Game dealers warn shoots to book partridges in before 1 September

Shoots have until 1 September to get accurate partridge numbers to their game dealers, after processors warned that the birds put down this year go beyond what the trade can handle. The warning was published by the shooting-day booking site GunsOnPegs, whose market briefing carries the first read of the 2026-27 game season.

What are the game dealers actually saying?

Leon Challis-Davies of the game meat body Eat Wild put it plainly in the briefing. “To put it bluntly, shoots have stocked more partridge than usual and there just isn’t the capacity to cater for the volumes we’re expecting unless we all get our act together soon,” he said.

Tristan Kirk of Lincolnshire Game asked estates to do the one thing that makes the squeeze manageable, which is to say what is coming and when. “I encourage every estate that supplies partridges to the food industry to speak to their preferred processors as soon as possible, with accurate information about the numbers expected and dates,” he said. “This allows us to have a forecast for sales or storage requirements until a sale can be found. This is crucial and should be normal practice.”

Handling is the other half of the problem

Capacity is not only about freezer space. Processors say too many birds still arrive at their sites having been handled badly on the day, which takes them out of the food chain before a dealer has had a chance to sell them.

The push is towards purpose-built game larders, which are designed for the weight and handling of carcasses and give proper airflow, temperature control, drainage and hygienic surfaces. More shoots are using chillers than a few seasons ago, but adapted domestic fridges are still in use and are not up to the job.

What can a shoot do with birds it cannot sell?

The briefing points to shoots that have taken part of the job in-house. Cambrian Sporting is reported to have the capability and the market to process and sell about 30 per cent of the game it shoots itself, and the briefing argues that others could follow.

The simpler route is to send more birds home with the people who were there. Between guns, beaters, pickers-up and guests there are usually enough hands on a shoot day to absorb a fair share of the bag, and Shooting Times reported last season that charitable outlets, including The Country Food Trust, were taking surplus game and turning it into meals for food banks.

One habit the briefing singles out is what shoots put on the table at lunch. It says only 78 per cent of shoots serve game on a shooting day, a figure it calls inexcusable.

What happens next

The partridge season opens on 1 September and runs to 1 February in England, Wales and Scotland, and to 31 January in Northern Ireland. Dealers want their forecasts before the first day, not after it, so the practical step for a shoot manager this week is a phone call to the processor with expected numbers and shooting dates.

Shoots without a dealer relationship in place should expect the market to be harder this season than the bookings suggest, and should plan for home use and charitable donation as part of the picture rather than as a last resort.