The reality of game shooting in today’s economic climate is one of cutting ones cloth according to ones budget.

Most of us can’t afford to spend as much on our sport right now as we could perhaps a year or two ago.

Walked-up Game Shooting: What exactly is your definition?

The reality of game shooting in today’s economic climate is one of cutting ones cloth according to ones budget.

"It’s small wonder that many game shooters are now looking for cheaper alternatives"

In plain English, most of us can’t afford to spend as much on our sport right now as we could perhaps a year or two ago. With driven game days now costing a minimum of around £27 per bird equating to £600 per gun for a 200 bird day for 9 guns. Some shoots charging in excess of £30 + VAT per bird equating to £800 plus per gun for 200 birds for 9 guns, it’s small wonder that many game shooters are now looking for cheaper alternatives.

Smaller farm syndicate type shoots can offer good value at perhaps around £1000 per gun for 8 days shooting through the season. Invariably small bags of perhaps 40 to 60 birds between 8 to 10 guns but still great value and a damn good day out with like minded people and something to make those short, wet, cold winter days a little more bearable.

The walk & stand day has always been a popular alternative where a syndicate of perhaps 16 to 20 guns split into two teams with one team beating while the other team stands. The teams will take turns to walk then stand and perhaps achieve 4 drives each where they shoot and 4 where they beat.

This again provides great value game shooting with all the banter and fun of a bigger day but not so punishing on the pocket.

The third alternative is the walked-up game day but there seems to be much confusion over what constitutes a walked-up day.

My original conception of walked-up game shooting was exactly what it says. A small group of two or three guns, perhaps even a lone individual working a dog over rough farm land to walk-up or flush whatever game he and his dog can find.

"If you were lucky enough to have a small pond or stream on your shoot and were fortunate enough to flush a duck or moorhen from the water then you were really having a good day."

Small pits, a small wood and hedgerows were the order of the day. If you were lucky enough to have a small pond or stream on your shoot and were fortunate enough to flush a duck or moorhen from the water then you were really having a good day.

The bag would usually be quite varied with rabbit, pigeon, squirrel, rook and if you were very lucky, a pheasant or partridge would really make the day.

This year there has been a marked increase in the number of people booking walked-up days through commercial shoots and sporting agents and I’m sure this is again a sign of the times. After all, you can probably get three walked-up days for the price of one driven day. You can therefore see the attraction of getting out of the office or factory and spending the day in the countryside hunting wild game for around £200 per day. It’s great value and a wonderful way to spend the day.

I do however get a little concerned that we are getting away from the concept of hunting for our sport and expecting a little, or a lot, too much from the walked-up day.

Quite recently I’ve experienced the dissatisfied facial expressions of a group of shooters who had numerous shots to achieve a bag of perhaps 6 pheasants, several woodcock and a couple of ducks.

I’ve experienced a group with an average shot ratio of one for sixty (yes 1/60) yet still thoroughly enjoyed their day out.

I’ve been asked to put on a walked-up day for 6 people with a target bag of 10 birds per gun minimum. If you equate that to my 1/60 group, they would require 3,600 shots to hit the bag.

I can’t help but feel that somewhere along the road, we got our walked-up days and driven days a little confused with each other.

Of course we all want value for money and whether we sign up for a driven day at £800 or a walked-up day at £200 we want to know that we’ll get some sport for our coin. The difference is that we’re entitled to expect a target bag on a driven day. A walked-up day is where we hunt our game and work for every shot taken and to set targets for these days seems to fly in the face of what the day is all about.

Having said that, commercialism being what it is, the commercial shoot and sporting agent generally try very hard to give the clients exactly what they want in order to keep them coming back for more.

My last two walked-up days have produced bags of 54 pheasant and duck for 6 guns and a bag of 44 head followed by a duck shoot of 24 duck and geese for 7 guns. I guess that if we’ve lost the plot, I’m as much to blame as anyone.

Perhaps the concept of a walked-up day has changed, certainly our expectations have but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. We all strive for the best sport that our budget can provide. I just hope that we don’t lose the original walked-up day for good, there’s something magical about walking the woods and hedgerows, one man and his dog.