Way back in the mists of time, when the future looked bright - by which I mean, last summer - I was invited to attend an October press day at a new simulated shoot in Oxfordshire. However, as travel corridors to the continent opened and closed I ended up being in quarantine on the given date and was unable to attend. Of all the things that the virus prevented me from doing last year, this is in the top five that I’m most disappointed to have missed out on.
That’s because the shoot in question - Truly Simulated - looks absolutely epic. Imagine my displeasure as I, gated in Hampshire and denied privileges, saw shooting Instagram light up with photos of clays being flung from the traps that looked to be tens of yards above the treeline. Once I had got over my chagrin at missing out, I decided to get in touch with the man behind the shoot, Tristram Allen, to find out more.
A realistic simulated shoot day
The first thing I wanted to understand was the name “Truly Simulated”, specifically, the first half. What is it about his set up that Tristram feels sets it apart from other sim shoots out there? He explained to me that when he and his wife moved back to the UK a couple of years ago they decided to set up a sim shoot, but wanted to to be a far closer facsimile of a genuine driven day, not only in terms of the ‘birds’ presented, but also in terms of the feel of the day. He added: “You go on some sim days and the guns are spaced only a few yards apart, and the feel of the day is totally different to a traditional driven game day. We wanted to create something far more realistic.”
When it comes to the shooting, despite being in Oxfordshire - not somewhere blessed with vertiginous contours - Tristram nonetheless reckons they can show clays that will challenge even the very best of guns. “We use two 35m telescopic lifts,” he said, “each equipped with five clay traps. We worked quite closely with Promatic to design custom-built trap setups. A couple of the traps are set on an angle, some of them oscillate both horizontally and vertically, and this means we can show a huge variety of ‘birds’ - no two are the same. Having two of them is what allows us to spread the gun line apart at distances more similar to those that you’d see on a traditional game day.”
Custom clay set up delivers a real challenge
Getting the set up right took the best part of six months, as there was no machine on the market that could do what they wanted. They chose to go with the telescopic lifts as the cherry-pickers that you see at some other simulated set-ups can only really support the weight of two traps, not the five-trap behemoths that Truly Simulated use. The vehicles that carry them have outrigger legs that provide additional stability and a solid base from which to operate the traps. At this point, I ask the obvious question: just how high are the clays? “On the tallest drive, they’re around the 75m,” comes the answer (that’s 82 yards, in case you were wondering!), “but because of the oscillations you’re getting everything from 35m to 75m.” This huge range of heights means you don’t have to be George Digweed to have a good time, and because of the sheer number of clays in the sky, you can really get into a groove and work your way up the altitudes.
Even though the terrain may not be the lumpiest, they use what they have to their advantage, as Tristram outlined: “Each of our drives is unique - we might have a flatter piece of ground where the targets are presented more like partridges, but then we have a couple of drives set in woodlands and one that’s on a good steep bank and those birds are far more like a high pheasant drive. On one of the drives, it’s on a steepish bank, but we’ve cut a big ride in the woods, then we position the lifts slightly closer together, but angled away from each other which gives a really high density of birds over the middle of the line, and on either end you get a great mix of driven-style targets and long crossers.”
Hospitality to match the smartest shoots
The desire for verisimilitude doesn’t begin and end with the shooting, but translates into the format of the day and the hospitality. “In the morning,” says Tristram, “you get here and we have a coffee and a pastry before heading out, just as you would on a driven day. Then we do one drive, after which we stop for a hot chocolate if it is Autumn, or a lemonade if it's summer. Then we do a second drive before stopping for elevenses. Then we have one more drive, lunch, and then one more really big drive after lunch, before heading back for afternoon tea.”
And if you think that glosses over what we at GunsOnPegs often think of as one of the key aspects of a day shooting pheasants or partridges - the hospitality - have no fear! “The hospitality is a huge part of what we do.” Tristram tells me. “We’re working with a fantastic chef called Pascal Proyart, and his food is just out of this world. He’s got a really strong focus on wild game, so we’ve had lots of venison, duck, goose, partridge.” Speaking for myself, I think it’s really encouraging to see a simulated shoot making a point of serving game - it’s a lesson that lots of driven shoots could learn!
Speaking with Tristram, albeit on the phone instead of on the peg, one thing that sings through is his passion for the project, and if the reports I’ve heard from fellow ladies and gents of the press corps are anything to go by, that passion has resulted in not only a challenging day’s shooting, but an all-round great day out. Tristram has promised that I can go and experience it for myself later this year, a promise I intend to - and look forward to - holding him to!
To experience the shoot for yourself, check available dates via the Truly Simulated shoot profile on GunsOnPegs
Comments
Loading comments…
Post a comment
to post a comment.