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Game Shooting This Season Is Looking Very Bleak.


marsh man
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Mate/keeper of our small syndicate phoned today to say we wouldn't be buying any birds this year as our supplier isn't supplying this year. He could go elsewhere, but as it's looking likely we'll be continuing the lockdown for a while yet, he's had to make a decision, so he has. It doesn't mean we won't get any shooting in though ( if we get back to some sort of normality by then of course ) and we're going to plan a few syndicate clay days probably up at Westlands, and we'll have a few walkabout days on the shoot, treat it like a rough shoot maybe once a month throughout the season, and see what we get. Feeding will commence as per normal all being well. 

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Reading the likely planned return to relative normal this morning in the Telegraph it seems to indicate that things will be back to as normal as possible by September. It will still be advisory to take precautions but we will be able to move about a bit more, so I can hopefully look forward to some shooting by mid October. Hope so because I have just a few days planned including two dedicated 410 days up in Lincolnshire.  Have to be positive. One shoot suggested that they would run two gun buses so we could sit a bit further apart.

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On 20/04/2020 at 17:37, Walker570 said:

Reading the likely planned return to relative normal this morning in the Telegraph it seems to indicate that things will be back to as normal as possible by September. It will still be advisory to take precautions but we will be able to move about a bit more, so I can hopefully look forward to some shooting by mid October. Hope so because I have just a few days planned including two dedicated 410 days up in Lincolnshire.  Have to be positive. One shoot suggested that they would run two gun buses so we could sit a bit further apart.

I hope you are right Walker , looking at the guy on the television last night he was saying there will be some form of lock down till at least the end of this year and could run into next year, or until we find a vaccine .

Talking to our keeper yesterday he was saying how hard it would be if we still had to be 2 meters apart with up to 14/16 beaters on the beaters wagon and the same amount of guns , girl friends , sons ect on the gun bus , then at lunch time with everyone in the same room , yes there are ways you can get around it but with so many changes throughout the day it would be hard to call it a good day out , still October is a long way away and things could be back to some form of normality by then , Who know , no body can say for sure . 

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1 hour ago, Smokersmith said:

At the moment ... travelling in separate vehicles and sarnies for lunch on a driven day sounds like heaven ...

Have to agree.  I fully understand the marsh mans thoughts on the subject but one or two estates have been positive and I feel empowered to show them support.

 

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On 23/04/2020 at 10:33, marsh man said:

I hope you are right Walker , looking at the guy on the television last night he was saying there will be some form of lock down till at least the end of this year and could run into next year, or until we find a vaccine .

Talking to our keeper yesterday he was saying how hard it would be if we still had to be 2 meters apart with up to 14/16 beaters on the beaters wagon and the same amount of guns , girl friends , sons ect on the gun bus , then at lunch time with everyone in the same room , yes there are ways you can get around it but with so many changes throughout the day it would be hard to call it a good day out , still October is a long way away and things could be back to some form of normality by then , Who know , no body can say for sure . 

Don’t forget to put essential journeys into the season as well 

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20 minutes ago, Old farrier said:

Don’t forget to put essential journeys into the season as well 

I think essential journeys would only be a part of the problems we would have , although if that was still in force that would be hard to get round it .

One or two of our long standing teams treat the day as more of a social event with many of them travelling a long distance to get to the shoot , so they come down on a Friday afternoon and stay in the estates hotel on the Friday night , shoot all day on the Saturday then a evening meal at the hotel before heading off for home on the Sunday morning , so at the moment a number of restrictions would have to be lifted for that alone to work , with no ministers giving out any time limits when things are likely to get to any normality then all we can do is wait and see , and with another 500 odd dying since yesterday I doubt if anything will change before the date for this current lock down is up .

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8 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I think essential journeys would only be a part of the problems we would have , although if that was still in force that would be hard to get round it .

One or two of our long standing teams treat the day as more of a social event with many of them travelling a long distance to get to the shoot , so they come down on a Friday afternoon and stay in the estates hotel on the Friday night , shoot all day on the Saturday then a evening meal at the hotel before heading off for home on the Sunday morning , so at the moment a number of restrictions would have to be lifted for that alone to work , with no ministers giving out any time limits when things are likely to get to any normality then all we can do is wait and see , and with another 500 odd dying since yesterday I doubt if anything will change before the date for this current lock down is up .

We have to factor in overnight stay food preparation and serving 

I know there’s ways around it but the lost revenue to the countryside will be astronomical pretty hard being a loader at two meters 

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On 18/04/2020 at 10:49, Scully said:

BIG shoot have announced they are going ahead more or less as usual. 

I’ve just spoke to a pal of mine who is head keeper on a big commercial shoot in Kent who said they are not shooting this year , they may put a few ducks down just to try and cover wages but no pheasant/ partridge days ...the gamefarm and feed merchants will loose a good customer this year ...The local pubs and hotels will miss out as well ..This is going to be a lean year ..

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57 minutes ago, moose man said:

I’ve just spoke to a pal of mine who is head keeper on a big commercial shoot in Kent who said they are not shooting this year , they may put a few ducks down just to try and cover wages but no pheasant/ partridge days ...the gamefarm and feed merchants will loose a good customer this year ...The local pubs and hotels will miss out as well ..This is going to be a lean year ..

Yeah, it will certainly be interesting. The shoot has said they will still cover the same amount of drives each day, but with reduced bags ( perhaps they aren't buying as many poults ?) and the same amount of beaters. I'm hoping we may be on the way to relaxing the rules on social distancing by the time November comes around. Time will tell.

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I don't think that we will see anything like 'normal' in 2020.  The virus is still actively claiming lives and any country that went too early to try to create economic stimulus is now looking foolish.  This pandemic has the potential for a global economic reset.

Our shoot issue fro this year and i doubt it will restart as it was run by volunteers and people realise the amount of cash and time it took up that can be used for more important things.  I have 3 wild fowling trips booked at a friends place but fully expect we will only be able to make the January date, all of my fishing trips have cancelled and deposits returned .. i worry how the businesses relying on tourism and sporting trips will fair.

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Chatted to several folks in the last few days and they're seeing big cuts in many shoots. Lots not shooting, others on a reduced footing.

Also hearing about many cancellations on the demand side … with people struggling with financials through the crisis. The knock on effect for many rural communities in places like some areas of Yorkshire and Wales will be significant.

 

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We have booked all our days . The shoots have agreed that they are deffo going ahead as long as government allowed . All going well it will be my cheapest years shooting yet . There are some cracking deals if you look 

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As mentioned earlier by my son Nmb we are definitely going ahead with our syndicate shoot this season, restrictions allowing. I contacted each of our 25 members (full and 1/2 guns) in mid march and gave them the opportunity to stand down this season with a guarantee that their membership would be renewed for the season 2021/2022, without exception each made it clear that they would be re-joining this season and would be happy to pay a large percentage of their frees by the end of April, this they all did without exception.

We are now a medium sized self keepered syndicate shooting over 4000 acres in the north east of Scotland with members from all walks of life and have been shooting for over 35 years. We have ordered and paid a substantial deposit for 2800 pheasant poults, ordered feed and are looking forward to our season whatever it may bring. We have contingency plans in place to cover social distancing, transport and feeding should restrictions still be in place. We also plan to hold our one let day of the season as planned although as yet we haven't advertised it.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that we have to be positive, to us our syndicate is more than just a day's shooting, it is about the camaraderie, being out in the countryside, lasting memories and friendships and the determination to carry on our traditions, bag size compared to this is irrelevant. 

I wish every body a great season and please keep safe, we will get to the other side of this horrendous pandemic.

Murray F B

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  • 2 weeks later...

Most big shoots round here are normal for this season. 
There will always be money and most people haven’t lost much from C19 ( of course some have but majority not).

One big shooting friend of mine has a car lot and he says demand has been like usual since the last few weeks.

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On 26/05/2020 at 15:54, FGS said:

Most big shoots round here are normal for this season. 
There will always be money and most people haven’t lost much from C19 ( of course some have but majority not).

One big shooting friend of mine has a car lot and he says demand has been like usual since the last few weeks.

 

It's won't hit at first ... companies are still hanging on in there. It'll be when companies can't afford not to bring staff back to work, have to pay their wages and have to let them sit at home that they will start making mass redundancies.

 

Announced in the news today, companies have to start letting staff come back and work part time, but pay them 100% ... :hmm: companies will have to start paying towards the furlough bill as well... ok if you've got a load of money sat in the bank... but I bet a lot of companies owners will be worried by that news. 

 

Several aerospace companies are offering redundancies out, as are other industries,  car manufacturers have already laid off thousanda of staff all over Europe.

We haven't seen the effect of this yet, not even close. 

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