Have you been invited walked-up pheasant shooting for the first time? If so, congratulations because it’s a sought-after invitation. However it can be a daunting prospect for the beginner. On a walked-up shoot you don’t have total control of the birds and you don’t know how they will be presented,…
Rough or walked-up shooting
Walked-up or rough shooting
Walked-up or rough shooting is when the quarry is flushed out of woods and cover by gundogs with the Guns walking behind. Many shooters have been introduced to the world of shooting in this manner.
It’s a wonderful way to be out in the fresh air and a good way of getting those miles in, as you’re likely to walk a fair way through the fields.
Seeing trained Labradors or spaniels at work, flushing out game from cover as the group walks along is a joy to watch. The dogs are trained to retrieve the shot game back to the Gun so that it can be despatched humanely if needed.
Virtually all the quarry species listed can be walked-up.
Numbers are usually totally irrelevant with rough shooting, it’s about being out in the countryside with your dog and hopefully bringing something home for supper.
Here are a range of articles on the rough shooting so you can learn more.
Walked-up shooting and the going away bird
For clay pigeon shooting enthusiasts and game shooters alike, walked-up shooting is making more and more sense. Here is how to prepare for typical going away targets.
The best gaiters for walked-up shooting
Gaiters for shooting are essential, particularly if you’re walked-up shooting on moorland. Why you need the best gaiters for shooting Wear gaiters with your breeks and shooting socks to protect your legs from ticks, as well as mud, scratches from rough heather and brambles. You’ll also be able to stride…
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…
What’s more challenging – a driven or a walked-up day?
Driven or walked-up shooting? It’s walked-up for Robin Scott who says: Given the chance I’d pop away at a driven game any day of the week. Nothing is easier than standing on a peg shooting birds passing nicely overhead after being flushed by a whole heap of beaters. You can…
How to bag rough shooting
On my desk as I write this is a rather yellowed and crumpled letter from the Forestry Commission offering an annual shooting lease over 1,003 acres at West Tofts, Norfolk, for the princely sum of £50. The letter is dated November 1971, a time when my father and a group…
How to find affordable rough shooting
Robin Scott investigates how to find affordable roughshooting and what it costs
A guide to the different types of rough shooting
I recently discussed rough shooting (walked-up shooting) with Matt Clark, Sporting Gun editor and how to go about participating in this most enjoyable part of our sport. (You can listen to the discussion here) Organising rough shooting days I am passionate about this type of shooting and over the years…
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,…
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…
One barrel is all you need
A single-shot, single-barrelled shotgun is not popular these days. The guns are looked down upon as somehow ‘less than’. When I began my shooting life under my father’s instruction, I was as excited as any 14-year-old could be. I had completed my three-year apprenticeship of various gun-, dog- and bird-related…
How to tackle common species when walked-up shooting
Successfully walking-up any quarry and making the most of your opportunities is not as as straightforward as people often think. Here I will go into specific details about how to tackle commonly encountered species. The most frequently made mistake among would-be rough Shots is to head to the local clay…
The right kit for a succesful day’s rough shooting
It would be fair to say that I am pretty well addicted to my walked-up shooting. Years ago, walked-up or rough shooting was the mainstay of many a Gun and I know for plenty of people it was how they were introduced to the world of shooting. Then along came…
Beretta 486 Parallelo 20-bore reviewed by Shooting Times
As the new shotgun reviewer for Shooting Times, I was asked to look at the Beretta 486 Parallelo 20-bore side-by-side and consider whether it would make a good rough shooting gun. The short answer is yes, but let’s have a look at the evidence to support the argument. Familiar sight…
The rise and fall, and rise of roughshooting
The roughshoot has been sidelined by driven shooting. John Humphreys argues that this is a loss to the foundations of the sport in this country
How do you safely shoot ground game?
At this time of year the same old topic of conversation crops up at shoots far and wide - namely the shooting of ground game and/or low birds.
A day’s shooting with Clumber spaniels for the first time
I love shooting over dogs, so when my friend Nathan Hawkins posted an open invitation to shoot over a breed I had never heard of — the Clumber spaniel — I jumped at the chance. Charming Clumber spaniels This is a breed that has been apparently superseded by springers and…
How I created my own shoot
It is the dream of many sportsmen to own their own shoot, and to provide some sort of safeguard for their shooting in the future. Due to escalating land prices around the country this dream may result in owning just a few acres, but with careful planning and hard work…