Improve your shooting
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
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 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 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.
If you want to be kept informed with regular updates, you might find it useful to sign up to our free weekly newsletter, which features all the latest shooting articles and news.
In the meantime, we wish you every success.
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…
Tips on high-driven birds
A high driven target is quite straightforward, the shooter moving the gun on the same line as the target and giving the required lead and follow-through. But there are a few mistakes to watch out for. Easiest place to shoot high-driven birds The easiest place to shoot a high driven…
The bigger the shoot, the less respect?
Picking-up is about one thing — finding shot birds. The joy I get from finding one bird that would otherwise be lost gives me more pleasure than shooting even the highest of pheasants. Over the years I have managed to climb the picking-up tree, from a small syndicate with one…
Do beaters, loaders and pickers-up get paid fairly?
It is a pretty fair assumption that there are few people for whom beating, picking-up or even loading is their main source of income throughout the season. Though the money is welcome, it by no means replaces a regular salary — particularly since earnings on a shoot now have to…
High pheasant shooting – how to master it
High driven pheasant shooting lesson: It’s getting to that time of the year when the birds are really beginning to fly well.
How to organise beaters’ day
As January approaches, thoughts of keepers, beaters and pickers-up are turning to the end-of- season cock’s or beaters’ days. Originally called keeper’s days — because they were gifted to the keeper to invite whom he wished — the Guns are now usually a mix of the keeper’s guests, the beaters…
Do Guns appreciate the planning that goes into a shoot day?
I wonder if people appreciate the amount of work and organisation that goes into planning a shoot day? The day starts way back in the summer when your poults first arrive in the release pens and the feeding regime, which is a seven-days-a-week job, goes on through the autumn in…
Is this the solution for excess game?
My recent article on the problem of disposing of surplus shot game prompted a lively response, so thank you to everyone who contacted me. Such feedback confirmed to me that it is the biggest challenge facing the shooting industry, and if no satisfactory solution is found it is bound to…
An invitation to a driven day – a female Gun reports back
I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the wonderful world of fieldsports for most of my life. From rough shooting with my father to great times on the beating lines, I can still claim that one of my greatest achievements was to be head beater by the age…
Is the pheasant the perfect gamebird?
Good looking, fast flying, delicious as well as easy to rear, tough and adaptable. The pheasant comes in a perfectly designed package. Like anything that’s relatively trouble-free, we don’t think about it much. So are we in danger of taking the pheasant for granted? An exotic alien We expect it to thrive…
Which type of pheasant shooting is superior?
High pheasant in open fields By Giles Catchpole Snap shooting is all very well and good. Couched on a ride in the midst of the shelter belt or in a clearing in the heart of a block of forestry can be exciting, for sure. Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of…
Despatching pricked birds – the best way to do it
A vital aspect of shooting is the humane despatching of a wounded bird or animal, be it a pheasant, duck, pigeon, rabbit or squirrel. The prime objective of shooting live quarry is to ensure, wherever possible, an instant death for the creature we are pursuing. We are, hopefully, taught how…
Popular shotguns for the pheasant season
What you need to consider when picking out a game gun Weight Gauge Style Action Budget Patrick Galbraith, Editor of the Shooting Times, comments when discussing shotguns for pheasant shooting: “I would say that there has been a move towards affordable guns, with pairs of Mirokus becoming a frequent sight…
How to improve your game shooting technique
Game shooting: You have to take risks if you want to improve your game shooting. Here are some top tips.
Should I shoot game birds with a side-by-side or over-and-under?
Tradition will always be on the side of side-by-side shotguns. In recent years, over-and-unders have grown in popularity. This is largely due to people going into gameshooting having started on clays. But this doesn’t mean that if you’re an over-and-under user you shouldn’t try a side-by-side. In fact, it might…
How to keep your pheasants close to home
As birds mature, they start to wander. Not necessarily because there is something badly wrong with where they are, nor because they are looking for something particular that their release wood can’t provide, but more because it is part of the natural maturing process of most wild things, pheasants and…
Tips to make you better at walked-up pheasant shooting
Shooting coach Mark Russell treks to the outback of his shooting ground at Grimsthorpe - in the pursuit of perfecting his driven pheasant technique.