doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com driven birds

Have any of you shot driven birds in Scotland or elswhere. If so, what does one expect to pay per day for this experience?

Usually you pay by the bird. 4 years ago when I lived there the going price was £45 or $90 per bird. You bought so many birds in advance and when you reach approximately that number they give you the option of quiting or continuing at the going price. Way to expensive for me and when I went with a gamekeeper I didn't care for it much. Guess I'm too much a poor country boy to enjoy other people pushing birds to me while I stand there and shoot. Just my opinion.

There are few differences between places, but the most common is you buy a certain number of birds for the day, and then it goes as Mike Harrell mentions in his post.
If it's a team from a foreign country they will need cartridges, accommodations and all kinds of transfers to and from airports, lodges ect. This will add up to the price.
Some places have a minimum of birds for the day, that it's pretty high.
It's not uncommon in Spain to have a minimum bag of 400 partridges.
Price in Spain should be around 30-40€ per bird, and more or less the same in the UK, but in pounds!
Grouse is much more.

HM

I've gone a couple of years to a place south of Paris. Compared to some of the British or Spanish setups it was a pretty casual shoot, with four drives (two in the morning and two in the evening). Light breakfast and a very nice lunch included. Price was about $400-500 or so for the whole day with today's exchange rate. It was not per bird, but a flat rate for the day.

Contrary to some perceptions if you go to "regular" shoots rather than the "rent castle, need pair of Dicksons, etc. setups" there is a good deal of driven shooting out there thats not that expensive, especially compared to what a lot of Stateside guys want for a half-day duck hunt...

Some bad quality photos from 2004:
The line of guns:


Shooting some partridge:


Tableau at the end of the day:

Mike: Thanks for the note re: Hammers- have other misc parts in the "cigar box" so don't hesitate to let me know- I shot several "European tower release" shoots in MI- a few were DU Sponsor events- sometimes they'd let a barn pigeon out with a $20 bill duct-taped to a leg- sort of a "Red-Pin bowling" event-fun, but everyone "unloads" both barrels and you end up with a lot of "ventilated birds"- Ernest Hemingway wrote about driven bird shooting back in the l940's- said that "driven bird shooting was well worth what you had to pay for it"- Maybe-I get my "driven birds" from shooting barn pigeons in a stiff breeze! No doves , dammit!! Here's the actual two quotes- from Hemingway 1935-his article: "Remembering Flying: A Key West Letter" "The trouble with substituting clays for driven birds is there isn't any thud, nor is there the line of bare trees, not are you standing on a wet, leaf strewn road, nor do you hear the beaters, nor the racket when a cock pheasant gets up, and as he tops the trees, you are on him, then ahead of him, and at the shot he turns over and there is that thump when he lands. Shooting driven pheasants is worth whatever you pay for it!" RWTF

I've shot driven birds in the UK and never found it to be nearly as expensive as what's being discussed here. A friend has several days on a pheasant shoot in the Dorset Hills area that cost us 225 pounds per gun. Was about a 70 bird day, four drives in the morning followed by a nice lunch.

I shot driven woodcock on an invite but the shooting only cost 50 pounds a day if you'd have been paying for it. It was turn about, shoot one and drive one, that kept the costs down as they didn't have to hire beaters.

These were all shoots owned by regular folks, there were no tweeds, and damn few side by sides. Everything was pretty well over and under, and we all wore our "greens" for the most part. I had a Parker and was the odd man out with an antique type firearm. But it was very fun, a great experience, and I'd go again in a minute.


Destry

Destry if you know people you can even shoot for free. If you are just going over to do a paid for shoot it's a lot more expensive. I've hunted all 6 main species of deer in England and have never paid a penny. But, I knew quite a few gamekeepers and helped them out with chores and stuff so I shot for free. I also have done some hill beating for grouse. I'm getting too old for that now but the friendships made are great.

The fun of driven shooting isn't just big bags and grand estates. Those have a mystique of their own and I wouldn't give up doing them occasionally. But, I've had as much or more fun on a single gun day where you ate quick shop sandwiches in a converted trailer and got a comprehensive tasting of everyone's home-made sloe gin as a double gun day with a four course lunch and damned good wine in a ducal lodge. In fact, the birds were just as good and that's what it comes down to, after all. You can pay 120GBP a brace for awful grouse or get great birds for friendship.
In this connection, remember the wife's comment on her unfaithful spouse, "While he was out shooting, I had a five-hundred bird day at Harrods." Figure 45GBP/bird and do the math

The price of wheat has gone through the roof this year and diesel has too - that is pushing up prices and most shoots are charging £3 or £4 per bird more than in 2007.

Our little Wedsnesday shoot in Hertfordshire sees us bagging 80-100 birds a day, walk and stand and it works out at around £130 per Gun per day.

The Saturday shoot is all driven and this year is £27 per bird. An average day is around 200 - 220 birds.

Leo- I'll have the sloe gin ready for November!

Dig,
If some of my friends are anything to go by, you don't need to start mixing it until mid-October.