Many of the best Shots whose opinions I most respect won’t shoot a pheasant in October. For the very lucky, August and September are for grouse, October is for partridges and only in November do they start thinking about pheasants. By the time January comes round, it is supposed that…
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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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
Why the best Shots start out as rough shooters
Very often you will see a person’s true character when you drive game over them on a peg. It’s difficult for anyone to hide it. If you are greedy, lack respect for your quarry or have a tendency to moan, it’s likely to show. We can learn a lot about…
Why the wild pheasant is the greatest test
’I remember the first time I was invited to a day of wild pheasants. It was a cold January morning and I stood on the edge of an old woodland filled with oaks and ash that sloped away into a deep valley where the other Guns stood waiting, nervously shifting…
Here’s a driven shooting lesson to get you back in the field
Whether it’s Hampshire partridges or Devon high pheasants, let’s look at the techniques you need to master in this driven shooting lesson. The warm-up I’ll start my driven shooting lesson on the first stand where I would set up a regular driven target; let’s call it a warm-up stand. On…
Best loads for high pheasants
So what is a high pheasant? And what are the best loads for high pheasants? For normal mortals shooting cartridges with say 30gm of No 6 or 5 lead shot from their standard shotgun, a distance of 40 to 45yd is generally considered to be a decently high pheasant. The…
Six of the best pheasant shoots
Every shoot is different in its own way. We asked our contributors for their nominations for their best pheasant shoots from seasons gone by and here is what they came up with, in no particular order… 1. Hornby shoot, Cumbria “The best syndicate shoot I have ever visited” is how…
Estates should act to limit the number of dead poults
Too much pheasant roadkill In the early years of my shooting career, pheasants were far too valuable to use for retrieving practice. I didn’t shoot many and those that I did bag were destined for dinner. This became second nature and, even today, I don’t like to use a shot…
How to shoot high pheasants
There aren’t many shortcuts in this game — shooting high pheasants takes practice. The only way to become really good at taking on those tall birds is to spend hours standing underneath them. That said, there are a few tricks of the trade that will set you on the path…
What’s the best cartridge load for standard driven pheasants?
How should you tackle standard driven pheasants when you’re out in the field? The sort you’re likely to come across earlier in the season. What would be the best cartridge load for driven pheasants? Speaking from my experience as a shooting instructor I think that the cartridges a shooter uses…
Six must-reads about pheasant shooting
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.…
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 October, 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…