Some poor souls seem to labour in vain to locate even the smallest and least productive area where they might indulge their passion for deer stalking. Others, more fortunate, appear to find their permissions almost by accident. Is this no more than pure luck? In some cases, possibly, but with…
Shooting
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…
How to use a hide for pigeon shooting
Almost all of us, at some point over the course of a season, will end up shooting from a hide of some sort, be it a duck hide, grouse butt or, if you’re lucky, a dove blind. Each quarry species requires differing skills but the principles of shooting from a…
A beginners’ guide to FITASC clay pigeon shooting
FITASC sporting is a great leveller. If there's any weakness in your clay shooting technique, be it with your gun mounting or swing, this discipline will find it!
11 of the best shooting coats for the season ahead
Shooting coats vary more than any other kind of shooting kit, but this pick of the best shooting coats offers a variety of choices for different budgets and different purposes.
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…
The mighty stags of the English lowlands
Lockdown has been a time for daydreaming. Trapped indoors for days on end and confined to barracks during a beautiful spring, thoughts have now begun to return towards sporting ambitions. A friend in Yorkshire has nurtured a lifelong ambition to cast a fly into the Hampshire chalkstreams. He has been…
Five things to do to get your clayshooting back up to scratch again
After lockdown some of us will have lost our ‘edge’ and will need to improve clayshooting skills again. Almost all of us will be out of practice. Here I will highlight a few of the more common tendencies and unwelcome techniques that are likely to show up and catch us…
Just how good is a simulated game day?
I wanted to know whether a simulated game day can ever be as good as a full-on game shoot, or is it just a glorified form of clayshooting? So I booked an afternoon’s sim shoot at Dovey Valley and then went on a driven shoot the next day to give…
Clayshooting grounds just an hour from London
The good news is that many clay grounds have recently reopened after lockdown and more are opening daily. Below we’ve rounded up clay pigeon shooting grounds near London. We’ve marked the ones that are open again at the time of writing. None take longer than an hour to get to…
Should you invest in a wildfowling guide?
A couple of years ago, on a rather grey October afternoon, I was trudging around Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis with my good friend Will Martin, looking for the local goose guru. After knocking on a few wrong doors, we found him. Despite a bottle of Scotch as a…
What do the different barks of a roe deer mean?
A colleague contacted me last week and told me about a roebuck that had barked at his presence in the wood, only to keep approaching him at a distance of about 30m to take a closer look. On identifying him it ran off, and he then heard the roe deer…
Exercises for clayshooters
None of us at the moment can get out and shoot as we normally would. There are, however, a few things that we can do to keep our eye in. Hopefully, by the time you read this your local clay ground will be open again but these exercises for clayshooters…
Female Guns out in the field and on the clay ground
Just over 35,000 women in England and Wales hold a shotgun/firearms certificate and official figures show that these numbers are growing annually. This year women are having to forego the get-togethers of National Ladies Shooting Day although many clay grounds have of course recently reopened for business. So as long…
Tackling corvids to protect lambs
The long layoff from shooting during lockdown has been a frustrating time for many of us. Most of my shooting entails the control of grey squirrels, and it seemed difficult to justify a drive of 10 or so miles to keep my feeding stations going when we were all being…
Things you can and can’t do when clayshooting after lockdown
Now clay grounds are reopening, here's a list of things you can and can't do on the clay ground at the moment
Chokes for gameshooting and clays – what’s best?
When you're out in the field or the clay ground which chokes for gameshooting and clayshooting will give you the best results?
How to read the clay target
Even with the best technique in the world, to succeed at a high level you must be able to size up a target in seconds.