Shooter Survey

[wymberley]

Simply out of interest.

It just has to be nigh on 40 years ago that BASC (I think it was) did a socio economic survey of those who shot.

I simply don't know but would like to, how many active pigeon shooters are there. A few recent threads have sort of indicated that this number may well not be as many as I thought.

Does anyone know of an up to date model of my first point and the answer to the second?

Many thanks.

[old'un]

What would qualify as an active pigeon shooter?

[marsh man]

20 minutes ago, old'un said:

What would qualify as an active pigeon shooter?

I think there are a lot of pigeon shooters about , but how active they are is debatable 

[lancer425]

6 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I think there are a lot of pigeon shooters about , but how active they are is debatable 

^^^^^

THIS.

[Old Boggy]

31 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I think there are a lot of pigeon shooters about , but how active they are is debatable 

Here’s one that’s not active. Sat in the barbers waiting my turn. At least it’s warm and dry in here  no wife nagging, what’s not nice about that😀

Edited March 5, 2020 by Old Boggy

[old'un]

2 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

Here’s one that’s not active. Sat in the barbers waiting my turn. At least it’s warm and dry in here  no wife nagging, what’s not nice about that😀

Anything for the weekend sir! Oh really sir, you want your hair cut as well?

[kenholland]

I am only active , when the pigeons are.

[Old Boggy]

44 minutes ago, kenholland said:

I am only active , when the pigeons are.

 

48 minutes ago, old'un said:

Anything for the weekend sir! Oh really sir, you want your hair cut as well?

Blimey, ‘Anything for the weekend Sir ?’ That takes me back a few years, or even decades ! 
Are they still 3/9d a packet ?

Edited March 5, 2020 by Old Boggy

[wymberley]

6 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

 

Blimey, ‘Anything for the weekend Sir ?’ That takes me back a few years, or even decades ! 
Are they still 3/9d a packet ?

Wasn't that for a gallon of petrol?

[Old Boggy]

5 minutes ago, wymberley said:

Wasn't that for a gallon of petrol?

We’re going off Wymberley’s topic here but not sure about petrol but remember bitter being 1/10d a pint 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Old Boggy

[old'un]

back on topic...

90% of my shooting is Pigeons/Blacks, I am out at least 2 or 3 times a week, not always finding and shooting any (specially this year), do I qualify?  the rest of my shooting (shotgun/rifle) is a mix of pests and game.

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, old'un said:

What would qualify as an active pigeon shooter?

Very similar to members in our wildfowling club , how many are active fowlers ? , I would say only a percentage of the paid up members , unless you can include the ones who shoot duck in the comfort of there arm chairs , or in the pub on a Friday night then I am sorry you would then have to include them all 

[wymberley]

3 hours ago, kenholland said:

I am only active , when the pigeons are.

This has to be the only logical answer. I asked the questions because increasingly I'm finding myself more and more dated. Had to hang about for 3 hours on Monday while some work was done to the car. What I'm using to write this will be obsolete shortly so being bored I strolled into Currys to have a look at computers. Couldn't believe it - it's a whole new world since 2009. Looking at some of the posts which mention the current numbers of Guns and dosh involved contradicts (if my memory serves me right) the survey which I mentioned and which was weighted at the lower end of the scale. Since that time it can only be that improved general wealth has turned things on its head and now those who shoot game have outstripped those who shoot purely pigeon and other vermin. This would make sense as it is reflected by the dramatic reduction in the availability of pigeon related cartridges and the apparent reluctance for the makers to produce more. Unfortunately, things are a little muddled in view of the use of clay loads for this purpose. If my thinking is right, I can now appreciate better what would happen if we were to lose driven shooting.

 

 

[udderlyoffroad]

Not entirely sure what a browse of the latest consumer tat in Currys has to do with shooting? I think what happened is you only saw the latest mega expensive Surface & Apple stuff, as there's no margin in the more reasonable kit that savvy buyers will get online for much less anyway. For what it's worth, I'm writing this on a very low spec 3yr old fire tablet that cost £50. It's a ruddy web based forum,it doesn't need Cray levels of computing power.

To your other point,no I'm not a decoyer, if that's what you mean by active pigeon shooter,simply because i lack the permission where that would be necessary, I do have one perm where I can bag the odd pigeon coming in to roost with the air rifle, but I've yet to have a bag in double figures.

My game cartridge of choice is "Clear Pigeon" though, as 1) everybody stocks it, 2) it's 30g of 6 3) it's £55 a slab, not cheap but not exactly top end either

[wymberley]

On 05/03/2020 at 21:56, udderlyoffroad said:

Not entirely sure what a browse of the latest consumer tat in Currys has to do with shooting? I think what happened is you only saw the latest mega expensive Surface & Apple stuff, as there's no margin in the more reasonable kit that savvy buyers will get online for much less anyway. For what it's worth, I'm writing this on a very low spec 3yr old fire tablet that cost £50. It's a ruddy web based forum,it doesn't need Cray levels of computing power.

To your other point,no I'm not a decoyer, if that's what you mean by active pigeon shooter,simply because i lack the permission where that would be necessary, I do have one perm where I can bag the odd pigeon coming in to roost with the air rifle, but I've yet to have a bag in double figures.

My game cartridge of choice is "Clear Pigeon" though, as 1) everybody stocks it, 2) it's 30g of 6 3) it's £55 a slab, not cheap but not exactly top end either

I don't think that a £50 tablet will do what I need my computer to do. However, you're quite right and the answer to your question is of course, nothing. It was purely an anecdote used as a means to reflect that technology and progress is getting away from me. As said, that last survey was done some 40 odd years back and I think it would be interesting to see what an updated version would produce and  especially if who shot what was included. I would image this would be quite straight forward this day and age and could be done via the internet and even those having forked out £50 could respond.

No, an active pigeon shooter is someone that shoots pigeon when the birds, location and time permit and there is no set frequency or numbers involved - not everyone can go out every day and shoot 300. The same ground rules apply to your game shooting - the fact that you do it is sufficient.

I have to confess that because the local pigeon numbers have gone into free fall and I stopped game shooting two seasons back enabling someone else to take advantage of my good fortune although they have to pay a little for it whereas I got it as a reward for services rendered, I find I'm spending more time talking than shooting. In so doing I'm beginning to discover that those folk who would be my peers if I was still working are more and more being able to shoot driven game whereas back along this was not the case to the same degree as now.

It would be interesting to see what the current situation is. Particularly perhaps in view of the situation attracting intense discussion.

[udderlyoffroad]

Forgive me trying to crow-bar the 2 topics back together, but...I wonder if the march of technology means that actually driven shooting is more accessible than it was, or at least easier to organise, at the DIY syndicate level.   E.g. rotas can be emailed out, group chat on WhatsApp keeps all the members alerted re ongoing issues, any spare places can be advertised on PW, etc  

My driven game shooting consists of a DIY syndicate which costs £450 for a full gun per year.  Bag numbers are usually in single figures, and it obviously requires work parties . So, in that sense pretty affordable, even if you have to put aside £10/week, Christmas-club style. Like most on the shoot, I enjoy the keepering aspect as much as the shooting.

Coming by permissions on the other hand, especially ones where I can use the shotgun, is very hard.  It requires a lot of leg-work, which is difficult for those who have to work full time.  The need to do this in daylight makes this even harder at this time of year.  You cannot use technology to assist you (beyond mapping), you need to get out there and talk to people, face to face.

As to whether BASC should be collecting this data, probably.  But, how many times do you get bugged to take part in surveys on line?  Who doesn't just click to get rid of them, that's assuming you don't have an ad blocker installed.