Starting a Game Shoot - Costs

[AndyCM]

Hi Guys,

 

Am I along the right lines in costings for a 200 bird released / 10 gun syndicate ?

 

Setting up a game shoot - pheasant and / or partridge (with free wildfowl hopefully as the patch is one border estuary).

 

Poults - around £3.75- £4 each - should be able to confirm that easily enough.

 

Feed costs - if I allow the same as the bird costs is that likely to be enough ?

 

Game cover - what is the going rate per acre to have sown

 

Water - £1'ish per tank so a few of those

 

Misc pens supplies - say £250 (we have main pen building bits) so just a tidy up of netting / electric fences / a few posts and all the other little bits and pieces needed.

 

land cost per acre (this could be the deal breaker)

 

So far I have got £230 - £380 per gun but want to make sure I am not missing anything major.

 

Feeding fuel costs are ignored as some rota will be in place, so no one feels left out

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Cheers

AndyCM

[hinksford]

Mate i can help at all with your questions what i can do is wish you success with the venture

Mick

[flytie]

The least I know of anyone paying for shooting rights is £1.50 per acre. Our shoot pays £4.00 per acre (we have some good woods and brilliant duck shooting). Last season we had 11 paying guns @£600 each with the keeper/feeder having a free gun, giving a total of £6,600. We put 500 pheasants to wood @£3.25 and 300 mallard @£2.75 on the stream/ponds.

 

1 tonne of medicated crumb cost £350, we could have got away with less crumb because the poults were well grown on when we got them. I cannot remember how much grit cost us, but I used 10 bags. Wheat started at £200/tonne and ended at £75.00/tonne With bottles of whisky and dressed pheasants for shoot neighbours and the tenants whose land we shoot over, plus paying for them to come to the shoot dinner as well as the standard costs we ended up with £105.00 spare this year. If the price of wheat had not gone down dramatically we would have needed more money from the guns!

 

We paid £250 for half an acre of game cover, this was hand seeded by me, with an old fiddle drill, and a friend ploughed it and worked it down for a day's shooting with us. We already had seed.

 

Always allow yourself a safety margin. Replaceing feeders, drinkers, traps, batteries, springs, fences, styles and wire can be an ongoing drain.

 

ft

[Bleeh]

Well, for a 10 gun syndacite - are you sure 200 birds is anywhere near enough?

 

On average, you'll loose about 30-50% of all you're birds BEFORE you start shooting.

 

It adds up, say you loose 10 in rearing (it's possible), 40 jump the border, and 30 to predation (if a fox nabs 2 a night, it'll add up quickly) you've suddenly found you've got 120 birds, about 12 per gun IF you shoot every single last one (saying they fly over you're heads).

 

If I was you, I'd put more money in trying to keep wild birds in you're patch, (hoppers on outskirts, ect.) and nab you're neighbours.

[flytie]

Well, for a 10 gun syndacite - are you sure 200 birds is anywhere near enough?

 

On average, you'll loose about 30-50% of all you're birds BEFORE you start shooting.

 

It adds up, say you loose 10 in rearing (it's possible), 40 jump the border, and 30 to predation (if a fox nabs 2 a night, it'll add up quickly) you've suddenly found you've got 120 birds, about 12 per gun IF you shoot every single last one (saying they fly over you're heads).

 

If I was you, I'd put more money in trying to keep wild birds in you're patch, (hoppers on outskirts, ect.) and nab you're neighbours.

 

This is a quick way to lose good will and make enemies. You could find your feeders dieseled very quickly! Put a few down if only for good will purposes.

 

You do need to put enough birds down. Even well keepered shoots only reckon to shoot 40% of bird put to wood.

 

ft

[AndyCM]

Thank you for the help guys.

 

Year one will be modest, 200 is a minimum. Once we find out what works on the ground - partridge / pheasant then year two will be increased. + we can develop our own wild birds then. Predator control will be relentless

The estuary is a blessing for wildfowl but might make the place a bit windswept for game birds. Trial and error to some extent.....start small and build on what works.

Cheers

AndyCM

[Nats]

Hi Andy

Shame you are not closer i would have been able to sort you some poults at reasonable rates..

When you get your poults they will probably be pushing 7weeks old so you can go on to a covert pellet which is a lot easier on the pocket than 300 quid

As for leaving yourself short on cash if you have got it a little wrong budget wise ie with the wheat if you have the right sort of people in the syndicte then they wont mind dibbing in for another few quid

 

I had a great day in kent on a beaters day 3 years ago we shot nearly 400 cocks only :(

[Pinkfooty]

It is sometimes easier to work backwards to ascertain costs on a DIY game shoot.

 

Assuming that the ground is suitable for holding the number of birds you intend to release, then a DIY shoot should, at the end of the season, work out at somewhere between £15 - £18 per bird shot (as opposed to the £25 - £35 of a keepered shoot).

 

So if you hope to shoot, say, 200 birds over the season, then the cost per Gun for 10 Guns would be somewhere in the region of £350 each. If you establish your syndicate on that basis, then you can start to look at the sort of options that will give you the best value for money within the total your Guns have contributed.

 

Generally speaking, as the shoot grows, the proportion of fixed costs (land rent, etc) reduces and the amount left for variable costs such as poults, feed, medicines, etc increases. So you do get better value as the shoot size grows (always, of course, within the limitations of the ground).

 

Also bear in mind that the ratio of boundary length to shoot area is higher on a small shoot of, say, 500 acres than it is with a bigger shoot of, say 2000 acres, so wandering problems can be greater on a small shoot.

[al4x]

Andy

In your situation be very very careful if you're the one in charge you have to be very diplomatic to avoid more agro than its worth to run a small shoot. Basically your head will be on the block and all and sundry will moan to you and about you if all your birds wander and they feel they have wasted their money. It happens on most DIY shoots at some point and a lot of friendships get broken up.

 

bear that in mind and keep all the paying members involved and kick out any who don't do their bit otherwise you'll find you do all the work and they get cheap shooting. In a first year ideally you need to maximise what the land has and the habitat so feeders always need food in, game cover you need as much as you can afford or the farmer will put down. Vermin control needs to be effective but not over shot so trapping as much as possible to avoid disturbance.

If the area is windy you may struggle to hold birds so I'd put down sub 500 in year 1, 200 won't be enough for more than a couple of days walked up and take it from there. Costs wise poults and food are your major costs as well as pen building in year 1.

Keep the costs as low as possible then you can increase them once you have an idea of what numbers to expect on a shoot day, above all good luck you're going to need it!!

[Stillsy]

For future years, if the running of the shoot is based around how thick the wallet is, then i would consider getting them at day old. And i know everyone will say how much work it is etc but if all the guns chip in on feeding/ fitting bits etc then its no work at all. I can get in day olds at 65p each and produce a 6 week old bird at £1.75. Also i would have a look for a new supplier if your paying £3.75 for a! poult