Shooting will cost more next season, and be harder to find

As you may have seen, and as has been reported to our registered shoots on ShootHub, there are a number of factors that are contributing to a fair amount of uncertainty over the season ahead, both in terms of the availability and the pricing of shooting for next season. 

As is so often the way, there’s a lot of rumour, misinformation and speculation. Here we’ll attempt to cut through all of that and give you the facts. First, let’s take a look at the contributing factors.

Fuel prices

Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, game farmers were reporting that gamebird poults were likely to cost shoots more this year than in previous years. Young chicks need to be kept warm, and that is fairly intensive in terms of fuel consumption. As far back as January gas prices had risen by as much as 70%, significantly adding to the cost of producing poults. It has most likely not escaped your notice that since the war in Ukraine fuel prices have continued to rise.

Feed prices

As the broader media has been at pains to point out, Ukraine is the ‘breadbasket of Europe’. Furthermore, Russia is also a significant producer of grain. As Tom Welham of Marsdens Game Feeds explained in a recent article for our sister site ShootHub, more than 25% of the world’s wheat supply comes from the two countries combined. Russia has now banned cereal exports, while in Ukraine the supply of labour and the supply chains have been severely disrupted.

However, as with fuel prices, the war is just part of the equation. Commodity prices were already high owing to the supply chain hangover from COVID-19 and the ongoing challenge of meeting global demand. Meanwhile poor harvests of other raw materials in game feed production, such as soy, are merely compounding the problem.

Bird flu

The rising costs of keeping game birds warm and fed is one thing, but the supply of the birds themselves is also in question. An estimated 90% of partridge eggs and 40% of pheasant eggs are imported from or through France, where outbreaks of Avian Influenza are impacting the biggest game farming regions. Bans on the movements of any poultry-related products (including eggs) mean that UK game farms are unable to secure the numbers they require in order to fulfil their order books. 

Advice to shoots and game farms from the National Gamekeepers Organisation stated: 

Our advice remains the same: plan your business on the premise that the bulk of eggs will not be arriving from France for the majority of this rearing season. There is a small hope that a slight increase in eggs will happen once the blanket restriction zone is removed.  However, we have no concrete idea of the timescale on this, and this slight increase in supply will only be enough to supply a small percentage of orders.  

The two biggest game farms in France have informed their customers that they will not be sending eggs to the UK until mid-June at the earliest.

What this means for partridge

Given the reliance on France for our partridge egg supply, and that as of Friday 22nd April no eggs are moving from AI affected zones, it is safe to say that the vast majority of September partridge days will not be going ahead.

You may be wondering “why can’t we get our partridge eggs from elsewhere, like Spain?” Some shoots and game farmers have had success in securing supplies from other European sources, but these numbers pale into insignificance when compared to the shortfall from France. 

As far as the rest of the partridge season is concerned, for every additional week that the borders remain closed from here on in, the start of the partridge season is pushed back by a week. Given the French game farm statement above, we are looking at a likely date some time in November at the earliest, if at all.

Good news?

Thanks to the resourcefulness of some shoots and game farms, there are going to be a few shoots that have partridge stocks, albeit a smaller number. If you have early season partridge days already booked in, we would advise you to contact the shoot in question.

What this means for pheasant

Thankfully we have a smaller reliance on French (and other European country supplies) supplies when it comes to pheasant eggs, plus an increase in domestic supply. This means that the impact on the pheasant season will be less pronounced. We are still, however, looking at a much reduced / delayed schedule compared to a normal season.

What are shoots doing?

At the time of writing shoots are by and large still waiting to hear from game farms whether they will be getting their chicks or poults. The last thing they need is a deluge of teams asking for their money back, however, if you already have days booked in it may be worth checking in with those shoots over the next few weeks.

What about the days that can go ahead?

The increase in input costs and the laws of supply and demand of poults mean that what shooting there is this season has the potential to be far more expensive than previous seasons. Quite what that will look like will vary from shoot to shoot, especially where shoots have still not made decisions or are in limbo. 

We are working hard to ensure that the availability that is listed by shoots on GunsOnPegs is accurate and up to date, so you can still enquire to shoots with as much confidence as is possible in such uncertain times.