The rustle, crack and crackle of beaters’ flags cut sharply through the crystal air. Frost, the first one of the year, clung to the heads of teasels, dusting them with light. The Guns were lined out to my right, on a wide grass headland. Then, from the block of biscuit-coloured…
Shoot reports
A wonderful scene – what could be more representative of classic day’s driven shooting?
We traverse the country to bring you shoot reports from driven game shoots across the UK
Shooting in Buckinghamshire | Shooting in Cornwall | Shooting in Devon | Shooting in Dorset | Shooting in Lincolnshire | Shooting in Northumberland | Shooting in Scotland | Shooting in Somerset | Shooting in Wales | Shooting in Wiltshire | Shooting in Yorkshire
Shooting Times visits the Port Loughan shoot and reports back
Somewhere in front of us, across the Irish Sea, I was told there was an extraordinary view, but torrential rain and a biting, squally wind had reduced visibility to no more than 100 yards. David Sandford was not pleased. He is a man who quite rightly is tremendously proud of…
Stately British castles offering shoot days
Game shooting: From Arundel, Belvoir and Highclere to Caerhays, Alnwick and Mulgrave, the UK has some of the finest castles in the world, many of which offer game shooting.
A visit to Will Garfit’s award-winning shoot
I’ve heard a great deal about Will Garfit’s 1988 Laurent Perrier Award winning 70 acre shoot, and last January I managed to finally see what all the fuss was about. Known by its proper name, “The Hauxton Pits Shoot” or affectionately – “The Pits” – was founded in 1972 when Will accidentally bought a redundant gravel pit at…
Grouse shooting on Wemmergill moor
Driving across the Yorkshire Dales towards County Durham there’s not a soul to be seen, just the odd sheep and acres and acres of heather coming into bloom. It is a beautiful, stark landscape. To the uninitiated it’s bleak and lonely but keep climbing and driving away from any sign of civilisation, and then turn into Stackholme Farm. Welcome to…
A good day’s sport roughshooting in Buckinghamshire
I was feeling pretty fed up as I checked as many weather apps and websites I could find, the forecast ranged from thick fog to dense mist, the worst conditions possible for a walked-up day shooting over the dogs. And just to rub salt into the wound, we were due to visit one of our favourite estates for…
Newburgh Priory: Mixed game shooting in North Yorkshire
Gaze across the lake to the ancient stately home during a duck drive and ponder the possibility that Oliver Cromwell’s head could be buried in one of its walls, planted there by his daughter, Mary. She reputedly retrieved the skull after her father had been posthumously hung, drawn and quartered…
Drumlanrig: Partridge shooting in Dumfriesshire
It’s hard to know exactly what the grandees of shooting in the late Victorian and Edwardian era would make of the Whirlpool drive at Drumlanrig, or the Bothy for that matter. At the Whirlwind the guns are warned beforehand by unflappable Drumlanrig shoot host John Duncan and irrepressible headkeeper Rab…
Grinkle Park, pheasant shooting from North Yorkshire
Set some 14 miles from the coastal town of Whitby, Grinkle Park is billed as one of North Yorkshire’s premier shooting destinations and rumoured to be the only commercial shooting estate with an integrated hotel in the country. The estate, which pre-dates the Industrial Revolution, is the former home of…
The Knoll Shoot, Somerset
Take a peaceful part of the Somerset countryside, add a dedicated team and a generous dollop of showcase drives for those with tight chokes and the ability to match. The result is the perfect recipe for the ultimate day’s shooting. The first frost of the year greeted me as I…
Wild game shooting at Vine House Farm shoot, Lincolnshire
The Lincolnshire Fens bring to mind large tracts of commercial arable farming; acres of flat land planted with nothing but cereal crops and not a tree in sight. So hardly the place for a shoot, let alone a wild-bird one. But this patch in the south Lincolnshire Fens has just…
Partridge shooting at Pawton Manor, Cornwall
I was in Cornwall this summer and enjoyed the ferry ride across the Camel estuary from Rock to Padstow. The sun was shining, Padstow was awash with tourists, or ‘emmets’ as they call them in this Celtic corner of England, and the cash tills were ringing. I couldn’t help but…
Game shooting from Ganton, Yorkshire
The Wolds of Yorkshire is a distinctive landscape – topographically unique in fact. The meandering dry valleys and rolling hills of the most northerly chalk downs in Europe give the whole area a strong identity. You’d be forgiven for thinking the plethora of deep valleys with perfectly flat bottoms, so…
Pheasant shooting from the Clovelly Shoot, Devon
I hate to use this word but it was a ‘unique’ start to the shoot day, in that I left the modern confines of my room at the Red Lion Hotel in full shooting attire only to be pinned back by the shock of watching the groaning green and white…
Partridge and pheasant shooting at Bowhill, Scottish Borders
Shortly before the first drive started, a sparrowhawk emerged from the highest cluster of oak trees and twinkled her wings in the bright sunlight. Against a cloudless blue sky, the little hunter passed directly over my head at a fantastic height, pausing once to wheel and turn before vanishing behind…
Partridge & pheasant shooting at Bandirran Estate, Perthshire
From the moment of arrival at the converted mill, which is now the shoot room at Bandirran Estate, a sense of calm confidence pervades the air. This estate, which is owned by the Lowson family, has no need to worry about the quality of the sport it offers because it…
Pheasant shooting from the Croomes Grove shoot, Gloucestershire
Words and photography Adrian Blundell I was on my way to unfamiliar territory with a promise to see what my friend Dave Tiley had described as some “seriously good pheasant shooting”. As I turned off the M5 towards Uley, the relatively flat ground of the Severn Vale gave way to…
The Staunton shoot: Starting from scratch
A small Nottinghamshire shoot with an enthusiastic new man in charge