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Cost per bird


Salmo
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There seems to be a large difference in the cost of a driven bird . I would have thought the cost gap should really not be that great ...... we pay on average £26 a bird in vat and have done for 2 years ( 2 high drives and 3 average drives ) this seems very cheap compared to some ........

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£48 a bird ...... not for me sadly 

11 hours ago, Salmo said:

There seems to be a large difference in the cost of a driven bird . I would have thought the cost gap should really not be that great ...... we pay on average £26 a bird including vat and have done for 2 years ( 2 high drives and 3 average drives ) this seems very cheap compared to some ........that usually includes 11 o’clock refreshments 

 

Edited by Salmo
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  • 2 months later...

Well some shoots parasite off big neighbouring 'commercial' shoots  (I know...who would believe it), and even have the audacity to sell days. That is how cheap shooting can sometimes be obtained. 

 

Some shoots do not have to pay rent, and therefore they can, if they wish, sell cheaper days and still make a good margin.

 

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I have 12 days booked so far and a quick average per bird is £32 which also sometimes includes lunch and elevensies and tea and I think this is going to be about the average for this coming season.     £60 a bird is ridicuous but of course there is a 'Status' in bragging you shoot on those days.  Heh!!! don't knock it, they are handing their money out for others to enjoy.

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On 12/03/2020 at 19:39, WalkedUp said:

One of my walked up days cost me £4.25 per bird including VAT. 

That is walked up. No beaters, pickers up, game cart, flankers, keepers, vehicles, elevenses,  lunch, etc to be provided by the estate as in driven shooting.

Lots of people can walk round a piece of ground and shoot pheasants up the Harris for no cost whatsoever.

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If you take the chances that come to you and can read dogs well walked up shooting is brilliant fun and great value. I shot probably 12 walked up days last season and 6 driven days. 

Even walked up can have some mini drives. A line of 4 guns, one works e.g. a small wooded bank out over the rest of us lined out in a river bed below. I took five birds in a single drive like that this season, all crossing over the valley lovely driven birds at a reasonable height. I work my dogs so lots are flushed from point so easy going away kill, or away into the wind, up and back over... I leave them if someone else can get a better shot. If not I put them in the bag. Our bags tend to be over 50% wild game, to bulk out the pheasant and reduce cost. There is more fieldwork than in driven shooting, but much easier shots. 

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11 minutes ago, WalkedUp said:

If you take the chances that come to you and can read dogs well walked up shooting is brilliant fun and great value. I shot probably 12 walked up days last season and 6 driven days. 

Even walked up can have some mini drives. A line of 4 guns, one works e.g. a small wooded bank out over the rest of us lined out in a river bed below. I took five birds in a single drive like that this season, all crossing over the valley lovely driven birds at a reasonable height. I work my dogs so lots are flushed from point so easy going away kill, or away into the wind, up and back over... I leave them if someone else can get a better shot. If not I put them in the bag. Our bags tend to be over 50% wild game, to bulk out the pheasant and reduce cost. There is more fieldwork than in driven shooting, but much easier shots. 

Can't beat a good day up the hedges with a good dog or a day walking the sides of Welsh hillsides in January after a woodcock or two. Here I believe we are talking full driven shooting and we have to admit that costs money to arrange and estates and land owners are not in the charity business, they also have to pay the bills and make a living.  Their is no doubt that there are folk out there with money to burn and will pay ridiculous prices. I heard last year of a loader being handed a pair of quality shotguns at the end of the day. The shooter he was loading for was flying out of the country the next day and had no further use for them.   Personally I enjoy days from 60 to 130 birds in beautiful surroundings and there is more to my day than just killing things.   I now shoot all driven days as my walking days are long gone.  I was pleased to see the comment above..."I leave them if someone else can get a better shot" nice to know there is at least one more sporting shot in the country.

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I agree, walked up days are fabulous fun, sometimes more so than driven shooting. But my point was that they cost very little/ or even nothing. The prices we were originally discussing applied to formal driven days. 
Incidentally, my teams have been paying £32/34 per bird for the last few years but it seems to have risen to £34/36 for the coming season. We shoot 100-140 bird days and take ten guns to keep the cost down.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 30/05/2020 at 11:00, ditchman said:

up goes £20,000 H&H

over comes £60.00

bang goes .50p

down comes .50p

Ha Ha, 🤪 your so wicked but spot on, it appears to me that some people have to much money, I have been shooting&fishing for 50 +years and this never did make sense imho

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As said, working a good dog or dogs takes a lot of beating...no pun intended ..... there was a day when I could walk anyone into the ground and had the dogs to do the job BUT I remind you young whippersnappers that the time will come when walking hillsides and clambering over ditches is impossible, so you have to take the easy way out and small driven days are the way to do that.  I am eternally grateful that I am still pretty fit within a couple of months of my eigtieth birthday and still able to get out in the countryside but no longer could I walk and work those Welsh hillsides as I did for many years and scamble across drainage ditches in Scotlands far north for a few grouse, snipe and the odd wild pheasant.  I do not want to shoot big days or crazy high birds, I just enjoy being out with likeminded folk in beautiful countryside and if I get a few shots then that is a bonus.  I have no time for anyone who has to count how many shots he has had that day in relation the price he has paid and whinge if they have been out of the shooting.  I believe I enjoy seeing a colleague take a good bird rather than shoot one myself.

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On 03/06/2020 at 09:29, London Best said:

I agree, walked up days are fabulous fun, sometimes more so than driven shooting. But my point was that they cost very little/ or even nothing. The prices we were originally discussing applied to formal driven days. 
Incidentally, my teams have been paying £32/34 per bird for the last few years but it seems to have risen to £34/36 for the coming season. We shoot 100-140 bird days and take ten guns to keep the cost down.


Walked up days are the best fun, especially as often birds will look easy... But often they’re just easy to miss 🤣

Giving someone an absolute ribbing for missing “easy” birds is good crack 😂

15 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

As said, working a good dog or dogs takes a lot of beating...no pun intended ..... there was a day when I could walk anyone into the ground and had the dogs to do the job BUT I remind you young whippersnappers that the time will come when walking hillsides and clambering over ditches is impossible, so you have to take the easy way out and small driven days are the way to do that.  I am eternally grateful that I am still pretty fit within a couple of months of my eigtieth birthday and still able to get out in the countryside but no longer could I walk and work those Welsh hillsides as I did for many years and scamble across drainage ditches in Scotlands far north for a few grouse, snipe and the odd wild pheasant.  I do not want to shoot big days or crazy high birds, I just enjoy being out with likeminded folk in beautiful countryside and if I get a few shots then that is a bonus.  I have no time for anyone who has to count how many shots he has had that day in relation the price he has paid and whinge if they have been out of the shooting.  I believe I enjoy seeing a colleague take a good bird rather than shoot one myself.


Brilliant outlook! As much as I love ribbing one of the lads for missing, watching someone take a really spectacular shot and sharing in the moment can be fantastic. Clapping and cheering when made can be the highlight of the day. 

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