GAME SHOOTING

On a wild January morning, fortified by a bacon bap and a mug of strong coffee, you stand in line with gun in hand as a cock pheasant soars overhead. Momentarily frozen by awe, the gentle ‘brrr’ and ‘tap-tap’ from the beaters toiling through the undergrowth spurs you to shoulder your gun, swing through and fire just as a huge gust helps the bird curl higher, up and away as if it were a swift.

GAME SHOOTING is the hunting of game birds such as pheasant, partridge, grouse and others, using a shotgun. Shotguns are smooth-bore guns firing metal pellets, usually lead, housed in a plastic cartridge. In game shooting, 12, 20, 28 and .410 bore varieties are most commonly used, though the venerable 16 bore is resurgent. Most game shooting shotguns are double-barrelled, and the barrels can be ‘side by side’ or ‘over and under’. In order to use your own shotgun independently, you must possess a Shotgun Certificate, and before taking your first shot at live quarry you should be sure of your ability to make a clean kill.

GAME SHOOTING is roughly split into driven shooting and rough shooting, also known as walked-up. In driven shooting the birds are moved towards a line of waiting guns (shooters) by a group of beaters (people who walk through the birds’ habitat with trained dogs and tapping sticks to disturb the vegetation). The layout of the habitat means that, at a certain point, the birds are obliged to take flight away from the beaters and towards the guns in the same way that they would try to escape from any other predator. Rough shooting is similar, except that the movement of the guns (and their gun dogs) themselves causes the birds to take flight; there are no beaters on rough shoots. A day’s driven shooting will see the guns move around several ‘drives’, which is the name given to each specific locality within the shoot area where birds may be shot.

SHOOTING SYNDICATES and SHOOTING CLUBS

SACS has a large number of shooting syndicates and shooting clubs within its extented membership. These come from every corner of the UK and are of every size, from half a dozen pals who shoot together to syndicates or clubs of over sixty persons.

Shooting Syndicates and Shooting Clubs are of vital importance to the future of the game and target shooting community and SACS offers them broad support, as well as heavily discounted membership rates.

SYNDICATE SHOOTING INSURANCE is one of the key SACS membership benefits. Syndicate members benefit from our broad country sports and shooting insurance, even when shooting individually away from the syndicate.