Shooting coach, Mark Russell, shows how to hit both partridge and their clay counterparts.
Partridge shooting
Red legged partridge
It’s been said that a day partridge shooting is a day shooting the most English of game birds. The success you derive from the day will depend on a variety of factors: the location of the partridge shoot, the company you keep and the way the birds are presented.
Our experts have written in great detail about partridge shooting and you can enjoy browsing through the various articles on Shooting UK here.
Some partridge shooting tips
- Be alert and ready. Scan your area ahead so that you can take that well-informed shot.
- When you see your first partridge, point the gun at its head and fire.
- For the second partridge – remember not to over-swing. You always need to see sky.
- Return your feet to the centre when you have moved them.
- Keep your head down and focus your eyes until you see the bird’s head drop down.
- Safety is paramount – always remember the shooting safety rules.
Practise on clays for the partridge season
If you have a day on partridge in your diary, you should at least try to go to a good clay ground a few times before or book a lesson or two with an instructor who can help you brush up on your skills. This does wonders for your confidence,…
Golden rules for wild grey partridges
The early results of the GWCT 2016 Partridge Count Scheme (PCS) has caused the organisation concern about chick survival success over the colder months. Sporting Gun writer Dr Roger Draycott, head of advisory at the GWCT, said that by taking part in its PCS and adopting certain conservation measures, farmers and keepers can help more birds survive the winter. Wild grey partridge rules for…
Getting up to speed on partridges
There is something very English about shooting partridges over stubbles in autumn. Once, the majority of driven shooting in England was partridges; not the French red-legged variety but our own beautiful English, or grey, partridge. Modern agriculture in the 1980s sadly had a huge effect on the stronghold of the grey, but there are committed landowners and farmers out there…
Top 10 partridge shoots
Whether they are presenting classic East Anglian hedge skimmers, high birds in the chalk downs of southern England or sky scraping birds off the moorland fringe, the one thing they all have in common is testing sport in stunning surroundings. Drumlanrig, Dumfries & Galloway This famous estate holds the mantle…
A September challenge for the picker-up
It’s an indication of my age that the first partridge I shot was a wild grey, walked up in barley stubble on the North Downs. Today, the M20 motorway cuts through the site where I shot my bird, and I’ve no idea whether any wild grey partridges can still be found in the area, close to Brands Hatch…
Eagle Hall Shoot, pheasant and partridge shooting in Lincolnshire
Eagle Hall was featured in the July 2016 issue of Shooting Gazette It is an interesting time to be involved with Eagle Hall, a pheasant and partridge shoot set across 3,700 acres around 10 miles from the A1, A46 and A17 junction at Newark-on-Trent. Shooting Gazette first visited in December…
Fosseway Game: Partridge shooting at Sutton shoot, Warks
How can I start to tell you about 39-year-old Joe Smith, the current leaseholder of the Sutton shoot and owner of Fosseway Game on Manor Farm in the North Cotswolds? If I just described him as a father, a husband, a shoot manager or a game farmer, you might think…
Partridge shooting at Wappenshall in Shropshire
Twenty years ago, I reported for Shooting Times on a then 350-acre Wappenshall partridge shoot in Shropshire, hard by the Wrekin, that 1,335ft hill which rises above and dominates the Shropshire Plain. Created by Jonathan Crow, whose father had farmed the land, the shoot was modest in size and devoted to both redleg and grey partridges. Once part of…
Drumlanrig: Partridge shooting in Dumfriesshire
It’s hard to know exactly what the grandees of shooting in the late Victorian and Edwardian era would make of the Whirlpool drive at Drumlanrig, or the Bothy for that matter. At the Whirlwind the guns are warned beforehand by unflappable Drumlanrig shoot host John Duncan and irrepressible headkeeper Rab…
Batcombe shoot, pheasant and partridge shooting in Somerset
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…
Llandinam shoot: Pheasant and partridge shooting in Powys
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…
Partridge shooting at Pawton Manor, Cornwall
I was in Cornwall this summer and enjoyed the ferry ride across the Camel estuary from Rock to Padstow. The sun was shining, Padstow was awash with tourists, or ‘emmets’ as they call them in this Celtic corner of England, and the cash tills were ringing. I couldn’t help but…
Ladies’ partridge shooting in Oxfordshire
Nick Ridley observes the next generation of female shooters coming through at one of Oxfordshire's most progressive driven game shoots
Where is the best place to shoot redleg partridges in the UK?
Edward Watson: My favourite part of the UK in which to shoot redleg partridges is the area off the A303 down beyond Stonehenge in Wiltshire. Four out of my top 10 shoots are in this area: Ashcombe, Brixton Deverill, Stockton and Rushmore. The reason I love these places so much…
Pheasant and partridge shooting from Molland, Devon
Molland has long been recognised as one of the premier West Country shoots, so how are things looking this season? Molland is an estate that has been under the Bettws Hall branding for 11 years and it has been owned by the same family for 800 years. There are few…
Partridge and pheasant shooting at Bowhill, Scottish Borders
Shortly before the first drive started, a sparrowhawk emerged from the highest cluster of oak trees and twinkled her wings in the bright sunlight. Against a cloudless blue sky, the little hunter passed directly over my head at a fantastic height, pausing once to wheel and turn before vanishing behind…
Partridge & pheasant shooting at Bandirran Estate, Perthshire
From the moment of arrival at the converted mill, which is now the shoot room at Bandirran Estate, a sense of calm confidence pervades the air. This estate, which is owned by the Lowson family, has no need to worry about the quality of the sport it offers because it…
How your shoot can help save the grey partridge
How do you bring partridges back when they are extinct locally? Well, you don't need to be a millionaire, you just need to be dedicated.
Grey partridges
Q) Here in the US, our wild turkey population was virtually wiped out, but has now been successfully restored. Though the initial re-introductions were unsuccessful because gamefarm stock was released, when wild birds were relocated the project suddenly took off. Might this be the answer to restoring grey partridges in…