BASC winter gun draw offers Beretta 687 and grouse day over dogs

BASC’s winter gun draw is live, offering a Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon III and an exclusive day’s grouse shooting over pointers and setters in the Scottish Borders, a package the association values at more than £7,000. Proceeds go to the BASC Fighting Fund, the ring-fenced pot that pays for legal action in defence of shooting.

What is in the prize package?

The winner takes a Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon III, a 12-bore with 28in barrels and Optima HP chokes, a gun whose scroll engraving and game-scene sideplates have made the Silver Pigeon family the default choice of serious game and clay Shots for a generation. Alongside the gun sits a day’s grouse shooting for the winner and a guest in the Scottish Borders, walking up behind pointers and setters courtesy of Eskdale Shooting Services, with dinner, bed and breakfast for two within easy reach of the shoot.

Why is a day over dogs so prized?

Shooting grouse over pointing dogs is one of the sport’s great experiences, and one that rarely comes up at any price: the dogs quarter the heather, the covey sits to the point, and the Guns walk in over them. It is the oldest form of grouse shooting there is, demanding fitness, quick shooting and complete trust in the dog work, and late-season birds over dogs are as testing as any driven grouse. For many entrants the day, rather than the gun, will be the half of the package they remember longest.

Where does the money go?

The Fighting Fund was established to protect BASC members from unjust treatment and to support legal challenges in defence of sustainable shooting and conservation. It is ring-fenced from the association’s general funds, and has underwritten both proactive and defensive cases on licensing and shooting rights in recent years, including the association’s High Court challenge to Natural England over gamebird licensing earlier this year. That work reaches certificate holders well beyond the membership, and every entry boosts the fund directly.

What happens next

The draw closes on Thursday, 31 December 2026, with entries made online and full details and terms and conditions on the competition page of the BASC website. The association ran its 2025 winter draw around a William Powell Princeps, and a spring draw around a Browning 825 Sporter earlier this year; the Borders grouse day over dogs makes this winter’s package a different kind of prize altogether, and one the association expects to be among its most popular.