doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Let's say I was wanted to shoot grouse in Scotland

Being from the U.S.A. you should find it 20% cheaper than we poor British folks as you will be able to claim the Value Added Tax back.

Driven grouse are very, very fast and come in low so there are safety considerations. Some sort of instruction is a must for someone who has never shot this type of game before. Beaters and Pickers-up are hard come by and can be quite nervous creatures if they notice inexperienced Shots in the line up. I've seen grouse go past un-shot at simply because they were not even seen!

Most English moors are reporting good numbers this season. I have not heard reports from north of the border as yet.

Not necessarily giving them a plug but I work for this Landowner on one of his English Estates. This is his Scottish Estate; http://www.glenmuick.com/activities.aspx and both walked up and driven grouse shooting can be arranged (plus accommodation) together with Roe Deer and Red Deer stalking and salmon fishing plus other types of game shooting. Nice part of the world and not too far from Aberdeen Airport. The Estate is next door to the Queen's place at Balmoral so the neighbours check out o.k. Lagopus.....

Nicely understated...Geo

I don't know they say that Pippa Middleton can get pretty wild at times.

Of course, the distances between the estates in question are probably pretty vast.

Still the prices seem reasonable.

Lagopus, I've shot driven several times (always the same place). No VAT ever reflected on any of my bills. I wonder if we get around that by being members of some sort of consortium or something?

Larry, no, just by not being a British tax payer. One thing to look out for when visiting the U.K. to make sure that you are not inadvertently overcharged for something. Not everything carries V.A.T. but a lot of goods and services do. I think that there is a cut off point so you may not be able to claim for little incidentals but it can cut the cost of quite a lot. Buying a new gun from Purdey for example; 20% cheaper to you.

trebling; no, that's Pippa Middleton her sister your thinking of.

The two estates just run one into the other. A nice touch in village of Ballater, which is close to both estates, is that the local shops that are patronised by Royalty are allowed to display the Royal Warrant so you will see signs outside some shops such as 'Butchers Shop to Her Majesty the Queen' or 'Bakers to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales'. I was up there a few years ago at the same time the Royal Family were on their Hols at Balmoral and old Queenie did a walkabout in Ballater; something about opening a bridge that had been closed for repairs and quite an informal do. A coach load of tourists from the U.S.A. just happened to be in town. To say it made their trip was an understatement! Lagopus.....

I have a friend who has run a Sporting Agency in central Scotland for over 25 years. He has more or less given up booking driven grouse there. The vagaries of weather, cancellation of shooting at the last minute, and the general lack of proper habitat management on neighboring estates that attract vermin (eg the dreaded Nordic tree plantings that were going to provide so many jobs - not) are just some of the reasons. Even trip or hunt insurance can't help. He books all his driven grouse shoots in Yorkshire estates.
But I'm sure there are a few estates in Scotland that have good shooting but if you're doing a double gun day you had better go to a shooting school and practice with your assigned loader beforehand. If you've never done it before this is jumping in an inlet with the tide going out after you've learned to dog-paddle!

Walkup is fun but it is not the same experience. You can walk miles on flat land behind pointers north of Inverness or up and down the wee hills else where. Whew!

Finally, I'd do a day where there are British shooters on your team ( like the gunsonpegs suggestion above). They will not take any nonsense from a shoot organizer like so many of the highly advertised shoots in the diversified commercial glossy magazines. My British friends contract for a certain number of brace, not "a taste of driven shooting". It is all spelled out in B&W in a contract. And, if you don't act like a "cowboy or gangster", you'll find a warm welcome, as a rule, and will learn much. I'd book two single guns days rather than one double gun day. In the right butt you'll be overwhelmed with double guns, and will not endear yourself to fellow Guns or the Factor. One needs to be cool.

Oh, VAT. Sometimes you need to apply for a refund as you are leaving for home but the laws may have changed. Some include the VAT in a flat cost - I don;t what you do with that.