Game hubs rescue shoots while feeding thousands

A rapid response to a market crisis

A scheme to rescue shoots from this season’s market collapse is putting thousands of gamebirds onto the plates of people who would otherwise go hungry – and offers a sustainable solution to an industry in crisis.

The Country Food Trust has set up three trial collection hubs in Essex, Northamptonshire and Scotland, transforming partridges and pheasants into meals for families facing food poverty. It came together rapidly in early October after SJ Hunt, the charity’s chief executive, was inundated with desperate calls from shoots left stranded when dealers refused to take their birds.

“We were being given feedback that game dealers are retiring or finding it not commercially viable to collect the birds,” Ms Hunt told Shooting Times. “They’re just saying no, especially to small shoots. People were phoning me asking what they’re supposed to do. They said, ‘We’ve got birds in the feather and nobody will take them.’ That’s when we knew we had to act.”

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Demonstrating the social value of shooting

What has emerged is not just a solution to a market crisis but a powerful demonstration of shooting’s social value at precisely the moment when it needs to prove its worth.

The Country Food Trust secured a donation to buy trailers and stationed them at estates in each location. It began collecting unprocessed birds. Within weeks, its scheme was transforming thousands of birds into curries and casseroles, all distributed free to local communities.

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The reception from said communities has been remarkable. Ms Hunt described taking partridge curry to a deprived area of Portsmouth, where food bank users who had never seen a partridge were soon asking for more. “The food bank manager got in touch saying everyone loved it,” she said.

The scheme spreads through word of mouth alone, with shoots telling each other about the service. But the challenge will be funding the scheme in future years. Currently, the trust asks shoots for £1 per bird to help cover processing costs, though this is voluntary. And while some shoots have donated generously, Ms Hunt reports that the trust is covering the lion’s share of the costs. She warned: “That’s not sustainable beyond this season.”

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Planning for expansion

Working with the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation and Game Farmers’ Association, the trust is developing a cost-recovery model for next season, enabling more hubs to open.

Tim Weston from the NGO’s director of environment, politics and policy, said shooters and keepers were “in a unique position to make a real difference to people’s lives by helping them obtain fresh meat free of charge”. Posting on social media, the organisation said that even modest donations could help: “If each shoot were to raise just £100, together we could make a truly significant difference.”

.With just three staff running the entire operation, the Country Food Trust has shown what can be achieved when necessity meets determination. Whether the wider industry will provide the backing needed may determine whether shoots face the same crisis next season – or whether this emergency response becomes the foundation for something more enduring.