Shooting in the UK covers more ground than most sports. A walked-up day on the hill for grouse, a drive on a lowland pheasant shoot, a winter morning in a hide waiting on pigeons, a foreshore dawn for wigeon — the disciplines are different, the skills are different, and the knowledge required for each one runs deep.
ShootingUK’s shooting pages cover the full range: driven game, rough shooting, pigeon shooting, wildfowling, deer stalking and pest control. Technique, tactics, safety, etiquette, fieldcraft and the practical knowledge that makes a better shot in the field — all covered by writers who shoot the disciplines they write about.
Gear is reviewed honestly. Advice comes from experience. Whatever your discipline, whatever your level, the answers are here — and so is the content that keeps you coming back.
Pigeon shooting: There’s a belt of ivy-covered ash trees on the farm where I go pigeon shooting and they always draw a lot of birds during January, obviously for the berries.
Rabbit shooting: I’ve noticed that I tend to bolt fewer rabbits when using a gun than when I use only ferrets and purse nets. Does the sound of a shot frighten them more than a ferret?
Skeet shooting: I get really good ‘kills’ with mine on the targets at our local gun club. I use a Browning B425 choked ¼ and ½.
Are the multi-coloured fore-sights on modern shotguns really necessary, when most experts say you should not look at the bead anyway?
<strong>Wild grey partridge numbers are increasing on land specifically managed for the species</strong>
Deer stalking: My game dealer insists on head or neck shooting and pays a lot less per-pound for a carcass that has been shot through the heart and lungs.
Warter Priory: A new chapter is being written at the Warter Priory game shoot thanks to an enthusiastic owner, hardworking headkeeper and his loyal team behind the scenes.
A deer stalking enthusiast could be to blame for a bullet striking a vehicle containing three people near Hailsham, in Sussex on 12 December.
Blue Bell Inn: The stylish Blue Bell Inn, North Yorkshire, is very popular with shooters.
<strong>A decline in certain species of farmland birds is putting them in danger of extinction</strong>
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