to shoot Ricaldale together but we did have a pop a couple of times on other noted drives when Steven was in his 20s, running the farm. Ashdale, Beckdale and the Deer Park were particularly satisfying. Then Steve, fine shot and great pal for so many years was felled by that filthy disease, leukaemia. Fittingly his final resting place is in a peaceful part of the farm at the top of the dale, overlooking the shoot… and boasting the finest vista this part of Yorkshire can possibly offer.
10. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
What isn’t there to like about this shoot set in such stunning countryside? Owners – the Percy family – understandably keep the best bits for themselves but there are plenty of ‘outer’ drives on this massive estate that show extremely sporting birds, some of them wild stock. I was lucky enough to shoot two days back-to-back which took in moorland edges to lowland park. In anything of a breeze the birds really fly well. Good birds, mixed bag, friendly folk and a happy, knowledgeable, headkeeper in Gary Whitfield. I will be back.
An ambitious young team at the Knoll shoot wrestles a fantastic shoot day from the ruinous clutches of terrible weather. Emma Harris reports.
Graham Morris (left) with father and daughter team Frank and Sarah Shellard.
Take a peaceful part of the Somerset countryside, add a dedicated team and a generous dollop of showcase drives for those with tight chokes and the ability to match. The result is the perfect recipe for the ultimate day’s shooting.
The first frost of the year greeted me as I travelled to the village of Faulkland, 10 miles south of Bath, ahead of a day at the Knoll shoot. Set within Lord Hylton’s estate, the Knoll shoot is well-established and spreads over 2,600 acres of countryside, with woodland and game cover set within soft, undulating hills. There are 20 drives in total here, ranging from small, secluded sections to big, sweeping woodlands from which birds soar. They are all drives requiring a good eye and a fast trigger finger.
Langdon Turner and James Francis have run the shoot for five seasons, shooting roughly twice a week, with bag sizes averaging 150 birds. The valleys are just the right height to make the birds as sporting as they come, as they rise from steep woodlands and large grass fields.
The co-shoot manager of the Knoll shoot, James Francis.
The headkeeper at the Knoll shoot is headkeeper is George Spiller. He has been at the shoot for three years and has put many hours into his role, working hard to ensure everyone enjoys good sport. He wants to see the shoot grow in reputation and is openly proud of everything the team is achieving here. There are now more game covers than ever before and even wild bird crops have been established. Pheasant pens have been enlarged to benefit the higher drives and to keep up with the demand and the high standards.
The co-shoot manager of the Knoll shoot, Langdon Turner.
On arriving at the Knoll shoot I was warmly greeted by Langdon and James, a roaring fire and hot coffee in a shoot lodge that nestles in amongst the surrounding woodland. The guns greeted each other with vigour, as talk turned to the day ahead and pegs were drawn while enjoying a tot of sloe gin. Instructions were given by George and included a warning that if a white pheasant was shot then every gun – except the person who shot it – must donate £10 each.
Headkeeper George Spiller has been hard at work since he arrived at the Knoll shoot three years ago.
There was much speculation as to who would make everyone empty their pockets. Not that anyone would mind as any money handed over is kindly donated to the local air ambulance, something they have done at the Knoll for a while, raising just over £1,500 last year.
On to the shooting at the Knoll shoot
We set out for L Shape, the first drive of the day. With the weather ever changing we encountered heavy rain that looked set to stay, but this didn’t seem to affect the sport or the guns’ spirits as the birds flew out of the cover. L Shape was a lovely drive to start the day and ensured everyone had a chance to get their eye in. Needless to say, all guns came away with smiles on their faces despite their attire being rather soggy.
Trevor Rossiter, who served as headkeeper at the Knoll shoot 40 years ago.
Not to be disheartened by the weather, we got back into the vehicles and navigated our way to the next drive. The rain was now easing and we had a short walk through a wood with the Wellow brook trickling its way through the middle. We stepped out onto a drive called Pylons, where there are now none present, the last one having been removed in 2013. With these eyesores gone, one has the most spectacular view of the opposite hillside from where the birds are driven. The sun was out, the guns lined up and the air was filled with high birds. Guns at each end of this drive had their fair share of sport, as the birds were steadily pushed from the cover above our heads into the woodland behind. This ended with a crescendo as the beaters reached the middle and flushed out the last birds, the sound of gunshot filling the air.
The sun shone and the birds were high on Pylons.
With skies much clearer now and the chances of more rain ebbing away, we headed for Ringwood. Langdon told me that in the past, birds – predominantly Manchurian-cross and 50 per cent Melanistics – have taken to curling round the edges on this drive, but with guns positioned from one end of the wood to the other, they had all angles covered.
A late elevenses at the Knoll shoot
Albeit a little later than planned, much-needed soup and nibbles were eaten back at the shoot lodge ahead of the last drive. The talk was of high birds and cartridge selection and the debate, I’m sure, could have gone on well into the afternoon. But with the skies looking menacing and the temperature dropping, it was time to load up and drive the short distance to Ranscombe. With a mixture of game cover and a sweeping curled wood, it was only a matter of time before the show started. Father and daughter team Frank and Sarah Shellard were sharing a gun for this drive, and the desire to swap over quickly enough that each could reap the rewards was obvious. At every peg, barrels were frantically reloaded and some guns cursed the fact they had not pocketed enough cartridges.
Vincent Turner, Langdon’s father.
We were then taken back to the shoot lodge where we found the table laid and the coffee brewing. This, along with the unmistakable smell of roast beef, couldn’t have been more welcoming. After drinks the guns and their hosts sat down to recount the day over supper.
Alfie the labrador on his way back to handler Kenny Swift with a hen pheasant.
As I headed back down the A361, I had a smile on my face remembering the drives we had enjoyed. I cannot help but conclude that this really is a lovely shoot, with an utterly dedicated team, whose hard work and commitment have made the Knoll shoot one that makes you want to come back for more.
For information about shooting opportunities at the Knoll shoot, contact Langdon Turner on 07971 666648.
Llandinam shoot is a game shoot that delivers excellent partridge and pheasant shooting.
Llandinam shoot underkeeper Sam Parkes.
Every time I get in the car to go shooting and the journey involves skirting around Welshpool, I know I am heading for some dramatic scenery and correspondingly good birds. This shoot is named after the village of Llandinam, which sits beside the River Severn as it meanders north-east through Powys on the way to Shrewsbury. At 220 miles, the Severn is the longest river in the UK, which hardly makes it the Amazon or the Nile, but it does make it a notable landmark. And in this part of Wales it is also close to some considerable hills. And where there are hills there are high birds, hence the excitement about passing Welshpool with a shotgun and slab of cartridges in the boot.
The stunning Welsh countryside plays its own role on shoot day.
So it was that I came to spend the night before this shoot day in the picturesque ‘black and white’ Maesmawr Hall hotel, which has the Severn almost flowing through its back garden, and is a couple of miles from Caersws. They are clearly used to shooters here as my gun was whisked away from me and locked up before I could say: “A pint of bitter please?” And after an excellent evening meal it was a pleasure to meet the team for breakfast in the private dining room in the morning.
The lie of the land at Llandinam shoot
The shoot has been running at Llandinam for 25 years and the 7,000 acres of shooting rights are rented from the Davies family. Mark Partridge, originally from rather flatter Bedfordshire, started as headkeeper here 23 years ago. He operated in this role for 17 years before taking over the whole package six years ago. So he now runs the shoot with his charming wife and local girl Stephanie. The shoot has always been run as a commercial pheasant shoot but the partridge drives were added two seasons ago, so they are a relatively new enterprise. Clearly, after 23 years here Mark knows the ground, and he thought the particular area where the partridges are now shot would not only hold the birds but would also offer some exciting shooting. The birds are bought in as day-olds and are reared at Mark and Stephanie’s smallholding a few miles from the shoot.
Mark and Steph Partridge have been running Llandinam shoot for six years.
In the season just gone there were 15-plus partridge days and more than 30 pheasant days, and the shoot can cater for everything from 150 to 400 bird days. This season the high-pheasant drives on Llandinam shoot achieved a cartridge-to-kill ratio of 10 to 1 with good teams of guns. So with around 50 driven days a season split between partridges and pheasants, this is a serious shoot and word has it the pheasants are something to behold, although we were not near that part of the shoot on this day.
A team of hot shots from the north-west
On the day of my visit the team of guns had mostly travelled from Cheshire, Manchester and Liverpool, and were hosted by larger-than-life character John Warburton and his wife Pam. A man who loves his shooting, John was happy to stand back during the day, expertly picking off the odd high bird, but for the most part enjoying watching his friends shooting. He has been visiting the shoot for a number of years and his genial endorsement can certainly be taken as a seal of approval.
John Warburton was the host on this day at Llandinam shoot.
To get to the partridge beat the guns take a 10-minute drive west from the Maesmawr Hall hotel and then head up a steep track just outside Llandinam village. The terrain changes quickly from the fertile valley bottom to a more barren landscape, with a few ominous-looking banks. Here the wind blows, and no doubt that was one of the reasons Mark thought the area would be good for partridges. After all they don’t need much of a breeze to get the after-burners going and leave the guns below scratching their heads.
Old habits die hard
During the shoot day Mark marshals the beating line; clearly old habits die hard. After 17 years as headkeeper here before taking on the shooting rights, he just can’t quite bring himself to stand back and let someone else do the hard yards. Not that he doesn’t have an able young underkeeper in Sam Parkes.
So while Mark and Sam control the beating line and the flow of birds, Liverpudlian Phil Heaton takes control of hosting, in conjunction with Stephanie. I was told that Phil has a background in stand-up comedy and judging by his never-ending store of lengthy jokes I wouldn’t be surprised. But he’s not just a comic turn, as he keeps a close eye on the drives as they unfurl and will notice if someone is out of the shooting. Radio contact with the beaters then allows the drive to adjust.
Fast birds and top guns at Llandinam shoot
And from what I saw, this well organised and close-knit team have got things right. The partridge beat is confined to one relatively small area on the hill, which is the case with many partridge shoots, so there is not much driving around during the day. In fact, apart from driving half a mile down the hill for a good lunch stop in a farm building, the vehicles didn’t move all day. This means guns can walk between drives, all of which provide curling, fast birds all the way up and down the line. The beaters take their time and it’s obvious this is where Mark’s influence comes in. All his years of experience have told him that slowly does it is the best way to keep guns happy.
The Quarry was the highlight on this day at Llandinam shoot, providing a stream of fast and high partridges.
The Quarry drive was the highlight. Here guns are well spaced out at the foot of the main hill, and the birds first pour over the left-hand side of the line at a testing height before the centre of the line get to stretch their necks on some screaming birds.
Lee McLachlan was in a rich vein of form.
Luckily there were some superb shots in action and Lee McLachlan was in a particularly rich vein of form. Elsewhere in the line Jonathan Kemp and Chris Pringle accounted for their fair share of the birds, while John Latham cut a fine figure in a smart shooting suit and shooting a stunning W. Richards boxlock.
Fresh challenges
Clearly Mark and the team know how to put on a good day’s shooting but I was interested to find out what the transition from keeper to owner was like? Mark explained: “It’s a steep learning curve because suddenly you have to be able to sell shooting, juggle finances, and be able to delegate. You also need a good team for front of house to meet the guns and take care of hospitality throughout the day. That really helps to take the pressure off. But when everything goes right it is so rewarding to produce top quality shooting and know you have done it the right way. Ultimately the most important thing is that the clients have a lovely day with the right quality and quantity of birds.”
Phil Heaton has a joke for every occasion and makes for the perfect shoot day host.
The team of guns on this day certainly went home with smiles on their faces, so I asked Mark what the plans are for next season? “We are hoping to do more days next year because of the overwhelming interest we’ve had this season, plus we are putting in some extra high drives because that’s what the clients want, even though the high drives we have now are already producing the wow factor. We listen to what the clients want, rather than working from what we think they want, and we take on board any constructive observations.”
John Latham cuts a smart figure in the line.
In this attractive part of rural Wales the money the shoot brings in to the local economy is very welcome indeed. And with such a well run shoot in place it would be hard to think of any reason not to go and try it yourself.
The shooting at Llandinam shoot costs £32 per bird plus VAT (including hospitality), and for further information visit llandinamshoot.com, email: talcen@pc-q.net or tel: 01686 411291.
Three exciting Shooting UK Events planned for 2015. Book your place now as places are strictly limited. Don't miss out!
Shooting UK has now launched three exciting new events for the readers of Sporting Gun, Shooting Times, Shooting Gazette and The Field – and of course, visitors to the Shooting UK website.
Whether you want to find out what jobs a gamekeeper has to do throughout the year, how you have a better chance of hitting those woodies, or are interested in stalking as well as going on an adventure, we have some fantastic one or two-day events lined up for you.
To ensure that every participant gets the most out of each Shooting UK event, we are keeping group sizes small, which of course means that places are limited and if you leave it too late, the chances are that they will be booked out. So pick up the phone today or email to secure your place.
We have already had a number of places booked as gifts for fathers, sons and grandsons, so if you think that you know someone, who would really benefit from taking part in one of these courses, then why not surprise them? Or why not get some friends to join you?
For full information, please click on each event link:
Batcombe shoot is the home of a game shooting syndicate some 25 miles from Bath where high birds and old-fashioned values abound.
Mark Burr in action on Reevers, the signature drive on the shoot.
In the modern framework of driven game shooting there are a number of ways to run a shoot. There are the larger commercial affairs, which cater for teams of paying guns and can lay on anything up to 100 days a season. These shoots will typically put on 250-300 bird days and they live and die by the quality of every single day. The teams will pay somewhere in the region of £10,000 for the day so the pressure is huge, and if you doubt that then just ask anyone who runs one.
Then there are private shoots run by the historically wealthy, or those who have more recently bought into the British dream of estate ownership and everything that comes with it. These beautifully manicured slices of our stunning land offer the lucky guests a chance to slip back in time for a day or a long weekend and enjoy the largesse of the generous host. Either you are in the club or you aren’t.
Ed Francis is one of the trio that runs Batcombe shoot.
And then there are the smaller syndicate shoots, of which there are hundreds, if not thousands, dotted all around the UK. These shoots tend to have strong links to their nearest village. And they will often be run by a committee of volunteers who all spend many hours working on the things that have to be done behind the scenes to make a shoot work. Some will have dedicated keepers; others will share these duties among the members. But what almost all have in common is the connection with the village. The pub will often be the focal point where the team meets in the morning and retreats to at the end of a long day. Most of the syndicate members will live in the local area, as will the beaters and pickers-up. So by definition the local syndicate has a communal spirit, and is run by friends for the mutual enjoyment of all involved.
Deepest Somerset
I am lucky enough to have been involved in one or two of these village shoots in my local area, but I also get the chance to travel the country and see how other people do it. Which is how I came to be in deepest Somerset in very early January this season to visit Batcombe shoot, 25 miles south of Bath and 10 miles north of the A303.
The eponymous village is hidden, and I mean hidden, among a network of narrow roads and winding combes that combine to create the sort of place one might expect to find Miss Marple pedalling her bicycle. Visually this is the England of yesteryear, with gorgeous stone cottages and grand houses nestled into nature’s nooks and crannies. The village is sufficiently remote to be off the beaten track for tourists, which no doubt is part of the attraction for its inhabitants.
From an ‘armed walk’ to 12 driven days
But of course we weren’t there as conventional tourists, we wanted to see what the shoot was like. And we were lucky enough to stay with Nigel and his wife Jennie the night before the shoot in their stunning house in neighbouring Westcombe. Over dinner Nigel explained a bit about the shoot: “It started almost exactly 20 years ago with four people from the village; back then it was more of an armed walk, a few birds put down and bags varying from single figures to 20 or 30 and only pheasants. Over the subsequent years much has changed but what has remained is the part-time keeper Chris Dove, who runs the beating line, and the feature of guns, pickers-up, guests and beaters eating together after the day is over at the Three Horseshoes Inn.
Take a peaceful part of the Somerset countryside, add a dedicated team and a generous dollop of showcase drives for More…
“Four years ago a young full-time keeper, Dan Brain, was taken on. He is now in charge of all the pheasant drives and Chris looks after the partridges. In all there are now seven partridge drives and eight pheasant drives, which is enough for the 12 driven days. The beaters and pickers-up traditionally remain volunteers, though they perform as well as any other team I’ve seen on my shooting travels. Away from the formal days we also have days when three or four guns walk the boundaries and hedgerows with the keepers and their dogs.”
With 12 main days a season over around 900 acres, split into three different areas, the shoot is run by a triumvirate: Mark Burr, Ed Francis and Nigel Humphreys. Mark is a top shot and excellent dog man who deals with a lot of the technical issues, such as cover crop selection and placement. Ed looks after the administration, and Nigel liaises with the landlords and sources the poults, among other things. Anybody who has ever been involved in running a syndicate will know there is an endless list of other jobs, so this broad division of labour probably does not tell the full story.
The bid system at Batcombe shoot
On a lot of local syndicates, guns will either buy full or half guns for the season, but at Batcombe shoot the system is more flexible. Nigel explained: “We have a slightly unusual way of allocating our days in that we run a bid system. So in early spring, Ed sends out the information about next season’s dates to all of our guns and invites them to bid for what they want. They can buy individual guns or take whole days if they want. This can lead to clashes but that’s where Ed’s diplomacy skills come to the fore and he is able to iron out the creases and arrange a season where everybody more or less gets what they want. And by some extraordinary chance we find this works very well indeed. It means we can accommodate different requirements from different people and we can be very flexible. So if someone does want to buy a whole day then that is absolutely fine.
For Nigel Humphreys, the laughter justifies all the hard work.
“But what we do try to avoid is people buying only one peg all season. From experience we have discovered this is not ideal, as it can mean we have people shooting together who don’t know the other guns and this can cause friction. After all, the whole point of our syndicate is to enable people to shoot among friends.”
Rain can’t stop play at Batcombe shoot
Having learnt a lot about the way the shoot is run over dinner, the morning dawned with heavy rain and plenty more forecast; not good for birds, beaters or photographer. However, the show must always go on and the whole team met at the Three Horseshoes for a hearty breakfast before setting off in the gun bus for the first drive, Beeches. Here it soon became apparent that the birds were not to be deterred by the wet weather and the same was true of Moore Lane and Crows Hill, where the village church provides the scenic backdrop and the guns really have to reach for some of the higher birds.
Batcombe is a thoroughly inclusive shoot.
Throughout the morning drives the well-disciplined beating line worked hard in unpleasant conditions to control the flow of birds, and the guns below did their fair share of hitting and missing. But the real stars of the show here are the birds. Yes, they have some encouragement in the form of classic shooting topography, but they fly high and strong to present some excellent shooting. It’s no surprise that three of the guns on this day travel from Norfolk every year to enjoy this type of testing sport.
After the third drive, elevenses were taken and the rain finally started to ease off. Apart from some excellent soup and sausages, the most striking feature of this break was its communal nature. Beaters, pickers-up and guns all share everything and it creates a relaxed and inclusive atmosphere. Nobody is left out in the cold at Batcombe shoot, clearly.
A classic drive
After the break, the team decamped to Reevers, which is the signature drive. You can always tell it’s going to be a good drive when just getting to the pegs is a challenge, and here the guns have to scramble down a long, steep slope before they are even within striking distance of the pegs. And like all top drives, it’s worth the journey.
There are large gaps between the guns but as the beaters steadily work the steep banks to the fore, a stream of high birds appear like phantoms to thrill and challenge the team below. Every bird brought down here is met with shrieks of approval from the rest of the team, and on this occasion Anthony Yateman won the respect of everyone present by folding a bird to remember for the rest of his days.
Guns scramble down the steep hill to the Reevers drive.
Having already enjoyed three very good morning drives, Reevers really did put the icing on the cake and showed that Batcombe shoot combines a communal attitude with some truly enjoyable shooting. However we weren’t finished and the final drive, Carrot Hill, enabled the team to reach a bag of 126 head for the day, including 43 partridges. And after a wet and wild day of exhilarating shooting, what could be better than a pint and a hot meal in a friendly pub? Cue the Three Horsheshoes…
Communal atmosphere at Batcombe shoot
So the local syndicate is alive and well and I have rarely seen a better example than here at Batcombe shoot. It doesn’t happen by accident but when it does, all involved should cherish it.
For the final word on Batcombe shoot I will return to Nigel: “We inherited the communal atmosphere and it has always been a village operation so it just has that characteristic. And for all of us involved we simply don’t feel that there needs to be a division between guns, beaters and pickers-up in a 21st century shoot like ours. We believe it is a thoroughly healthy way to progress and without this attitude the whole operation would collapse. The way the shoot is run allows everybody who lives locally to get out and engage with others in the community and it enriches the lives of all involved. But beyond that we do it for entertainment. A huge amount of work goes into making this work but the laughter and the smiling on the shoot days makes it all worthwhile.”
Yorkshire is home to some of the best game shoots in the country. How many of these are on your bucket list?
One of Warter Priory's exceptional drives.
The vast county of Yorkshire with its varied landscape contains hundreds of good shoots so this list represents just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to driven shooting in the white rose county.
Bolton Abbey
This 30,000-acre plus sporting playground on the banks of the Wharfe is owned by the Duke of Devonshire. It lies at the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales, and with high pheasants and some excellent grouse shooting on the moors, it really is very special. Meanwhile, the Wharfe also provides some pretty good fishing. To top it all off, the estate boasts one of the finest sporting hotels in the county – the Devonshire Arms is splendidly positioned to offer the sort of relaxed atmosphere, fine food and top-notch service that really puts the icing on the shooting cake.
Duncombe Park
Duncombe Park is right in the heart of North Yorkshire shooting nirvana. Helmsley is the charming market town at the epicentre of this driven shooting smorgasbord in the land of steep valleys and even steeper birds, where so many excellent shoots vie for attention. People travel from far and wide to enjoy a few days of neck-craning, wallet-busting sport every season in this part of the world and it’s really not hard to see why. Pay a visit in November in your shooting breeks and for once you won’t feel like you are in the minority. And at the heart of the Helmsley estate lies Duncombe Park, with a high proportion of the shoot taking place in classic English parkland. With more than 13,500 acres and in excess of 60 drives – encompassing everything from ravines to wooded valleys – the shoot offers 250- to 500-bird days and a wide variety of excellent sport. It’s no surprise that Duncombe Park has an international reputation for delivering the goods in the most stylish of ways.
Gunnerside
In recent years the resurgence in driven grouse shooting in northern England has been one of the great stories in shooting history. Technical advances in medicated grit and sheer numbers of keepers on the ground on the big moors have led to a series of bag records being broken, and the lucky few who have been involved have been spoilt beyond their sporting dreams. Many moors have seen this huge success but Gunnerside in stunning Swaledale stands head and shoulders above the rest. This 36,000-acre moor is owned by billionaire Robert Miller, an American by birth who now has British citizenship. He has used his considerable resources and his sheer love of grouse shooting to create something very special indeed in Yorkshire’s most northerly dale, and with it he has brought considerable employment to the whole area. Not many of us will ever be lucky enough to enjoy the thrill of a driven day at Gunnerside but we can all appreciate the time, money and love that has gone into making it an outstanding success story of modern day grouse shooting.
Mulgrave
Mulgrave is famous for its coastal drives but the inland drives are pretty special too.
This visually stunning shoot has been a favourite for a number of seasons now, not least as a result of the awe inspiring drives at the foot of the imposing cliffs. Here guns line out on the rocks with the North Sea crashing around them while the birds are pushed from one clifftop to the next. As they soar overhead guns get the chance to test themselves in some of the most dramatic scenery in the world of driven shooting. The rest of the shoot is not half bad either and with hospitality in the grand Mulgrave Castle this is the sort of shoot where fairytale dreams come true.
Raisthorpe
Mother Nature has done driven shooting plenty of favours in many regions of the UK and this shoot is no exception. The Yorkshire Wolds might have been made with modern day partridge shooting in mind. Forget the classic ideal of coveys of Englishmen hurtling over East Anglian hedgerows! This is redlegs cruising at high altitude across the seemingly purpose built glacial valleys. These gifts of nature are just wide enough to give the guns below a sporting chance, just high enough to make the birds the bookie’s favourites and just long enough for a team of eight to peg out in comfort. Add the recent addition of a superbly well appointed shooting lodge, some decent pheasants later on and the chance to shoot simulated game in the summer months and it’s not far from the perfect sporting package.
Rievaulx
The name has become synonymous with high quality shooting in North Yorkshire in recent years and the sheer range of sport on offer is extraordinary. Whether you want to shoot pheasant, pigeon, partridge or deer the options are all available here. But it’s for driven shooting that Rievaulx has earned its reputation and the estate covers approximately 5,000 acres of this beautiful part of North Yorkshire around the River Rye. Nearby Helmsley has often been described as a shooting Mecca in high season and its not hard to see why with its collection of excellent hotels, and the sheer number of good shoots within half an hour’s drive. Like so many other parts of Yorkshire the ground has already been prepared to a certain extent. Nine valleys are separated by stretches of arable farmland where game crops can be used to their maximum effect to ensure birds travel at some speed across the guns pegged out on the valley floors below. With a flexible attitude to providing for the sporting needs of all visitors the estate can cater for anything from small walked-up bags to much larger driven days with single or double guns.
Ripley Castle
You’ll be hard pressed to find a shoot manager who is more organised and particular in his pursuit of the ultimate day in the field than Frank Boddy, and his methods have made Ripley Castle one of Yorkshire’s most popular sporting destinations. A day at Ripley Castle is an ultra efficient affair but the strings are being pulled so subtly that you don’t realise how much is going on around you. There are no yardsticks or raised voices here. Days start and finish at the Boar’s Head in the centre of Ripley, and whatever the season guns will be treated to an astonishing array of drives in woodland and rolling countryside. One of the unique aspects of a day at Ripley Castle is the chance to attend one of the shoot’s McRipley days, all held in conjunction with the neighbouring Eagle Hall & Ashfold Side shoot. Here guns can add partridge, pheasant, duck, woodcock and grouse to their bag in a single day. As the man himself says, these particular days can go on for a while so plan a quiet evening afterwards!
Yorkshire is one of those parts of the UK blessed with more than its share of seriously high-bird shoots. Turn More…
Swinton Park
The focal point of the Cunliffe-Lister’s estate just 15 minutes from the A1 on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales is the castle at its heart, which is now run as a luxury hotel. The sprawling 20,000-acre estate has been in the family since the 1880s and it stretches from the River Ure in Wensleydale up onto the heather moorland high above.
When the family acquired the estate it was one of only two premier sporting estates for sale in the country, the other being Sandringham in Norfolk. And legend has it that the Royal Family visited Swinton and decided the pheasants were too high so they plumped for Sandringham instead. Well, everyone’s a winner as they say, because that means the Cunliffe-Listers got to lay their hands on this sporting goldmine. With such a wide variety of habitat, ranging from heather moorland on the tops to the deep wooded valleys below, it is no surprise to discover a wide ranging quarry list at Swinton, including grouse, partridge, pheasant and duck shooting.
And if you need a bit of practice or tuition or just fancy a quick blast on the clays, then the Warren Gill Shooting School sits on the estate and offers plenty of options for all levels of shooter. The hotel has a gun cabinet and boot room, and is just a short walk from the estate yard and game larder where guns meet and disperse at the end of the day. And if all that doesn’t sound tempting enough then how about some of the famous names from the past who have enjoyed the shooting here? These include ex Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Harold Macmillan and even Bing Crosby!
Urra
On the exposed northern edge of the North York Moors National Park, with the industrial heartland of Teesside just visible in the distance on a clear day, lies the rugged and beautiful Urra estate. Here the harsh landscape makes for some breathtaking shooting, with steep sided valleys, wild moorland fringe, and strong winds bringing wild weather in straight from the North Sea. Since 2005 the present owners have improved and developed the shooting here and now offer high quality driven game pheasant and partridge. But don’t worry if you and your friends aren’t all high bird aficionados, capable of doing a passable impression of George Digweed, Lord James Percy and Sir Edward Dashwood. Due to the varied terrain the estate can cater for teams who want more accessible sport too! Overall it’s a family run shoot with a clear emphasis on offering visiting teams the best day’s sport in an informal and friendly environment. The purpose built shoot bothy is at the heart of the shoot and provides the perfect meeting place in the morning and a warm welcome after a day in the wild weather out on the moors.
Warter Priory
Shooting Gazette has been waxing lyrical about Warter Priory ever since we first visited in the autumn of 2012. The day was masterminded by headkeeper Frank Croft, with the birds on drives like Eddie’s Gallery and The Plump presenting seasoned guns with endless challenges, not to mention warm barrels, aching jaws and memories to last a lifetime. None of this was an accident, either. There is a genuine local feel to this shoot and everyone knows their role well. Everything from the Wolds topography to elevenses from a custom-made shooting wagon makes a day at this 12,000-acre gem well worth the wait. Many a reader has told us that Warter Priory is on their bucket list, and those who have shot here are always eager to recount their own experiences when it comes up in conversation. Regular visitor George Karr summed things up perfectly during our time there: “Warter Priory can only be described as the perfect day’s shooting. The commercial element has been removed and they treat people like private guests. Coming here is like Christmas every day. You wake up in the morning looking forward to it and you’re never disappointed when it’s over.”
Burton Constable is a shoot reborn on an estate with links to Moby Dick that was once owned by the late John Chichester-Constable.
Burton Constable Hall watches on as the team is put through its paces on Chalk Road.
Bakers A. Voase & A. Jones of Preston, East Yorkshire, make the kind of sausage rolls that made your eyes bulge as a child. I used to think I was the only one who hadn’t grown out of this kind of gluttony until I saw the faces of the Burton Constable team during a chilly elevenses when a large bag, its bottom smothered in grease, was slowly drawn out in front of them. As everyone prepared to pounce, I noticed the cheery pig in a stripy apron on the bag’s front with a speech bubble proclaiming: “We bake all the pies”. I don’t know what Messrs Voase and Jones’ pies are like, but their sausage rolls… bloody hell. Goodness knows what the mad scramble for the last one might have been like if a photographer hadn’t been present…
A tale of two countrymen
I had to go through Hull to get to Burton Constable (not to be confused with Constable Burton, 109 miles to the north-west) and began to fret as the start time of the shoot briefing edged closer. According to the satnav I was 15 minutes from my destination yet was in slow-moving traffic in the shadow of the Humber Bridge. Finally I turned off towards open countryside and came to a lane buffered by maize with scores of pheasants on the verges.
Shoot captain Richard Wastling.
While negotiating an icy driveway I met Richard Wastling, shoot captain and 42-year veteran of the Burton Constable estate. Central to Richard’s education at Burton Constable was the late John Chichester-Constable, former estate owner and custodian of its once-neglected Grade I-listed Elizabethan hall whose transformation he spearheaded in 1962.
The estate has been in the Constable family for 700 years and before you even start on the Capability Brown parkland there is the small matter of a red brick mansion containing everything from Chippendale furniture and Lightoler architecture to an 18th century ‘cabinet of curiosities’ packed with fossils and scientific instruments. One notable resident is the 58ft-long skeleton of a sperm whale, which has been at the hall since 1836. Author Herman Melville was so enraptured by the mammal’s carcass that it formed the inspiration for Moby-Dick (Burton Constable is referred to in the novel).
Janet Burton at Walton’s Clump.
Royal Agricultural College graduate Constable, the 46th Lord Paramount of the Seigneury of Holderness, is astory in himself. Described in his Telegraph obituary as a “colourful and genial squire”, Constable was educated at Eton, witnessed the horror of Belsen when he arrived as part of his father’s Rifle Brigade regiment in 1945, served as High Sheriff of the East Riding of Yorkshire, was the Hospitaller of the Order of Malta, and even briefly managed the 1960s British Invasion band The Hullaballoos.
Picker-up Colin Clixby and his team.
Constable died in December 2011 aged 84, but even three years on from his death, Richard’s voice was melancholy when he talked of their relationship – one he clearly treasures. Even in death, Richard showed his former employer great respect by always referring to him as “Mr Constable” or “Mr C” and it would be of real benefit to the Burton Constable archivists if Richard committed their working life to paper. Taking someone under one’s wing is an expression that could have been created with Constable and Richard in mind, and from our conversations it was clear this “colourful and genial squire” had plans for someone who started life on the estate as a farmer before a career change in around 1990.
“The land agent retired and I asked Mr Constable who he was going to get in to replace him,” Richard explained. “He looked me straight in the eye and said ‘you’. I told him I didn’t have any qualifications for the job and he said I didn’t need any because most of the job was common sense, adding that if we needed an expert’s opinion we’d get one in. That’s how it started.”
There is more to Yorkshire’s sporting heritage than grouse moors, high pheasants, beautiful scenery and pulling the trigger. Scores of More…
Fast-forward to 2013 and circumstances led to Richard taking on the shoot. As someone who had shot over the estate for the previous 25 years, Richard’s knowledge made the journey into shoot management less daunting than it might have been. He never had any ambitions to run the shoot, but it seems the guiding hand of his former employer came into play as he found himself taking on more responsibility and ultimately the task of giving it a new lease of life.
“Having been part of the estate for so long I’ve got the shoot’s best interests at heart,” he said. “The whole job works because I’m responsible for things like woodland management, which has made things so much easier. I could always see potential areas for improvement when others have had the shoot, and our close relationship with tenants [Richard’s son farms 1,200 acres on the estate] means we can experiment with game crops ‘in-house’ without having to seek anyone’s permission.”
The gamekeeper at Burton Constable
Richard would be rudderless without his gamekeeper of four years, Phil Pearson. Phil, with his wife Sarah, works tirelessly to put his knowledge of game farming and a stint at Warter Priory into use at Burton Constable. They haven’t hung around. The shoot now has its own hatchery, which is helping chicks bred from caught-up hens and Polish Bazanties to thrive. The birds are described as “well trained” and Richard knows how lucky he is to have the husband-and-wife team around.
“I wouldn’t be running this shoot if it wasn’t for them,” he said. “Phil is fantastic at rearing game and I’ve never known anyone as athletic as Sarah. She walks miles to fetch the birds. They’ve got full-time jobs and two sons, but you’ll see them all out on weekends and evenings during the summer making sure all is as it should be. We’re a syndicate shoot and every single gun knows the sacrifices the family makes.”
Gamekeeper Phil Pearson.
A test of the team’s mettle came during the middle of the season when an energy company was granted access to the estate to perform seismic surveys. “That’s 70 men walking around, digging holes, setting charges and letting them off,” said Richard.
“You can imagine the problems that caused. Birds were constantly being moved around the estate and it was a logistical nightmare. There were times when Phil and Sarah would go to a pheasant pen and it would be empty.”
Picker-up Caoimhe Gordon and her team.
In the end, as on all finely tuned shoots, those who make Burton Constable tick are the ones who get them through the harder times. The people here know what makes their friends smile: the sloe gin is made by Richard’s partner Sam from berries picked by Eric, Phil’s right-hand man. There was a seemingly endless supply of chocolate and the conversation regularly turned a wait-until-I-tell-your-wife-what-you’ve-just-said dark blue. Everyone knows everyone, so nobody has to tip-toe around anything other than the dogs. From the slightly mysterious Caoimhe Gordon, who I chatted to before the start of a snap shooting frenzy at Moors to Marton, to the elderly gentleman working his cocker on Salt End, everyone was able to add their own nugget of information about the shoot.
Changing times
Though the sporting rights cover 3,500 acres at Burton Constable, the shooting is mainly concentrated on 250 acres of woodland and gently rolling farmland at its centre. There are 25 drives on the estate, mostly established for well over a quarter of a century. That’s not to say the shoot stands on ceremony. When Richard took the shoot on, one of his first tasks was to catch-up the 2,000 birds whose quality was falling with each passing season and to sell them, starting again with the Polish Bazanties.
Tom Kirkwood on Swiss Cottage.
The scale of the project must have made the team nervous but the gamble looks to be paying off, thanks in no small part to Phil’s husbandry skills. There was still the matter of finding the guns to shoot them, however. Richard conceded that his first season was slow with a few blank days, despite two existing (if depleted) syndicate teams taking the majority of them. Nevertheless, news soon spread that Richard was at the helm and in a few short seasons the syndicates became full again to the point they are now over-subscribed. The birds are in demand too, with Richard happy to supply pheasants to neighbouring shoots in return for feed.
Eric Broughton, Phil Pearson’s right hand man.
But there are still challenges to face. Richard explained: “When the game crops were at full strength earlier in the season, it was much easier to rotate the drives but the pool shrank rapidly by winter. We put too much triticale out and not enough maize. It didn’t last as long as we’d have liked so we’ve had to rely on our woodland drives sooner than I wanted. Next year we’ll be planting maize and probably something else that will work better with it.”
Key to Burton Constable’s rebirth has been variety in the shooting and the new format of the day. When Richard first shot here as a tenant farmer, the guns would take lunch in the hall’s cafe. While lunch is still a cordial affair, these days Richard doesn’t like to get too bogged down in port and puddings.
Styche Monument.
“I’m not a fan of stopping for a big lunch,” he explained. “It spoils things for me because it takes too long to get everyone’s boots off and sat down and before you know it, it’s getting dark and the day has lost all momentum.”
The lie of the land at Burton Constable means the birds are by no means screamers, but with well-drilled beaters getting their angles right so often during our visit, guns needed to have their wits about them.
The past, the future
Does Richard ever have Mr C in his ear when making his decisions? Does he ever go to the beautifully restored walled garden where a Churchillian statue of his former mentor surveys the changing face of his ancestral home to ask for his advice?
“Mr Constable was insistent about how he wanted things to be left after he’d gone,” said Richard. “He certainly left the estate in a lot better condition than he found it. The shoot was never really a part of his legacy, but I think he would be pleased with how it’s being run.”
Why have one when you can have two? Sporting Gun is giving one reader the chance to win a stunning pair of Miroku MK60 O/U shotguns.
The MK60 High Pheasant was voted best New Shotgun at this year’s Time Inc. Shooting Industry Awards and it’s not hard to understand why.
The MK60 in its standard form has been around for many years, and in itself, is one of the fi nest game guns available on the market at any price. But, with a few simple amendments, this gun, or even pair of guns, has become the talk of the gameshooting community, and the gun of choice for many of the top game Shots no matter what their budget.
Its fixed choke barrels were extended out to 32in and were bored full (top) and 3/4 (bottom). Standard Miroku stock dimensions were raised in the comb to aid target acquisition, and an auto safety was added as standard.
It features beautiful grade 5 oil-finished walnut and deep elaborate hand fi nished scroll engraving. The balance is exquisite and the quality of manufacture means that even the most demanding of high bird Shots can use heavy loads without fear of failure.
The winner’s guns will be numbered I and II in gold in three places and presented in a stylish double leather case.
So don’t delay, enter today and you could receive the best early Christmas present!
Full entry details can be found with the October issue of Sporting Gun.
Pulp fiction writer and shooter Guy N. Smith’s 7½-acre shoot is one of the miniatures of the UK. Here he describes how he realised his dream of creating his own small shoot
Small fenced in area of trees and shubbery planted by Guy N Smith, fenced off to keep the deer out. Pic credit: A. Ward
Back in the 1970s I made a couple of life-changing decisions. I resigned from a secure job in banking to become a full-time writer, sold my house in suburbia and moved with my wife and four children to live in a remote area of the Shropshire-Welsh border hills. Friends told me that I was crazy but wished me the best of luck.
The choice of location for my new home was not made on the spur of the moment — I had been renting the shooting rights over an adjacent 500 acres of Forestry Commission land for some years before. Now I had my own land here, all 7½ acres of it. It would be my very own shoot — a youthful dream that was about to become reality.
The land in question was a steep hillside, grazed down to the butt by the previous owner’s sheep. The only trees were six mature oaks and an elm, which would succumb to the disease that would sweep the UK a year or so later. Would it be possible to create a mini shoot here? It would not be easy but I was determined to give it a go.
Some form of cover was a priority. This entailed the planting of two mixed spinneys, most of the trees coming as saplings from some of my former shoots — their owners only too pleased to get rid of them. Conifers formed a shelter belt around the perimeters, and clearings were made to allow sunlight to infiltrate.
Planting spinneys
On the main slope, we let scrub trees and undergrowth, broom and gorse, grow unchecked and then cut parallel rides horizontally, each of approximately 400 yards. This would provide ample walked-up shooting and take up a good couple of hours to work thoroughly.
My former forestry shoot had been somewhat sparse regarding quarry species, apart from rabbits and pigeon, and my own patch was a distinct improvement, principally because we had created the right habitat. We reared a few pheasants, concentrated on predator control — mainly foxes — and fed regularly. Holding birds on such a small area is not easy but if the neighbouring land is mainly conifer forest and pastureland then you stand a much better chance. I was delighted when some of our pheasants bred in the wild and provided us with a few extra in the following seasons.
In the early days, a covey of around a dozen grey partridges used to visit from time to time. Sadly we have not seen any in the past few years, due to modern farming methods and an increased badger population.
From the outset, overall conservation has played a major role in my set-up. There are nesting boxes in both woods and ample feed around the hoppers during the harsh winter months.
Other wildlife has flourished — adders and grass snakes, and common and sand lizards — and I am amazed at the wild flowers that have emerged on the grassy areas where they have lain dormant for many years.
Roe deer and muntjac
Roe deer are attracted by the natural habitat. Pic credit: A. Ward
It was some years after my move to the hills that deer began to appear, mostly roe and the occasional muntjac. They used the nearby forest for shelter but found natural feeding on my land to their liking. We left them in peace to acclimatise for a couple of years before stalking became part of our sport. The rides are ideal for stalking on foot but we now have a high seat on the edge of the upper spinney, overlooking a wide clearing. Given their small numbers, culling, apart from any old or infirm beasts, has not yet become a priority.
I take the occasional roe for the freezer, but do not want this small group of about eight or nine reduced at this stage. During the winter months I feed them stock carrots and hay along with a mineral lick.
Secrets of success
The secret of a successful small shoot, as I have discovered, is a lack of disturbance and not to over-shoot one’s resident game and deer. I am a traditional roughshooter and my policy is to provide for the family table as well as to ensure that any friends who join me go home with something for the pot. I do not want large bags even if that was possible.
I have a small, unofficial and occasional “syndicate” of four Guns. Safety is our priority on this small acreage and it is important that everybody knows exactly where the others are.
Mostly, though, I shoot on my own. One of my favourite guns is a century-old Thieme & Schlegelmilch 16-bore/9.3x82R Drilling. It is ideal for pot-hunting when the freezer is running low and meat of any kind is a priority: rabbit, pigeon or game in season, or a deer if one happens to present itself. With just a flick of the lever there is an instant choice of shotgun or rifle.
Winters are usually harsh up here in the hills above the snow line but a brief outing last year yielded a brace of pheasants and a woodcock in under an hour. I was satisfied.
Mine may not be the smallest shoot in the UK, but it surely ranks among the miniatures. Most satisfying is its continued success and the fact that it was created in its entirety from what was once barren grassland.
The flightpond
Duck flighting pool built and lined, full of algae, but clear in the winter with ducks flighting in. Pic credit: A. Ward
Creating a flightpond on a gradient was going to be tricky, but there was nowhere else suitable. So we bulldozed a shelf out of the hillside and used the surplus soil for banks. Initially, we lined it with heavy-duty builders’ polythene (right) but eventually replaced this with butyl. The water area was about 20 yards by eight yards, and the surrounding vegetation grew lush in about a year to give it a natural appearance. We had got it right and all the hard work proved worthwhile the following autumn when we flighted a few mallard here. Duck now use it regularly.
Trail cameras and cage traps
Trail cameras are an excellent means of determining just what wildlife is using one’s land. I keep a couple, moving them around on a weekly basis. I can check on how my pheasants are faring, how many deer are visiting and what vermin are about. I wish these cameras had been available in my formative years here.
Another piece of useful equipment is my 4ft by 4ft cage trap for foxes. This is checked on a regular basis, usually to release badgers but it does account for the occasional fox. When I lived in the Midlands, a lady smallholder had a cage that she had made out of vegetable crates and one winter caught 100 foxes. My catches are minimal, though, and I can only conclude that this is because in remote countryside the animals are wary of anything artificial, while around urban areas they are used to man-made equipment.
I am not one to rest on my laurels, though, and there is still much to be done. Woodland management is carried out regularly so that our small plantations do not revert to a wilderness.
Big cats
There have been hundreds of sightings of “big cats” reported throughout the UK in recent years.
We have had our share here, principally a caracal that my daughter watched hunting for rabbits in the gorse for about 20 minutes. Others have seen it and I photographed some tracks in the snow that were confirmed as being those of this lynx species by the late A.J. de Nahlik, a renowned expert on large felines.
It was last seen by a friend who assists me with keeper’s duties last autumn when it trotted out, quite unconcernedly, from behind a fallen tree. We can only wait for future sightings and hopefully a conclusive photograph of this animal on one of the trail cameras.
As the pheasant shooting season kicks in here is our pick of four of the best game guns in their class. Every one would hold its own on the grandest drive or the most challenging walked-up day.
You need to be thinking in terms of weight, gauge, style and action. Budget is probably a consideration too of course. Here’s our roundup of shotguns for the pheasant season rated by our readers and experts. Click on the name of the gun to read the full review and details of where to purchase.
This is an incredibly popular gun and has been built to Beretta’s usual proven design with no compromise in the quality to make a cheaper model. Keenly priced at £1,495 (starting). You might also like to look at the Beretta 686 Onyx and the 686E Evo shotgun.
If you’re looking for a good all-round gun then you’ve found it here. With a name like this, it’s designed for game shooting but you would also find it a good choice for shooting clays at club level. Expect to pay around £2000 for the Grade 1 and around £4000 for the Grade 5 version.
Very popular. More expensive than the 686 with nicer wood. As a combination it works exceptionally well and will appeal to the sportsman who struggles to adapt quickly from one gun to another. Expect to pay around £6,200.
“If you’re going to do it, do it in style,” says Huw Clarke of Game On Game Services when we asked him about his favourite guns for pheasant shooting. He picked out the Purdey which comes in at £37,200. For that you get a superb gun that is a delight to own and use, beautifully finished in Turkish walnut.
Huw Clarke is based in the Cotswolds and can be reached on + 44 (0) 1451 861089 and is a well-established instructor experienced at running shoots.
New research questions RSPB numbers by showing around 15million fewer gamebirds are released each year than claimed
New figures estimate 27.9million pheasants and 7.5million partridges are released in the UK each year. Pic credit: A. Hook
New BASC research has challenged RSPB claims that the shooting industry releases 50million birds into the wild each year.
Real figure closer to 34.9million
The paper, Impacts of gamebird release, says the real figure lies closer to 34.9million birds and describes the significantly higher estimate as being “based on unreliable extrapolation”.
BASC formulated its estimate by using figures from the GB Poultry Register, feed sales, veterinary information and industry sources.
The estimates from these various sources range from 29.6milllion to 41.9million birds in total, with BASC taking the average of 34.9million. The paper estimates that around 80 per cent (27.9million) of the total are pheasants, while 20 per cent (7.5million) are partridges.
RSPB dispute BASC findings
The RSPB has disputed BASC’s findings and stands by its 50million estimate, telling Shooting Times: “GB Poultry Register figures indicate that 50,287,533 non-native gamebirds were released across Britain in 2013. This is a nine-fold increase in pheasant releases and a 200-fold increase in red-legged partridges since the 1960s.”
The BASC paper also quotes the GB Poultry Register, but gives the much lower figure of 33.2million. It believes this discrepancy is due to the RSPB misinterpreting the data.
Richard Ali, chief executive of BASC, responded: “The RSPB is quite right in that the GB Poultry Register for 1 January 2013 does state the figure of 50,287,533 gamebirds. However, this number does not reflect the number of gamebirds as of 1 January 2013, nor does it reflect the number of gamebirds released by shoots in either 2012 or 2013. The Poultry Register is designed to assist the Government in identifying premises in case of disease outbreaks. It therefore includes significant occurrences of double counting. It is a major overestimate of actual gamebird numbers.
BASC defence
“Our estimate of 34.9million gamebirds uses the best available data from the Government, the gamebird feed industry and shooting providers, and is therefore robust.”
The issue of multiple counting in the Poultry Register was discussed in the House of Commons in 2006. The environment minister at the time, Ben Bradshaw, told Parliament: “A form of double-counting has occurred where the same birds have been registered by the gamefarm at rearing, and by the shoot following purchase. This has produced an overestimate in total bird numbers.”
Andrew Gilruth of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) welcomed the paper, but said the number of birds released is less important than where: “BASC must be congratulated on sharing their assessment that the UK releases 2.5 gamebirds per hectare of countryside. The GWCT is interested in the impacts releasing has on our countryside and this is why we have conducted most of the conservation research in this area.
“From a conservation perspective the ratio between local gamebird stocking density and release pen area is more important than the number released, and this guidance has been enshrined within The Code of Good Shooting Practice.”
An attack at the Wasing Estate is another in a spate of crimes targeting birds in Berkshire
The birds were decapitated and their heads impaled on fence posts at the Wasing Estate on October 10 after the attackers used catapults to knock the pheasants from their perches in the middle of the night.
The estate belongs to documentary maker Joshua Dugdale, who is Prime Minister David Cameron’s cousin.
A witness, who asked not to be named, said: “There were birds apparently shot with catapults, bird feeders smashed, pheasants beheaded or smashed into railings and bodies dumped in water tanks.”
Locals suspect that a group of travellers who live near the estate may be to blame
The motivation behind the attack is unknown. The incident is one of three recent reports of criminal damage involving game birds being killed in Berkshire – 250 pheasants were reportedly slaughtered at farms nearby.
Jack Knott from the Countryside Alliance said: “If they’re actually doing senseless slaughter of them and not even taking them it’s a bit more of a worry especially if it’s the same sort of thing at different farms. It’s a little heartbreaking especially at the start of the season when you’re just getting ready and just getting up and running.”
Sgt Alan Hawkett, from the Bucklebury and Downlands Rural Crime Team said that it has been difficult to progress normal lines of enquiry because of the remote locations of the crimes. He said: “We are working with landowners to find ways of protecting their property.”
Strong pheasants have come through the summer in good numbers; here Tom Payne offers tips to help judge their flight
Now we really are in full swing, with the season well under way, and I’m sure that many of you have already enjoyed your first outings.
I’ve spoken to many keepers and they’re all singing from the same hymn sheet; the birds have come through the summer in good numbers and, in many cases, have feathered up very well. There has been a huge amount of dogging-in on many estates because of a late harvest and a heavy hedgerow harvest, encouraging many birds to wander from home. I don’t ever feel this to be a bad thing — yes, it creates a lot of work for keepers, but the keepers I’ve spoken to think that it encourages good, strong birds, as they’re flying home every day, so you have strong-flying birds from the start.
It is rare now to shoot an early pheasant day in October, as many shoots choose to give their birds a bit more time and it is more common now to shoot the first pheasants in late October or early November.
Here are some pheasant shooting techniques to help you in the field
Footwork and balance
In all forms of driven shooting, good footwork is the building block for any shot, and with good footwork comes good, controlled balance. Without these two factors at the start, shooting consistently will become impossible.
I always describe footwork as moving according to what the bird is doing. You don’t move because the rule book says you move — you move because you have watched the bird in flight correctly and moved your feet without mounting your gun, preparing yourself for the shot. If you start moving and mounting, you will end up in a whole world of trouble, pulling the muzzles away from the line of the bird, and just tie yourself in knots. Remember, the bird dictates where you move your feet if you watch it correctly.
Without mounting, move your feet as you watch the bird in flight, preparing yourself for the shot
Gun mount
In order to shoot consistently, you must be able to mount your gun smoothly and accurately on to your moving bird. This will enable you to read speed, distance and direction in one smooth movement, allowing you to make the shot at the correct time and with good timing.
If you are unable to do this, you will continually misread the bird and cause inevitable misses. It is important that you try to reduce factors that could affect consistent gun mounting. Address your chosen bird correctly by, for example, holding your muzzles just below the line of your bird for a straight-driven bird, and make sure your eyes are in line with the muzzles. Keep looking at the bird and keep your head still as you bring the gun to your cheek. Watch the bird as you pull the trigger, and watch it fold in the air, making sure you finish your shot smoothly and correctly.
Watch the bird as you pull the trigger and continue to watch it as it folds in the air
Know your distances
Knowing the distance of birds is very important. I’ve seen so many people beat themselves up because they are missing or, worse still, pricking birds that they think are killable and they just aren’t unless you fire that lucky golden pellet straight on the chin. Part of consistent shooting and shooting to the best of your ability is knowing what you can kill cleanly and safely. It is important to understand your distances. I can’t stress this point enough — it really does make a huge difference.
Understand the field
This all comes under the heading of good fieldcraft. Understanding the conditions on the day, the way birds move and slide in different winds, how a drive works, the topography of a drive, and whether a bird is gaining or losing height — and generally paying more attention — will improve your shooting no end. Sound style and technique form the final piece in the puzzle of being able to shoot to the very best of your ability.
The hardest days to shoot
The psychological side of shooting is always important, and confidence plays a big part. The hardest days to shoot on are the small days, when opportunities are few. If you get off to a bad start, you have little chance to get the wheels back on. Bigger days are easier, because there are more opportunities to recover.
Enjoy the day and be realistic about the challenge the birds present. Always be the first to laugh if it goes wrong, and always be positive.
How breeds of pheasant fly differently
Can the differences between the breeds of pheasant affect a Gun’s ability on the day?
This is a subject I’ve given more thought to over the past couple of seasons. We speak about the difference in speeds of varying gamebirds and the strength of birds in flight, but I think that, within the pheasant family, different strains have different qualities, and more consideration should be given to this when shooting. I’m not going to go into the subject in detail, but it makes sense that differently performing birds require a bit more thought. If you are aware of the behaviour of different strains of bird — and, indeed, the different sizes of bird — your ability to read them in flight will be increased, helping to improve your consistency on the day.
Old English blackneck
Old English blackneck
Commonly used on shoots that mainly consist of woodland. This is a big pheasant and a deceptive flyer, giving the impression of being a bit slow and cumbersome, but don’t be fooled.
Polish bazanty
Polish bazanty
The Polish bazanty has become the popular bird on many shoots in the UK.
It’s a medium-sized pheasant and a strong and hardy bird. Many shoots find them straightforward to flush, so the surprises to the Guns are limited, and they are brilliantly strong flyers. There is, I think, no pheasant in the UK that can move and slide like this breed on windy days, especially in crosswinds, making them a real challenge.
Common ringneck pheasant
Common ringneck
For many shoots, this has always been the go-to breed. It’s a large and powerful pheasant that is capable of taking on very windy conditions. As breeds go, I’ve always thought this breed of pheasant deserves a bit more respect when shooting, as its size and power can be deceptive.
Kansas
Kansas
I have seen this breed being used more and more in the past couple of seasons. It’s a small breed, and can give the impression that it is moving a lot faster than it really is.
They are known for flying a bit higher than some breeds, and low-ground shoots have started using them a bit more. When standing under them don’t be fooled by their speed, which can catch you out. They are flighty birds and can become line-shy quickly if shot too hard.
Tom’s top tips for successful pheasant shooting
Pay more attention to the breed of pheasant you are shooting on the day. They are all different and can all behave slightly differently in flight. Their speed, apparent size and manoeuvrability can change in different conditions, so gen up!
Remember your footwork is the basis for any shot: if you get your feet wrong, the shot is sure to go wrong. Your feet move because of what the bird is doing in flight, not because the rule books say you have to move. Move your feet correctly before you mount the gun and make the shot.
A good, consistent gun mount is very important. Reduce the factors that could go wrong in mounting the gun consistently on to your pheasants. Address the bird properly and set yourself up for the shot. Don’t rush and don’t panic. Finish your shot properly by watching the bird fold in the air.
Fieldcraft is very important. The more you understand what is going on, by reading a drive and the conditions, the more you will understand the birds in flight.
Keep smiling, have a really great season and simply enjoy your pheasant shooting!
So the season is over for another year. But what should you do with birds left on the ground? Liam Bell explains
Hen pheasants are sometimes bullied by the older cock birds, especially if there are only a few hens left
Regardless of the number of birds you shot on your last day, it is probable that you saw or flushed three or four times as many. What happens to the birds that survive the shooting season, and how they are looked after when it has finished, is important.
It would be morally wrong for us to leave them to fend for themselves at what is usually the coldest, wettest and hardest time of year. They need looking after and feeding for another couple of months at least.
Catching them after your last day’s shooting and before the season ends is a tall order if you shoot the last weekend of January, as most of us do. Even on the shoots that do catch up, there are still going to be birds left on the ground, no matter how thorough they are.
Provide enough feed so that birds don’t need to compete for it
We keep feeding our birds for the whole of February, March and April and, in some years, into May as well. There are fewer of them so we use less feed and it obviously takes us less time to get round them. We reduce the number of hoppers as it is easier for us to fill up one or two properly rather than having a whole row of them to check and fill. However, we make sure there are enough of them for the birds to feed on without their having to compete for food and bully each other.
Dominant cock bird
Frequently, a dominant cock bird will decide a hopper is his and his only, and drive off other cocks and harass the hens when they come to feed. If there are two, three or more hoppers in the same area, he won’t be able to guard them all and the other birds should be able to feed in peace.
There used to be a theory among gamekeepers that the remaining cock birds needed thinning out or culling at the end of the season, so that they didn’t bully the hens when they started to sit or encourage the following year’s poults to stray. Hence “cocks-only days”. Shooting them at the end of the season is probably good practice because they do bully the hens, especially in places where the hens have been caught up and there are only a few of them left. Shooting them out of season is breaking the law and not good for the image of gameshooting. It makes us look uncaring, which we aren’t, and the birds disposable, which they are not.
I don’t think the old cocks encourage the following year’s birds to stray. My poults wander whether there is an old bird about or not, and they are no worse if there is an old bird with them.
In fact, the old birds are usually the first to spot any predators and, because they’ve been living in the area for at least the previous 12 months, the odds on them moving somewhere new because the poults have arrived are fairly slim. I also look at the birds that have survived the season as free shooting the following year, which is why we do our best to hold them on the ground and look after them.
The hungry gap
Birds that are fed through what the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust calls the “hungry gap”— the months when there is little or no wild food about — will be fitter and stronger when the days lengthen and they start to come in to lay than those that have had to scratch a living and survive on what they can find. Being in better condition doesn’t always translate into more chicks or more wild poults per hen, but it does at least mean that they will lay more, better-quality eggs. They will also be more likely to lay a second clutch should the first get washed away or predated.
Covercrops provide food and shelter so removing them earlier than necessary will make birds using them more vulnerable to predation
Don’t be in a hurry to remove covercrops
Feed-rich crop
We leave our covercrops standing until the beginning of April, and won’t top them until the birds have started to spread out and the weather has warmed up a bit. Maize and feed-rich crops such as triticale will still provide a certain amount of food in late winter and early spring, even in poor years such as 2015. Perhaps more importantly, they give some much-needed cover and protection from predators and the elements.
Kale-type crops that provide cover only should be left as long as possible as well, even though they don’t produce any food. A decent gamecrop is often the only patch of hard cover in a given area, and removing it earlier than necessary will make the birds using it more vulnerable to predation — not only gamebirds, but all manner of small farmland birds as well. Birds that have relied on a gamecrop over the winter for food and shelter would struggle to survive if it were removed when they needed it most.
Swiping them off early might make it look as though you are on top of things and being busy when shooting finishes, but it doesn’t help the following crop. It may in some cases make future cultivation even harder. As long as any hedges that need trimming back are done before the cut-off date at the beginning of March, and the crops that aren’t being left for a second year are topped by mid-April, there will be plenty of time to get everything done and the ground prepared for the next crop.
Feeding once the season is over is less hectic and, it has to be said, more enjoyable. It gives us the chance to make a mental note of what needs doing when the ground dries up and the last of the storms have passed. It also gives us time to get back in touch with what’s happening on the ground. These are things we can so easily miss when we are busy shooting.
Cocking shoot, part of the Cowdray Estate, is a pheasant shoot that shows testing birds that will delight even the pickiest shooter. By Chris Warren.
The views are as enjoyable here as the pheasants on show.
Technology is a wonderful thing. I have an app on my iPhone that marries OS maps with GPS, so I can say with absolute certainty that the guns shooting Triangle at Cocking Shoot in West Sussex stand in a ride cut in the woods at a height of 150m above sea level. I can also say that the hill above tops out at 238m above sea level. Let me tell you, that makes for some rather high and testing birds – the South Downs may not have the ruggedness of Exmoor but the shooting is pretty darned good.
The South Downs National Park, officially designated in April 2011, covers more than 600 square miles and runs from Eastbourne in the east to Winchester in the west, and with its scarp slopes and wooded combes encompasses some wonderful shooting country. Cocking shoot, just south of Midhurst, is bang in the middle and the ground is quite spectacular. The shoot has been rented by Charles Pearson for some 27 years and I was fortunate enough to spend a day in mid-November with him and a team made up of six of his friends plus his son, George. Charles, who was just back after a trip hunting chamoix, gave me the facts and figures as we travelled in the trailer to the first drive.
“We have 3,500 acres at Cocking shoot, the southern part of the Cowdray Estate, and 18 drives. We host shoots twice a week and it works out that around half are let days and the rest private. The headkeeper, Robert Smallman, has developed Cocking shoot into one of the most highly regarded pheasant shoots anywhere in the south of England, and his passion for ensuring every day is as sporting and successful as possible is reflected in the results.”
Career opportunities at Cocking shoot
Two things stood out to me at Cocking shoot: the quality of the birds and the sheer efficiency of the keeper, his beating team and the pickers-up. On all four drives it seemed to me that the trailer stopped, the guns disembarked and made their way to their pegs, readied themselves and immediately the birds started flying over, put up in a steady, controlled way. Absolutely perfect.
This, of course, doesn’t happen by chance. This is Rob Smallman’s 27th season in charge at Cocking shoot and he runs a tight ship. He left school at 15 and began his keepering career straight away. His father thought it was not much of a profession but 44 years on I think we can say he was probably incorrect. Rob spent eight years as an underkeeper before becoming Sir John Fuller’s lone keeper at Neston Park. After nine years there he felt it was time to move on and answered an advertisement in the shooting press that read: ‘An extraordinary opportunity for an extraordinary man’. He got the job.
“When I arrived at Cocking shoot there were only two release pens and most of the drives were on the lower ground,” Robert explained. “Now we have eight pens and I think you could say we specialise in high, well presented pheasants.”
Cocking shoot headkeeper Robert Smallman.
With the help of Robin Ward-Sale, his full-time underkeeper, Robert marshals his team of 40-plus beaters and pickers-up with impressive precision, though the fact some of the beaters have been coming here to Cocking shoot for his entire tenure shows he must be a good boss. In fact, it must be a cracking shoot because this is hardcore beating and certainly not just a stroll through the woods; you can’t keep beaters coming back week after week unless the shoot is something special. Two of the beaters have been attacking the slopes of the South Downs for over 50 years and it must be good for you because Bob Waklin, an ex-butcher from Godalming, still comes for the mornings at the age of 91.
A thorough workout at Cocking shoot
I have been to shoots where the first drive is something of a litmus test, the keeper trying to gauge the quality of the team, but not on this day at Cocking shoot. In choosing the Bumps as the first drive Rob and Charles had clearly decided the guns were up for a bit of a challenge. The view northwards towards Midhurst was beautiful in the November sunshine, but the team only had eyes for the pheasants that appeared high above the trees, curling and sliding over the line, offering plenty of challenge for all.
Clive Fowler, who marshals the guns on the trailer.
Such is the steepness of the escarpment that each gun had his own levelled area cut into the side of the chalk. There was no let up and halfway through this exciting drive Mark Firth called to Charles, who was standing next to him in the line, exclaiming: “If I’d known it was going to be like this I’d have visited the gym!”
Charles’ son George shot well, folding birds neatly with his Lingard side-by-side, and then showed obvious enjoyment in sending his little cocker, Tricky, to pick-up after the drive. “We got him when he was a year old and partially trained but he has really gone on and developed well,” he said. As you might expect from his lineage, it is shooting in the winter for George and polo in the summer, being already, at 20, a very keen two-goal player.
George Pearson with the fruits of another busy drive at Cocking shoot.
Paul Roberts, long-time friend of Charles, was one of the two back guns on this drive and he told me: “The Bumps is my all-time favourite drive because whatever number you have drawn, the pheasants vary from very high and fast to curling in all directions, but all are shootable if you are on the ball.” He was also full of praise for the keeper, adding: “Robert Smallman handles his pheasants like a conductor of a symphony orchestra and always gives a great day’s sport, whatever the weather.”
Peter Pleydell-Bouverie takes on a good bird on The Warren.
The shot of the second drive, the Warren, was by Piers Fox-Andrews. There was a hiatus in the steady flow of birds and then a single cock bird flying at least 50 per cent higher than the rest set its wings towards Piers. There were no other birds in the air and everyone turned to watch as he calmly lifted his 20 bore and dispatched it with one cartridge to the accompaniment of a small and appreciative cheer.
After the comparative throttling back of the Warren, the aforementioned Triangle was a return to the neck-aching screamers we saw on the Bumps. The Triangle is one of a pair of drives (the other being the Thorns) found in the deep fold known as the Rifle Range – you can still see the evidence of its past military use, which apparently goes back before the First World War.
A break before an appointment at a quarry
Lunch was taken at the Park House Hotel, and very good it was too. They have not one boot scrubber but two – a sure mark of a hostelry that knows its shooting parties. The food is good, the service impeccable and they realise that one can’t take all day about it. Much refreshed, we boarded the trailer for the last drive of the day, the Chalk Pit.
All members of the picking-up team at Cocking shoot were equal to the challenge posed by the terrain.
Imagine Doctor Who and the Cyber Men – that’s the Chalk Pit. The guns stand on three levels and the birds are flushed over the cliff above them, add the tail of Storm Barney and what you have is tall, curling pheasants doing 0-60mph like a Ferrari. The pace was fast and very furious. Cartridge makers like drives like the Chalk Pit because their turnover rises – substantially.
The weather had turned ugly and we were all somewhat dampish by the end of the drive but there was not one of us who wasn’t smiling. Gosh they were good pheasants. The only complaint was the tongue-in-cheek one from Charles Paravicini, who said: “My barrels got so hot I had to stop shooting to let them cool down. And even then my hand got a burn – through the glove!”
Charles Pearson on the lunar-like landscape of Chalk Pit.
At the day’s end I made my farewells to the guns and accepted Rob’s invitation for a cup of tea back at the farm where the beaters meet. This gave me the chance to talk properly to this very experienced keeper. It turns out he is not too fussy about the breeding of his pheasants as long as he gets fit and healthy birds.
“With the topography available, most would fly well, the trick is keeping them in the holding cover in the bottom,” he said. “You have to spoil them to keep them on the north-facing scarps. To be honest the milder, damper winters we’ve been experiencing are perfect for the Downs.”
From the banter among the dozen or so beaters and pickers-up that had stopped for a cuppa and a piece of homemade cake, I could tell that the tight ship was also a happy one.
George Pearson’s dog, Tricky, retrieves a hen bird.
Of his 27 years as headkeeper at Cocking shoot he told me: “I’ve been well supported by my employer, the estate and an army of beaters, loaders, pickers-up and many others behind the scenes. Cold, north-facing downland is hard going – you never know day to day how the weather might dictate the outcome. After 44 years you would think that the desire to succeed would lessen but that hasn’t happened yet. Robin and I see every day as a challenge and a special day to those who come to Cocking shoot.”
As I mentioned earlier in this feature, shoots like this don’t happen merely by chance. In this particular case you need a shoot owner who backs his keepers, a headkeeper who is vastly experienced, a hard-working underkeeper and a team of men and women prepared to go out in all weathers and who understand what is needed. Plus, of course, those wooded scarp slopes. Simple really.
Shoot days at the Cocking Shoot offer bags of between 300 and 500 birds. For more information, contact Theresa Pitts on 01798 861655 or email: theresa@pson.co.uk
Cocking shoot – the area guide
Travel
The village of Cocking lies less than three miles south of the market town of Midhurst, in the heart of the South Downs National Park. The A286 links the two settlements, with the nearby A272 joining up with the A3 that takes motorists to the southwesterly tip of the M25. Gatwick Airport is less than one hour away, while the nearest railway station is Liss, around 12 miles to the north-west.
Stay
Guns dined at the Park House Hotel (parkhousehotel.com), an establishment Shooting Gazette visited a few years ago, and it’s clearly lost none of its know-how when catering for shooting parties. An overnight stay is a must. Meanwhile the Spread Eagle (hshotels.co.uk/spread-eagle-hotel-and-spa), a 39-room former coaching inn right in the heart of Midhurst, is worth a try. Consider heading south down the A286 for the luxurious surroundings of the Goodwood Hotel, too (goodwood.com).
Catering
The 250-year-old Halfway Bridge (halfwaybridge.co.uk) between Midhurst and Petworth on the A272 is a 17th century coaching inn where local ingredients and a contemporary setting have helped it to win numerous awards in the recent past. Also worth a mention is the Royal Oak in East Lavant (royaloakeastlavant.co.uk), south of Midhurst, which owners Sarah and Charles Ullmann describe as being “run by people dedicated to good food, warm hospitality, and personal service”. Both of these establishments offer accommodation.
Simple changes early on in the life of a pheasant can make a big difference to its health
Researchers from the University of Exeter have discovered some useful tips for improving the ability of pheasants to flourish out in the wild.
Firstly, if poults are given access to raised perches in pens they tend to grow bigger and stronger leg bones, are able to fly higher and can grasp a branch, giving them the chance to roost in trees away from predators.
Pheasants die at the hands of predators
Birds who have not learned to use a perch at an early age are much more vulnerable. In fact a quarter of the pheasants released into the wild die at the hands of predators, probably because they have not had the opportunity to develop survival skills, having been in an enclosed environment during their early weeks.
The trick seems to be to create an environment in which the young birds can move in every direction – up and down as well as side to side. Their spatial awareness improves and memory, giving better recall of food and potential danger. All of which allows birds to prosper.
The pheasants were studied over two seasons on a shooting farm in Hampshire and the research was carried out in conjunction with the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. In the first six months after release the group were discovered to be at less risk of dying from natural causes but in the following breeding season the mortality difference evened out.
Researcher, Dr Joah Madden, from the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, said: “It is economically, ethically and environmentally very wasteful for so many pheasants to die so early on in their life.
“Our study shows that even when reared in the absence of their parents and under unnatural conditions you can help pheasants develop physically, behaviourally and cognitively which leaves them less vulnerable and more likely to succeed in the wild.
“The pheasants hadn’t had the same experience of learning to get higher up to escape foxes and other predators. We gave them opportunities to develop their muscles so they had stronger legs.” GWCT research head, Dr Rufus Sage said: “A key aim of the pheasant research at the GWCT is to improve the sustainability credentials of releasing for shooting.
“ In particular we want to minimise the unwanted impacts of releases on the environment. This research shows how we can achieve this by releasing fewer fitter birds.
“It may also be that these fitter birds can go on to initiate wild breeding populations and we have a new study with Exeter to look at this.”
If you are thinking of rearing your own gamebirds, you should follow these simple rules from the Game Farmers' Association advisor Charles Nodder
With more than 200 gamefarms and business members, and a history going back to 1908, the Game Farmers’ Association (GFA) is in a unique position to share its wisdom with anyone thinking of going into game rearing.
It won’t provide detailed “how to do it” advice; there are almost as many ways to rear game as there are game rearers, so this article is not intended to give you tips for what feed to use, the size your pens should be or the “best” pheasant type. There are books on the subject, college courses and the unbeatable experience to be gained from working as an apprentice, formal or otherwise, within the industry.
This article covers the key factors to consider before you even start thinking of starting out in game rearing, and provides some fundamental golden rules for game rearing.
Rule 1: Business before birds
Too many people fall into game rearing almost by accident. Some of them do well at it but many experience problems, often serious. The reason is that they haven’t thought enough at the outset about the business profile of their future rearing activity.
If you are rearing to sell to others, you must accept that you will incur around 75 per cent of your costs in penning, feed, energy (especially for brooders), staff and buying in eggs or chicks before a single penny comes in from a customer. Established gamefarms may be able to secure deposits — which will help the cash flow to an extent — but start-up businesses can be reluctant to ask because they fear putting off potential customers.
If you are rearing for your own shoot rather than to sell birds, the gap between expenditure on rearing and the Guns paying the bills can be even greater. Work out a realistic cash flow and factor in the cost of borrowing. Do you still want to rear gamebirds?
Rule 2: Location, location
Anyone thinking of rearing gamebirds must have enough land of the right sort in the right location. There are more factors involved in this than you might think. It’s easy enough to calculate how much well-kept grass you will need to pen laying birds or to set out a rearing field. To avoid disease outbreaks, you will need to rotate the pens on to fresh ground each year.
Conifers provide protection for an airy laying pen
Think in terms of needing access to three times the land area you will use in any one year. When the GFA assesses membership applicants, it asks what land is available for rearing as well as the number of birds. If there isn’t enough land, the applicant gets rejected.
Location is also important in relation to supply and demand. Will your site be suited for deliveries of incoming commodities? Is it conveniently situated for distributing the chicks or poults you produce? Before you answer that, consider the allowable journey times in the 2006 Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order for England and their implications.
You also need to consider the immediate surroundings. Are there other game or poultry units nearby, which could be a potential disease threat? Would you be trying to rear next to water, which can be risky in relation to the potential for bird flu to be brought in by wildfowl? Is the soil free-draining? Might the annual rainfall be so high as to make life difficult? Would you be overlooked or criss-crossed by footpaths? A lot of problems that GFA members experience are caused by well- meaning interference.
The wrong site will cause nothing but trouble later
Game rearing is “non-agricultural” in law. If you are starting to rear on land that was farmed, you will need planning permission for “change of use”, as well as for any permanent buildings. If there is no accommodation on site can you get planning permission for it, or are you happy living in a caravan for four months a year? Because game production is not farming, the rearing area will have to be taken out of the farmer’s Basic Payment Scheme to avoid fines from the Rural Payments Agency.
Rule 3: Use a specialist vet
The days of setting up a rearing field and only involving a vet when the first bird looked sick are long gone. Every gamefarm and rearing enterprise should have a flock health plan worked up in consultation with a suitable vet. The local small animal practice won’t do.
A specialist gamebird vet looks for disease in an on-site post-mortem room provided by the gamefarm
Game rearing is a specialist activity and you will need specialist veterinary advice to do it well and to keep within the law. There are several excellent gamebird practices available. Use one of them and have a regular contract — don’t expect to succeed by only calling the vet when there is a problem.
Health planning should begin even before you have finalised the location for your rearing site, because involving the vet in that choice could massively reduce your susceptibility to disease or stress of weather.
If you don’t follow the code relevant to your location, you could be at risk of prosecution under that Act for bad welfare. Penalties include prison sentences.
The Codes of Practice cover transportation of your birds; you must know the Code and the principles behind it
The Codes are good documents — they had a lot of GFA input — and they cover everything from the origin of stock, through incubation, hatching, inspection, husbandry, housing, food, water, management devices such as bits, specs and shrouds (do you know which of those are legal and which are not?) to catching, transportation and preparation for release. You need to know and understand the Code and the principles behind it backwards. The anti-shooting activists do and they are out there now filming, reporting and bringing prosecutions.
Don’t be the one that lets shooting down. And be aware that there may be revisions to the Codes later this year, so keep an eye out for news on that.
Rule 5: Quality control throughout
Don’t cut corners. Give birds plenty of space because low stocking densities will pay for themselves over time through reduced disease. Good accommodation for birds is better for them and easier to manage. Have well-designed, well-built units and pens and keep them clean. Buy key commodities such as food on quality, not on price, and don’t skimp on biosecurity — it’s never worth it. From your record-keeping — a legal requirement for anyone who rears game — to your foot dips, predator control and chemical storage, everything must be right. The Government Codes list the basics, but if you want the full package of information, join the GFA and get its frequently updated GFA Game Farming Guide. This unique guide has been rated “very good or excellent’” by more than 95 per cent of users.
Biosecurity measures are of vital importance and must not be skimped on
One thing people often trip up on is waste management. The laws on this apply just as much to keepers who rear for their own shoots as to the biggest gamefarms. If you rear gamebirds and you don’t use a registered waste disposal contractor nor have your own DEFRA-approved incinerator, you are almost certainly disposing of at least some of your waste illegally. A bonfire just won’t do these days. Find out what the rules are and stick to them.
Rule 6: Learn from experience
They say that the quickest way to learn is from your mistakes but the most cost-effective way is to learn from your neighbours’ mistakes. Whatever your experiences with game rearing, learn from them. Having a regularly revised flock health plan developed and updated with your specialist gamebird vet is the best way to ensure that this happens.
If reading this has made you go rather cold on the idea of rearing your own birds, then why not let the experts take the strain and buy their poults? Use a reputable supplier and, when choosing, look for the GFA logo. The association’s rules require all members to follow the Government Codes of Practice. Buying locally from a GFA member is undoubtedly the best call if you decide not to rear your birds yourself.
Walk-one, stand-one days can be physically demanding, so good, lightweight kit is important.
