More shoots make loss

Only two-thirds of commercial shoots made a profit last year, according to the 2011 Shoot Benchmarking Survey, as the effects of the recession took hold.

More than 100 shoots, accounting for 2,400 shoot days and 1.1million pheasants and partridges, took part in the unique annual survey, organised by sporting brokers GunsOnPegs and rural property consultants Smiths Gore.

Dr Jason Beedell, head of research at Smiths Gore, said: ?Despite shoots trying to control costs, almost half of them are still making a loss. This cannot be sustainable in the long term.?

With an increasing number of shoots taking part, the survey?s organisers say that its results provide greater clarity of the economic realities of running a shoot and that the data demonstrates how shoots can improve their bottom line.

The rest of this article appears in 22nd June issue of Shooting Times.

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