Footu Posted January 2, 2016 Report Share Posted January 2, 2016 Hi All, What would you pay for a place on a working shoot? There are 2000 acres over 6 farms in North Wales, vermin shooting all year crow, pigeon (not many), foxes and rabbits. 400 phesants are put in and 10 shoot days over the season. 100 shot by the end of season is a fairly good return for us. We dont get big bags, but have a lot of fun. We could make much more of it, but need willing hands to keep feeding, dogging in and work party days. Believe it or not, one of the problems we have is getting enough people to turn up on shoot days! We have 16 half guns, walk one stand one approach but by the start of jan the numbers are down, today only 6 people turned up. The location is about 20 mins from Denbigh. Our Agm is end of season, we have a definate 2 places, with maybe another 3 depending on attendence by the end of jan. Preference will be given to people with dogs and locals so there is more chance of turning up! you must do 2 work party days and shoot 7 days out of 10 mininum, further feeding/dogging in is expected but not mandatory. if you cant attend, you can send a friend in your place on a shoot day. currently there is no buy out option on work days- dont work, dont attend and you may be replaced. The cost for the whole year is based on running cost only. This year it was £275pp. Yup. thats it. total.no hidden cost. pm me if you are interested and you may bring dogs and a gun on a shoot day (saturdays) to be shown around. its an offer i was given 4 years ago, and I still shoot there. atb footu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llanshooter Posted January 2, 2016 Report Share Posted January 2, 2016 Hi Footu Whereabouts in North Wales are you talking about? No dog atm but always turn up for shooting, beating and work parties. cheers Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwade545 Posted January 2, 2016 Report Share Posted January 2, 2016 Would be very interested, will pm you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted January 2, 2016 Report Share Posted January 2, 2016 Seems cheap to me. What's the deal with so many half guns. Does that mean they only shoot half the days or is this because it's walk one shoot one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footu Posted January 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 hi rimfire, Its because its walk one shoot one. we used to have full gun shoot all day but due to poor attendance they often ended up beating as well so we cut it out and added members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footu Posted January 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 hi dave, We are looking for members with dogs atm, if there is not enough interest it may open up. we are 20 mins on the far side of denbigh from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 I can perhaps understand the shortage of guns . If I read right 100 birds ( ish ) for the season from 10 shoots so that a average around 10 birds a shoot between 16 guns ? Thats not a lot of shooting for anyone . Not knocking what you are doing but I would not be paying for such days, if what I think you are saying is correct then perhaps consider having a good few less days with 8 full guns , that should produce some better averages and attract more guns / beaters should you need them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footu Posted January 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 hi fenboy, i think it depends on the season and weather, last year on the last drive there were 3 of us there with one dog. I had 20 birds run past me, and so did another gun. Following that we chucked out regular non attendees and replaced them. that cull is ongoing. on another year you are right, there is no bag limit so if theres no birds left we just turn it over to a rough shoot. Also consider the cost £275. If you live close and want to go woodcock shooting any day, you can. Want to go foxing any day, you can. Want to take the kids wild camping for a weekend, you can. And theres two small rivers with brown trout which you can play in if you want. I think people will jump at it once they see it. Having said that, thanks for all the pms, all replied to and places filled for now. kind regards footu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) Don't get me wrong , I do not think you are asking a fortune for what is on offer but ultimately guns will want to shoot something on game days . You may well attract some guns but keeping them will be a problem , taking the average bag between the 16 guns , that bag can never be shared equally so some must be going home without bagging a bird. What else is on offer is very good but if all your paying guns were also out lamping foxes / rabbits and shooting woodcock then it would not be long before they started to dry up even on 2000 acres . I still think less and better days would be the answer £275 for 4 nice little shoots would still be very good value. Also consider seperating the two concerns , offer less game days , and have a second smaller syndicate to take on the vermin control. Anyway you have filled your places so I will now shut up good luck with the shoot. Edited January 3, 2016 by fenboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 I think you are doing the right thing with a cull. Do you need so many guns? I would much prefer a smaller number of guns say 10 or 12 who want to be part of the shoot not just a gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footu Posted January 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 We need 6 guns minimum in the line,can take 7 so we aim for 16 half guns to get the beaters as well. Personally I like to shoot around 4 days then spend the rest messing around with the dog.I don't think we ever had a day when everyone was there! Anyway we are around 70 birds so far with 3 day's left and still seeing birds around. Hopefully the rest of the year will go well and next year we will have more willing hands to make it even better. We are alot asking one of the farmers to put in some cover crop so we can add another drive-fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scutt Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 you offer value for money to guns who don't think a shoot syndicate is all about the bag size. Our set up is similar we found that the low fees and the D.I.Y. elements attracts new comers to the sport as well as all round field sports men like wildfowlers and stalkers pigeon shooters etc. who want a bit of a change and do some game shooting .The down side of cheap shoot days is that it easy on the pocket of a gun if he decides not to come.SO we have the same problem to the extent that we have had guests to fill in the line for the walk and stand and not many have turned out for our rough days to try and combat this we upped on membership numbers from 10 to 12 to make two teams of six in theory, in practice its ended up mostly teams of five so we achieved our original team size of 2x5.As with most D.I.Y. shoots you will have a core of members who enjoy the whole experience of work days etc. and the lads who can't give up the time to help mainly because the jobs/family or other commitments take up their time and the ones who think they are at a clay ground and expect to fire boxes of cartridges on every drive .So good on you for offering a way into game shooting to those of us who can't afford 100 bird days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scobydog Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 As Scutt says a good inexpensive way into game shooting for some people, we also have problems of getting people to do work days and filling feeders etc, always the same faces doing the work, then on shoot days the others always seem to be available and expect to shoot loads of birds and complain when they don't. Well done Footu for putting the offer out there and hope you get the right people to join up. S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footu Posted January 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 many thanks guys, I have had some good replies and hope i can keep everyone happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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