Lets see your Guns.

[5thelement]

21 minutes ago, Stubby said:

This has been my feeling for a number of years now . Only ever shot 3 anyway . 

Beautiful little bird, same with Teal, hardly any meat on either. 

[MattyF]

39 minutes ago, 5thelement said:

Beautiful little bird, same with Teal, hardly any meat on either. 

There is that but it’s probably the tastiest bird you will eat... I might take a couple but I’ll only do it if I see 30+ flying over me in half hour. 

Beating on a shoot in Durham and they must of shot 50/50 with the pheasants be never seen as many and the guns didn’t even get a shot off at the majority, again when I beated down in Cambridgeshire you might of seen one in the entire day despite the woods being like swamps ! 
I’ll walk up there most nights just to watch them… snipe is something I rarely see now , I used to be able to see 3-4 in an evening on a 30 acre stand now I might see one a year.

[AHPP]

Trying to learn a bit more about how a pheasant shoot works beyond just turning up on a Saturday and shouting. A mate lent me this. Any other book recommendations? Instructional and short preferably. No need for lovely long stories of country life. More a manual. 
 

[ABtrees]

8 hours ago, AHPP said:

Trying to learn a bit more about how a pheasant shoot works beyond just turning up on a Saturday and shouting. A mate lent me this. Any other book recommendations? Instructional and short preferably. No need for lovely long stories of country life. More a manual. 
 

 

 

You might want to try this one - some useful bits and pieces but you won't learn all of it by the weekend !!!

 

Game Shots Vade Mecum by Michael Brander - AbeBooks

WWW.ABEBOOKS.CO.UK

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The Game Shot's - Vade Mecum by BRANDER, Michael and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.co.uk.

 

[ABtrees]

On 17/12/2025 at 14:42, Stubby said:

This has been my feeling for a number of years now . Only ever shot 3 anyway . 

 

I only ever shot 1 (not that it is a competition).  I was so taken aback by the beauty of the bird when i picked it up, I swore there and then to never shoot another - haven't and won't and that was 1981 !!!!!

[Mark Bolam]

I’ve got a few books you can borrow mate, but they nearly all pertain to the big commercial shoots which I have come to detest.

 

10 well-shot driven birds in a day is fine for a single gun.

200 is why people are trying to ban it.

[AHPP]

21 minutes ago, ABtrees said:

 

 

You might want to try this one - some useful bits and pieces but you won't learn all of it by the weekend !!!

 

Game Shots Vade Mecum by Michael Brander - AbeBooks

WWW.ABEBOOKS.CO.UK

---

The Game Shot's - Vade Mecum by BRANDER, Michael and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.co.uk.

 

 

12 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

I’ve got a few books you can borrow mate, but they nearly all pertain to the big commercial shoots which I have come to detest.

 

10 well-shot driven birds in a day is fine for a single gun.

200 is why people are trying to ban it.

 

Anything more like a keepering manual? How to arrange vegetation to hold birds, when to feed, wtf does dogging-in mean anyway, where to put your guns and beaters etc.

Edited 1 hour ago by AHPP

[Mark Bolam]

A few mate, but it’s pre-WW1 stuff.

Killing little owls etc.

Prehistocic.

 

Very interesting history, but that’s it.

[MattyF]

47 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

 

 

10 well-shot driven birds in a day is fine for a single gun.

200 is why people are trying to ban it.

Still a lot of work and money goes in to get 10 birds a gun.

im no expert Alex but most I ever picked up was chatting to keepers in the pub afterwards, one of them ray was an absolute legend , quiet composed man who had been a marine In the Korean War then came to the estate I lived on at the time, he had personally planted and looked over the woods since then .. taught  me more than any book Ive picked up since. 

[AHPP]

We (the syndicate that I beat for, 2-5 birds per gun) don't have a keeper per se. They have work parties and a feeding rota and one of them is the farmer. I should broaden my horizons to some other shoots really. Was asking one of the busier beaters last weekend about the local scene. He suggested Sailor might remain restrained on some of them, depending on my appetite for admonishment.

Edited 2 minutes ago by AHPP