What is a 'commercial' shoot anyway?

It always seems to me that ‘commercial’ is a bit of a dirty word in shooting, often tied in with comments about shoots people have shot at or frowned upon practises that are rumoured to have taken place at a friend of a friend of a friend’s shoot. What makes a shoot commercial? Is it right that ‘commercial’ has these connotations?

 

In some ways, any shoot selling a day is commercial - making money from shooting. In another sense any shoot that looks at its costs is commercial. Our census suggests that 40% of UK shoots sell at least one day, but I expect this number is actually considerably higher. Even in a DIY syndicate money sometimes changes hands as a few members contribute more to the running costs in order to avoid work parties or the like. Often on private shoots friends and family chip in to help with the running costs, and keepers on big estates sell the occasional duck flight or boundary day for a little extra pocket money. Clearly this is not what comes to people’s minds when using the word negatively.

 

 

At the other end of the spectrum, you have the so-called ‘big boys’ - big bags, big money... I’m also absolutely certain that bag size or number of days has no correlation to these negative connotations. In fact, leaving the shooting itself aside, many of the biggest shoots put on the most fun days to be had anywhere in the UK - and isn’t having fun the reason we’re out in the first place?

Yes, literally a ‘commercial’ shoot is one that intends to make a profit, but whilst that fits in with other businesses, I don’t think it works for shooting, and it’s certainly not how it’s used colloquially when discussing shoots each of us have attended. The 2020 Shoot Owner census suggests that only 10% of shoots look to turn a profit, the remainder either only look to break even, or subsidise private or syndicate shooting or don't care about the cost at all. The word then in my eyes is used to infer exploitation, something that shouldn’t have anything to do with our way of life.

 

 

To put this into context, I recently enjoyed what sadly turned out to be my last day of the season. I was kindly invited to shoot at Great Fulford Estate with Guy Imray. Guy took on the shooting on the estate 9 years ago and together with keeper James have produced a well-rounded, great day’s shooting.

 

Despite selling every day other than the landowner’s each season, Guy most certainly isn’t in it to make money. Year after year he balances the budgets, bag sizes and bird orders to break even - and only break even (he even pays the shoot account for any shooting he enjoys himself). On the one hand, Great Fulford is definitely a commercial shoot, in that they take money from paying guns, but if that word has anything to do with exploitation, Great Fulford couldn’t be further from ‘commercial’!

Having arrived at the shoot lodge on a cold January morning I was introduced to the other guns we were going to be sharing the day with. It was clear from the start that syndicate members weren’t seen as money in the pocket to Guy, rather, they’d become great shooting friends over the years - a real testament to the way he runs his shoot.

 

 

After the briefing we started making our way to the first of what was a series of high quality drives. Birds were presented throughout the day at what for me is the perfect height - cleanly killable and yet each one brought with it a great sense of achievement. It doesn’t claim to compete with the extreme birds of Exmoor, but as far as value is concerned, if you’re after a good quality day’s shooting you can’t go far wrong - at least if my experience is anything to go by!

 

I could go on about the shooting, the hospitality, the company and more of the shooting, all of which were fantastic, but what struck me the most about the day was a few choice comments dropped into conversations - the very reason I started pondering this idea of commerciality in the first instance.

 

 

One pair of guns who shoot regularly with Guy were talking about another shoot in the South West (I shan’t mention names) where the word ‘commercial’ was used almost insultingly. I know for a fact that they operate a near identical business model to Guy, and yet this shoot was being contrasted to Great Fulford as a polar opposite. I think the feeling they wanted to get across was that they felt exploited. This was followed by a recounting of a day a few years ago at Great Fulford to illustrate: having had what was hastily described as a once-in-a-decade poor outing with the syndicate, Guy held his hands up at tea, apologised and returned what was due to the guns for being under the bag. The confidence that gives teams that they’re not going to be ‘ripped off’ is extraordinary.

 

Similarly, another gun shooting with Guy for the first time on the day I was there said it was clear from conversations on the phone right from the start that at Great Fulford you get what you pay for - no over-promising, just over-exceeding expectations.

 

This idea of exploitation and commerciality runs beyond guns’ experiences I think and into the management of the natural land resources we have. Often people accuse bad practice as being a product of commerciality, but as a team at GunsOnPegs we’ve seen enough private estates with questionable ethics, and enough profit making shoots with exemplary conservation records to know that it simply isn’t this straightforward.

 

Again, Great Fulford as an example of this, certainly is commercial, but is by absolutely no means exploitative. The sheer acreage of cover crops on the ground and sizes of the pens indicate best practice in terms of stocking densities. The shoot is also a member of the British Game Alliance and keen to further the development of the market for shot game in the UK by being a supporter. Hearing James the 'keeper talking about the principles of game bird management and encouraging wild bird populations shows that great care is taken not only to limit damage to the estate, but actively improve habitat and wild bird numbers - being a fervent supporter of feeding through the hungry gap being just one example of this.

 

 

In short, I am of the opinion that shooting people far to often jump to the word ‘commercial’ when talking negatively about a shoot, when in fact commerciality has nothing to do with it. Exploitative is the word we should be using, and I hope by doing so we’re able to weed out some of the bad eggs in the shooting world who exploit paying guns, but more importantly to me, exploit the land they shoot over. These shoots come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of business models, or none at all!

 

It can be great fun exploring new shoots, and my day at Great Fulford will live on as a real highlight of the season for me, not least because it’s fresh in my memory as we head into another season ending lockdown. I wish you the best of luck finding more shoots like these for next season, and if you come across anywhere that you believe to be exploiting the shooting world in one way or another, please do let me know - I’d be keen to see an end to them!