There’s an early morning nip in the air which means that the pheasant season, starting on 1 October, is just around the corner. Whether you’re new to pheasant shooting or a seasoned hand, here are some useful pheasant shooting must-reads covering everything from guns and ammunition to shooting high birds.…
Gameshooting
Whatever you want to know about gameshooting, we’ve got it covered.
You might be new to shooting and looking forward to your first season. Maybe you are wondering what to wear and about the etiquette of shooting.
Or you might be a seasoned shooter who’s been about and about in the field since a youthful age.
Whatever your credentials, we’re here to help with relevant, up-to-date advice, whether your quarry is grouse, pheasant or partridge.
We regularly review different guns for gameshooting
We regularly review different guns for game and look at how ammunition performs.
Our writers visit shoots around the country and report back. We cover both driven shooting and walked up.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ve plenty of advice on how to improve your gameshooting and be a better Shot.
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Conservation benefits
All game shooters share a love of the countryside, of great scenery and of wildlife.
Looking after habitat to create an environment where game birds flourish has huge spill-over benefits for both flora and fauna. Effective woodland management, controlled crop spraying, set-aside headlands in fields and all manner of other actions help to ensure that many song birds and mammals flourish in a way that does not happen when such places are regularly
disturbed by humans.
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Finally, if you’d like your shoot to be covered by one of our writers then contact us by emailing steditorials@futurenet.com
Here’s an example of the sort of shoot write-up we do.
Improve your shooting | Shooting etiquette | Pheasant shooting | Grouse shooting | Partridge shooting | Pigeon shooting
How to keep your pheasants close to home
Very often, it is the little things that make a difference and will keep your pheasants closer. This is never more accurate than when said in relation to the management of poults inside a release pen, and the area immediately outside. Attention to detail is so important, and little tweaks…
What is the best shotgun cartridge and choke combination for pheasant shooting?
The right shotgun cartridge and choke combination for pheasant shooting could transform your days this coming season. There have been some major advances in shotgun cartridge technology in the past couple of years. To protect the environment shooters should use fibre wads. The Eley Hawk VIP Game cartridge comes in 28,…
Walk on the wild side
Have you ever discovered that you have become fashionable by accident? Wildfowlers shared this experience a few years ago when metropolitan young men intentionally started sporting beards and looking unkempt. A game shooter’s garb, no longer ancient and malodorous, is now ‘cottagecore’, according to The Guardian’s fashion correspondent Priya Elan,…
15 of the best pheasant shoots in the UK that will be open next season
We’ve searched out a number of the best pheasant shoots around that will welcome shooters from September, with social distancing measures in place. Tregoyd, Powys If you like the challenge of tricky birds on a variety of terrain then this shoot is one you should visit. Situated to the south…
20 of the best UK pheasant shoots that will be open this season
Tregoyd, Powys If you like the challenge of tricky birds on a variety of terrain then this shoot is one you should visit. Situated to the south of Hay-on-Wye in stunning countryside. Visiting Guns are tested in every possible way in a mixture of woodland and open drives. And if…
How to buy a shoot on a shoestring
Many sporting folk dream about owning their own shoot. The idea can become a constant, niggling temptation and it is a recurring topic of discussion at shoot lunches. We all love to compare and contrast different shoots, and everybody has a favourite sporting scene in mind when we’re left nursing…
How to start up your own DIY shoot
Starting a little DIY shoot can be great fun and very rewarding. In fact, it is the DIY shoot that is bringing some ‘fresh air’ to shooting. Why start a DIY shoot? Basically you and your shooting companions should get moderate driven shooting at a reasonable cost. Of course, while…
The rules you must follow when rearing gamebirds
Before you take any steps to start on rearing gamebirds yourself you need to be aware of the key factors involved. Rule 1: Think of it as a business You need to think seriously about rearing gamebirds right from the beginning and consider it as a business, whether you’re rearing…
How to hatch and rear your own pheasants
Many DIY shoots are looking at ways of reducing costs, and one way of achieving that is rearing pheasants yourself. There are plenty of benefits. You know where your birds have come from The birds will be the age and strain you want You will be aware of any pheasant…
The Bolton Estate, North Yorkshire. Where gameshooting and conservation work together …
You will probably need to visit Bolton Estate more than once to fully appreciate just how important its 12,000 acres are to the fabric and ecology of the Yorkshire Dales. Many of the more than 60,000 visitors from across the world with any number of agendas will probably know the…
Dates for UK game shooting seasons
The pheasant, partridge and grouse shooting seasons are now open and it's not long until the season opens for some deer in Scotland. Find out when the seasons open with this guide to game shooting seasons
One barrel is all you need
A single-shot, single-barrelled shotgun is not popular these days. The guns are looked down upon as somehow ‘less than’. When I began my shooting life under my father’s instruction, I was as excited as any 14-year-old could be. I had completed my three-year apprenticeship of various gun-, dog- and bird-related…
Leading figures in fieldsports look back at 2019 and forward to 2020
Shooting Gazette asked a host of leading figures in gameshooting community for their reflections on 2019 in fieldsports, what they are looking forward to about 2020 and also the one issue they are concerned about in the year ahead. Eoghan Cameron, chairman, BASC High on the list of successes for…
Why I’ve found cock shoot days to be a shambles
Mark Forester remembers some past cock-day debacles and wonders if it will be safe to venture out this season
Having trouble shooting high pheasants? Then read these expert tips
Chris Bird at Hollands offers some high pheasant shooting tips
How to know which is your bird – and which is your neighbour’s
Ian Grindy shows you how to work out if it's your bird or your neighbour's and discusses etiquette on driven shoots
Is your shoot transport safe?
Legal obligations for shoot transport Q: I am a relatively new member of a modest driven shoot and for the past two seasons Guns have been transported to drives in a tractor-drawn trailer that belongs to another era. Guns sit on bales of straw and, while the trailer is covered, the…
Facts about the pheasant – phasianus colchicus
Just how long the pheasant has been found in Britain is open to question but it is likely that, as with so many of our non-native species, the Romans had a major hand in bringing them to our shores. It is also likely that they were bred as table birds…