How much to shoot on 125 acres of farmland?

[Doc Holliday]

I saw a local ad advertising shooting available on 125 acres of farmland, etc. They are asking for £700 P.A. Can anyone tell me if this is a good price? Or even if you would be interested in setting up a small syndicate, may 4 people or so?

 

If anyone is potentially interested then please PM so we could arrange to look at the land and put an offer in. The land is in East Sussex, near Heathfield I believe.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Doc Holliday

[Bluebarrels]

Depends on the sort of land/crops etc Doc £700 per annum is good value when you break it down,however if the land isnt going to produce some half decent shooting,is it good value? especially if you have permissions to shoot on already,if you were a newbie without a permission maybe a different story mate BB

[Doc Holliday]

Thanks Bluebarrels. I'm kind of hoping that there will be a bit of interest on here and someone with some knowledge of rough shooting would also show an interest and come along for a look. I have recieved a P/M from a member saying the guy is a bit optomistic and should offer between £1 - £4 per acre depending on the lay of the land.

 

We'll see what happens. I may well call him tomorrow with a view to going out to look at the land next week.

[wymberley]

Hi,

Beware of short leases. You can spend a few years getting it sorted only to have the rug pulled from under your wellies and it's then re-let for twice the price.

Cheers

[badshot]

Very nice area around Heathfield, There should be lots of hedges around the mainly grass fields of the area. I know someone who runs a very successful shoot a bit further into Sussex near Uckfield, ( i send my sheep there for the winter). It is quite a hilly area and Heathfield is often engulfed in dense fog/mist/lowcloud. It also gets snow a lot when no where else locally does. If you can get the lease for a few years it should be worth it I would have thought.

[mickmep]

pm sent.

[Gillaroo]

Depends also who your neighbours are - something like Stonehouse (Rushlake Green) next door would make £700 a steal.

Cheers

Gillaroo

[al4x]

depends entirely on the land, we've a few fields of that size that would make it a very bad idea, its a fair wad of money for not a lot of land IMHO

[verminator69]

Sounds expensive but it dipends what the land can produce,and if you didnt have any where to go it could be an option.

Good luck

[bobt]

am I reading this correct?

 

125 acres? and you think it will make a shoot?

[flytie]

am I reading this correct?

 

125 acres? and you think it will make a shoot?

 

Bob, Archie Coats did a twice a year driven shoot on 10 acres, even published a book on it. Not surprisingly it's called "The Ten Acre Shoot".

 

It all depends on what you get, are there ponds or flood medows? Does the price include cover crops in stategic places?

 

Somwhere between £1.00/acre and £3.50/acre is what I know of being paid round here. Anything more than that and it would need something special to make it worth more. I know of some lakes round here that I would cheerfully pay £7.50 acre for.

 

Atb, ft

[bobt]

I wouldnt beleive everything you read, I met him a few times, and his version of events I attended differed a long way from anyone else who was there.

 

I still think 125 acres is small, mind you our shoot runs into the thousands of acres.

[flytie]

I wouldnt beleive everything you read, I met him a few times, and his version of events I attended differed a long way from anyone else who was there.

 

I still think 125 acres is small, mind you our shoot runs into the thousands of acres.

Bob, it's easy to speak ill of the dead.

 

It's also easy to look down on a small amount of shooting when you shoot over "thousands of acres".

 

It all depends on what the lad wants. If he has no shooting it might be worth it to him, but not to you.

 

ft

[scolopax]

I still think 125 acres is small, mind you our shoot runs into the thousands of acres

 

you would be safer with 125 acres, much less chance of getting lost..

[verminator69]

A number of years a go i had a small holding down the coast to shoot on about 180acre i think ( i didnt pay for it ) and the owner put in nothing but spring barley a field of peas and about 20 acre of sprouts,every year it was about 5 miles from a large estate and the pigeons that i shot over the years where into the thousands.

I also shot about 10 roe a year of it.There was no woods on it just a good ditch thut run the length of it and some nice hedges with an odd tree in them. I dont have it now the chap that owned it died and it was sold off to the big boys who put it all in wheat every year.

So you can have some nice sport of a small bit land.

[HDAV]

I have been considering the "sporting rights" to 220+ Acres with 40+ of woodland and surrounded by forestry land might make a nice syndicate shoot but don't think there is any cover crop but are several ponds natural and man made

Edited April 16, 2010 by HDAV

[flytie]

I have been considering the "sporting rights" to 220+ Acres with 40+ of woodland and surrounded by forestry land might make a nice syndicate shoot but don't think there is any cover crop but are several ponds natural and man made

HDAV, I hope it works out for you it sounds ideal with the woodland and ponds

 

ft

[HDAV]

HDAV, I hope it works out for you it sounds ideal with the woodland and ponds

 

ft

 

Any idea what it would be worth? per acre?

[bobt]

you would be safer with 125 acres, much less chance of getting lost..

 

 

its hills that confue me

[flytie]

Any idea what it would be worth? per acre?

 

HDVA, as I posted before I know of people paying between £1.00 to £3.50 per acre in this area, another poster put £4.00 as his top price. It all depends on what it's worth to you.

 

But with ponds, you get duck flighting in September, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan. Woodland gives you pheasant drives Nov, Dec, Jan and hopefully deer! If you get some cover crops too you will have sport nearly all year round.

 

Atb, ft

[HDAV]

HDVA, as I posted before I know of people paying between £1.00 to £3.50 per acre in this area, another poster put £4.00 as his top price. It all depends on what it's worth to you.

 

But with ponds, you get duck flighting in September, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan. Woodland gives you pheasant drives Nov, Dec, Jan and hopefully deer! If you get some cover crops too you will have sport nearly all year round.

 

Atb, ft

Thanks I spoke to the land owner briefly there are 6 or 7 ponds from natural large year round puddles to a large man made one! As well as 2 streams and all the woodland, I dont know enough to do it myself hopefully i might be able to have a gun or half gun from whoever takes it on.

[starlight32]

Bob, it's easy to speak ill of the dead.

 

It's also easy to look down on a small amount of shooting when you shoot over "thousands of acres".

 

It all depends on what the lad wants. If he has no shooting it might be worth it to him, but not to you.

 

ft

 

 

I'll second that. I have rented off a mixture of farmers over the years, everything from cheap to dear, big and small areas. I have always found the smaller landowners the best to deal with, the most pleasant and helpful. I put this down to the fact that they are to a certain extent grateful of the income.The smaller farms normally have the best untounched land that there is too offer...Hedrows,ditches and spinneys intact and not knocked out.

 

Normally they border the bigger boys so you have shoots all around you, which can knock your bird count up.

 

With the big boys it is quite often no more than a financial arrangement and nothing else.

 

If you are happy paying 700 quid go for it, I would have no trouble paying it if the land is right and I want it, and that is how it works.

 

Best of luck