Ripley Castle Shoot News

Newsletter No. 11 2025-2026 Season

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 11:49:49 GMT

Update on Future Plans for 2026-2027 Season

6th January 2026

NEWSLETTER No. 11

2025 – 2026 SEASON

Update on Future Plans

As most of you are aware I will be retiring from running the Mountgarret Shoot on 31st January 2026. When the Sporting Lease has been taken by Edd Morrison and his wife Poppy alongside their trusted team of Olly Rycroft (sales and hosting) and Diane Russell (accounts/administrator).

The new Mountgarret Shoot will be trading as:

S.M. Mountgarret Ltd

Estate Office

Swinithwaite

Leyburn

North Yorkshire DL8 4UH

Accounts / Administration: diane@dalesport.co.uk Tel: 01969 663 096

Sales / Shooting Enquiries: edd@dalesport.co.uk Mob: 07793 050 132

olly@dalesport.co.uk Mob: 07813 090 562

Edd also has two other companies:

Dalesport Sporting Agency LLP: Letting grouse shooting on over 40 grouse moors across the North of England as well as arranging shooting trips worldwide.

The Yorkshire Clay Company Limited: Offering Simulated Clay Days on a number of locations in North Yorkshire.

Edd would like to contact everyone with his plans for the New Season. However, it is important under the Data Protection Act that you are happy for me to pass your contact details to him.

At present I hold details of your name, contact phone number and e-mail address with for many of you, your postal address.

If you do not wish for me to pass your details to Edd in order for him to contact you, could you please advise me by Monday 12th January 2026, otherwise I will send these to him.

I would also like to thank you for all the support you have given to me over the years and do hope you will support Edd in a similar way.

Newsletter No. 9 2025-2026 Season

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:19:26 GMT

Our Season So Far and a Special Offer for Exclusive Members

14th October 2025

NEWSLETTER No. 9 : OCTOBER : 2025 – 2026 SEASON

Our Season So Far

We have now shot 14 very successful days. Everything has gone well and our birds have tested most of our guns.

However as always I want our days to be perfect. Sadly, this has not been possible due to the persistent sunshine and warm conditions. Everyone else is in the same position and it is very frustrating after all the hard work during the Summer.

By now the leaves should be changing colour and starting to fall but sadly this is not the case.

Our birds have grown and held well with more wild broods than normal. All we now need is some hard frost and a couple of strong gales. We can then really start shooting !!

Exclusive Members Special Offer 2025-2026

We are now just 14 weeks away from the end of my 36 years running Driven Shoots. The success of my Shoots has only been possible with the support of our Exclusive Members. Many of whom have shot with me for more years than I can remember.

I really appreciate your support and wish to repay you all in some way. I am therefore pleased to offer to the Exclusive Members of the Mountgarret Shoot a 30% discount on any of the remaining days in our season.

Please take as many days as you wish for yourself or to bring your friends. All I ask is that you are present on the days you bring your friends to shoot.

We are now sold out for October but there are still a good variety of days in November, December and January particularly around Christmas and New Year.

There are also some days where no guns have been taken on Thursday 6th November 2025, Tuesday 23rd December 2025 and Friday 2nd January 2026. By taking one of these full days you can have your own Exclusive Day.

A list of Available Days is attached.

Exclusive Membership

If you have shot with us last season and also this season you are an Exclusive Member.

In order to become an Exclusive Member of the Mountgarret Shoot all you need do is to book two guns from the attached list at the full price. You will then be eligible for our 30% Exclusive Members Special Offer. This is excellent value

I thank you all for your support and look forward to seeing you in my final season.

Newsletter No. 5 2025-2026 Season

info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk (Frank Boddy) — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:40:30 GMT

Future Plans

July 2025

NEWSLETTER No. 5 : JULY : 2025-2026 SEASON

Nothing Lasts Forever !

I will soon be 79 year old and after running Driven Game Shoots for 35 years, although I would like to have gone on forever. Sadly all good things must come to an end and I have decided to retire from running The Mountgarret Shoot at the end of this season on 31st January 2026.

I am however delighted to advise that I have found the ideal person to take over the Shoot. Unfortunately I am unable to give more details at present as negotiations are in their final stages with the Estate. I will be sending out full details once available.

In the meantime I would like to thank everyone who has booked some days in our new season and also the many of you have supported my Shoots over the years. I really do appreciate this.

With this in mind, during my final season I would like to welcome back as many of you as possible to join myself and my Members on The Mountgarret Shoot to reminisce on the past and to celebrate our wonderful sport.

Many of you have not shot on Mountgarret so I am pleased to briefly outline what I would expect you to experience.

The topography on Mountgarret is best described as rolling countryside with woodland planted over the years to produce challenging birds. These are complimented by over 200 acres of game cover which gives us the Shoot we have today.

Mountgarret Shoot has its own Shoot Lodge where we offer the high quality of hospitality you have come to expect on my Shoots. Even though the costs of running a Shoot become more demanding, we still serve an excellent lunch with quality wine and champagne and gins throughout the day! I can assure you it is well worth a visit.

The question I am often asked is “how does it compare with Eagle Hall & Ashfold Side”. There is no question that Eagle Hall & Ashfold Side was as good as could ever get for me.

However each season I become more and more impressed with the sporting quality of the birds Callum and his team are presenting to us on Mountgarret. Callum Keepered at Eagle Hall for eight years and George certainly trained him well !

George Reap our Head Keeper at Eagle Hall & Ashfold Side is now retired but was the genius who created the shoot at Eagle Hall & Ashfold Side. George attends most shoot days on Mountgarret so I feel there is no better person to give an opinion.

George comments that although Mountgarret does not have the deep Moorland Edge Valleys which consistently produced large volumes of challenging birds, Callum and his team have shown that on a 9 gun 250/300 bird day he can produce sufficient challenging birds down the whole line of guns to satisfy any team of sporting shots. Many of these birds are similar to what we experienced at Eagle Hall.

Available days

I do hope many of you will join me in my final season on Mountgarret and am pleased to attach a list of Available days. There are still a good variety to choose from detailed on the attached list.

Our New Season

Everything is now in place for our New Season.

Our partridge chicks are doing really well with some now 6 weeks old. Most of our pheasant poults are now in the release pens in the woods.

Although given the lack of rain, our game cover is growing surprisingly well but it would be far better with a good drop of rain. No doubt it will come and forget when to stop !!

Everything is looking really promising.

Staff Changes

Jared Inman has left the shoot to experience life as a Grouse Keeper on Coniston Moor. I wish him every success with his new position.

However we have been very fortunate in finding an experienced and well respected Keeper. Tom Hesmondhalgh whom some of you will already know, has joined the Shoot from The Sawley Estate.

I have decided to run the Shoot with two full time Keepers not three. However Callum and Tom will be assisted part time by Tommy Taylor, a local game farmer.

I am very confident with this team of Keepers our birds will be in very safe hands.

I am very much looking forward to making my final season certainly one to remember.

Newsletter No. 4, 2025

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 08:53:39 GMT

Everything is in place and looking good so far for the coming Season

MOUNTGARRET SHOOT

MOUNTGARRET & NIDD

May 2025

NEWSLETTER No. 4 : MAY : 2025-2026 SEASON

Everything is now in place and looking good for our New Season. For once the Spring weather has been kind to us, so far !!

As we have decided not to have a laying field this season. We have left a larger number of birds than normal on the ground. This together with the concentrated effort by Callum and his friends to reduce our fox population has given us ideal conditions to produce a good stock of wild birds. This is something I have always wanted to achieve. Maybe this season we will do it.

Our farmers will soon be working the ground for our game cover and the seed planted.

As I decided not to replace Tom Riley one of our Underkeeper’s, who left the Shoot at the end of last season. This season we will not be using the whole of our rearing field. We will rear all our partridge from chicks to poults and buy in our pheasant poults. I have split the purchase of our pheasant poults between five hatcheries. Our strain of pheasant will mainly be French Common Ring Necks which we normally release and have suited us well in recent seasons.

Staff Changes

Jared Inman, our Underkeeper has decided to leave the Shoot to gain some grouse experience as an Underkeeper on Coniston Moor. We wish him every success in this new position.

An ill wind can blow in some good and this has certainly happened to our Shoot. We have been fortunate in finding a very experienced and well respected Keeper, Tommy Hesmondhalgh will be joining the Shoot from Sawley Estate. Callum and Tommy assisted part time by Tommy Taylor give us an exceptional Keeping team. So our birds are in very safe hands.

Charitable Donations

During our 2024-2025 Season thanks to the generosity of our guns and their non shooting guests in supporting our daily sweepstake and non shooting guest lunches. We have raised ibn impressive total of £19,345. This has been donated during April 2025 to the following:

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) £8,000

The Countryside Alliance (CA) £1,250

The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust (GWT) £1,250

The Country Food Trust (CFT) £1,250

Eat Wild (EW) £1,250

Songbird Survival Trust (SST) £300

Yorkshire Charity Clay Days (YCCD) £4,150

Bolton Castle Grouse Charity Clay Day £1,175

Nidd Parish Church (on Lord Mountgarret’ s Days) £380

South Stainley Church (on our Farmers Day) £340

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£19,345

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Many thanks to everyone who has made this possible.

Available Days

I would like to thank everyone who has already booked shooting in the New Season and particularly those of you who have paid your initial shoot fee.

For everyone who shot with us last season it is still not too late to take advantage of our “Early Booking Discount” of 10% which runs out on 30th April 2025.

A list of our Available Days is attached.

As is normal at this time out of season, a number of days have changed with some new dates coming available. So please check this new list just to see if there is anything new to suit you.

I have also included four additional days on:

Thursday 18th September 2025

Monday 29th September 2025

Thursday 9th October 2025

Monday 22nd December 2025

~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷

I look forward to hearing from you if would like to book some days in the New Season.

Newsletter No. 3, 2025

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 08:47:40 GMT

At last Spring is here but is the world in crisis?

MOUNTGARRET SHOOT
MOUNTGARRET & NIDD

March 2025

NEWSLETTER No. 3 : MARCH : 2025-2026 SEASON

At last Spring is actually here! But the world is in crisis and sadly thanks to our Labour Government our Countryside is no better.

I am pleased to keep you updated on the continued relentless attack by this Labour Government on our Farmers, our Countryside Traditions and Heritage.

Trail Hunting

This government plan to ban trail hunting. I just wonder if they have considered the far reaching affects this will have.

In England there are 170 registered Hunts with 8 in Scotland. If each hunt has 25 to 30 couples of hounds it is possible that over 10,000 hounds would need to be destroyed together with many horses.

There is always much talk about mental stress, has any consideration been given to the huntsmen. hunt staff and hunt members who would no doubt be required to carry out the terrible task of putting down their much loved hounds. All carried out with the aim of destroying yet another part of our countryside heritage.

Greyhound Racing

The Welsh Government plan to ban Greyhound Racing “as soon as practically possible” on its one remaining Greyhound Track. There are 19 other tracks remaining in the UK. Although not as popular as in the past there is a dedicated following. Some greyhounds are in training but more are held by individuals in training as pets.

Here in the North East we have Whippet Racing which is a very popular pastime. Most racing Whippets are kept as pets. There is also Terrier Racing as a fixture at most Country Fairs. Finally and most importantly to ourselves there are Gundog Trials and working Gundogs on every shoot.

If any of these sports and pastimes were to be banned it would all lead to many of our animals., mostly pets being needlessly destroyed.

After this what next?. It would open the gates to banning Horse Racing and even Pigeon Racing. This Government are a very cold hearted lot and just wish to sanitise and destroy our rural way of life in every way possible.

Shotgun and Rifle Ownership

As part of the Labour Government’s continued war on our countryside and particularly farmers. I understand they intend to consult on the matter of shotgun and rifle ownership later in this year.

Under proposed changes, applicants would need to have good reason for owning a shotgun or rifle. Every gun would be licensed separately with the holding and purchase of ammunition limited.

The most worrying consideration is that farmers and game keepers may no longer be able to store a shotgun or rifle on their premises. There would be a central store in each area. The whole idea of a farmer or game keeper having a firearm immediately available is to deal with vermin. However more importantly in the case of livestock farmers, need to be able to deal with an injured animal immediately.

Where will this all end, will it be further restrictions on law abiding shotgun and rifle owners next?

Release of Wolves

Possibly the most bizarre proposal is to release a number of wolves in Scotland in order to control the deer population. One hundred animals have been proposed.

Wolves were native to Scotland many years ago but habitats and farming practices have changed considerably over the years since the last wolf was killed. I recently read about wolves in The Netherlands, where they are protected. Causing considerable damage to sheep and other livestock.

If this were to be permitted I see the following scenario. There would be the equivalent of 10 packs of wolves released to roam free in Scotland. As deer are pretty agile creatures it is only the old or injured deer which would be taken by the wolves. It would be sheep and other livestock including calves and ponies which would fall victim. Possibly with a number of defenceless hikers and general public. Once people were killed which they inevitably would be, the wolves would be hunted and destroyed.

As the people who make this kind of decision are quite often animal lovers, which is kinder to the animal. To be shot and killed instantly by a bullet or the slow death of being mauled by a pack of wolves?

Phase Out of Lead Shot

On 13th December 2024 the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) outlined its proposal for a phased restriction of lead ammunition in Great Britain over a five year period to address environmental and health risks. So we may need to be lead free by 2030.

Unfortunately this change may happen sooner than 2030 if there is pressure for lead free game meat, particularly form Europe where the majority of our game meat is consumed.

For further information please visit the HSE document at

https://www.hse.gov.uk/reach/restrictions/rr-aavi-0821

We plan to stay with lead shot for the time being.

Our 2024-2025 Season

Every season is different and we have just completed what was possibly our best ever season.

So what happened?

Everything seemed to come together. Our rearing field went really well and we produced some excellent birds with few losses. We experienced the usual hot still conditions during September and early October but our strong fit birds flew really well and did not let us down.

During most of the season the weather was good, possibly too good. We sadly had very few windy days even lacking any kind of breeze. Except on three occasions when we had severe gales which tested both our birds and the guns! The least memorable thing about the season was the relentless bright sunshine which certainly spoilt some drives on some days.

I feel our real success was due to the way our team worked together each day. Callum and Jared ran the days so well and I always enjoy listening over the radio how they bring it all together on each drive.

This is what makes for a successful Shoot.

I am pleased to give details of our returns on birds released/bird shot for the last three seasons.

	Forecast Average Per day	Actual Average Per day	Return on Pheasants Released	Return on Partridge Released	Overall Return on all Poults Released	Shot to Bird Average
2022/2023	235	252	36.63%	49.37%	40.90%	3.58
2023/2024	264	294	40.26%	44.05%	42.26%	3.55
2024/2025	250	271	37.02%	46.88%	40.71%	3.26

The return for last season is slightly misleading as there are more birds than ever remaining on the ground.

Our New 2025-2026 Season

We have much to look forward to with everything now in place to produce the quality of day you have all become accustomed to.

We have had some staff changes. Tom Riley has left our team of Keepers to join the Shoot on The Swinton Estate. Steff Bennett is also no longer with our Shoot. Losing Tom has put some pressure on Callum and Jared so a local game farmer Tommy Taylor has joined the Shoot part time to look after some drives

Exclusive Members 10% Early Booking Discount for Days Booked before 30th April 2025

Everyone who shot with us last season has automatically become an Exclusive Member with all benefits. So if everyone who was with us last season were to book now we would be sold out!

We have in fact had a good take up with over 40% of our days now sold. So there are still plenty of days to choose from.

If you were not with us last season. All you need to do is to book two days and you will become an Exclusive Member.

Available Days and Shoot Fees

I would like to thank everyone who has already made a booking for the new season. Particularly those of you who have not only made a booking but have also paid your initial shoot fee.

On the enclosed list of Available Days there are a number of changes and new days so it is worth checking to see if there is now something new to suit you.

~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷

When our world is in such chaos I know every Shoot can offer a strong dose of sanity. So now is the time show your support to your Shoot or Syndicate.

Newsletter No. 2 February 2025

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 15:19:17 GMT

Take Up of Days and Exclusive Members : Early Booking Discount

MOUNTGARRET SHOOT

MOUNTGARRET & NIDD

1st February 2025

NEWSLETTER No. 2 : 2025-2026 SEASON

We are now at the end of possibly our most successful season ever. The weather has been reasonably kind to us but the sun on some days has been very tiresome.

This success is due to everything falling into place and most of all the hard work put in by Callum and Jared our two Keepers. All in all a great success.

New Season Take Up of Days

We have had an excellent take up of days with a number of guns returning to the Shoot after shooting elsewhere and now rebooking for the New Season.

As most of you are aware the majority of our days are taken by individual guns or small parties of likeminded sportsmen and sportswomen.

Given this policy I am often asked why do I not run the Shoot as an actual Syndicate. Well I do, the Shoot is made up of over 170 Exclusive Members. Normally a Syndicate is tied down to a number of actual dates. Whereas by the way I offer days, each Member has a variety of bag sizes and over 60 dates to choose from.

Exclusive Membership : Early Booking Discount

Normally an Exclusive Member takes a few days during the season often choosing to shoot with friends and other guns they have met on the Shoot. I have always tried to give our Exclusive Members a number of benefits. So in our New Season anyone who was an Exclusive Member in 2024-2025 will have their Membership carried over to the new 2025-2026 Season.

Last season everyone making an early booking received a 7% discount. In the new season Exclusive Members will receive a 10% early booking discount for any days booked before 31st April 2025. There will also be a number of other Special Offers throughout the season which in the first instance will be offered to Exclusive Members normally at a higher discount compared to non-Members.

Anyone who was not an Exclusive Member in 2024-2025 can become an Exclusive Member in our new 2025-2026 Season by booking any two days from the enclosed list of Available Days. Any further days booked before 31st April 2025 will receive our Exclusive Members 10% early booking discount,.

There are also a number of sporting retail stores where I have arranged special rates for our Exclusive Members.

Should you book a day and find you are unable to shoot or wish to move to another day, this is not a problem provided I am given at least 30 days’ notice. This also applies if you are unable to shoot, provided this is for a valid reason, a full refund will be given on any fees paid.

Shoot Fees

Due to the disastrous budget on 5th November it is inevitable that many costs will rise over the next few months. I have however decided to keep our Shoot Fees at the current season’s rates. Given cost increases, next season’s Shoot Fees should show an actual reduction in cost to Members compared to the current season.

Available Days

I would like to thank everyone who has already made a booking for our New Season which as always I do appreciate.

Since issuing our initial list of available days, some days have been moved around and I have also added a few new dates. I hope there may be something new in the attached list to suit you and look forward to hearing from you.

Newsletter No. 1 2025-2026 Season

info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk (Frank Boddy) — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 15:15:03 GMT

Every year is different and we have just completed an exceptional season

MOUNTGARRET SHOOT

MOUNTGARRET & NIDD

7th January 2025

NEWSLETTER No. 1 : 2025-2026 SEASON

We are fast approaching the end of what has possible been our most successful season.

During the Summer we had an excellent rearing field and were ready for the season. The Country was then faced with a snap General Election on 4th July. Myself like many others appreciated that after 14 years, much of it in chaos, the Conservatives may not be re-elected. What I did not appreciate that after just six months how devastating a Labour victory would turn out to be for our Country and particularly our Countryside.

Labour must have a check list of what they will attack each week. Not sure how far down this list Fieldsports features but it will certainly be there.

Much of the success of our Shoot is down to the support given by our Members, which I do appreciate.

As most of you are aware the majority of our days are taken by individual guns or small parties of likeminded sportsmen and sportswomen.

Exclusive Membership

There are also a number of sporting retail stores where I have arranged special rates for our Exclusive Members.

Shoot Fees

Shoot Days

Unfortunately one of our Under Keepers Tom Riley has left the Shoot. Normally I would not have hesitated in replacing him. However, given the present uncertainty due to this Labour Government I have decided not to replace him for the time being. Callum and Jared are happy to Keeper the Shoot with a few less days fielded and with a reduction in the number of birds released.

This will in no way affect the quality of our shooting. In fact this should improve as we will be making overall fewer visits to each drive, which always improves the sporting quality of our birds.

Full Team Days

Each season a number of days are taken as full teams and most return each season. I am happy to sell more full teams but wish to avoid anything commercial. Of our days fielded in the current season we fielded 18% of our days as full teams and none could be classed as commercial.

If you would like to take a day as a full team now is the time to consider this. Once a gun is taken on any day it is no longer available for a full team.

Shoot Day Information

I am pleased to give details of our New Season which together with further information available on our website www.mountgarretshoot.com gives a full background on what you are likely to expect on a shoot day and what is expected of you !

List of Available Days

A list of proposed dates for the New Season was sent out to all Exclusive Members before the holiday. So far just over 30% of the days have been taken up. Now maybe the time to consider some days in the New Season.

An up to date list of Available Dates is now attached.

Arthur Bell

It is with great sadness that I advise the passing of our very good friend Arthur last Friday, 3rd January. Further details to follow shortly.

None of us like uncertainty and we are living in uncertain times. Sadly with the present Labour majority there is little we can do as even our treasured “British Freedom of Speech” seems to be in jeopardy

One thing you can be certain of when you visit The Mountgarret Shoot. You will experience a full days’ shooting in our stunning North Yorkshire Countryside.

From breakfast when everyone has the opportunity to meet each other. Then throughout the day when you will experience some testing but not impossible birds, accompanied by refreshments with a tasty lunch with good wine to end your day. All this together with the opportunity to meet old and new likeminded friends.

A day on our Shoot is just what a proper Driven Game Shoot should be, or what I hope will continue to be, well into the future.

Newsletter No. 3 : 2024-2025 Season

Tue, 28 May 2024 08:21:49 GMT

An update on using Lead Shot and New 6 Gun Days

21st May 2024

NEWSLETTER No. 3 : 2024–2025 SEASON

I appreciate I have only just issued my Newsletter No. 2. However, as much has been happening I am pleased to keep you updated.

Lead or Non Lead, that is the Question?

Four years ago all the organisations involved in our sport/industry signed a declaration that there should be a voluntary move to phase out the use of lead shot over the following five years. Those five years are now near enough over and sadly we seem to be little way forward on this matter.

In support of this initiative the Mountgarret Shoot has been lead free for the last two seasons. Myself and our Members have supported this initiative and are very disappointed there is no definite indication of the way forward.

Although the findings of the Health & Safety Executive consultation are due to be announced some time this year. All indications are that there could be a further five years before lead shot and lead in ammunition is finally banned.

Cartridge manufacturers have produced some excellent non lead products. However given the supply problems with components, which has been made worse by the war in Ukraine. It will take at least this period of time to fully supply the market.

I understand a number of other Shoots who like ourselves have gone lead free, have now reverted to allowing lead to be used. Given this present position I have decided our shoot will revert back to the use of lead shot in the New Season 2024-2025.

I would like to thank those of you who have supported my shoot policy on non lead over the last two seasons. Although lead shot may now be used. All cartridges must be free of plastic wads, fibre or degradable wads only please.

As in the past when we shoot the lake at Ripley Castle the Mountgarret Shoot will provide suitable non lead shot cartridges at no cost to the guns.

The only directive which may possibly change our position is that there are rumours of a European ban on the import of any food products containing lead (approximately 70% of the game shot in the UK is exported in feather to Europe) There is however no definite time scale for this move.

As a sport/industry we must act responsibly. Once there is a clear direction on the future of lead, we must be prepared to accept any change

New 6 Gun Days

You will recall I introduced my 6 gun day “experiment” in the recent Newsletter No. 2 supplement. The days have been well received so I have decided to field 3 additional 6 gun days making 7 days in total over the season.

I would like to remind you why I have decided to field these days.

There is much discussion on the size of bags and the number of game birds being released. On Mountgarret our average bag over the last few years has been 260 birds per day. If we field 6 guns not 9 with a target bag of 175 birds, “in theory” this would give each of the 6 guns a similar number of birds and shots to what they would experience on a 260 bird day.

You never know what something is like until you have tried it, so we need to see if my theory is correct.

I am now pleased to offer 1 No. 6 gun 150 bird partridge day and 6 No. 6 gun 175 bird pheasant and partridge days. I appreciate this is very much unknown territory. So in order to encourage you to try them I am offering these days at a 20% discount on our current prices. An additional 7% discount is available to everyone who has already made a booking this season.

As always, we will aim to shoot 10% over the target bag with no overage charged.

Double guns were a suggestion by one of our Members but I have found a good loader/stuffer is just as effective as double guns. Not everyone is used to double gunning so I propose staying with single guns at present but do strongly recommend a friend to stand with you or you hire one of our loaders. If you don’t load quickly, we may not reach the bag!

One thought for the future is that if we fielded 250 bird 6 gun days each gun would experience a similar number of shots and birds to what they would expect to experience on a 375 bird day!! What I need to know is, if my theory is correct and just as importantly would the guns be prepared to pay the price.

I do hope you will join one or more of these days, as this is the only way to see if they would work.

Hotels and Accommodation

Our Shoot is approximately four miles north of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Although our area is very fortunate to have a good variety of hotels it is a very busy tourist and exhibition centre. Quite often it is difficult to find accommodation. In fact, on one weekend during our last season you could not find a hotel in our area under £300 for the night.

Lynda is at present putting together next season’s list of hotels with prices. She is finding about half the hotels will only give a price indication or price on application. With the advent of “price comparison sites” and a good demand for last minute bookings where hotels can name their price, it is more important than ever to book your accommodation well in advance of your shoot day(s).

Our new list of hotels for next season will be available shortly.

The Inn at South Stainley, Ripon Road, South Stainley, Nr Harrogate, HG3 3DN

Tel: 01423 779060 info@theinnsouthstainley.com www.theinnsouthstainley.com

Over the last few seasons The Inn at South Stainley, which is only 5 minutes from our Shoot Lodge, has provided our breakfast and lunches. As part of my agreement with The Inn for the new season, they are offering improved discounts on accommodation to everyone joining our Shoot.

Anyone joining the Shoot will receive a 15% discount on a single night accommodation, for two consecutive nights 20% discount and three consecutive nights 25% discount. Please quote booking reference ‘SHOOT15’ when making your reservation.

Wherever you intend to stay I do recommend that you make your booking as soon as your shoot day is booked.

Available Days

Our days continue to move at a steady rate. As the attached list of Available Days constantly changes and includes dates not included in our last list. I suggest you have a look through the list as there may be days which have recently come available and may suit you.

As our world becomes more challenging and insecure. It makes me more determined than ever to offer an enjoyable and relaxing days shooting as stress free as possible!!

Newsletter No. 2 plus Supplement 2024

Wed, 08 May 2024 10:13:47 GMT

An idea for the future.

8th May 2024

SUPPLEMENT TO NEWSLETTER No. 2 : 2024–2025 SEASON

An Idea for the Future

With the probability of a Labour Government sometime this year, whose policies are uncertain on all rural activities. No one really knows what the future of driven game shooting will be.

The licensing of grouse moors in Scotland and an anti-shooting government in Wales gives an indication of what may be in store for us in the not too distant future.

We must be positive and in order to avoid damaging measures against our sport we need to be one step ahead.

There is much discussion on the size of bags and the number of game birds being released. On Mountgarret our average bag over the last few years has been 260 birds per day. If we were to field 6 guns not 9 with a target bag of 175 birds, “in theory” this would give each of the 6 guns a similar number of birds and shots to what they would expect to have on a 260 bird day.

175 birds divided by 6 guns gives an average of 29 birds per gun x 9 guns gives 261 birds. In short this is just what you are experiencing at present but with a smaller bag.

You never know what something is like until you have tried it, so we need to see if my theory is correct. I am therefore pleased to offer 4 days in the new season fielding 6 guns with a target bag of 175 birds. I appreciate this is very much unknown territory. So in order to encourage you to try them I am offering these days at a 20% discount on our current prices. An additional 7% discount is available to everyone who has already made a booking this season.

As always, we will aim to shoot 10% over the target bag with no overage charged.

Dates for our 6 gun, 175 bird days:

Monday 28th October Friday 15th November Monday 25th November Friday 13th December

At £1,500 per gun including vat.

If we were to increase the number of smaller bag/gun days in the future it would significantly reduce the number of birds we would need to release. I do however see a few problems. Would the days sell and would the exercise be financially viable? The only way to know is to try it.

This would not be the first time I have experienced fielding 6 guns on Mountgarret. Over 25 years ago the then Lord Richard Mountgarret invited me to make up some 6 gun days with him, which we did over two seasons. I invited two guests and he did the same. These days were great fun and we all had plenty of shooting. I recall the bags were around 200 birds.

Double guns were an option but I have found a good loader/stuffer is just as effective as double guns. Not everyone is used to double gunning so I propose staying with single guns at present but do strongly recommend a friend to stand with you or you hire one of our loaders. If you don’t load quickly, we may not reach the bag!

I do hope you will join me in this “experiment” as a possible solution to future problems.

Whatever happens, as always, the days will be great fun.

1st May 2024

NEWSLETTER No. 2 : 2024–2025 SEASON

With so much happening it is difficult to know where to start.

Considering the uncertain political climate with parties saying what they are planning for our countryside and countryside pursuits once in power, we are certainly in uncharted waters.

Some of What Could or Will Happen

In Scotland legislation is now passing through the Scottish Parliament which will see licensing of grouse moors this season. Together with a ban on snaring and restrictions on moorland burning. Another threat by the Scottish Parliament is that when any area of land comes onto the market it will be split up and sold to individual buyers in areas no more than 2,200 acres for each buyer.

Wales is much worse as the Welsh Government seems determined to try to ban shooting and put small farmers out of business. It has already banned shooting on public land, the shooting of magpies and the use of snares. So there is not much hope for the curlew and other ground nesting birds in Wales in the near future.

In England, the Labour Party plans to ban trail hunting but supports shooting “provided it is carried out within the law”.

With a general election within 6 to 8 months when by all forecasts we can expect a Labour majority, I believe the extent of damage they will inflict on our countryside and all rural activities may depend on the size of their majority. This also applies in Scotland and Wales. However anything can happen and the irony is that some of these politicians threatening such damaging measures may not actually retain their seats. Some hope but we can only wish!! We can only wait and see.

What Can We Do

There are however a few positive measures we can take as an industry before we are faced with enforced legislation. Licensing of Shoots in England may be imposed but not immediately. It is therefore important that all Shoots should register to be audited by either Trusted Game or British Game Assurance before the licensing of Shoots is forced upon us. We were one of the first Members of British Game Assurance, however we have moved to Trusted Game. This scheme is administered by our vets and is an overall far more effective scheme.

As it seems inevitable that the use of lead in all ammunition and shot will be banned sometime soon. Maybe as an industry we should all voluntarily change to non lead shot before being forced to do so.

There are now a good variety of very effective non lead cartridges available on the market. We have shot our last two seasons free from lead. I have found that once guns become used to the change our ratio of shot to bird is the same as when we were all lead. However we need to position the line of pickers up further behind the line of guns than in the past.

The use of non lead shot/cartridges opens up a large market for our game. If we could only create a demand for game larger than the availability, possibly this would go a long way towards saving our sport.

One of the main factors which is used against our sport is the size of bags. It is up to individual guns to decide what size of target bag they wish to take. In the new season we are fielding 200, 250, 300 and 350 bird days and plan an overall average target bag of 263 birds per day.

Countryside pursuits and driven game shooting has never before been under such threat and scrutiny. It is up to all of us to defend what we all enjoy and value.

Our New Season

I think this is enough negativity, as we have much to look forward to on the Mountgarret Shoot in our New Season.

We have caught up hen pheasants for our laying field, which are now laying well and we have our first batches of eggs set in our incubator. The majority of our birds are bought in as day old chicks with our incubator producing approximately 25% of our requirements.

We have more foxes than ever showing up which have been dealt with. It is lambing season for most of our farmers and our vermin control on foxes, carrion crows and magpies does certainly save many lambs.

The consistent rain which started last October and has never really stopped, has affected our farmers progress but unlike many farmers in southern areas, all our farmers will have a harvest. The land has now started to dry out so our game cover will be fine.

We are planning to release a similar number of poults to last season. These together with the birds we left at the end of last season should give us more than enough stock for our requirements. As always, we are tweaking a few drives to improve the overall performance of our birds. I can assure you we have much to look forward to.

C haritable Donations

Following Covid and in the present economic climate it is Charities which suffer due to lack of available funds. During last season thanks to the generosity of our guns and their non shooting guests in supporting our daily sweepstake and non shooting guest lunches. We have raised an impressive total of £19,345 which has been donated to the following:

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) £8,000

The Countryside Alliance (CA) £1,250

The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust (GWT) £1,250

The Country Food Trust (CFT) £1,250

Eat Game (EG) £1,250

Songbird Survival Trust (SST) £300

Yorkshire Charity Clay Days (YCCD) £4,150

Tanfield Grouse Charity Clay Day £1,175

Nidd Parish Church (on Lord Mountgarret’ s Days) £380

South Stainley Church (on our Farmers Day) £340

----------

£19,345

Many thanks to you all for making all this possible. ----------

Available Days

I would like to thank those of you who have booked days in the new season.

There is still a good variety of days available each month throughout the season, as detailed on the attached list. It is worth looking through this as many days were not included on our previous list of available days.

I do hope there is something workable for you.

With all the challenges and uncertainty around us, I invite you to join us for a large dose of sanity on the Mountgarret Shoot in our New Season.

Newsletter No.1: 2024-2025 Season

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:05:19 GMT

We will be doing our absolute best to offer a "Proper Days Driven Shooting" again this season.

20th February 2024

NEWSLETTER No. 1 : 2024–2025 SEASON

Our 2023-2024 Season

Every season is different and we have just completed a season which can only be described as exceptional in many ways.

So why was last season such a success?

In the Spring and Summer of 2023, the weather was very kind to us and gave excellent rearing conditions. We always aim to rear athletes and in order to achieve this our chicks must be fed on the best possible diet available from day one. We certainly achieved this by changing our game feed pellet supplier to A1 Feeds of Dishforth, North Yorkshire. Both our partridge and French Common Ring Neck strain of pheasant chicks grew really well from day old chicks. At one time we thought they were young turkeys!!

With little disease and few losses from day old we kept our pheasant poults in the rearing pens until 8 weeks and partridge poults until 14 weeks old. In the past we have found less predation on well grown poults from raptors if kept on the rearing field for at least this length of time.

Once taken off game pellets our birds are given a diet of 40% split maize and 60% wheat for the remainder of the season.

The weather in September and early October proved to be far too hot and still. At times it was unbearable and we were actually out shooting on the hottest day on record. However, due to their excellent condition, this did not seem to affect our partridge who performed particularly well considering these conditions. We also knew the same would apply to our pheasants as they showed what they would be like later in the season when driven with the partridge in September.

Then in mid-October the rain started and has hardly stopped ever since and we are now in February! I cannot remember a day when the ground was dry. Although these unwelcome conditions persisted, our well fed athletes performed exceptionally well even when wet through. Considering we released the same number of poults as normal there was certainly no shortage of birds throughout the whole season.

So why did our birds grow and hold so well?

Our shoot area is best described as rolling, mainly arable countryside with woodlands and wild bird cover positioned to produce challenging but not impossible birds. Included in our area of 4,500 acres, last season there was in excess of 450 acres of feed maize, mostly in very large blocks which were impossible to drive.

In addition to this feed maize we had our own 250+ acres of wild bird cover which also included maize, plus our extensive areas of woodland. These areas offered excellent dry cover for our birds.

Feed maize is normally harvested by early to mid-October at the latest. However, due to the waterlogged conditions many areas were inaccessible to any kind of harvester. The outcome was that much of the maize was still standing in late November.

Although we were unable to drive a number of our main drives the birds did not wander as is normal in mild Autumn weather when there is an abundance of natural food. They just stayed put!

Callum and his team did an excellent job of ensuring all our birds had sufficient feed. However, I feel these conditions and the large areas of dry cover available to our birds played a major part in our being able to hold and still hold an increased number of birds.

Given these consistently wet conditions which prevailed on many of our shoot days. Our guns and particularly our Keepers, Beaters and Pickers Up coped really well. We never actually lost a day although on some days we included less drives with the day finishing early but we always achieved the target bag.

I thank everyone for their resilience in these unwelcome conditions.

Although we try you cannot control “Mother Nature” and we must accept and learn to live with everything she throws at us. All in all, we have experienced one of the best if not the best ever season in my 34 years of running Shoots.

I am not sure if I want a repeat of these tiresome conditions in our new season. May be a little less rain would be appreciated!!

Considering we still have a large number of birds on the ground, the following are our returns for last season compared to to previous seasons.

Please contact us for these figures.

Our New 2024-2025 Season

Last season is going to take some beating but I can assure you all we will be doing our absolute best to achieve this.

Due to Covid and Bird Flu and all the problems these events have caused it has been very difficult to accurately cost our shoot days. Fortunately, the costs have now levelled out.

I have identified areas where some costs have actually reduced and have passed these savings onto our Members, by offering a 7% discount based on last season shoot fees to everyone who books days before 30th April 2024.

All shoots should have made similar savings so overall shoot fees throughout our industry should be reduced in the new season.

We propose releasing a similar number of birds to last season with approximately 50% pheasants and 50% partridge plus a few English partridge. However, due to farmers possibly only being able to sow feed maize in the areas still waterlogged once they have dried out. It is highly likely we will be faced with a repeat of last season’s large blocks of feed maize. If by some miracle it is harvested in good time, we should be fine.

As miracles do not happen, we may be again faced with some main drives being inaccessible until December and January. However, our birds will have plenty of cover and should hold.

An Additional mule

As some of our Members are getting older but may not like to admit it!! Walking to the pegs can prove difficult. So, in addition to the all-terrain Kawasaki Mule which pulls the game cart and is also used to transport guns to their pegs. I have purchased an additional Kawaski Mule with four seats not just two. I plan to have this available each day to take guns to their pegs.

Unfortunately, delivery is quoted as between 2 to 12 months. I do hope it arrives before our season starts.!!

I am planning a number of further improvements in the new season and will keep you advised of our progress throughout the closed season.

The Lead Shot Saga Continues

As you are no doubt aware we are awaiting a report, or best described as a directive, from The Health and Safety Executive HSE, as to the future use of lead in all forms of shot for cartridges and in ammunition used in the UK. So far, all indications are that the use of lead except in air rifles will be made illegal within the next five to six years or possibly sooner.

Should common sense prevail, it should be at least this period of time in order to give manufacturers time to be able to produce the variety and volume of product available to satisfy the market demand. Sadly common sense does not normally prevail so we must wait and see. I am not sure if this is good or bad news but HSE have requested additional time for their consultation.

What does not seem to be public knowledge here in the UK is that according to our Game Dealer, lead and other so called toxic substances in all meat and food may be banned in Europe during 2024.

Considering that approximately 70% of game shot in the UK is exported to Europe frozen in feather, may have some bearing on how the UK proceeds with a ban on the use of lead. As normal nothing is clear as to how we stand on this.

Our Shoot has been lead free for the last two seasons. Last season our Game Dealer took 70% of the birds we shot and paid for every bird. Of the remaining 30% of birds, 18% were given away and 12% were too damaged to enter the food chain so were incinerated.

Our dealer has recently advised that due to all our birds being lead free together with their consistently good size and quality. He is in the process of negotiating a contract which will guarantee not only a market for our birds but also that we will receive a significant increase in the price we receive. The Veterinary Audit of our Shoot under Trusted Game has assisted with this contract.

As I have always said if we can create a market demand larger than the supply, this will go a long way towards saving the sport of driven game shooting.

As a foot note. During our last season it is worth mentioning that more and more guns moved voluntarily to using non lead shot.

In order to be certain, I checked with any new guns that they had suitable non lead cartridges with no plastic wads. I was surprised by the number who told me they had already changed to non lead, many some time ago. This may be an indication on the direction we are heading.

Available Days and Shoot Fees

I would like to thank everyone who has already made a booking for the new season. So far 50% of our days have been taken. So there are still a good variety of days to choose from in the remaining 50%.

I am pleased to attach a list of our Available Days and do hope there is something workable for you.

As advised, I have been able to reduce our shoot fees compared to last season, by giving a 7% early booking discount for all bookings made by 30th April.

I also appreciate selecting your days so far ahead can be difficult. So, if you book just two pegs or more before 30th April you will receive the 7% discount on all days booked after 30th April.

I am also the first to appreciate when things are tight as they are at present there is always the temptation to cut corners in order to reduce costs. I can assure you all that this will certainly not happen on The Mountgarret Shoot.

Although I have identified where savings can be made this will in no way affect the quality of the shoot days you have become accustomed to and particularly the quality of our birds and hospitality.

An Amusing Episode at the End of Last Season

I gave up actual shooting three seasons ago in order to concentrate on picking up and assisting on our shoot days.

Some may call it disrupting the day, however this has gone really well!!

As I was so fed up with the abundance of cock pheasants we had at the end of last season I decided to take my gun out and stand as a back gun. My first drive went quite well with 4 cocks and 2 wounded partridges accounted for with 12 shots!

However, my second drive was not so good, 3 cocks and sadly 1 hen. I was already thinking about asking our guns to shoot cocks only. I now realise it can be difficult to tell the difference between a cock and a hen when they are coming straight towards you. By the time you identify what it is, it is too late. So, I decided against this request.

My day did not end there. I was stood next to one of our Pickers Up, Malcolm. A cock came over and I thought I had hit it and so did Malcolm but we saw nothing fall. The bird had flown on and then flew back toward us and then dropped on Malcolm. Luckily, he was fine but I decided it may be safer for everyone if I left my guns in the cabinet!!

So, What Will the New 2024-2025 Season Bring?

Unfortunately, as a possible change of Government seems likely. We must be prepared to face more unwelcome challenges for our sport.

How long we will be able to enjoy our sport as we know it, no one knows. So more the reason to enjoy it whilst we can. All I can say is that The Mountgarret Shoot will always offer a “Proper Days Driven Shooting” for as long as we can.

2023-2024 Season

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:13:06 GMT

Newsletter No. 8

21st December 2023

NEWSLETTER No. 8 : 2023–2024 SEASON

With only 24 shoot days remaining we are fast approaching the end of what has been a really successful season, possibly our best ever.

We achieved excellent returns from our rearing field. Due mainly to the hard work by our Head Keeper Callum McIntosh and his team. Also due to working closely with our Vets under the Trusted Game Audit Scheme. Compared to previous seasons we administered a reduced amount of antibiotics which certainly helped in producing some very fit and healthy poults. The quality of our poults has given us some very exciting sport this season.

The run up to the season was not without its problems. Due to the very dry conditions during the growing season, there were times when I wondered if we would have any wild bird cover. As it transpired my concerns were unnecessary as once we had some rain everything grew really well.

s always with any field sport our success is dictated by our wonderful climate. We started the season with some hot, sunny and still days. Just what you don’t want on a shoot day ! However, due to the quality of our birds they flew exceptionally well.

Since mid-October we have been faced with possibly the most exceptional wet weather I have ever known. Although challenging for everyone, Guns, beaters, pickers up and most of all our birds we have come through well so far.

Our move to non lead shot continues to prove to be a great success. Most guns by the end of last season commented that they experienced little difference between lead and non lead.

The real success has been with our game dealer as he now has customers queuing up for our game.

As a sport if we can only create a market larger than the supply it may well save our sport. Europe is going non lead in 2024 and as 70% of the birds shot in the UK are exported to Europe, mainly in feather. Most game dealers will only be taking game shot with non lead next season.

Shoot Fees : New Season 2024-2025

We will field 200, 250, 300 and 350 bird days, with Clear Up Days at the end of our season with bags of 175 birds. On our 350 bird days we will include the Lake at Ripley Castle for some testing duck.

I estimate our target bag for the new season will average 260 birds per day.

As my current costings are showing a small reduction in our overheads compared to the present season. I have decided rather than an overall reduction in shoot fees. In appreciation to those of you who book your days early and pay promptly. All bookings made before 30th April 2024 will receive a discount of 7% on our current shoot fees for all days booked before this date . Providing your initial 30% shoot fee is paid before 31st May 2024. With other instalments paid on time.

This gives an average saving of £125 to £150 per gun per day compared to the current season.

Another change I am making, in order to become an Exclusive Member of The Mountgarret Shoot, you now need only book one gun day to be eligible for all Exclusive Membership benefits including Special Offers which will inevitably be available as the season progresses.

Payment Terms are as in the past: 1st February 30% 1st May 40% 1st August 30%

Shoot Day Information : 2024-2025

I am pleased to attach our Shoot Day Information for the New Season. It details what I hope will happen on a shoot day and answers many frequently asked questions.

Shoot Dates and Costs : 2024-2025

Finally I am pleased to attach details of our Available Shoot Dates together with the cost of a gun on each day including vat.

As always, I really do thank you all for the support you give to The Mountgarret Shoot and look forward to having you with us again in the New Season.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and hopefully a Prosperous New Year.

2023-2024 Season : Newsletter No. 7

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 09:16:11 GMT

I am pleased to report that although the very warm sunny weather was against us, our partridge flew magnificently.

10th October 2023

NEWSLETTER No. 7 : 2023–2024 SEASON

Over the 34 years I have been running shoots once the new season starts, I am always a little apprehensive and concerned that our fat young partridge and pheasants will actually fly on our early days!

I am pleased to report that although the very warm sunny weather was against us for most of September. Our partridge did not let us down and flew magnificently. As for the pheasant, these young birds really showed us what we can expect to experience during the season.

This season I changed our feed supplier which has proved to be a great success. The chicks/poults ate less and thanks to our Vet through the Trusted Game Scheme we used less antibiotics than in the past. The results are that we had fewer losses on our rearing field compared to precious seasons and the birds have survived well since being released due to their excellent condition.

I know we have much to look forward to with plenty of fit and testing birds.

EXCLUSIVE MEMBERS SHOOT DAYS and SPECIAL OFFERS

In the past you have been required to take £2,500 value of days before vat to be eligible for Exclusive Membership. This season all you have needed to do is to take one day to become an Exclusive Member.

There are a number of other benefits for Exclusive Members but the main benefit is the availability of Special Offer Days.

When I entered into the world of driven game shooting, I hate to say this, but now 57 years ago, most Estates kept their shooting in hand so there was little opportunity to experience the real quality of driven game shooting I was looking for. As always if you persevere opportunities do happen. I said to myself then that if I ever had my own shoot, it would be open to individual guns who like myself at that time was looking for quality driven game shooting.

Over the years I have been supported by both full teams, small parties and individual guns, which I really appreciate. The quality of shooting is a very important part of the day and I know we can provide this. However, may be as I get older, I find the company of like-minded friends from all walks of life is just as important.

Hospitality is also important and find by starting our shoot days with breakfast is a real ice breaker and everyone has the opportunity to meet each other before the day starts. Refreshments throughout the day are well received as is our lunch at the end of the day. The Inn at South Stainley who have been our caterers for the last two seasons have brought their quality to a new level this season.

In the past I have been very fortunate and have visited more shoots than I wish to confess to. During this this time I have experienced what I feel are both the good and bad points of a driven shoot day.

On Mountgarret I have tried to plan our days as to what I would expect if I were in the line of guns each day. The outcome of the way I run the shoot. Mainly to individual guns and small parties is that there are some days when not all the guns are taken.

I have tried running days with as little as six guns but it is hard for our Keepers to funnel the birds over such a short line. 8 or 9 guns are far easier.

Faced with this problem I have asked myself what is the best way to fill the pegs on these few remaining days. The answer it to sell the remaining guns at a discount. This is fine but as a true Yorkshireman if I am giving something away it must be to everyone who has already supported the Shoot.

I am delighted all our October days are now taken. So in order for you to plan your season. I have decided to offer all our remaining November days through to and including 9th December as a Special Offer .

For Mountgarret Shoot Exclusive Members

In appreciation for all your support I am pleased to offer to all our Exclusive Members a 40% discount.

For GunsOnPegs Premium Members

GunsOnPegs have been great supporters of my Shoot since they were established. So I am pleased to offer GunsOnPegs Premium Members a 30% discount .

For everyone else on my mailing list who has shown an interest in the Shoot I offer a 20% discount .

There are now just 11% of our original days remaining as detailed on the attached list of Available Days. I would like to move these as soon as possible so I can get on with the job of running the Shoot

I do hope there is something to suit you. So don’t hold back and please take as many days as you wish.

Looking forward to seeing you in the season.

2023-2024 Season : Newsletter No.5

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 15:39:47 GMT

With only 6 weeks to go to our New Season, everything is now in place.

1st August 2023

NEWSLETTER No. 5 : 2023–2024 SEASON

I am pleased to advise that with only six weeks to our first shoot day, everything is now in place for hopefully another successful season!

We have had a very successful rearing field with most of our pheasants now released. Once the harvest is complete, we will be releasing our French and English partridge.

With no rain for eight weeks. In early July I was becoming very concerned regarding the very sad state of our Wild Bird Cover. I had forgotten we are in North Yorkshire where it always eventually rains. Sure enough the constant rain mid July soon solved the problem and all our corps are now growing well. All now looks very promising for the new season.

However not all is looking bright and beautiful for the future of driven shooting. No sooner did we get over the tragedy of Covid. We were faced with and are still faced with the problems associated with possible further Avian Flu outbreaks This devastating disease looks like being with us for the foreseeable future.

If all this were not bad enough. Possibly due to a small number of people in Government positions both elected and employed who do not approve of our Sport, a number of restrictions are possibly on the way.

In Scotland there are moves to license grouse shooting, In Wales shooting has been banned on Government owned land and there is a move in the Welsh Parliament to prohibit the release of pheasant and red legged partridge throughout the whole of Wales other than under license.

In England as a precaution against Avian Flu being transmitted from game birds to other wild birds. Natural England have decided that in areas on and 500 metres from an SPA (Special Protected Area) such as Moorlands, some Riverbanks and Coastal Estuaries. For the next two years a license is required from Natural England to be able to release pheasant and red legged partridge on these areas. As far as I am aware there are no scientific grounds for this somewhat draconian measure.

This legislation was brought in with zero notice and without consultation. I am hearing that not all the 200 shoots affected have been granted a license to release. I understand, even some of those who have been granted a license have been restricted to not releasing before 30th September. Many shoots and game farmers are unable to hold their birds penned up until September. So there is an obvious welfare problem for the birds. Sadly, some Shoots may close and keepers lose their jobs. Which as we all know is something some in authority want to happen!

So what is next? Particularly if we have a change of Government next year. When I meet shooting friends of my generation the topic of conversation is often around the future of our sport. Sadly, the consensus is that we have seen the best days of driven shooting. I really do hope that this is not the case. However, as always, we must be prepared to face whatever the future has in store for us. Our shooting may be restricted in a number of ways but a day out in our beautiful countryside with like-minded friends cannot be taken away from us. We hope !!

With all this looming over us possibly now is the time to enjoy driven shooting as we know it, whilst you can! With this in mind the good news is that there is a large variety of excellent driven shooting available throughout the country at the present time.

As an individual gun or small party in the past availability has been restricted due to most shoots selling days only to full teams. Fortunately, this has changed with much more availability for individual guns. When I took up serious driven game shooting over 50 years ago. All the best driven shooting was held in hand by estates. Shooting partridge other than English was frowned upon and no pheasant were shot before November. Thank goodness things have changed!

With this large variety of driven shooting at present being available, I have detailed what I would hope to expect if I were in the line of guns on a driven game shoot in the 2023-2024 Season.

With recent significant increases in the overall cost of running a Shoot. The cost of your shoot day should be competitively priced compared to other similar Shoots.
Testimonials on the experiences of other guns are available on shoot websites and from GunsOnPegs. These give a good guide as to what you can expect on a particular shoot.
For a Shoot to be situated in beautiful rolling countryside with a good variety of testing drives. There is nothing more boring as every drive being the same.
For a Shoot to offer individual guns as well as full teams.
For a Shoot where non shooting guests are welcome just to enjoy the day.
For a Shoot where Lady and Novice guns are welcome.
The size of bag is up to each individual. Some guns wish to shoot 500 to 1,000 birds in a day. To me it is unacceptable to shoot this number of birds in a day. It only fuels the fire for those who are against our sport. I find most sporting driven guns are looking for bags of around 200 to 350 at the most. With 250 to 300 being quite sufficient for most guns.
Only non lead cartridges with degradable wads should be used. This ensures every bird you shoot enters the food chain and you do not pollute the land and water with plastic wads.
For a Shoot to be clear on its “overage” policy. Preferably no overage charged over the agreed target bag. Similarly the Shoot’s policy with regard to cancelled days due to bad weather or if the number of birds under the bag is achieved.
For a Shoot which aims at around 10% over the target bag with no overage charged.
For a Shoot to be hosted in a relaxed no rush manner, in order that everyone has an enjoyable day.
To start the day with breakfast where everyone has the opportunity to meet the other guns.
To be given a shoot card at the start of the day with the name of each gun.
For a detailed briefing by the Shoot Host over breakfast so everyone knows what to expect and what is expected of them.
To shoot with a convivial team of like-minded people assisted by a polite and happy team of experienced keepers, beaters and pickers up.
Not to have to walk too far to each drive. If walking is difficult, for a rough terrain vehicle to be available to take you to your peg.
For transport available to drive you around the Shoot if you do not wish to use your own vehicle.
Instructor/loaders and shot gun hire all being available.
For each drive to be pegged and stands clearly numbered.
For well grown fit pheasant and partridge to show on every drive up to the end of the season in January. Possibly with a few English grey partridge.
To be presented with challenging but not impossible birds, spread over the whole line of guns on each drive.
For the number of birds presented to the guns to be in sufficient quantity for the guns to be able to be selective in order to achieve the target bag.
Once on your peg not to have to wait for ages for the birds to show. A mix of partridge with pheasant achieves this.
It should be accepted that duck and/or geese may fly over any line of guns on any Shoot but the guns should have the option of whether or not they wish to shoot them.
A duck drive should be available for those guns who wish to shoot them and no day should be dominated by duck and/or geese.
No woodcock, snipe or ground game should be shot.
To have fellow guns who exercise a degree of etiquette by being selective and respecting their neighbours’ birds.
To have your spent cartridges collected at the end of each drive. When you hopefully leave them in a tidy pile!
For guns to be welcome to bring their dogs providing they are pegged and not picking up during a drive.
To have plenty of time to work your dogs at the end of each drive without your birds already being vacuumed up by the pickers up and not being rushed to move to the next drive.
To experience a full days shooting with four to five drives.
To have refreshments available throughout the day with any alcohol taken in moderation, together with soft drinks, tea and coffee, after each drive. With pie and soup at midday. The day should end with a tasty lunch specially prepared for the team, in a private Lodge or similar accompanied by a delicious wine, not cheap plonk.
A debrief of the day given over lunch by the Host together with a card detailing the bag for the day.
In order to support The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), Countryside Alliance (CA), Gamekeepers Welfare Trust (GWT), Country Food Trust (CFT) and other organisations connected to our sport. To hold an optional sweepstake with prizes on the bag from the day.
At the end of the day to look after the Keepers and receive a pack of dressed pheasant or partridge crowns chilled and ready to cook or for the freezer. With further birds in feather being available if required at no additional cost.
It is also very important to have a choice of competitively priced comfortable hotels and accommodation near to the Shoot to reduce the time spent driving to and from a shoot day. For the hotels to be prepared to accommodate dogs and have secure storage for your shotguns.
There are many other aspects of a shoot day but if a shoot can achieve these, I am sure everyone will go away happy.

So where can you find this “Proper Driven Shoot Day.” You need look no further than

THE MOUNTGARRET SHOOT !!

After 34 years of running Driven Game Shoots, the above details what we set out to achieve.

Every Shoot Day is its own Special Day. However there are three elements which can make this a challenge. Our unpredictable weather, wild creatures and humans. So some days can certainly be better than others !!

Included with this Newsletter No. 5 is the following information which you may find of interest. For hard copies please contact Lynda on 01423 323321 or e-mail info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk

Revised Shoot Day Information 2023-2024 Season

Although our Shoot is described in detail on our website www.mountgarretshoot.com . This Shoot Day Information gives you a brief outline of our Shoot. There have been a number of changes for the new season.

Directions to our Shoot Lodge

This map gives you the directions you require. Hopefully, this will avoid your becoming lost!!

Hotels, Accommodation and Restaurants

Being close the Spa Town of Harrogate we are spoilt for choice in Hotels and Restaurants. We also have The Inn at South Stainley only 5 minutes from our Shoot Lodge. The Inn also provides the catering for our breakfast and lunches in our Shoot Lodge.

We have compiled a comprehensive list of 26 hotels and 10 restaurants, close to the Shoot, so you have plenty to choose from.

Order Form for Non lead Cartridges

Last season we moved to non lead only shot. This gave us a ready market for our game which we plan to build on in the new season. Initially there was some resistance to change by some Members. By the season end everyone told me following a brief adjustment from lead they found little or no difference.

We are not cartridge dealers and offer a good selection of Steel, Bismuth and alternative shot to our shoot Members. All as detailed on the attached order form with all cartridges available from stock.

If you could return your order form, your cartridges will be ready for you on your day.

Dressed Game Order Form

Our game dealer, Ox Close Fine Foods offers an extensive range of game products ready for the oven or the freezer. These products can be pre ordered for collection on a shoot day or posted direct to you. All orders and payment must be made direct to Ox Close Fine Foods. Contact Nick Lister on 07572 037428 or e-mail Sales@oxclosefinefoods.co.uk

Shoot Calendar and Last Minute Check List

The Calendar helps you plan your season and Check List ensures you don’t forget the many important items you require on a shoot day.

List of Available Days

We have experienced an encouraging take up of days with around 20% still available. The list has changed considerably over the last few weeks with a number of new dates coming available.

I hope there will be something workable for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking forward to seeing you in the New Season in “Gods Own Country,” our beautiful North Yorkshire countryside.

2023-2024 Season : Newsletter No.4

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 15:27:07 GMT

Our rearing field has gone really well.

20th June 2023

NEWSLETTER No. 4 : 2023–2024 SEASON

You will have no doubt heard or read regarding the recent directive from Defra and Natural England here in England. Together with the Welsh Government’s proposals on possible licensing of Shoots.

In Wales Natural Resources Wales (NRW), a supposedly arms-length advisory body to the Welsh Government issued a 12 week consultation on 27th March outlining its intention to add pheasant and red legged partridge to the schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, thus putting them on par with invasive non-native species.

The proposals laid out by NRW risk amounting to a ban on the release of game birds through the back door. They would require a General License to release game birds and a specific license to release them within 500 metres of protected sites such as SSSIs. Releasing game birds without the necessary licences would become an offence in Wales.

The system would mean that it would only be possible to release game birds subject to the goodwill and co-operation of the Minister and NRW, a position most shooters would find uncomfortable given Welsh Labour’s stance on opposing game shooting in Wales. Furthermore, the system of licensing would mean that license grants could be suspended at any time, which could disrupt a whole season’s shooting and make planning a season uncertain and difficult to negotiate. The final date for objections is today 20th June 2023. So we must wait and see the outcome of the consultation.

However, just as serious a problem has arisen for some Shoots here in England. Defra and Natural England have issued a very much last minute directive to all shoots planning to release game birds this season within 500 metres of a SPA (Special Protected Area). These Shoots must apply for a license without delay. Defra and Natural England have decided this as a temporary emergency measure with regard to the release of game birds in these areas. Game managers will need individual licences because of a perceived risk of transmission of avian influenza from game birds to wild bird population.

I am relieved to advise our Shoot on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton Estates is not affected. I do however feel for those Shoots affected who must now apply for licences just as they are about to release their birds. There is nothing more stressful than uncertainty and there is now way of knowing how this may affect all shooting in England in the future.

I feel it is best at this time for me not to voice my opinion on this matter. I am sure we will all be watching the progress of this somewhat draconian directive.

Rearing Field and Releases

I am very pleased to advise that so far, our rearing field has gone really well. Our first poults will be released into the woods this week with the balance over the next six weeks. I am confident we will have more than sufficient birds for our season.

Shoot Day Availability

We have experienced a good take up of days with just over 20% of our days remaining. These are detailed on the attached list which shows a good variety of days still available.

Wild game Cover

After 7 weeks of very warm sunny conditions with no rain. At last the rain has started and our crops are showing through. We are very dependent on Wild Bird Cover for our most testing birds so I am somewhat relieved to see everything has started to grow.

Shoot Fees

I would like to thank those of you who have not only booked days in the new season but have also paid your shoot fees. This time of our “out of season” is very heavy for our shoot account, I would therefore appreciate receiving payment of any due invoices as soon as ever possible.

Instructors and Loaders

A golfer uses a professional to sort out any problems they may have. A game shot is no different. We all seen to be able to perfect bad shooting techniques without too much of a problem. Particularly at the start of the season when you may not have had your gun out for a few months.

I do strongly recommend you take the opportunity of hiring one of our experienced instructors to put you right for the season. There is nothing more frustrating than missing birds in the new season which you knew you could have hit without any problem last season.

I can arrange someone for you at a cost £140 for the day paid direct to the instructor. Shotgun hire is also available from your instructor with prior notice at £50 per day. I can assure you that you will not regret it and wish you had done this sooner.

As demand is high, I recommend you book your instructor/loader as soon as possible.

Hotels and accommodation

We are fortunate in having a good selection of hotels near to our Shoot. I am pleased to attach details of the various hotels with rates and driving times to the Shoot.

The Inn at South Stainley which is situated 5 minutes from our meeting place at our Shoot Lodge, offers very comfortable accommodation with competitive rates. Please note, if you advise you are joining the Shoot when you book a 15% discount will be given.

I also enclose a map of the location of our Shoot Lodge so hopefully you will not get lost this season!!

Mountgarret Shoot Lodge, Stainley Hall Farm, South Stainley, Nr Harrogate HG3 3NE

Non Lead Shot Cartridges

As anyone who shot with us last season is aware we have moved to non lead shot cartridges. This move has secured a certain market for all our game.

We have now taken into stock a good selection of non lead cartridges. An order form is attached and we will have your order ready for you on your first day with us in the new season.

It is your responsibility to check that your shotgun is proofed for Steel Shot. If in doubt both Bismuth and Bio Ammo Blue are suitable for any shotgun providing it is in proof !

Rough Terrain Vehicle

As well as our Land Rover Defenders we also have a rough terrain Kawasaki Mule available. This is ideal for anyone who may find walking to your peg difficult.

As with shotgun hire this is available with a driver who can also act as your loader for £140 for the day. Some prior notice is required.

Looking forward to seeing you in the new season.

2023-2024 Season: Newsletter No. 3

info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk (Frank Boddy) — Wed, 10 May 2023 08:34:34 GMT

Our rearing field will soon be full of chicks

18th April 2023

NEWSLETTER No. 3 : 2023–2024 SEASON

Much has been happening and I am pleased to keep you updated on our progress, We are now well into our “Out of Season” and within a month our rearing field will be full of chicks.

We have been through Covid and Bird flu, which although is showing a definite downturn there are still a few cases and with the return of migratory birds we must remain vigilant. Our Chief Veterinary Officer has announced that mandatory housing measures in the UK for poultry and captive birds is now lifted. This is hopefully a positive indication for the future.

I understand that the Welsh Government in the form of Natural Resources Wales launched a 12 week consultation on 27th March 2023 on proposals to introduce a licensing system for the release of pheasant and red legged partridge in Wales. If these proposals are implemented, game bird releasing will be restricted and only permitted under license, giving the anti-shooting Welsh Government the power to shut down game shooting in Wales. You may recall in 2019 the same Natural Resource Wales were successful in implementing a ban on shooting on all publicly owned land in Wales.

In 2022 Natural Resources Wales also put restrictions on the shooting of crows, jackdaws and magpies. This is the last thing Welsh sheep farmers and gamekeepers needed. This may have disastrous implications for all concerned.

How this may affect the rest of the UK in unknown. However, it is an indication of how a few people in authority have the power to damage our established traditions and rural way of life. I know our various shooting organisations will fight this vigorously. We can also fight it as individuals. Details are available on the websites of BASC, Countryside Alliance and GWCT.

Nothing stands still and change will always happen. So we may need to accept that although we should not be required to justify our sport. We must be prepared to ensure we have our house in order and be ready to fight our corner when necessary.

So where do we start. Maybe we should start at the end!

Game Meat

We all know that game meat in its many forms is one of the most nutritious, low fat foods available. There are a number of excellent initiatives to promote this free range food. We must first however ensure that our game is reared to the highest standards, then once shot that it is handled to the same high level of hygiene as other meat. We can only justify our sport if all our game enters the food chain in excellent condition.

Whether we like it or not supermarkets dictate our eating habits and there is still too little game available from supermarket shelves. If as I suspect this is due to the possibility that it may contain lead shot. We can do something about it. If we could only achieve a higher demand for game meat than the quantity available, it would go a long way to both justifying and saving our sport.

Non Lead Shot

Last season was our first season when we only used non lead shot being, Bismuth, Steel and Bio Ammo. In short, I feel this change went really well and by the end of the season the majority of our guns accepted this is the way forward and experienced little difference compared to previous seasons where we used lead only. Initially it can be difficult to adapt to the change to non lead but you soon click into it. Much of the apprehension is in the mind!

If we are to fight our corner the move to non lead is a small sacrifice to make in defending our sport. As a Shoot our moving to non lead shot meant our game was well received and found its way onto Sainsbury’s shelves as well as a number of new outlets. We also actually received some payment for the majority of our game for the first time in many seasons.

Assurance and Audit

I feel this is an area which must and will advance rapidly during the next few months. There are two main initiatives: British Game Assurance and Trusted Game. To use the modern jargon; we must be transparent.

Not to go into great detail but I have found that compared to British Game Assurance, Trusted Game being an initiative set up by a number of vets, is a more rigorous audit and assists our Shoot far more in being able to achieve the high standards which are required.

By using Trusted Game Standards and working closely with our vet we achieved the best ever returns from our rearing field last season.

If we are all to get our house in order and be ready for whatever form of legislation or licensing we may be faced with in the future. This independent audit is the way forward.

I hope this gives you all some food for thought,

Our Last Season 2022-2023

Last season was our first without Ripley Castle and Hob Green and now with Callum McIntosh as our Head Keeper.

In February/March we were all unsure if we would actually have a shooting season. This was due to the import restrictions on eggs from France due to the disastrous Bird Flu outbreak.

In previous seasons we have purchased our chicks from a French supplier. These chicks were produced form French laid eggs hatched here in the UK. They are an excellent disease free chick in French Common and Manchurian strains. As many of you are aware these birds fly well and have and ideal body weight which is well accepted by our Game Dealer.

Although positive messages were coming from France, there was nothing definite. We therefore decided to erect a laying field and caught up sufficient of our last season’s French Common hen pheasants for our own incubator. This move certainly saved our season. The outcome was that with our own chicks and some from other UK Hatcheries we ended up with more pheasant poults than we actually required.

With regard to our partridge. We had ordered the majority of our requirements from a UK hatchery. Unfortunately our order was reduced so we did not received our full amount. We had also ordered a quantity from our French suppler. The final outcome was that like many Shoots and hatcheries we did not receive any pheasant or partridge chicks form our French suppliers.

However we did release sufficient pheasant for our season but were short on partridge poults, with this shortfall made up with pheasant poults.

We also purchased 1,000 English Grey partridge poults. They certainly ran circles round us and we shot 62!!

Our returns for the season can be viewed on request. A return of 50% on the partridge released is excellent but the pheasant return of 37% is disappointing. Not unsurprisingly we had a large number of pheasants on the ground at the end of the season.

These returns are very much thanks to our keepers and our team of beaters and pickers up. I also feel our large area of game cover crops certainly held and produced some testing birds.

Shoot Dinner

On Saturday 18 February we held our first ever Mountgarret Shoot Dinner. This was held at The Inn at South Stainley, who also provide our shoot lunches throughout the season in our Shoot Lodge.

Our guests were our Landlords, Farmers, Keepers and many who had helped the Shoot throughout the season. Together with a number of Shoot Members.

We experienced a truly excellent evening and plan to make this a bi-annual event.

Charitable Donations

During last season, thanks to the generosity of our guns and their non shooting guests in supporting our daily sweepstake, non shooting guest lunches, various fines and at our Shoot Dinner. Even though we were away from Ripley Castle we raised a total of £18,760 which we donated to the following:

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) £9,000

The Countryside Alliance £1,500

The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust £1,250

The Country Food Trust £1,250

Songbird Survival Trust £300

Yorkshire Charity Clay Days £3,000

Tanfield Grouse Charity Clay Day £600

Nidd Parish Church (On Lord Mountgarret Days) £480

South Stainley Church £180

Carried forward balance £1,200

All in all we had another successful season but it was not without its challenges!!

Our New Season 2023-2024

Birds

Although the level of bird Flu has shown a significant decline both in France and here in the UK. As it is still there we decided not to take the risk of depending totally on eggs from France. We erected a new laying field situated a few miles away from our rearing field. This would hopefully mean that in the event of a Bird Flu outbreak on our laying field we should still be able to rear birds supplied from other hatcheries.

We have caught up over 1,000 pheasant hens in French Common and Manchurian strains. There should be a surplus of eggs which we will sell to other hatcheries. We plan to rear our pheasant from day old chicks to 7 week old poults. The chicks will be both hatched through our incubator together with French laid eggs hatched here in the UK. We are also buying some Polish strain chicks from another UK Hatchery.

Our partridge chicks will be from a UK Hatchery and plan to rear all our partridge from day old to chicks to 14 week old poults on our rearing field.

Being ever optimistic that we may have better returns on our English Grey Partridge compared to last season, we have purchased a further 1,000 poults. We must wait and see what happens!

Rearing Field

I always say we are far busier out of season compared to the actual shooting season. It is near enough a 24 hour job with our Keepers working in shifts.

So much can go wrong. A lamp can blow out and literally hundreds of chicks can be lost within a few minutes by smothering each other whilst trying to stay warm. If there is disease around, they will catch it. So we are constantly checking for any signs. Then administering medication as prescribed by our vets. Bio security is imperative so we do not cut any corners. Working closely with our Vet under the Trusted Game Standards has certainly improved our return from chick to poult last season.

It is definitely the most stressful time of our season with far more pressure compared to an actual shoot day!!

Vermin Control

In addition to the poults from our rearing field. As we are seeing a good wild stock of both pheasant and partridge on the ground, we are hopeful of an additional stock of wild poults. We are concentrating on vigorous vermin control in order to give our wild broods a chance of survival.

This is particularly important at this time of our season. When we had a brief period of snow we saw and dispatched a number of foxes. Sitting out in a cold night waiting for a fox is no fun but it must be done. Our Keepers certainly deserve their tips for this additional work.

On our shoot area we have a number of sheep farmers. Some lambs are born outside so it is imperative for them and for our nesting wild birds to keep on top of the foxes, crows, jackdaws and magpies. The damage they can do to newly born lambs, pheasant and partridge eggs and chicks can be devastating. Squirrels, stoats and rats must all be controlled.

This is the other side of a Shoot which is sadly forgotten on a shoot day.

Game Cover Crops

Everyone quite rightly expects the Shoot to present a steady flow of challenging birds on each drive over the full line of guns. In order to achieve this, our Keepers and Beaters must have good game cover to hold and present the birds.

The topography of our Shoot is best described as rolling countryside. We have a number of woodlands which have been planted over the years to produce testing birds.

The woodlands are important, however the positioning of our Game Cover Crops are just as important. With an area over 4,500 acres we will be growing 190 acres of game cover this season. This together with areas left to grow wild and to use the current jargon, to “re-wild”. We have over 250 acres of exclusive game cover. This is all thanks to the invaluable support from our farmers and Landlords.

The combination of our woodland and well positioned Game Cover Crops we know will produce an excellent variety of testing birds.

Shoot Fees

My toughest challenge for the new season has been the number of significant increases in costs, both over last season together with further forecast increases in the new season. In January all indications were that these combined increases would be between 30% to 40%. Although still very unwelcome the best I have been able to achieve is to keep our actual overall increase to around 25%, However we do still remain competitive and below the cost of a number of similar shoots.

Details of our Shoot Fees for 2023-2024 are available on request.

Shoot Day Information : 2023-2024

I am also pleased to enclose details of what I hope you can expect to experience on a shoot day. If you require any further details, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Remaining Days

Thanks to many of you and I do appreciate your support. Over 74% of the days have now been taken up. There still remains a good variety of days available each month throughout the season, as the attached list.

It is worth looking at this as many days were not detailed on our previous list of available days. I do hope there is something workable for you.

We have much to look forward to and I will keep you all advised on our further progress.

2023-2024 Season Newsletter No. 2

info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk (Frank Boddy) — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 14:23:04 GMT

I have already covered our supply of birds for the new season and will give full details in my next Newsletter.

1st February 2023

NEWSLETTER No. 2 : 2023–2024 SEASON

Although it is only a few days since I sent out details of our dates for the new season. With over 60% of the days now taken this list I sent out is somewhat out of date! I would like to thank everyone who has booked their dates which I do appreciate.

Remembering we were sold out by August last season it is looking even more positive for the new season. If you would like to choose your preferred dates now is the time to book. I am pleased to attach an updated list of our available dates and hope there is something workable for you. A number of new dates are now available so it may well be worth looking through this latest list.

Please note the terms of booking for February to April detailed on the reverse of this list of available dates.

Supply of Birds

Many Shoots were affected by a lack of birds last season and sadly some did not shoot. We did find sufficient birds but this proved very challenging at times. I have already covered our supply of birds for the new season and will give full details in my next Newsletter.

I will keep you updated on our further progress.

Newsletter No. 1 2023

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 16:52:52 GMT

Dates circulated to all Members

16th January 2023

NEWSLETTER No. 1 : 2023–2024 SEASON

Initially the list of available days and my proposals for the new 2023-2024 Season were sent out to everyone who booked days in the current season. I have received a favourable response with over 50% of the days taken up. So am now sending out to everyone on my mailing list of 1,500 plus.

Our Season So Far

Following an uncertain start in February and March, we were able to secure our stock of birds for the season. Hatching most of the pheasants ourselves.

The total number released was similar to our previous season, however due to supply problems we released 7,000 more pheasants and 7,000 less partridge. Thanks to Callum and his team we had an excellent rearing field, which has been apparent in the flying ability of our birds.

We have experienced some testing birds in variable conditions. It has been quite warm with more than our share of rain. I understand November was one of the wettest months on record. However this did not stop us from enjoying ourselves. We did have three very foggy starts but still succeeded in achieving the target bag on these days.

At last winter has nearly arrived and I expect to see even more testing birds over our last few days as they move into the warmth of the woodlands and game cover.

With 8% of our days remaining we have more than enough birds at present on the ground to see us through the season. Both our pheasant and partridge have performed really well with over 46% of the partridge released now accounted for.

My plan is somewhat different for the end of this season compared to previous seasons, when we tried to clear our ground of all birds. For next season I would like to leave as much breeding stock on the ground as possible. So all our End of Season Clear Up Days will be cock pheasants only, with partridge and duck if we can get round them!

As we seem to be on top of the vermin, now is the opportunity to produce some wild stock – raptors permitting!

New Season 2023-2024

On the strength of our performance in the current season, quite a number of you are requesting our dates for the 2023-2024 Season. In the new season I am planning a similar number of days and target bags to our current season, with days from 200 to 350 to average 250 birds per day.

I am pleased to attach a list of our Available Days. This is the easy bit!

My problem is that with the ongoing increase in all costs, it is near enough impossible to finalise our Shoot fees. I could make a guess which would be high and I feel unfair to you all.

In the current season I am hearing of prices of up to £100 per bird plus vat. With most similar Shoots to ourselves asking for between £55 to £65 per bird including vat. Based on my costings and guesses so far, I feel our Shoot Fees for the new season will be somewhere between £60 to £70 per bird including vat. We must wait and see.

In previous seasons I have requested Shoot fees are paid:

30% 1st February

40% 1st May

30% 1st August.

I now ask you to choose your days/dates from the attached list. A deposit of £400 per day plus vat will be invoiced and due in February for each of your days, no matter the bag size.

Remembering we were sold out this season by the end of August 2022 I am hopeful of a reasonable take up of days. So any days booked which remain unpaid at the end of February 2023 will be offered to other Members.

I propose issuing actual details of our Shoot Fees during April/May 2023 with these included in your May confirmation and invoice. I feel this is a fair way forward considering the present uncertain cost climate.

In our new season, although we are up against considerably increased costs, I do not intend to cut any corners and try, if possible, to improve our days even further.

Payment Terms for the New Season are as follows :

£400 + vat deposit on each day booked due for payment in February 2023.

1st May 2023: 60% of the remainder of the Shoot Fee less £400 + vat deposit per day booked.

1st August 2023: 40% of the remaining Shoot fee less £400 + vat per day booked.

Should you be unhappy with the final costing advised in April/May you may cancel your booking and a full refund will be made.

I thank you for your past support and I look forward to hearing from you and am available at any time to discuss the Shoot or make a booking.

Mobile: 07774 271781 Evening: 01765 677343 E-mail: info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk

Non lead Shot

Having now experienced over 73 shoot days where non lead shot has been used, mainly steel and Bismuth. I am certainly no ballistics expert so can only give my observations.

Bismuth

This is as near to lead as any other shot available. It can be used in any shotgun with no choke restriction. The cartridges we offer have no more recoil compared to lead. They do cost more compared to other suitable cartridges. However at an additional £80 to £100 per day compared to steel. If you consider the actual cost of a days’ shooting, I feel it is a small price to pay.

Steel

Our guns have used many different makes of steel cartridges. Steel cannot be used in any shotguns with more than half choke. My observations are as follows. At around 35 to 45 yards, Steel kills very effectively. Below this when birds are shot you can hear and see the shot hitting the bird, many just fly on. The steel shot seems to pass through the bird and these are the ones which can fly a good distance before landing. Sadly, a number are still alive when retrieved.

Our shot to bird average has changed little from when we were using lead. This shows we are still shooting a similar number of birds and also that our pickers up are carrying out their work efficiently. We are not seeing any carcasses but this is possibly due to the raptors clearing up after we have shot.

I have approached this by increasing the number of our pickers up each day from 5 to 6. There are all positioned much further back from the line of guns compared to when we were shooting lead.

In short, Steel is not an ideal substitute to lead or Bismuth. I say this, as the season has progressed, after using steel for a few months many guns have become used to steel and feel there is little difference compared to lead.

Reading reports in our trade publications it seems inevitable that in the next few years the use of lead in all types of ammunition will be banned. So sooner or later everyone will be required to use non lead shot. The leading question, more for the cartridge manufacturers, is how long? Some quotes are 18 months and up to 5 years. I really do feel at least 5 years is required for the cartridge manufacturers to be able to change and cope with the demand.

The Health & Safety Executive has now completed their consultation process on “Describing the Risk to the Environment and Human Health that lead creates if it is present in ammunition and the restriction option that HSE is proposing to manage these risks.”

This consultation covers all types of ammunition from air rifle pellets to rifle ammunition including lead shot. However it has just been announced that this report is now delayed for six months due to the overwhelming number of responses.

I am proposing staying with non lead as it has guaranteed a market for all our game.

Charity Fund

I would like to thank everyone for their generosity in supporting our daily sweep. So far with this and non shooting guest meals and refreshments we have raised just short of £13,000 this season so far. The Trusts who will benefit from the Fund in March 2023 are:

GWCT: Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust

GWT: Gamekeepers Welfare Trust

CFT: Country Food Trust

CA: Countryside Alliance

SBS: SongBird Survival

Nidd Church

Thank you all for your support.

Partridges in a Pear Tree

This is how Sainsbury’s marketed our partridge over the festive season.

As previously advised our game dealer, Ox Close Fine Foods has teamed up with another game dealer and secured a contract to supply partridge to Sainsbury’s. In order to fulfil the order a number of other Shoots who have gone non lead are also involved. They describe the product as follows. “Made with great tasting Game Meat from the British Countryside our pair of wild partridges are stuffed with a pear and calvados stuffing and wrapped in maple cured beechwood smoked bacon. Ready to roast in its own ovenproof tray and perfect for smaller festive gatherings.”

Product description:

2 Partridges with a pork, pear & calvados stuffing wrapped in smoked bacon with added water. Available at £23.00 for the pair.

The initial launch was so successful this is now only available by order for collection from the store. For further details: https://food-to-order.sainsburys.co.uk/product/8079647/ttd-pair-of-partridges

When I initially decided to move to non lead shot, I did not expect such a quick response. If moving to non lead gives us a ready market for our game. I feel the move is a small price to pay for the possible survival of our sport.

Wishing you all a very relaxing Spring and Summer ready for the New Season.

Newsletter No. 7 2022-2023 Season

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 16:41:34 GMT

New Season Dates

20th December 2022

NEWSLETTER No. 7 : 2022–2023 SEASON

Initially the list of available days and my proposals for the new 2023-2024 Season were sent out to everyone who booked full days in the current season. I have received a favourable response, so am now sending out to individual guns who also booked days in the current season.

In mid-January I will send out details of the remaining days to all our 1,500 plus mailing list. So now is the time to consider your preferred dates.

Our Season So Far

Following an uncertain start in February and March, we were able to secure our stock of birds for the season. Hatching most of the pheasants ourselves.

At last winter has arrived and I expect to see even more testing birds as they move into the warmth of the woodlands and game cover.

With 28% of our days remaining we have more than enough birds at present on the ground to see us through the season. Both our pheasant and partridge have performed really well with over 40% of the partridge released now accounted for.

As we seem to be on top of the vermin, now is the opportunity to produce some wild stock – raptors permitting!

New Season 2023-2024

I am pleased to attach a list of our Available Days. This is the easy bit!

My problem is that with the ongoing increase in all costs, it is near enough impossible to finalise our Shoot fees. I could make a guess which would be high and I feel unfair to you all.

In previous seasons I have requested Shoot fees are paid:

30% 1st February

40% 1st May

30% 1st August.

I now ask you to choose your days/dates from the attached list. A deposit of £400 per day plus vat will be invoiced and due in February for each of your days, no matter the bag size.

I propose issuing actual details of our Shoot Fees during April 2023 with these included in your May confirmation and invoice. I feel this is a fair way forward considering the present uncertain cost climate.

In our new season, although we are up against considerably increased costs I do not intend to cut any corners and try, if possible, to improve our days even further.

Payment Terms for the New Season are as follows :

£400 + vat deposit on each day booked due for payment in February 2023.

1st May 2023: 60% of the remainder of the Shoot Fee less £400 + vat deposit per day booked.

1st August 2023: 40% of the remaining Shoot fee less £400 + vat per day booked.

Should you be unhappy with the final costing advised in April/May you may cancel your booking and a full refund will be made.

I thank you for your past support and I look forward to hearing from you and am available over the Christmas and New Year holiday if you would like to discuss the Shoot or make a booking.

Mobile: 07774 271781 Evening: 01765 677343 E-mail: info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk

Non lead Shot

Having now experienced over 58 shoot days where non lead shot has been used, mainly steel and Bismuth. I am certainly no ballistics expert so can only give my observations.

Bismuth

Steel

I have approached this by increasing the number of our pickers up each day from 5 to 6. There are all positioned much further back from the line of guns compared to when we were shooting lead.

This consultation covers all types of ammunition from air rifle pellets to rifle ammunition including lead shot.

I am proposing staying with non lead as it has guaranteed a market for all our game.

Charity Fund

I would like to thank everyone for their generosity in supporting our daily sweep. So far with this and non shooting guest meals and refreshments we have raised just short of £10,000 this season. The Trusts who will benefit from the Fund in March 2023 are:

GWCT: Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust

GWT: Gamekeepers Welfare Trust

CFT: Country Food Trust

CA: Countryside Alliance

SBS: SongBird Survival

Nidd Church

Thank you all for your support.

Partridges in a Pear Tree

This is how Sainsbury’s are marketing our partridge.

Product description:
2 Partridges with a pork, pear & calvados stuffing wrapped in smoked bacon with added water. Available at £23.00 for the pair.

Shoot Dinner : Saturday 18th February 2023 at The Inn South Stainley

As I feel we will have something to celebrate, I have arranged this season’s Shoot Dinner at The Inn. The private Dining Room will accommodate approximately 80 people.

I will advise full details in the New Year. In the meantime please advise Lynda on 01423 323321 or e-mail info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk if you would like to join us, together with numbers.

Newsletter No. 6 2022-2023 Season

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 16:35:15 GMT

Our Season so far

7th December 2022

NEWSLETTER No. 6 : 2022–2023 SEASON

Our Season So Far

Following an uncertain start in February and March, we were able to secure our stock of birds for the season. Hatching most of the pheasants ourselves.

The total number released was similar to our previous season, however due to supply problems we released 7,000 more pheasants and 7,000 less partridge. Thanks to Callum and his team we had an excellent rearing field as is now apparent in the flying ability of our birds.

With 30% of our days remaining we have more than enough birds at present on the ground to see us through the season.

Both our pheasant and partridge have performed really well with over 35% of the partridge released now accounted for. Some of these are now available on Sainsbury’s shelves as an “Easy Carve Roast Partridge.”

My plan is somewhat different for the end of this season compared to previous seasons, when we tried to clear our ground of all birds. I would like to leave as much breeding stock on the ground as possible. So all our End of Season Clear Up Days will be cock pheasants only, with partridge and duck if we can get round them!

As we seem to be on top of the vermin, now is the opportunity to produce some wild stock – raptors permitting!

New Season 2023-2024

I am pleased to attach a list of our Available Days. This is the easy bit!

My problem is that with the ongoing increase in all costs, it is near enough impossible to finalise our Shoot fees. I could make a guess which would be high and I feel unfair to you all.

In the current season I am hearing of prices of up to £100 per bird plus vat. With most similar Shoots to ourselves asking for between £55 to £65 per bird including vat. Based on my costings and guesses so far, I feel our new Shoot Fees will be somewhere between £60 to £70 per bird including vat. We must wait and see.

In previous seasons I have requested Shoot fees are paid:

30% 1st February

40% 1st May

30% 1st August.

I now ask you to choose your days/dates from the attached list. A deposit of £400 per day plus vat will be invoiced and due in February for each of your days, no matter the bag size.

In our new season I do not intend to cut any corners and try, if possible, to improve our days even further.

Payment Terms for the New Season are as follows :

£400 + vat deposit on each day booked due for payment in February 2023.

1st May 2023: 60% of the remainder of the Shoot Fee less £400 + vat deposit per day booked.

1st August 2023: 40% of the remaining Shoot fee less £400 + vat per day booked.

Should you be unhappy with the final costing advised in April/May you may cancel your booking and a full refund will be made.

I thank you for your past support and I look forward to hearing from you and am available over the Christmas and New Year holiday if you would like to discuss the Shoot or make a booking.

Mobile: 07774 271781 Evening: 01765 677343 E-mail: info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk

Shoot Dinner : Saturday 18th February 2023 at The Inn South Stainley

As I feel we should have something to celebrate and I have arranged this season’s shoot Dinner at The Inn. The private Dining Room will accommodate approximately 80 people.

I will advise full details in the New Year but please advise Lynda on 01423 323321 or e-mail info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk if you would like to join us, together with numbers.

2022-2023 Season Newsletter No.5

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 09:24:31 GMT

I am pleased to update you with our latest news

2nd November 2022

NEWSLETTER No. 5 : 2022–2023 SEASON

So much is happening I am pleased to give an update.

· It is hard to believe we have had three Prime Ministers in as many months!

· Let us all hope that Rishi can bring some order and sanity to Government. As least we now have a supporter of our sport at the head of Government.

· Having been through the challenges and stress brought about by Covid we are now faced with an even bigger challenge to our sport and its survival from Avian Flu.

Avian Flu

I have read many reports and advice on bio security as to what we should do to protect our shoot from this devastating virus. The following is an update of the present position as I see it.

An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) was declared across Great Britain on Monday 17th October 2022 due to the increasing number of cases on commercial premises and in wild birds.

Following an outbreak on a commercial poultry site, in captive birds or a backyard flock a Protection Zone (PZ) is established with a 3 km radius for the Infected Premises (IP). A further Surveillance Zone (SZ) of 10 km from the Infected premise (IP) is also put in place. Surveillance of poultry and captive birds in the area is still required for 3 months after the infected premises is cleansed and disinfected.

A Shoot can still operate in these zones. Avian Flu has affected some shoots with devastating results. I understand it is normal to lose 50% to 80% of the game stock. Due to this a number of Shoots have ceased to operate. More distressingly some Keepers have lost their jobs.

I am advised the reported outbreak zones only apply to commercial poultry sites, in captive birds or in a backyard flock. I understand outbreaks in wild birds are not included in these figures. So the present outbreak could be more widespread than we may believe.

From 7th November a mandatory housing measure for all poultry and captive birds will be introduced across Great Britain. This does not apply to wild bird stocks.

So how do we protect our shoots on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton? The whole of our Shoot area of approximately 4,500 acres has a number of entrances and many public and permissive footpaths. Our beautiful landscape rightly attracts many walkers, with a large number of dogs. It is certainly not an area which is easy to protect.

Although we can all exercise responsible precautions. Avian Fu is more likely to be carried by the increasing number of raptors, particularly Buzzards, which are a protected species. They will happily feed on infected birds on the coast and travel inland. Wildfowl and migrating birds such as duck and geese may also carry the virus. In short, it could now be anywhere!

With this in mind I would ask everyone to exercise the following precautions.

We are installing vehicle disinfectant mats at the entrance to our Shoot Car Park and both entrances to the Shoot Yard. Could you please ensure your vehicle is clean and all mud is removed from the wheel arches before your visit.

There are also disinfectant boot dips and foot mats available. The problem is that for the disinfectant to work it must be a strong solution. I am advised this may be corrosive to footwear. Ripley Sporting takes no responsibility for damage to footwear caused by our boot dips or mats. The easy solution is to ensure all your clothes, boots, cartridge bags, gun slips etc. are cleaned before attending the Shoot.

We also have a boot and wellie wash available at the Shoot Lodge and in the Shoot Yard for you to clean your boots at the end of the day.

Your dog(s) may be the first to have contact with an infected bird, so could you please wipe them down before the day.

A dose of Common Sense may our best protection!

After all this we need some Good News!

Our Game on Sainsbury’s Shelves

When I decided to move to non lead shot this season, I had hoped this would increase game sales but had no idea this would happen so quickly. Our game dealer together with one other game dealer have brought together a number of Shoots like ourselves who have moved to non lead shot. This has secured for them a contact with Sainsbury’s for the supply of an “easy carve partridge roast”. It is a boned partridge stuffed with sausage meat. Easy to cook, just what everyone wants. They are also supplying pheasant in a mixed game meal. These will be available by early December. Hopefully, this is the start of an increased demand for game in the future.

If there were to be a larger demand for game compared to the volume available, a market would be created for our end product which may well secure a positive future for driven game shooting.

Dressed Game

As in the past at the end of the shoot day guns will be given a choice of partridge or pheasant breasts, chilled and ready for the oven or freezer. Further quantities are available from our game dealer Nick Lister of Ox Close Fine Foods as the attached Game order form. We are happy to store your order in our cold store for you to collect. However all orders and payment should be made direct to Nick at Ox Close Fine Foods.

Non Lead cartridges

As advised in our previous Newsletters we will have available each day 12 and 20 gauge cartridges in both steel and Bismuth with alloy shot in 12 gauge. It would really help if you could let me know what you require in advance and we will have them ready for you on your shoot day. An order form is attached.

The Shoot lodge and Non Shooting Guests

I am pleased to advise Mountgarret Estates have installed a further toilet and washing facilities in the Shoot Lodge. It has also been decorated throughout.

We are now back in the Lodge with catering provided by The Inn at South Stainley. As always, we welcome non shooting guests and well behaved dogs or should that be the other way round! The cost is £50 per guest which is donated to our Charity Fund. All I ask is for as much notice as possible. Preferably a week before your shoot day. I need this notice for catering purposes.

We are living in very uncertain times particularly for our sport, which makes each day out in our beautiful North Yorkshire countryside so important to us all.

2022-2023 Season: Newsletter No.4

info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk (Frank Boddy) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 09:46:14 GMT

Even after all the difficulties faced so far we are planning as near normal season as possible.

18th August 2022

NEWSLETTER No. 4 : 2022–2023 SEASON

We are now just a few days from possibly the hardest fought season I have ever experience in my 32 years of running shoots.

Following the challenges of Covid we were all looking forward to a near normal season, however this was not to be. The devastating Bird Flu outbreak in France has affected all of our industry. Through no fault of their own sadly many shoots will not be out this season. I made sure we had the birds but sadly it did not end there! The spiralling costs of rearing and running a shoot continue.

Even after all this I am planning as near normal season as possible with all our 81 days more or less sold.

Thanks to the very hard work in unbearable conditions by Callum our Head Keeper and his team, together with the help and support of our Vet and our involvement with Trusted Game. We have achieved our best ever returns from our rearing field.

We will be releasing more than enough birds to achieve our target bags; made up as follows.

Pheasant 56%, French partridge 40%, English partridge 2% and Mallard duck 2%.

Our poults are fit and strong with a very acceptable body weight. Except there is one important factor missing. We all take it for granted there will be rain throughout the rearing season with North Yorkshire normally getting more than its fair share! Although our partridge will be 19 weeks old and pheasant 21 weeks old when we first shoot them. Without the rain to make them “feather up” and “harden”, I am concerned that some may be classed as a little soft when first driven.

Should by some miracle we have a good dose of rain before and into the early season, they will soon harden up. Any shoot should not kid themselves that without rain a number of bird may be poor flyers in the early days. Once we have some rain everything should be as normal.

What I ask is for everyone to appreciate we have never before been faced with the present weather conditions. So be selective and tolerant on our early days. This should not in any way spoil your enjoyment of the day.

Wild Bird Cover

As any gardener or farmer will be more than aware the lack of rain has affected all their crops. We have approximately 200 acres of wild Bird Cover throughout the area we shoot which can produce some challenging birds.

This season we have had varying success with our wild bird cover. Surprisingly, most are near enough normal. Some are moderate and nothing has really failed.

It must rain soon and these crops will pick up. However I am concerned a few early season drives may not be as good as in the past. If it should rain my concerns are unfounded. Sadly, we must face the fact that the present very hot and sunny condition will in some way affect our season. Let it rain!!

The Move to Non Lead Shot

I feel I have said quite enough on this subject in previous Newsletters. There is some excellent information on this subject on BASC dedicated web page: basc.org.uk/lead.

The fact is our Shoot is moving to non lead shot in the new season. I have taken into stock a variety of non lead cartridges which should cover all your initial requirements. As the season progresses the range of non lead cartridges will increase.

It is up to you to have your shotgun checked by a qualified gunsmith to ensure you are confident you are using the correct cartridge in your shotgun.

Although I am offering a variety of cartridges as a service to our Members. Should some mistake, accident or incident occur when these cartridges are used. Ripley Sporting does not accept any responsibility as it is up to the shotgun owner to ensure he/she is using a suitable cartridge for his/her shotgun.

If you are bringing your own cartridges, they must have fibre or degradable wads. No plastic wads please.

The following will be available each shoot day. As you will require more than one box of 25 cartridges to decide what cartridge suits you, we are selling full slabs only of 10 boxes of 25. Individual boxes can be available but slabs make administration much easier.

STEEL

It is most important to ensure your shotgun is suitable for steel shot. Any shotguns using steel cartridges must have chokes no tighter than ½ choke. We only offer standard steel cartridges. You may use high velocity cartridges which you should purchase elsewhere. Please ensure you have fibre or degradable wads. No plastic wads please. No cartridge may be used heavier than 32 gm No. 4 shot.

We offer:

12 bore Lyalvale Express Steel with an earth wad 65mm chamber 30 gm load No.5 shot

£120 per slab of 250 including vat.

12 bore Jocker with a paper wad 67mm chamber 27gm load No. 4 shot

£120 per slab of 250 including vat.

20 bore Ely VIP with pro eco wad 70mm chamber 24gm load No. 4 shot

£120 per slab of 250 including vat.

BISMUTH

Bismuth shot is the nearest equivalent to lead available other than tungsten which is even more expensive. It is suitable for “Old English” shotguns with any choke providing they are in proof!!

12 bore Express Ultimate with fibre wad 65mm chamber 30gm load No. 5 shot

£330 per slab of 250 including vat.

12 bore Express Ultimate with fibre wad 65mm chamber 32gm load No. 4 shot

£330 per slab of 250 including vat.

20 bore Express Ultimate fibre wad 67mm chamber 25 gm load No. 4 shot

£330 per slab of 250 including vat.

ALTERNATIVE SHOT

An alloy made up of Aluminium, Zinc, Tin and Bismuth. This is a product from Spain and all indications are that its performance is equal to if not better than steel. To read more about this google “pro ammo blue cartridges uk” and click onto “a case of blues.” I think this may convince you to try a slab. I am advised they are suitable for Old English shotguns.

12 bore Bio Ammo Blue with biodegradable wad 67mm chamber 25gm load No. 5 shot

£150 per slab of 250 including vat.

You will now be asking yourself what do I do. My present guns fit me like a glove and I am very reluctant to change.

On a normal shoot day you will shoot approximately 100 cartridges.

Cost in steel 4 x £12 box of 25 = £48. Cost in Bismuth 4 x £33 box of 25 = £132. A difference of £84.

With an average shoot day costing £1,500 or more an additional £84 is a small price to pay to stay with your old “friend” who you are confident to use. Shooting is all about confidence.

If you try Pro Ammo Blue the difference between steel is only £3 box of 25.

I attach an order form which you can return to me and we will have your cartridges ready for collection on your first day with us. Payment can be made by cash or cheque, or I can invoice, it is your option.

I stress I offer these cartridges as a service to our Members. I am in no way a cartridge dealer.

For the most efficient cartridge supplier in the UK you could contact:

Charles or George Bull; Just Cartridges Ltd, Station Road, South Leigh, Witney, OX29 6XJ

Tel: 01865 300 066 E-mail: info@justcartridges.com www.justcartrdsges.com

Shoot Fees

I thank everyone who has paid their due Shoot Fees. There are still a number of shoot fees outstanding so would appreciate if you could pay these as soon as possible.

Available dates

Although we are now sold out, there may be opportunities arising as we go through the season and I will keep you all advised on this.

Breakfast and Lunch

Revised Arrangements for Breakfast and Lunch on Shoot Days from 8th September to 1st October 2022 inclusive

Mountgarret Estates have kindly agreed to install additional toilet and washing facilities in our Shoot Lodge. We will now have the Ladies toilet on the ground floor as at present which can also be used by anyone who finds stairs difficult. With a new Gents toilet and facilities on the first floor.

It will be necessary to install a staircase in the room where we take our drinks. Unfortunately, the builders cannot start this work before 2nd September and the work will take approximately 4 weeks.

I had considered taking breakfast and lunch in the Shoot Lodge once the stairs were installed. However with workmen and their vehicles still around it is not the most practical solution.

Graham Usher the owner of The Inn has offered to provide breakfast and lunch at The Inn for our shoot dates from Thursday 8th September to Saturday 1st October inclusive. For the remainder of the new season, The Inn at South Stainley will be providing all our breakfast and lunches in the Shoot Lodge HG3 3NE.

Order of the Day : Meals taken at The Inn at South Stainley HG3 3ND

8.30 a.m. Breakfast.

3 - 3.30 p.m. Lunch.

Weather permitting we may dine al fresco under a ti pi on these early days.

Instructors and Loaders

If you take up golf or any sport you normally would hire a professional coach to look after you. Driven game shooting is no different.

This service is now very popular so as much prior notice as possible would be appreciated. If you do not require instruction, a loader is always useful to look after you for the day. If you bring your dog, having a loader gives you more time to work it at the end of a drive. If an instructor/loader is booked and then cancelled a minimum of 7 days’ notice of cancellation must be given. Otherwise the instructor/loader fee is due.

All instructor/loaders booked through and supplied by the Shoot are self-employed, qualified and have the required insurance to carry out this work. In the event of a “gun” bringing a friend or loader/instructor to look after them, it is up to the “gun” to ensure their loader/instructor has the required qualification and insurance. If this is not in place and should an accident or incident occur involving their instructor/loaders the first port of call will be on the gun’s own insurance.

Shotgun Hire

The law states that anyone may use a shotgun without a UK Shotgun Certificate or Visitors Permit provided it is in the presence of the owner who has the shotgun serial number registered on his Shotgun Certificate plus you must have the required personal insurance cover in place. Shotguns are available for hire, provided notice is given, from one of our instructor/loaders at £50 per day. Knowledge of height and if he or she is left or right handed would help in selecting the most ideal shotgun available.

Shotgun Certificate

You must have in your possession on all shoot days a valid UK Shotgun Certificate or UK Visitors Permit, with serial numbers of your shotguns entered on the Certificate or Permit. This is unless you are hiring a shotgun from one of our loader/instructors when it is their responsibility to have their Certificate available, with the serial number of the shotgun being used detailed on their Certificate.

Visitors Shotgun Permit

I can arrange this for you by applying to our local Police Authority. However they insist on having a minimum of 8 weeks’ notice. So it is important to allow this notice period. Please let me know and I will send the applications forms which are very straightforward.

Non Shooting Guests

We welcome non shooting guests to accompany the guns and enjoy the shoot day, including breakfast, lunch and refreshments throughout the day when they are requested to make a donation to our Charity Fund. Some prior notice would be appreciated for catering arrangements.

Last Minute Checklist

I attach a list of the items we all tend to forget on a shoot day!

Our Hosts: Stuart, Christopher, Steph and Debbie together with our Keepers Callum, Jared, Robert and Tom plus myself very much look forward to seeing you again in the new season.

I really do hope it will be one to remember for all the right reasons!

2022-2023 Season : Newsletter No. 3

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 09:07:06 GMT

Much has been happening out of season.

19th July 2022

NEWSLETTER No. 3 : 2022–2023 SEASON

Much has been happening, with time passing so quickly I find we are now only 6 weeks from the start of our New Season.

It has certainly been a very challenging Spring and Summer. Just as we started to recover from the hangover of Covid, we were hit with a ban on the import of eggs and chicks from France into the UK due to a devastating Bird Flu outbreak in the main game bird producing area in the Loire region. We must also now live with the constant risk of being hit by Bird Flu here in the UK at any time. It has certainly not gone away.

All this and the unprecedented increases in the cost of some poults and all materials particularly feed together with the move to non lead shot, is quite enough to keep anyone trying to run a shoot well occupied!

I am pleased to give an update on these various issues.

Our Birds

We rear the majority of our pheasant and partridge from day old chicks on our rearing field.

Pheasant

I had ordered our pheasant chicks from a French company hatching their own French laid eggs here in the UK. Seeing a problem with supplies from France we acted quickly. The outcome being that we hatched the majority of our chicks in our incubator from our own eggs. We supplement our requirement for chicks from other UK hatcheries. Buying in only 8% of our requirement as 7 week old poults.

Partridge

I ordered the majority of our partridge chicks from a UK Hatchery. Together with a number of poults from another hatchery which were to have been produced from French laid eggs here in the UK.

The outcome is that although overall we have sufficient birds for the season we have planned, we are down on our partridge requirement, with the shortfall made up with an increased number of pheasant. In order to help make up this shortfall I have also bought in a few English Grey partridge and Mallard duck.

We will also have our usual “jokers”, White and Reeves pheasant and a few Guinea Fowl. There may be the usual fines which will be donated to the GWCT.

Our position for the new season is best illustrated by comparing against what we released last season.

Our 2021-2022 Season was the very best we have ever had and I had hoped to repeat this success in our new season.

I still believe we can do this.

Actual Releases on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton 2021-2022

Pheasant: 48% French Partridge: 52%

Proposed Releases on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton 2022-2023

Pheasant: 57% French Partridge: 38.5% English Grey Partridge: 2% Mallard Duck: 2.5%

The overall actual number of birds we will be releasing will be similar to our previous season.

Although our Keepers are on top of the foxes and we have a large number of wild broods of pheasant and particularly partridge. Unfortunately with the ever increasing number of raptors, mainly Buzzards and Red Kites. Even though we are now seeing a few well grown wild chicks and poults, the majority of our wild broods are devoured before they have any chance to mature. This is known as progress!!

Given the shortage of birds the question everyone is asking “Do we have sufficient birds for the new season”? I can assure everyone we certainly have more than enough birds to cover the days we have planned.

Increase in Costs

We are experiencing unprecedented increases in the cost of all raw materials.

Rearing Pellets

We rear our birds on pellets from day olds to between 8 to 14 weeks old. We feed various sizes of pellet dependant on age which are manufactured to our own recipe. Our pellets have increased in price on an average of 20% compared to last season.

Maize

Since I started to run shoots, I have always aimed to rear athletes. Our birds will only perform well if given the correct diet. Once released from the release pens we wean the poults off pellets onto a mix of 50/50 maize and wheat. They stay on this mix until the end of November. They then move onto a 30/70 mix of maize and wheat for the remainder of the season.

Three years ago maize cost around £200 per ton. Last season it rose to around £300 per ton. With our price for the new season forecast to be in excess of £400 per ton. Due to the proven effectiveness of maize in producing strong and fit birds. Even though costs have risen substantially we will continue to feed this as in previous seasons.

In the past our maize has originated from Ukraine. Fortunately our supplier has now been able to find sufficient for our present requirements elsewhere.

Wheat

Although home produced the price is governed by the world market. Over the last few years wheat has slowly increased in price. Last year we paid just over £200 per ton. Given world prices and a forecast of a reasonable harvest in the UK. I forecast we will be paying between £250 and £280 per ton in the new season.

Gas

The gas used on our rearing field has risen 72% compared to last season.

Bedding

The bedding used in the rearing sheds has risen by 15% compared to last season.

Nothing has gone down!!

Cost of Poults

Although we rear the majority of birds from chicks, we do purchase some poults. For the last few season the cost of a pheasant poult at 7 weeks old has been around £4.00 per poult. As partridges are kept in runs for a longer period up to 14 weeks, the cost varied between £5 to £5.50 per poult.

Due to the lack of birds from France there is now a severe shortage of poults for the new season. This has brought about both pheasant and partridge poults being offered at between £12 to £18 per poult or even more.

Our sport is unsustainable at this level of costs.

Cost of Shooting

I never thought that in my lifetime I would see driven pheasant and partridge shooting being offered at the same if not more cost than driven grouse shooting. However if a shoot does not have its birds, I can well understand why it may be prepared to pay excessive prices for poults. I would do the same given these circumstances and take the hit. I feel this illustrates how getting out into the countryside to experience our shooting and meeting friend is so important to all of us. Our sport is not just about money. If you are a member of a syndicate or run a small commercial shoot as I do. Most people dedicated to our sport would be prepared to pay a little extra for the continuity of their shooting. These increases in poult prices, together with the ongoing increases in all overheads has led to driven game shooting being offered at between £70 to £90 per bird. Some prices include vat some do not.

Compared to other similar shoots who are charging between £50 to £60 per bird including vat our prices are very competitive at an average of £51.60 per bird including vat. I am also pleased to confirm our prices are fixed for the new season. As you all know we do not cut any corners and offer excellent hospitality.

Considering the main priority for all of us is the survival of our sport as we know it, I sincerely hope the present “perfect storm” is a one off. We must hope for a return to some form of normality in the following season.

Given the ongoing increases in costs we will be carefully watching all our costs and overheads without affecting the quality of shoot day you have all come to expect from Ripley Sporting. It is the costs for the following season which concern me!

The Move to Non Lead Shot

We should stop referring to “non-toxic”.

So why should we change? Like most of you I would be happy to stay with lead. However we are in a very different world today, with our main priority being the survival of our sport.

Although the main organisations within our sport put out a directive with a view to a change to non-lead shot within 5 years. If I remember correctly this was approximately 2 years ago. I now read that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have proposed a prohibition on the use of nearly all lead ammunition. This to take place over a period of 18 months to 5 years.

When faced with the inevitable it is often possible to turn a problem into an advantage. Now government seems to have become more involved it may be better for us to take the initiative and show our sport is a responsible group of likeminded sportsmen. This may put us in a more favourable position for the future.

I have decided that our Shoot will change to non-lead in the new season. There are a number of reasons but by doing this it is guaranteed our game will enter the food chain through our game dealer. This to me is very important as I cannot accept that we should bury or burn perfectly good game meat. We do supply game to some restaurants and hotels and they are delighted they are able to inform their guests the game is lead free.

Providing every shoot moves to non-lead is a certain way of increasing the market for a game meat which is highly nutritious, reared in the wild with low fat content. It is also very tasty. One day we may receive payment for our game!

We are stocking 12 and 20 gauge cartridges in both steel and Bismuth available for purchase on each shoot day. All cartridges will have degradable or fibre wads. Full details will be sent out before the start of our season. One concern I have is that are cartridge manufacturers able keep up with demand!

Now for some really good news:

Our Shoot Lodge

Following a three year absence due to the social distancing required by Covid. I am very pleased to advise we are back in our Shoot Lodge for the new season. We also have new caterers. Graham Usher the new owner of The Inn at South Stainley and Head Chef, Shane White will be providing breakfast and lunch. Shane has promised some exciting dishes so we must wait and see.

Confirmation of Booking and Payments

I thank everyone who has booked some shooting in the new season. You will shortly receive a copy of your confirmation including details of the payment you have made which I do appreciate. Could you please check the information on your confirmation is correct and advise me of any errors or changes you may wish to make as soon as possible.

Available Days

I am pleased to attach a list of our Remaining Days. As so many days have moved around there are some days not included on previous lists. Although there are only a few days remaining there is still an excellent variety of every type of day to choose from.

Hotels and Accommodation

The majority of our hotels which closed due to the effects of Covid have now re-opened with a number under new ownership or management. Full details are available on our website www.mountgarretshoot.com or phone Lynda on 01423 323321 for a list. Our two most popular hotels which are nearest to our Shoot are The Inn at South Stainley and The Boar’s Head in Ripley Village are filling up well. When booking please advise you are with the Shoot and a discount is available.

Insurance: Personal and Public Liability Insurance

Driven game shooting is a dangerous sport and although I try to assess and avoid risks, accidents may happen. When you join the shooting field you need to have the confidence that the Shoot, your fellow guns and yourself are adequately insured in the event of accident or injury. With the ever increasing cost of litigation it is now necessary to have a minimum indemnity cover of £10 Million third party public and personal liability insurance. I confirm that Ripley Sporting has this level of cover, however in the event of a claim for an accident or injury caused by a member or guest, the first port of call will be on the persons own insurance cover.

I was somewhat shocked to read that following a recent survey of driven game shots 30% admitted to not having Personal Liability Insurance. I sincerely do hope that this statistic did not apply to anyone shooting with us. Compared to the cost of a shoot day the cost of insurance is negligible.

Accordingly anyone shooting with us on any area under the management of Ripley Sporting must ensure that themselves and their shooting guests have the required minimum cover of £10 Million third party, public and personal liability insurance in place well in advance of joining a shoot day and carry proof of this on all shoot days. Non shooting guests do not require this cover.

It is the responsibility of each gun to arrange PERSONAL/PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE .

This is available to Members of

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) Tel: 01244 573000 enquiries@basc.org.uk

Or Countryside Alliance (CA) Tel: 0207 840 9300 info@countryside-alliance.org

Membership of either organisation extends cover to overseas visitors when shooting in the UK only.

Shoot Cancellation Insurance from GunOnPegs

Traditional shoot cancellation insurance that allows you to cover one day or multiple days.

GunsOnPegs have teamed up with Lycetts to provide shoot cancellation insurance.

This policy will refund the cost of a shoot day or days due to cancellation for the following scenarios:

• Adverse Weather • Organised protest groups • Adverse Travel Conditions* • Death of a close relative*

• Injury or Illness(excluding covid-19)* • Jury Service*

* Available at an extra 1% + Insurance Premium Tax

This policy will not provide any cover for cancellation due to Infectious or Contagious Disease (including Covid-19). This also applies where a day’s shooting is cancelled due to a geographical lock down.

This policy will not provide any cover for cancellation due to shoot insolvency.

Please contact Emma Woolhouse. Tel: 0207 491 1363.

E-Mail: emmawoolhouse@itapgroup.com Website: www.itapgroup.com

Shotgun Certificate and Proof of Personal Liability Insurance

Unless you are hiring a shotgun from one of our instructor/loaders you must have in your possession on all shoot days a valid UK Shotgun Certificate or UK Visitors Permit, with the serial numbers of the shotguns you are using entered on the Shotgun Certificate or Visitors Permit. Anyone shooting must also have proof of Personal Liability Insurance with them on a shoot day.

Visitors Shotgun Permit

I can arrange this for you by applying to our local Police Authority on your behalf. However they insist on having a minimum of 8 weeks’ notice. So it is important to allow this notice period. Please let me know and I will send the application forms to you which are very straightforward to complete.

Non Shooting Guests :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I do appreciate the support given by everyone who has booked days in the new season. It has certainly been a somewhat stressful time putting this season together particularly for Callum our Head keeper and his team. However I am very confident we can all look forward to another enjoyable and successful season in our beautiful North Yorkshire countryside, “Gods own County”.

2022-2023 Season : Newsletter No.2

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 08:57:25 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

25th May 2022

NEWSLETTER No. 2 : 2022–2023 SEASON

It may be only six weeks since my last Newsletter but so much has happened in this short period of time.

We have all come through the challenges Covid presented to us over the last two years. As a shoot I feel we coped quite well except when we were in total lockdown at the height of the Pandemic when no-one was permitted to field days. No one lost out and a full credit/refund for any lost days was made by the Shoot to all concerned.

Compared to the devastation of lockdown last season turned out to be one of the best if not possibly the best season we have ever had.

However we have certainly been brought down to earth in the last few days. You will have read about the devastating Avian Flu outbreak in the main game bird producing areas in France. This outbreak has presented possibly the most significant challenge ever to our sport of driven game shooting. With far reaching consequences not just for the present season but also into the future. Estimates vary but up to 90% of partridge and 40% of pheasant released in the UK are hatched from French laid eggs.

I have received weekly bulletins from our French supplier of eggs which they hatch at their three hatcheries here in the UK. Up until early May they were confident that restrictions would be lifted on the import of eggs into the UK in early June once they had the outbreak under control with a free of disease period.

Sadly I now understand that all import of eggs/chicks from France cannot take place before the Autumn which will be too late for this season. The consequences are that millions of eggs, chicks and laying birds will be macerated in France and possibly a number of Keepers here in the UK may be laid off or made redundant. I really do feel for everyone affected as so many shoots both large and small may not be out shooting this season. No doubt there are moves to try to change this position but I doubt if anything positive will happen.

I am aware the veterinary poultry world are concerned that Avian Flu has certainly not gone away. It can return at any time at any location and more importantly there is no way of knowing how devastating it may be. This must make all shoots more vigilant on their bio security and consider the size of their operation in the future. The smaller a shoot the smaller the loss in the event of an Avian Flu outbreak.

Our Season

On seeing a possible problem with the supply of chicks and as we have a small incubator/hatcher at Mountgarret we decided to hatch our own pheasant eggs. We have now had three excellent hatches with an average hatch ratio of 83% of the eggs set producing chicks. With our own chicks and those supplied by other UK hatcheries we have more than covered our pheasant requirements for the new season.

Our partridges were to be supplied by two UK hatcheries. One with their own laying birds and one using French laid eggs. Our hatchery with UK laid eggs has come up with the chicks but sadly our other supplier with French laid eggs will not be able to deliver. This has left us with a shortfall in our partridges compared to previous seasons. We have made up this shortfall with a few more pheasant, some English grey partridge and a few duck.

Duck and Now Geese

Mallard will make up only 2.6% of the birds we are releasing. Overall we would try to include duck on a number of drives but not for them to dominate any day. We have possibly two dedicated duck drives on Nidd and Cayton. On considering these drives I find on one in particular we have a significant number of geese at present nesting. In fact one of our farmers is totally fed up with losing valuable grazing to these geese. I have agreed we will drive these geese and duck on some of our September days.

In addition to the duck and possibly geese on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton I have agreed with Mark Eddon the new sporting lease holder at Ripley Castle that we may shoot the Top Lake at Ripley Castle on 8 occasions throughout the season.

I appreciate most guns will accept a few duck mixed with partridge or pheasant on a drive. However some may not be too keen to shoot a drive of duck and geese at Ripley Castle when we will shoot approximately 65-70 birds on the drive.

If you are booked to shoot on any of the following days and do not wish to shoot the Top Lake at Ripley Castle, could you please let me know and you can choose an alternative day. There are still guns available on some of these days, so if you want to shoot the Top Lake you can still choose a day.

We will be visiting the Top Lake at Ripley Castle for duck and geese on the following days.

Monday 3rd, Friday 14th and Thursday 20th October 2022

Saturday 5th, Saturday 12th and Thursday 17th November 2022

Saturday 3rd and Friday 16th December 2022

Additional Shoot Days

As we have now secured sufficient birds to cover all our previously planned days, I have reinstated the following days.

Thursday 8th, Thursday 15th and Thursday 22nd and Monday 26th September 2022. All 200 bird days.

As previously mentioned in order to help one of our farmers I have agreed to drive geese with some duck which will be on each of these reinstated days. That is provided they do not decide to move elsewhere!

Non lead Shot

As advised in my previous Newsletter, no lead shot will be permitted on our Mountgarret, Nidd, Cayton or Ripley Castle days in the new season.

We will have available each day both steel and Bismuth shot cartridges in 12 and 20 gauge. I will advise further details nearer the start of our season.

For interest, the UK Health and Safety Executive have recently published a dossier on the use of lead in ammunition. Once a six month consultation period has been completed and legislation prepared and completed. The period for a total ban on lead shot could be as short at 18 months or as long as 5 years. What seems certain is that lead shot will be banned so our change to non lead shot in the new season is the way forward.

It is still unknown how effective steel shot in particular will be on our birds. For this reason I will be employing an additional picker up on each day with more if needed. In order to quickly pick up and despatch any maimed birds landing away from the picking up line.

What is pretty certain is that if you are using standard load steel cartridges you will need to avoid extreme shots. Its effectiveness is not as good as lead. High velocity steel may be the answer but you must check if your shotgun is suitable and be prepared for a bruised shoulder! Bismuth may be the answer as it is very similar to lead. All you can do is to try it and see what suits you best

Trusted Game

As previously advised, I am not renewing the Shoots full Membership of British Game Assurance BGA for the new season. I do however still strongly support the goals it was established to achieve and hope to remain as an Associate Member.

I have now found Trusted Game which is a game bird health and welfare scheme assured by Vets.

Our Vets for the last 30 years together with two Veterinary Practices in the South of England have established this new initiative to focus on game bird health and welfare. The difference between Trusted Game and British Game Assurance is that we are monitored by our Vet throughout the whole year rather than one audit every 18 months. The Trusted Game requirements are possibly more vigorous and detailed compared to the BGA Audit but I feel the main bonus is that we are working with our Vets more closely throughout the whole year.

Are We at a Watershed for Driven Game Shooting

It could be said the shortage of birds and future consequences due to Avian Flu in France together with the introduction of non lead shot are something of a wake up call for us all.

Much is said but hardly any action taken regarding the large bags which are becoming more and more prevalent each season. Much of this is due to the availability of early partridge and pheasant eggs from France and other European countries together with the increased efficiency of many UK hatcheries. It is all down to supply and demand.

I have found our French suppliers to be very efficient and good to deal with. Their eggs and eventual chicks are of excellent quality at competitive prices. These factors have sadly led to the inevitable increase in the size of bags and a glut of shot game on the market.

Everyone running a shoot must ask themselves, are they doing this to ensure the future of our sport or just to treat their shoot as a moneymaking machine. Sadly the ever increasing number of the latter will eventually see the end of our sport as we know it. Unless we as a sport are prepared to face these facts, Government may introduce some kind of licensing or even worse.

I have now been very fortunate to experience driven game shooting, mainly in God’s Own County, North Yorkshire for over 55 years. When I first took up our wonderful sport a 150 to 200 bag was the norm and very acceptable. A 300 bird day was rare. Each day there were one or two memorable birds. As the only partridge available were English Greys and there were only a very few with hardly any French Red legs. A normal season would start with a few wild duck in October and pheasant in November. In fact it was frowned upon to shoot driven pheasants before November. Pheasants were actually worth something and poaching was rife.

How things have changed. As a Shoot I forecast we will shoot an average bag of 240 birds each day which I feel is more than enough for an acceptable day’s shooting. I must admit with the recent unprecedented increase in costs the economics of this are not brilliant but I run my shoot very much as a sport not a business.

Everyone must look at themselves and decide if they go shooting for a day out in our wonderful countryside, meeting old and new like-minded friends. Shooting bags which will give you a few birds to remember and reflect on. I don’t need to say what the alternative is but its not very savoury.

I am often asked what is the height of our birds. The truth is I am not actually sure. Overall they are at a height which gives you pleasure not humiliation.

There are a few exceptional game shots whom I have been very fortunate to see in action. Extreme birds to them seem so easy. Most of us know they are not. So for this season and particularly with the introduction of non lead shot or whatever is produced at an economic price, there is nothing to equal lead. We are faced with a challenge.

I leave these thoughts with you. What can each of us do to protect our wonderful sport. As we don’t have much time left.

Available Days

Thanks to those of you who have taken days in the new season we were 85% sold before I included the four additional dates detailed on our list of available dates. I do thank all concerned for your support and as ever will be ensuring you all have a great time when you visit our shoot.

Non Shooting Guests

Shoot Fees

I do thank those of you who have paid your due shoot fees. As always this is really appreciated. There are a number of shoot fees outstanding and I would really appreciate receiving these without delay.

New Website : www.mountgarretshoot.com

Our new website: www.mountgarretshoot.com is now live and available to view. It is worth clicking onto Testimonials which details the experiences of our guns throughout the season.

Updated details of our remaining days are also available to view on both our own website and www.gunsonpegs.com

Opening Times

With the reduction in our shooting activities from 148 to 81 days in the new season compared to last. Lynda is delighted to reduce her days in the office.

Our new office hours are: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Telephone: 01423 322321

E-mail: info@mountgarrethsoot.com Website: www.mountgarretshoot.com

I am always available on any day on 07774 271781 daytime and 01765 677343 evening and will be happy to hear from you.

The good news is that at least we will be out shooting.

As stated in my newsletter No.1 should anyone be unhappy with the changes it has been necessary to make you may cancel any of your days with a full refund of any fees paid.

Sadly a number of shoots will not be fielding days this season due to the shortage of birds. So it may well be worthwhile considering your days without delay.

I always thrive on a challenge and we are certainly faced with one in the new season. As always, your support is invaluable as without this, we would not have a shoot.

2022-2023 Season : Newsletter No. 1

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 08:51:16 GMT

Challenges: Our plans for the New sEason

12th April 2022

NEWSLETTER No. 1 : 2022–2023 SEASON

Challenges : Our Plans for the New Season

Following the end of possibly our best ever season in January 2022.

In my 32 years of running shoots I have never before been faced with so many changes and challenges in such a short period of time.

Supply problems of eggs from France due to Avian Flu.
Significant price increases in Feed Pellets, Wheat, Maize, Fertiliser, Gas, Fuel and more.
Change from lead to non lead shot in the new season.

Given these problems, I can appreciate your concerns for the new season . However, I can assure you we will be fielding our days but ask for your tolerance and understanding with regard to the changes I have found necessary to make.

Availability of Partridge and Pheasant

I was surprised to read that approximately 60% of partridge and 40% of pheasant shot in the UK are hatched from French produced eggs. Some estimates are higher than this.

Due to a significant outbreak of Avian Flu in the Loire region of France. There does not seem to be any certainty but it would seem it will be June before any eggs can be imported into the UK. This will mean there will be no partridge season for many shoots but hopefully some late pheasant shooting for the shoot’s dependant on eggs from France.

For example for eggs set on 10th June the birds will be 17 weeks old on 1st November 2022. So there should be mid November, December and January pheasant shooting for the shoot’s dependant on French eggs. However sadly nothing is certain.

My initial plans for our new season were to buy all our pheasant chicks from French laid eggs hatched in the UK. With 75% of our partridge from UK laid and hatched stock and the remaining 25% of our partridge as poults raised from French laid eggs hatched in the UK. Seeing the possibility of no eggs from France, I decided to re-establish our pheasant laying field and covered the reminder of our pheasant chick requirement from UK sources.

Unfortunately our partridge release will be reduced by 40%. I have covered part of this shortfall in partridge by additional pheasant but not sufficient to cover the total. We could release more pheasants but it is important not to saturate our area with too many pheasants.

The consequence of this is that it has been necessary to cancel 4 days in September and 3 days in October. So we will now be fielding 74 days not 81 as I had initially planned

Faced with this shortfall in partridge I have somewhat reluctantly decided to experiment by releasing a few Mallard in small numbers on all three estates Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton. There is no way of knowing the precise outcome of this as they must be released on water. The challenge for Callum and his team will be to drive the duck over the line of guns on our established partridge and pheasant drives. This experiment with duck is certainly not the answer to our problem but it’s the only option we have available at present. I would hope not to shoot more than 20 to 30 duck on a typical 200 to 250 bird day but please do not hold me to this!! Given the unfortunate circumstances I feel it is worth trying.

The duck will not be a problem as we will all be using non lead shot.

As a further experiment we will be releasing a small number of English Grey partridge. I appreciate this may be a gamble and we may only see them once or at the best possibly twice, so I have already written them off!

In short, we may not experience the kind of season you have become used to and I do appreciate it may not suit everyone. Should you not wish to join us this season due to these changes I will arrange a full credit and refund of any shoot fees you have paid.

Long before I was faced with the French egg problem, I had agreed with Mark the new sporting tenant at Ripley Castle if we could visit Ripley Castle and shoot the Top Lake for duck on eight occasions throughout the season. For those of you who have shot the duck drive at Ripley Castle know it is not a typical duck drive. You are stood in Duck Wood and the duck and geese fly over usually only once and are challenging.

No day will be dominated by duck. On most days we shoot five drives so when we shoot Top Lake at Ripley Castle the number of duck from this drive will be no more than one fifth of the bag. Any more will be classed as overage with no charge.

For anyone who particularly does not wish to shoot duck, could you please let me know and I will try to avoid shooting the Ripley Castle duck drive on the Top Lake on your days. Likewise if anyone particularly wishes to shoot this drive could you please let me know. We are certainly not changing into a duck shoot!

In order to avoid any misunderstanding our days will be as follows:

September 2022: French partridge and a few duck on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton.

October to End of December 2022: Pheasant, French and English partridge and a few duck on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton. Plus 8 visits over 49 shoot days to Ripley Castle to shoot duck on the Top Lake.

January 2023: we must wait and see!!

I do appreciate we are faced with a slightly different season but can assure you we will all be trying to make it as near normal as possible. Your understanding will be very much appreciated.

The Move to Non lead Shot

So much has been and continues to be written on the change over from lead to non lead shot in driven game shooting. In short, like it or not we must accept the use of lead shot in driven game shooting is due to be made illegal by 2025.

For the new season, our game dealer has advised he will not accept any game containing lead shot.

As I cannot accept that we should bury or burn perfectly edible game, I regret we have no alternative other than to change to non lead shot in our 2022-2023 season.

Cartridge manufacturers are under considerable pressure to produce suitable non lead cartridges with fibre or biodegradable wads. I am certain new products and alloys will come onto the market in the future. However at present there are Steel and Bismuth shot cartridges available.

Steel

Steel is the most competitively priced non lead cartridge available. However it does have its disadvantages. It should not be used in a shotgun with chokes tighter than half. In standard not high velocity steel cartridges the effective killing range is approximately 40 yards. There are a number of other disadvantages with steel compared to lead.

Bismuth

Bismuth is the nearest available to lead. It can be used in any shotgun and has an effective killing range similar to lead of approximately 65 yards.

The following may help you to decide which cartridge to use. On a normal shoot day each gun will use approximately 4 boxes of 25 cartridges.

Steel will cost £10 x 4 = £40

Bismuth will cost £30 x 4 = £120

A difference of £80 per day. Given the cost of an average shoot day at £1,450 per gun including VAT, I really do feel an additional £80 is a small price to pay for something as near to lead as possible and you can use it on any of your shotguns without concern, providing of course they are in proof!

I put it to our cartridge manufacturer/supplier Lyalvale Express that we require both Steel and Bismuth cartridges suitable for 65mm chambers with fibre or degradable wads and we will have the following available every shoot day.

Steel (only 12 bore available at present) Approximately £10/box of 25 including VAT

12 bore No. 5 30 gram 65mm chamber earth wads available

20 bore No. 5 24 gram 67mm chamber earth wads hopefully available for the season

Bismuth: Both 12 and 20 bore available: Approximately £30/box of 25 including VAT

12 bore No. 5 (equivalent to 4½) 30 gram 65mm chamber fibre wad available

12 bore No. 4 (equivalent to 3½) 32 gram 65mm chamber fibre wad available

20 bore No. 4½ 25 gram 67mm chamber fibre wad available

I will be taking the above into stock during May/June. So if you would like to reserve some stock, please let me know. By this time I should have more accurate prices for you. Due to availability and continued price increases in raw materials, prices may change throughout the season.

Final Move from Ripley Castle to Mountgarret

I must admit I was not looking forward to this but it went really well. Thanks to the hard work of Callum and his team we achieved a seamless move of equipment in just two weeks.

Our 2021-2022 Season

We experienced a truly exceptional season, possibly the best we have ever had. This is illustrated by the following returns (please contact us for details).

It is very good to end my 30 years at Ripley Castle on a high note and my thanks go to all concerned.

New Website : www.mountgarretshoot.com

Our new website: www.mountgarretshoot.com is now live and available to view. With the exception of a few further updates on Hotels and Accommodation this is complete.

It is worth clicking onto Testimonials which details the experiences of our guns throughout the season. Updated details of our remaining days are also available to view.

Charitable Donations

Thanks to the generosity of our guns in supporting our daily sweepstake, non shooting guest lunches and various fines we raised a total of £29,285. Due to our not holding a Shoot Dinner this year it was slightly down on what I had hoped to raise. However this was well received by the following.

British Game Alliance (BGA) £13,000

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) £10,000

The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust £1,500

The Country Food Trust £1,500

Songbird Survival Trust £500

Tanfield grouse Charity Clay Day £600

Barnardo’s £200

Nidd Parish Church (on Lord Mountgarret’s days) £320

South Stainley Church (on our Farmers Day) £210

Carried forward balance £1,455

British Game Assurance BGA

My Shoots have supported BGA as one of the founding Members.

I still support the goals it was established to achieve. However, sadly due to the way the current management have treated Members, I regret I

Available Days

Thanks to the excellent support I have received from many of you and I thank you for this. I am pleased to report over 80% of our days have now been taken up.

There is every size of day still available, all as detailed on our enclosed list of remaining says.

For those of you who normally leave your booking until nearer the start of the season, it may well be worth considering your dates sooner this season.

Opening Times

With the reduction in our shooting activities from 148 to 74 days in the new season compared to last. Lynda is delighted to reduce her days in the office.

Our new office hours are: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Telephone: 01423 322321

E-mail: info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk

Website: www.mountgarretshoot.com

I am always available on any day on 07774 271781 daytime and 01765 677343 evening and will be happy to hear from you.

I think we can expect a season with a difference but at least we are still shooting!

Introduction to The Mountgarret Shoot

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 11:02:15 GMT

I am very pleased to advise my Management of The Mountgarret Shoot continues

Introduction to The Mountgarret Shoot : 2022-2023 Season

After 30 years my Sporting Leases at Ripley Castle and Hob Green come to an end on 31st January 2022. However I am very pleased to advise my management of The Mountgarret Shoot continues.

The Mountgarret Shoot is made up of three North Yorkshire Estates.

Mountgarret Estate covers 2,000 acres, Nidd Estate 2,100 acres and Cayton Estate 400 acres. All three Estates cover a total area of 4,500 acres and run together just north of Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

Cayton Estate was previously shot up to 31st January 2022 as part of The Ripley Castle Shoot.

The land is best described as rolling countryside with woodlands established over many years to produce quality sporting birds. These are complimented by areas of well-placed wild bird cover which produce a variety of testing drives.

In the current season our young team of Keepers lead by Callum McIntosh assisted by Dan Snuggs and Jared Inman, have shown what can be achieved with hard work and dedication. In addition we have an excellent team of beaters and pickers up who have shown they can present some testing birds.

To ensure your days are run as smoothly as possible our Shoot Hosts, Stuart Thompson, Christopher Orme, Steph Bennett and Debbie Clayton make up our team on the ground.

Finally and most importantly, everything is co-ordinated by my resilient and patient p.a. Lynda Wigby who is always there to help.

We offer days to remember with a combination of testing birds in convivial company with delicious meals and refreshments. All set in Gods own County, our beautiful North Yorkshire Countryside.

Contact Details

We have established our new e-mail address: info@mountgarretshoot.co.uk but can still be contacted on info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk

Our New Website www.mountgarretshoot.com

Our new website is under construction, so for the time being still use our website www.ripleycastleshoot.com

Newsletter No.5 2021-2022 Season

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 10:04:47 GMT

We are only a few days from the start of our new season.

September 2021

NEWSLETTER No. 5 : 2021–2022 SEASON

At last we are only a few days from the start of our new season. After what we have all experienced in the last 18 months, we all deserve a return to some semblance of normality together with something special. I know I can confidently say we will be pulling out “all the stops” to give everyone a season to remember.

Our Birds

Our rearing fields at both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret have produced some very fit birds with excellent returns from day old chicks to poults. We aim to rear athletes and given the high quality feed and attention detail by our staff; we have certainly achieved this for the new season.

When driving around the Shoot it is apparent that particularly the pheasants have matured faster than normal. Due to their size the raptors are only taking the weaker birds. Although the number of poults reared and released are the same as in the past, this has left us with an increased number of strong and fit birds compared to previous seasons.

Covid

Sadly this evil virus has certainly not gone away. So we must now learn to live with it. I attach a Covid Risk Assessment on how I propose we all work together to make our Shoot as safe as possible from Covid.

Available Days

Never before in my 30 years of running shoots, have I been in the fortunate position of having sold 85% of the days before the season has started.

I thank everyone who has made this possible by already booking some shooting in the new season.

For anyone who plans to join us this season I strongly recommend you consider the attached list of Available Days without delay.

Special Offers

Although we have had an excellent take up of days it is inevitable by the way we sell days mainly to individual guns, there will be unsold days throughout the season. These unsold days together with days cancelled by Members are sold as Selected Days on Special Offer.

A recent Special Offer of 17 early September gun days was mainly made up of days cancelled by Members were offered as a Special Offer and were sold out within 36 hours.

To receive these Special Offers and to become a Shoot Members, you should purchase a minimum of one day’s shooting in the new season. You will then receive a 20% discount on Selected Special Offer Days. The 20% discount is also extended to GunsOnPegs Premium Members.

To become a Ripley Sporting Exclusive Member you should purchase £2,500 or more value of days before VAT. You would then receive a 30% discount on these Selected Special Offer Days.

Exclusive Members also receive discounts from a number of local Shooting and Country Stores.

Non Toxic Shot

The saga continues but just to remind you. A directive was issued by The National Game Dealers Association that their Members will no longer take game containing lead shot after July 2022. So we are safe for the new season.

Our game dealer Ox Close Fine Foods would like our Shoot to comply with this request. Although I feel and am sure many of you also feel July 2022 is too soon, sadly we must accept that lead will soon be dead.

I have discussed this position with Lyalvale Express, our cartridge manufacturer for many years and they have come up with a solution. In order for you to experience how you and your guns perform with nontoxic shot with degradable or fibre wads. From the start of the season we will have the following available throughout a shoot day.

Steel : 12 bore No. 5 shot suitable for 65mm chambers with earth (degradable) wads at £10 per box of 25.

No 20 bore are available until later.

Bismuth :12 bore 4½ shot suitable for 65 mm chambers with fibre wads at £30 per box of 25.

20 bore 4½ shot suitable for 67mm chambers with fibre wads at £30 per box of 25.

The Bismuth cartridges are suitable for any 12 or 20 bore no matter the choke size, providing the barrels are in proof ! So this is an answer for your “Old English” guns which you were thinking would need to be written off! These cartridges are not cheap but with an additional cost of approximately £120 per day this means you can carry on using your old reliable “friend”. I do not feel this is too much to pay when included in the overall cost of the shoot day. The performance of Bismuth is similar to lead. You could try some to find out for yourself.

Steel shot is a third of the price of Bismuth but does have a few drawbacks. You must not use Steel Shot in a shotgun with barrels tighter than ½ choke. We have gauges available on a shoot day for you to check this. However I stress it is the shotgun owner’s responsibility to check if their shotgun is suitable for steel cartridges. If used they are at the owner’s risk.

Advice from on experienced gunsmith is recommended in order to avoid any problems. Our local gunsmith Steve Baren is available on most Ripley Castle Shoot days. He will give advice and has the necessary equipment to bore out barrels down to the required ½ choke at £60 per barrel.

Contact Steve Baren on 07786 370848

I stress that the use of lead is optional and there is no law against its use as present. However in the interests of our sport I feel everyone should consider their position before September 2022.

Loader/ Instructors

We are finding demand is very high so if you would like someone to look after you, I strongly suggest a booking is made without delay. The cost is now £140 per day paid direct on the day. Shotgun Hire is also available at £50 per day.

Shoot Dinner 2021-2022

I know we will have much to celebrate and am pleased to advise this season’s Shoot Dinner will be held on Saturday 12th February 2022 at Ripley Castle. Please keep the date free and I will advise more details nearer the date.

Ripley Castle and Hob Green Shoots - New Sporting Tenant

The Estates and Agent are at present showing interested parties around the shoot areas. No final decision has yet been made.

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Looking forward to seeing you all in the new season.

Newsletter No.6 2021-2022 Season

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 09:59:14 GMT

The Season So Far

November 2021

NEWSLETTER No. 6 : 2021–2022 SEASON

The Season So Far

We have all lost over 18 months out of our lives due to the consequences of Covid and certainly deserve a good season’s shooting.

We are now halfway through what is turning out to be as good a season as we have ever experienced. It all started during the summer when the weather was kind to us and we achieved excellent returns from both our rearing fields at Ripley Castle and Mountgarret.

The pheasant poults grew really well in the rearing pens without any disease, so we decided to release them later than usual at 8/9 weeks compared to the normal 6/7 weeks. This worked well and gave us some very strong fit poults. As these poults were overall larger than normal with far less weak birds, we lost far fewer than usual to Buzzards and Red Kites as they left these larger birds alone.

The consequence of this is that at the start of the season although we released a similar number of poults to previous seasons, we had far more strong fit pheasants on the ground than in the past.

Our partridge are of a similar quality, are flying really well and have survived the raptors far better than normal.

We are rearing athletes so their high quality diet may have had something to do with this!

None of this success would have been possible without the hard and dedicated work by our team of six Keepers and a number of part time staff.

All in all, so far so good. However with increasing Covid cases in Europe and more cases of Avian Flu being reported every day here in the UK. As we all know nothing is certain and anything can happen. So let’s enjoy it whilst we can. In Sir Winston’s words we must “Keep bu..ering on!!”.

All Change on 31st January 2022

As advised in previous Newsletters I have decided to reduce my shooting commitments but am certainly NOT giving up just yet!

As from the end of this season on 31st January 2022, my Ripley Castle and Hob Green Sporting Leases come to an end. My Landlords and their Agent are hopefully not too far away from appointing a new Sporting Tenant.

I will continue to run The Mountgarret and Nidd Shoots together with Cayton which was previously included as part of The Ripley Castle Shoot.

The Mountgarret Shoot will now cover these three Estates with over 4,500 acres of beautiful North Yorkshire Countryside. For those of you who have shot Mountgarret this season, I hope you will agree with me that it has certainly moved up a few notches. By now incorporating Cayton into The Mountgarret Shoot, it gives some additional very challenging drives.

I am working on the Shoot Calendar for 2022-2023 at present.

Some Interesting and Unexpected News

Shoot of the Year Award

Ripley sporting

Winner - North East

This is in recognition of the hard work and dedication of all our Teams of Keepers, Beaters, Pickers Up and Hosts and I thank everyone for this. This award has been made to both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret Shoots. I also thank everyone who voted for us.

Available Days

Never before have we been SOLD OUT in November, but we are this season! It is inevitable that some cancellations will occur and I will keep you all advised on availability. I thank you all for your support in making this possible.

Shoot Dinner : Saturday 12th February 2022

The Dinner will be held in the Long Gallery for the East Wing of Ripley Castle. We have much to celebrate after 30 years at what will be my last Shoot Dinner at Ripley Castle. Please make a note of the date.

The cost will be £90 per person inclusive of VAT. You are more than welcome to book now with Lynda on 01423 323321 or info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk

Non Toxic Shot : The Saga Continues

Just to remind you. A directive was issued by The National Game Dealers Association that their Members will no longer take game containing lead shot after July 2022. This is due to pressure, mainly from Supermarkets.

I have discussed this position with Lyalvale Express, our cartridge manufacturer for many years and they have come up with a solution. In order for you to experience how you and your guns perform with nontoxic shot with degradable or fibre wads. We have the following available on every shoot day.

Steel : 12 bore No. 5 shot suitable for 65mm chambers with earth (degradable) wads at £10 per box of 25.

20 bore are available shortly.

Bismuth :12 bore 4½ shot suitable for 65 mm chambers with fibre wads at £30 per box of 25.

20 bore 4½ shot suitable for 67mm chambers with fibre wads at £30 per box of 25.

The Bismuth cartridges are suitable for any 12 or 20 bore no matter the choke size, providing the barrels are in proof ! So this is an answer for your “Old English” guns which you were thinking would need to be written off! These cartridges are not cheap but with an additional cost of approximately £100 per day this means you can carry on using your old reliable “friend”. You need to decide if this additional cost is worth paying when included in the overall cost of the shoot day. The performance of Bismuth is similar to lead. You could try some to find out for yourself.? We have used these Express Bismuth cartridges on our duck this season to great effect.

Contact Steve Baren on 07786 370848

During this season each cartridge manufacturer has been producing their answer to this problem.

When you try a cartridge with nontoxic shot. Could you please ensure the wads they contain are definitely NOT plastic. The wads should be fibre or degradable

If you find the ideal non-toxic shot cartridge, could you please let me know.

I stress that the use of lead is optional and there is no law against its use as present. However in the interests of our sport I feel everyone should consider their position before our 2022-2023 Season.

Does Your Gun Fit?

One of our regular guns felt he was not shooting as well as he should have been. So requested one of our experience loader/instructors to find out where he was going wrong. Sure enough his gun was the problem as it was such a bad fit, he was lucky to hit anything! Fortunately his instructor had a few guns to choose from and within a short time he was performing well but sadly not with his own gun.

The services of an instructor are well worth considering for just £140 for the day.

Newsletter No. 4: August 2021

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 09:06:24 GMT

Newsletter No.4: Wonderful News

August 2021

REVISED NEWSLETTER No. 4 : 2021–2022 SEASON

Wonderful News

For our friends in the United States and European Union. As from Monday 2nd August 2021 visitors from these areas will no longer be required to self-isolate/quarantine on entry into the United Kingdom. This is providing you have had the required two Covid jabs. We all look forward to having you with us again.

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At last we are now only seven weeks away from the start of our new season. Thanks to David, Callum and their teams we have produced some very strong and fit birds from both our rearing field at Ripley Castle and Mountgarret. Most are now released and I know I can confidently say we have much to look forward to. Hopefully with a few pleasant surprises!

As I advised in my Newsletter No. 2 : March 2021, after 40 years at Ripley Castle, 10 years as a shoot member and 30 years running the shoot, with a slightly shorter time at Hob Green. As my sporting leases at Ripley Castle and Hob Green come to an end in January 2022 and as I will also be 75 this year. I have very reluctantly decided that it is now the time to take things a little easier and will be giving up both leases in January 2022.

I do feel a little sad but am delighted with what has been achieved over the years on both these Shoots.

The Estates are currently in the process of seeking a new sporting tenant from February 2022. Should this be of interest, please contact land agents Dacre Son & Hartley. Ian Cox; e-mail igc@dacres.co.uk

I look forward to seeing how a new sporting tenant will bring some new and exciting ideas to the Shoots.

However, contrary to rumours, I am certainly not giving up my favourite hobby of running a Shoot. I will continue to run the Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton Estate Shoots. These combined Shoots cover approximately 4,500 acres of rolling North Yorkshire countryside and will be known as The Mountgarret Shoot.

In short, instead or running 144 days as this season, I will be running only 75 days in the following season. I don’t think this can be classed as taking things too easy but am looking forward to a few less days!

Our Present 2021-2022 Season

As last season we will be running two Shoots. Ripley Castle, Hob Green and Cayton, which we refer to as The Ripley Castle Shoot. Mountgarret and Nidd which we refer to as The Mountgarret Shoot.

For those of you who have shot Nidd as part of the Ripley Castle Shoot you will recall drives such as Mark Wood, Dog Pitts , John Will, Viaduct and Yamer Head. As last season these drives will be shot as part of Mountgarret. It is highly likely that on a Mountgarret Shoot Day we will shoot drives on both Mountgarret and Nidd.

David Cockshott is our Head Keeper on both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret.

Our Keepers at Ripley Castle, Hob Green and Cayton are Matthew Pillar, Robert Binnington with David Cockshott. Our Keepers at Mountgarret and Nidd are Callum McIntosh, Dan Snuggs and Jared Inman.

David will be running one of the beating teams on most days. However when we are fielding two shoots on the same day George Reap whom you will recall was our Head Keeper on the Moors and Eagle Hall will run the beating team on one Shoot and David the other. We plan to field 72 days on each Shoot.

Our Shoot Hosts will be Stuart Thompson, Jonny Dimsdale, Christopher Orme, Steph Bennett and myself.

Hotels and Accommodation

The Covid epidemic has had a significant effect on the survival of a number of the hotels our guns have used in the past and I am very pleased to advise the majority of hotels which were closed have now re-opened. In addition to The Boar’s Head Hotel in Ripley Village. I am pleased to advise The Inn at South Stainley has now re-opened under new ownership. We have produced a new list with some hotels and accommodation not on the previous list. This can be accessed from our website www.ripleycastleshoot.com or telephone Lynda on 01423 323321.

Covid

Sadly this dreadful virus seems to be here to stay. For the time being at least so we must plan and learn to live with it.

As we continue to receive conflicting messages and lack of direction from our chaotic Government, I will wait until nearer the start of our season before producing a Risk Assessment based on whatever restrictions and advice are available at that time. Although social distancing restrictions have been removed. Considering the present high level of infections. As a precaution I have decided that all our meals, breakfast and a late lunch will be taken in Ripley Castle. I only hope we are not required to return to social distancing and other restrictions, but we are ready for these if required.

These arrangements are exactly the same as last season. With all shoot days at both Ripley Castle and on Mountgarret starting with breakfast in Ripley Castle at 8.30 a.m. and with a late lunch at 3.00 p.m. Although the Shoot Lodge on Mountgarret offers a unique setting for dining, the two dining areas at Ripley Castle offer more space, should social distancing return.

With this in mind should anyone shooting with us or a non shooting guest be concerned about mixing with other guns inside for health or any other reason. They may bring their own meals to be taken in their own vehicle. The Shoot Host will brief them separately to the other guns and choose their peg. Otherwise it will be a normal shoot day for those concerned and will not affect your enjoyment of the day.

I am no expert and it is not for me to say what you should or should not do. However out of respect for and the safety of all other guns and staff, I would ask that all guns and non shooting guests attending our Shoots should have received the required two jabs. Sadly it is quite likely that anyone may pick up the virus at any time. If in doubt please do not attend the Shoot. If you are required to self-isolate and be unable to attend the shoot. I would try to sell your gun, even at very short notice, on your behalf but at a discount.

Confirmation of Booking and Payments

Could you also please note the following details of “ special offers ” which will be available to everyone who has booked shooting in the new season.

How Are The Days Selling and Are There Any Special OFFERS?

Compared to last season we are offering a full calendar of days and have never before had so little remaining unsold days at this time of our season.

Available Days

I am pleased to attach a list of our Remaining Days. As so many days have moved around there are many days not included on previous lists. There is also an excellent variety of every type of day still available.

Considering the very attractive discounts which will be available during the season on a number of Selected Days it is well worthwhile booking some shooting now in order to be eligible for these discounts.

Special Offers

As most of our days are sold to individual guns and small parties. It is inevitable that once the season starts there are a number of unsold pegs on some days. When this happens, I am faced with the option of running a day with less guns. A day will be run provided there are a minimum of 6 guns and the target bag will be reduced in line with the reduced number of guns.

The other option is to sell these remaining pegs at a discounted rate. As it costs the same to run a day with 6 guns as it does with 9 guns, I prefer to fill the whole day even if some of the pegs are sold at a discount.

I am often asked if there are any discounted days for non-members. My answer is always, any discounted days will only be sold to guns who have already supported the Shoot by purchasing days in the season, or to GunsOnPegs Premium Members.

I have now produced a discount structure which rewards everyone who has taken days in the new season.

These days will often be offered at short notice by e-mail, so, if possible, we need everyone’s e-mail address.

I appreciate there are some of you who do not wish to correspond by e-mail. In which case I will try and send offers to you by post as soon as available.

This discount structure is a win win for all of us. Members are rewarded for their support whilst at the same time I am able to hopefully fill all our days.

Ripley Sporting Members

A Member is anyone who has purchased one day or more in the new season.

Selected Days will be offered by e-mail to Members at a discount of 20%. If you choose a day where you are already shooting and would like to invite one or more guests on this day, the discount on these pegs is increased to 25%.

GunsOnPegs Premium Members

One company who has supported and promoted our Shoot more than any other is GunsOnPegs. Since being established over 10 years ago, they have offered a free service to promote our days which has been invaluable to the Shoot.

GunsOnPegs Premium Members pay a Membership Fee which entitles them to an extensive range of offers and for £75 is excellent value. For more details contact www.gunsonpegs.com or telephone 0207 491 1363.

I am therefore extending our Members Offers of 20% discount on our Selected days to GunsOnPegs Premium Members.

Ripley Sporting Exclusive Members

To become an Exclusive Member of the Shoot you need to have purchased shoot days in the new season to the value of £2,500 or more before VAT. Over the season you will be offered a variety of Selected Days often at short notice. You may take as many of these days as you wish for yourself and to bring your friends at a discount of 30%.

As a further benefit if you have already taken a gun for yourself on a Selected Day offered. You may take as many of the remaining pegs as you wish on this day at an increased discount of 35% to bring one or more friends.

Last Minute availability

It does happen through the season that for a number of reasons you may need to cancel a day at very short notice, even the night before the day.

Should this occur, Lynda and myself would do our very best to sell the day on your behalf. If you feel we do not have your e-mail and phone number, could you please advise Lynda on 01423 323321 or info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk of these details.

These days are sold on your behalf so the discount offered is up to you. For 7 days or less notice I suggest 40% or for two or three days before the day I suggest 50% discount.

List of Guns who may take a Last Minute Offer, even the Evening Before

If you feel you would be able to take a gun offered at very short notice like the following day, could you please advise Lynda 01423 323321 your best contact numbers.

Testimonials

If you have not visited our Shoots before, I suggest a visit to our website www.ripleycastleshoot.com and click onto Testimonials which will give you an idea of what to expect from the experience of other guns in the pas6.

A Few Items to Remember Before the Start of the Season

Final Check of Your Kit before the Start the Season

A reminder to check that your guns and equipment are ready for the new season. You may think your gun is fine until it lets you down on a shoot day. It is a small cost to have them serviced but as everyone may be arranging this at present, I suggest you do not delay. It is also worth bringing a spare gun on any shoot day.

For shotgun servicing I recommend Steve Baren at The Yorkshire Gun Room, a few minutes’ drive from Ripley Village. Steve can be contacted on 07885 253659 or 01765 620602.

The Last Minute Check List, which you can download from our website www.ripleycastleshoot.com under Key Information, also details a number of items we always seem to forget to take with us on a shoot day and then regret not having them with us. On the reverse of the list is a Shoot Planner for the new season.

Personal, Product Liability and Shoot cancellation insurance

I was somewhat shocked to read that following a recent survey of driven game shots 30% admitted to having no Personal Liability Insurance. I sincerely do hope that this statistic did not apply to anyone shooting with us. Compared to the cost of a shoot day the cost of insurance is negligible. As well as Personal Liability Insurance, Cancellation Insurance is just as important, as if a day is cancelled due to bad weather, or any acceptable reason; the full cost of the shoot day still stands. You cannot at present insure against the loss of a day due to Covid. Please do not delay and apply for cover now from GunsOnPegs www.gunsonpegs.com/insurance , or telephone 0207 491 1363 for a quotation.

Shotgun Certificate and Proof of Personal Liability Insurance

Instructors and Loaders

We are fortunate in having available the services of a number of experienced driven game and clay pigeon shooting instructors. No matter how experienced a shot may be, having an instructor for the day soon rectifies all the bad habits - shooting ones - which we seem to perfect without too much of a problem! Having an instructor is a necessity for a novice game shot and even for an experienced shot an instructor can make quite a difference to your performance. The cost of an instructor/loader for the day is £140 which should be paid on the day direct by the gun/host. This service is now very popular so as much prior notice as possible would be appreciated. If you do not require instruction, a loader is always useful to look after you for the day. If you bring your dog, having a loader gives you more time to work it at the end of a drive. If an instructor/loader is booked and then cancelled a minimum of 7 days’ notice of cancellation must be given. Otherwise the instructor/loader fee is due.

Shotgun Hire

The law states that anyone may use a shotgun without a UK Shotgun Certificate or Visitors Permit provided it is in the presence of the owner who has the serial number registered on his Shotgun Certificate or Visitors Permit but you must have the required Personal/Public Liability insurance cover in place. Shotguns are available for hire, provided notice is given, from our instructor/loader at £50 per day. Knowledge of height and if he or she is left or right handed would help in selecting the most ideal shotgun available.

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Although it may not be quite “business as usual” just yet. Once you are out in our beautiful North Yorkshire Countryside you will have the opportunity to forget the chaos around us and enjoy some memorable shooting in the company of like-minded people but most of all in Gods Own County.

Newsletter No.3 2021-2022 Season

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 08:57:20 GMT

Newsletter No. 3 : Steel Shot

June 2021

NEWSLETTER No. 3 : 2021–2022 SEASON

Non-Toxic Shot : Principally Steel Shot

Every shooting publication has editorial on a move from lead to non-toxic shot. There are times when although we may not agree with change it becomes impossible to swim against the current. Opinions to one side, this is the present position.

Just over a year ago, following Government pressure and in order to try to avoid direct legislation. All principal shooting organisations signed a statement supporting a voluntary transition away from lead shot and single use plastics in cartridges by 2025.

Cartridge manufacturers took on this challenge and commenced significant research and expenditure in order to produce a suitable alternative to lead shot.

However in March this year due to pressure from their customers such as Waitrose and Sainsburys the National Game Dealers Association voted not to accept lead shot game from July 2022, 13 months’ time!

Steel Shot: What are the Issues

In February 2021 before the National Game Dealers Association announced their members would not take game shot with lead after July 2022, the following joint statement was issued by the four principal UK cartridge manufacturers Eley, Gambore, Hull Cartridge and Lyalvale Express.

Introduction

To meet the 5 year transition period proposed by the shooting organisations we need to be realistic on what is achievable. This information is solely about the issues we face as cartridge manufacturers when it comes to loading steel shot with plastic-free wads.

About Steel Shot

The majority of steel shot for the global ammunition market is sourced from China, this includes the USA and its large ammunition companies. There is currently a large shortage of steel shot within the global industry with the USA taking its lion’s share for its waterfowl sector.

The Manufacture of Steel Shot

Steel shot is initially cut into small pieces from steel wire before being cold headed (pressed) into a ball shape. It is then ground down to remove the excess metal (Saturn ring) before beginning its heat treatment to soften its body.

The availability of steel shot in the past 3 years had declined by almost 40%. This was due to the Chinese Government closing down many factories that were not meeting their strict new air pollution bill. The steel shot manufacturing process if very polluting and uses far more energy compared to making lead shot. For example you can manufacture 500% more lead shot vs steel shot in a like for like time period whilst generating a substantially lower carbon footprint.

Steel Shot is Not as Green as We All Think!

Cartridge Loading

Steel shot is extremely hard on machinery. It is not as simple as one day making lead cartridges and the next day switching it over to steel. Many companies in Europe are using aged equipment that is solely for the use of soft shot. There are only a few companies who are loading significant volumes in Europe using steel shot. To be able to do this they have invested into new machinery or converted older machines with higher strength parts. There is a significant cost involved in doing so, where is the capital coming from?

Steel shot is not loaded at the same speed and efficiency as lead so more staff and loading machines will be needed to maintain existing volumes. As the model grows the costs will rise – this contradicts the information provided by the shooting organisations promoting alternative products.

Gun Powder Technology

Steel shot uses a completely different powder compared with lead cartridges. Currently there are only several powder producers in the EU. We are reliant on these companies gearing up to cater for a niche market. It is certainly not as simple as just changing the material within the cartridge.

Our Biggest Problem of All?

The Plastic Free Wad

As a small industry we are expected to now be at the forefront with alternative plastic free products. There are several products available on the market but all niche in their availability and configurations.

As investment into alternative plastic free technology progresses within larger industries it will eventually filter down to smaller industry. The current products using plastic free wads are far from commercially viable to feature in all of our game cartridges.

All configurations and gauges simply won’t be possible within the next four years if a plastic free wad is deemed an essential component with steel shot.

What Can We Do in the Short Term?

We Need to Go Backwards to Move Forwards!

The use of lead in shooting sports is an issue all manufacturers are facing in Europe. The pressure we are facing on the use of plastic wads is a UK problem.

In Europe, the majority of cartridges are manufactured and sold with lead shot using a plastic wad. If lead becomes banned in Europe, manufacturers there will simply make a switch from lead to steel and continue to use plastic wads as before.

To make the plan to phase out lead shot more feasible in game shooting we need to focus less on the wads. As stated, loading steel cartridges has it challenges. However, if we are able to use plastic wads in the short to medium term until alternative materials are commercially available then we can potentially make this happen.

Food for Thought

We hear many comments about other markets who have made the transition from lead to steel shot. The largest world markets for steel shot cartridges current are:

Scandinavia: The cartridges used in this market are 95% steel shot with plastic wads.

USA – Waterfowl sector: The cartridges used in this market are 99.9% steel shot with plastic wads.

COVID-19

As our industry falls within leisure activities, we have been severely affected by the current and previous national lockdowns. Our turnover and profitability have seen a significant decrease and unfortunately, we have had no option but to take our foot off the gas with our planned investments for 2021.

End of Statement made in February 2021.

The Present Position on Non-Toxic Shot : Principally Steel Shot continued

Considering the short period of time cartridge manufacturers have been given to produce a suitable non-toxic shot cartridge with a degradable non plastic wad, I feel all have done really well and now offer suitable cartridges. No doubt others will come available over the next few months.

There are a number of things to consider when non-toxic shot, principally steel, is used in your shotguns.

Shotguns

It is very important to note that you must not use steel shot through a shotgun which has a choke tighter than ½ choke. If you use a shotgun with over ½ choke, when fired a bulge may appear around the barrel in the choke area, thus making the barrels unusable and requiring replacement. I understand shotgun chokes can be reduced to ½ choke but am not an expert on this!

It is very important to have your shotguns checked and the enclosed chart gives details of the various proof marks. As a number of Old English shotguns may have barrels with ¾ and/or full choke, steel shot will not be suitable. An option for these shotguns is Bismuth shot but at over £1 per cartridge and rising it is an expensive alternative. Steel shot is not suitable for Old English shotguns with Damascus barrels. However modern shotguns with Damascus barrels may take steel shot, you must check.

Wads

It could be said that the wad is just as important as the shot. I feel everyone who loves our countryside cannot accept our parkland and fields being covered in non degradable plastic wads which may take years to degrade. I understand the reason why plastic wads are used is they give the cartridges and particularly steel shot a tighter seal with better performance.

Since I took my sporting leases, I have insisted that felt, fibre or biodegradable wads only are used. On the whole we have been successful on this and have kept our ground free from plastic.

Storage of Steel and other Non-Toxic Shot Cartridges

In the past, most of us have kept unused lead cartridges possibly until the following season. I am advised that this could be a problem with steel shot. The shot could go rusty or “ball” up, if stored in any conditions where damp or lack of ventilation is apparent.

As it is unknown how the new degradable wads will perform if stored over a long period of time i.e. more than a season, it is advised that all steel cartridges are used in the same season.

Our Position on Lead Shot

Anyone shooting on land under the control of Ripley Sporting, i.e. Ripley Castle, Hob Green, Cayton, Mountgarret and Nidd may use lead shot cartridges in our new season up to 31st January 2022.

I have the assurance from our game dealer that they will take our game, which may include lead, up to the end of the season. This applies to all game except duck which must as at present be shot using non-toxic shot.

Decision Time!

After shooting lead shot for over 60 years I am now faced with the choice of moving the Shoots to non-toxic cartridges or bury or burn our shot birds. As it is more important than ever for our shot game to enter the food chain, I am not prepared to carry out the latter. So our Shoots must sadly move to 100% non-toxic shot which at present will mean mainly steel shot. From September 2022 we will move to non-toxic shot. This is unless a change in the policy of the National Game Dealers Association takes place.

Our Stock of Steel Shot Cartridges Available From September 2021

As we have always used Lyalvale Express for our bulk purchase of cartridges, I am pleased to advise they will have a steel shot cartridge with a Biodolomer ® wad which is a biodegradable compostable material.

The equivalent to 30 g No.6 shot which is our most popular cartridge, Lyalvale recommend a 30g No. 4 shot which is the equivalent to No.5½/6 in lead. I will hold a stock of 65mm (2½) cartridge in 12 bore which will suit most shotguns. 20 bore will follow once available.

These cartridges will be available in our new season commencing September 2021 so will give everyone an opportunity to try steel shot. I am advised the cost will be similar to lead.

Performance of Steel Compared to Lead

Much has been written on this subject. Some say it is not too big a problem and others say different. The only way is to try and see how you perform with steel or if you have some other type of alloy, it would be good to try it.

There is a silver lining for you concerning steel. It now gives you a good and possibly genuine excuse for missing your birds!! I am advised that it is not worthwhile trying with steel shot for birds which are at the edge of the range of lead. It will only lead to maiming them. With this in mind, whilst we become used to steel shot, I may employ additional pickers up to ensure all birds are retrieved and dispatched quickly.

There could be a downside to the way steel kills our birds compared to lead. When lead shot enters a bird as it is “soft” it normally moulds around the bones and does not shatter them. Whereas steel shot may well go straight through the bird or may shatter bones. When eating a bird shot with steel one must be careful to spot any shattered bone. Also as steel is much harder than lead you must avoid damaging your teeth!

I am sure much more will become apparent over the next few months.

Disposal of Plastic Cartridge Cases

As well as avoiding the use of plastic wads, the actual disposal of spent plastic cartridge cases is just as important. At a cost of around £200/£300 per year it is a small cost to pay to ensure our spent cartridges do not go into landfill or similar. I have used Agri-Cycle for a number of years. They collect all our spent cartridges and other plastic to be recycled into garden furniture and buckets.

For anyone interested

Agri-Cycle Ltd , Barff Farm, Canby, Lincoln, LN6 2AG

Contact: Robert Moore on 01673 878215 e-mail info@agri-cycle.uk.com www.agri-cycle.uk.com

Supply of Cartridges

For possibly the largest and most reliable supplier with an extensive stock of all brands of cartridges, I strongly recommend:

Just Cartridges , Station Road, South Leigh, Witney OX29 6XJ

Contact Charles Bull Tel: 01865 300066 E-mail info@justcartridges.com

Disclaimer

As we are about to enter a whole “new world”. The information I have given is only a guide. It is up to everyone to check that their shotguns are suitable for any new type of shot/cartridge you wish to use.

Ripley Sporting accepts no responsibility for any accidents to shotguns or persons which may occur in using steel or any other types of shot/cartridge.

2021-2022 Season: Newsletter No. 2

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 09:08:45 GMT

Important news from Frank Boddy

8th March 2021

NEWSLETTER No. 2 : 2021–2022 SEASON

We have all lost a year out of our lives and according to Boris we are “On the way to Freedom”.

I really do hope so!!

With six months to the start of our new season. Given the reduction in Covid cases together with the ongoing vaccine rollout, I am cautiously optimistic that we may experience a near normal new season. We must wait and see.

I have much to tell you about our last and new seasons but first I have some news for you all.

Ripley Castle and Hob Green Shoots

I do not like to admit it and I certainly don’t feel it, but I will be 75 years old in October this year. My Sporting Lease at Ripley Castle also comes to an end on 31st January 2022.

There comes a time when everyone should take things a little easier, so I have decided to give up my Sporting Leases on Ripley Castle and Hob Green Estates on 31st January 2022.

Some may think this announcement is due to the effects of Covid-19. I can assure you this is certainly not the case. If I had been younger, I would have carried on.

However I am not taking things too easy and am certainly not letting everyone “off the hook” just yet! I will be continuing with my Sporting Leases on Mountgarret, Nidd and Cayton Estates. This gives an area of approximately 4,500 acres and I propose 4 days shooting each week. I think this is sufficient to keep me occupied!

Ian Cox of land agents Dacre Son and Hartley in Ilkley has been appointed to find a suitable new sporting tenant for the Ripley Castle and Hob Green Estates – approximately 3,000 acres of sporting rights with a keeper’s cottage and yard, 360 acres of woodland and (currently) 70 acres of game cover, all within one block.

Most of the shoot infrastructure at Ripley will also be available for purchase by the new tenant in due course. Particulars are currently being prepared and anyone who would like to receive them should register their interest with Ian Cox at igc@dacres.co.uk. The new tenancy will commence with effect from 1st February 2022 and once you have received and read the particulars, Ian would be happy to receive any enquiries that you may have.’

I stress it is business as usual this season on all our Shoots with no management changes until 1st February 2022.

In order to avoid any misunderstanding with regard to Ripley Castle and Hob Green Shoots and Sporting Leases, all enquiries must be made to Ian Cox, not myself nor David Cockshott.

Our 2020-2021 Season

I have faced some challenges over the last 30 years whilst running my Shoots but nothing like we all experienced last season.

The problem was that nothing could be planned. No one knew what the consequences of Covid-19 would really be, so everything was a shot in the dark.

In March last year I had three options. To plan a normal season, to run a reduced season or not to shoot at all. If I had taken the latter it would have been the end of the Shoot as all staff would have been laid off. I opted to reduce the number of birds released and days fielded by 25% compared to previous season.

All my staff took a 10% pay reduction and we watched costs very carefully.

Our birds were the fittest we have ever had and from their performance in September and October I really did think we were about to experience our best season ever.

Thanks to everyone’s co-operation we were able to field days in a Covid secure environment. The support I received from Ripley Castle and their staff also made it possible to offer Covid secure dining, for which I am most grateful.

Then Lockdown No.2 hit us in November when no further shoot days could be fielded. November is normally our best month and it was very disappointing we were not out in the field.

As our overall days had been reduced, I was able to include additional days in December and January so no one should have lost out on their November days.

December shot exceptionally well and everything looked really good. We had to increase our Covid-19 security for lunches, with our last day’s lunch taken outside. As always, we were able to face these challenges. Then overnight Lockdown No.3 hit us in early January with little warning. I am the first to agree this was certainly necessary but was a great blow to all of us.

as I had previously not made it clear to everyone what would happen if we could not shoot due to a Covid Lockdown. I gave all guns the option of a full cash refund or to roll over their shoot fees to the new season. The majority rolled over their fees which did help, with funds available for everyone who requested a refund.

We actually shot 60% of our planned days so possibly did better than most,

So what looked like being our best ever season turned out to be something of a disaster for not only ourselves but also for the whole game shooting industry.

New Season 2021-2022

I do hope we will experience a season with some semblance of normality. However as always, we will face and adjust to live with whatever is presented to us. Sadly the Covid epidemic has hit some Shoots hard and may not be out in the new season. This should make the remaining Shoots more determined than ever to protect the survival of our sport for the future.

I am planning as normal a season as possible with an equal number of days at Ripley Castle and Mountgarret. Both rearing fields will be full and I hope to produce all our birds from chicks and avoid bringing in poults. We always seem to achieve the best results from birds we have reared ourselves from day olds.

One of the consequences of not shooting in January was the large number of very fit mature birds remaining on the ground at the end of the season. I much prefer to have no birds left in order that our ground is able to rest and recover before new poults are released.

Sadly, this did not look like being possible this season. However thanks to the hard work by our Keepers we have been able catch up over 5,500 birds, the majority of which have been moved alive to hatcheries and other shoots. Being near enough what we would have shot in January, although there is a stock remaining. It should not now present too much of a problem for us and particularly our farmers.

Last season our strain of pheasant were French Commons and Manchurians and we will be releasing a similar mix in the new season. So I hope for a similar flying quality of bird.

All our partridge chicks are from the same hatchery as in recent years. As you are all aware these have performed exceptionally well so we should be able to test you from September onwards.

I feel there may still be some social distancing restrictions required, even though we are outside. Possibly more so when we take our meals inside than outside in the field.

I am planning the following but this could change dependant on rules at the time.

Each day for both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret will start with breakfast in Ripley Castle. We will shoot through each day and take lunch in Ripley Castle for Ripley Castle shoot days and lunch in the Shoot Lodge on Mountgarret for all their shoot days. This is providing the Mountgarret Shoot Lodge gives the social distancing required. If not, we will take our late lunch in Ripley Castle for each shoot day for both Shoots.

With the ever increasing costs of running a Shoot and particularly with the significant increase in the cost of pellets and wheat due to a poor harvest last year. A recent survey shows that 65% of shoots are increasing their prices in the new season. I know of increases of up to £5 per bird but the average seems to be £2.50. Maybe I have been too kind as our prices have only increased by £1 per bird!

I am pleased to advise that everything is now in place and progressing well. Everyone is busy erecting some new sheds and preparing the rearing fields, so we are ready for our new season!!

Charitable Donations

One casualty of Covid-19 are Charities and worthwhile causes. However I would like to remind you of your generosity over last season. The following was raised from our daily sweep and guest lunches. Sadly, the amount is well down on our previous season’s total of £30,585 due to a significant reduction in days and also no Shoot Dinner which normally produced a substantial amount. The following was donated in February 2021.

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) £5,000

The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust £700

Songbird Survival Trust £250

The Country Food Trust £700

Nidd Parish Church (on Lord Mountgarret’s days) £400

British Game Alliance BGA £8,000

Carried forward balance £780

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Total Amount Raised £15,830

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Although the amount raised is disappointing compared to previous seasons, given the present situation I feel we have done really well. I do thank you again for all your support.

Available Dates

Although we are only five weeks into our new season, thanks to many of you over 50% of our available days have now been taken up. I thank all concerned for this excellent result and now look forward to hearing from the rest of you!!

here are an increased number of 200 bird days available as we are no longer offering 150 bird days. There is also a good variety of 250, 300 and 350 bird days available.

With the days being taken up quite fast, now is the time to consider full days. Where a day has no guns taken this is available as a full Exclusive Day. Although I have shown a target bag for each day, any bag can be amended to suit you.

When single guns or small teams wish to visit for consecutive back to back days, even though you may not take the whole day, where no guns have been taken the target bag on your chosen days can be amended to suit you. Once a gun has been taken on a day this option is no longer available.

I think this is enough for now.

We are certainly going to experience an interesting time and I will keep you all updated on our developments and progress throughout the season.

Newsletter No. 11 2020-2021 Season

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 09:48:12 GMT

Newsletter No. 11

28th September 2020

NEWSLETTER No. 11 : 2020–2021 SEASON

The Season So Far and How We Have Progressed

At last we are out again and have completed our first 10 days in September. The weather proved to be its usual variable self with days from extreme hot sunshine to torrential rain with a few very welcome strong breezy days. All in all it is what we have come to expect. However no matter what the day threw at us our partridge performed exceptionally well. We flew the duck twice with many commenting they were the best they have ever seen them.

Everyone agreed that over the 10 days the birds definitely won!

What was also apparent it that the birds in our pheasant season are going to be very challenging. Considering many of our pheasant have never been flown before the vast majority flew exceptionally well and really taunted the guns.

So many have survived since being released, I do feel the only problem we may have is trying not to shoot the bag in three drives. Providing guns are selective we should achieve our five drives each day.

The late harvest did affect some of our early days as we were restricted by too many fields of standing corn. These have now all gone so we have no excuses!

What Happens If The Shoot Cancels A Day Due to Covid-19

You may recall I reduced the number of days compared to previous seasons by 20% and birds released by 26%. This has left a number of dates available which we would have shot in previous seasons. The murmurs are that there may be further lockdowns. This may well happen if Covid cases are not reduced in the next few weeks. Should this happen I would credit all lost days in full and include some new dates later in the season for guns to choose from. This is not an ideal solution as it would mean we would visit drives more frequently, but no more frequently than we have done in previous seasons.

If we have not shot the birds they should still be there. Whatever happens I will do my best to try to ensure no one is out of pocket. However no one really knows what the next few months will bring.

Special Offers

I am receiving more e-mails than ever for guns to be included on our Special Offer List. All you need to do is buy a minimum of one gun in the new season and you will be included on the list as a Shoot Member.

I have now produced a discount structure which rewards everyone who has taken days in the new season.

These days will often be offered at short notice by e-mail so if possible, we need everyone’s e-mail address.

I appreciate there are some of you who do not wish to correspond by e-mail. In which case I will try and send offers to you by post as soon as available.

This discount structure is a win win for all of us. Members are rewarded for their support whilst at the same time I am able to hopefully fill all our days.

I sent out our first Special Offer this season which included 17 gun days and all went within one day.

There will certainly be more Special Offers throughout the season, probably quite soon!

Ripley Sporting Members

A Member is anyone who has purchased one day or more in the new season.

Selected Days will be offered by e-mail to Members at a discount of 20%. If you choose a day where you are already shooting and would like to invite one or more guests the discount on these pegs is increased to 25%.

Ripley Sporting Exclusive Members

GunsOnPegs Premium Members

I am therefore extending our Members Offers of 20% discount on our Selected days to GunsOnPegs Premium Members.

Available Days

I am pleased to attach a list of our Remaining Days. As so many days have moved around as well as cancellations from overseas Members, there are many days not included on previous lists. There is still an excellent variety of every type of day still available.

Considering the very attractive discounts which are available on a number of Selected Days it is well worthwhile booking some shooting now to be eligible for these discounts.

Covid-19 Security

Over the last few months we have established a Covid Secure Environment for both Guns and Staff. You should have received my Risk Assessment which is constantly changing in order to remain within Secure Government Covid Rules.

I have received a number of favourable comments from both guns and staff regarding what we have put in place to ensure everyone is kept as safe as possible.

Our now serving all our meals for both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret Shoots in Ripley Castle has been a real success. We have been able to securely self-distance whilst at the same time enjoying the atmosphere created by 700 years of history in the Ripley Castle Library.

I would like to go on a diet but this is not possible living on fillet steak and partridge cooked in many different ways. It can be a real challenge running a Shoot!!We are possibly facing our most challenging season ever in many ways. I liken it to a four month steeple chase. There may be the odd difficult fence but we must remain positive and complete the course. You never know we may even win the race!

Stay safe and thank you all for your support.

Newsletter No. 9: 2020-2021 Season

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 15:36:29 GMT

9 September 2020

New Government Rules as from Monday 14th September 2020

Following the Prime Minister’s press conference today 9th September 2020; In the past social gatherings were limited to 30 people. Gatherings of over 30 people we permitted for business and organised sports where Covid-19 security was in place.

As from Monday 14th September social gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 6 people. However this rule does not affect businesses and organised sports where Covid-19 security is in place. We are therefore able to field our shoot days as planned.

Sadly, nothing is certain and we must be prepared for changes in the rules at any time. I will keep everyone advised of any changes as these occur.

If you would like to discuss our position on this and any other shoot matters, please feel free to phone me.

Newsletter No. 7 2020-2021 Season

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 13:41:26 GMT

Newsletter No. 7 2020-2021 Season

August 2020

NEWSLETTER No. 7 : 2020–2021 SEASON

So here we are just a few days from the start of our season. During the last few months there were times during lockdown when I wondered if we would ever be out this season. I am pleased to advise all my concerns were unfounded and everything is now in place for the season.

Having lived through three months of lockdown when everyone worked together to reduce the infection rate, we are now faced with idiots on the beaches and at illegal raves who seem to think they are immortal.

The past is the past we must not forget it but look to the future. As most of you are aware, I was in two minds with regards to running a shoot this season. However I am so pleased we did go ahead and I thank all of you who have supported the Shoot and have taken and paid for your day(s).

Knowing what everyone has been through during lockdown we are going to “pull out all the stops” to make this new season as normal as possible whilst at the same time aiming for it to be our very best season ever.

So What Has Changed

As most of you are aware in past seasons our Nidd Beat, which I have leased for 29 years and is part of Mountgarret Estates, has been run as part of the Ripley Castle Shoot. In order for each Shoot, Ripley Castle and Mountgarret to have an equal number of days I have moved Nidd to be run as part of the Mountgarret Shoot.

For those of you who have shot Nidd as part of the Ripley Castle Shoot you will recall drives such as Mark Wood, Dog Pitts, John Will, Viaduct and Yamer Head. This season these drives will be shot as part of Mountgarret. It is highly likely that on a Mountgarret Shoot Day we will shoot drives on both Mountgarret and Nidd.

David Cockshott is our Head Keeper on both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret.

Our Keepers at Ripley Castle, Hob Green and Cayton are Matthew Pillar, Robert Binnington and Dan Snuggs.

Our Keepers at Mountgarret are Callum McIntosh, Ben Lidster and Nidd is keepered by David Cockshott.

David will be running the beating teams on most days. However when we have two shoots out on the same day George Reap whom you will recall was our Head Keeper on the Moors and Eagle Hall will run the beating team on one Shoot and David the other.

Our Shoot Hosts will be Stuart Thompson, Jonny Dimsdale, Christopher Orme, Steve Baren, Steph Bennett and myself.

Covid-19

Sadly this dreadful virus seems to be here to stay, for the time being at least. So we must all be prepared to live with it and to exercise social distancing together with all other rules brought in by our Government.

I have produced two Risk Assessments, one for Shoot Hosts, Guns, Non Shooting Guests, Loaders and Instructors. A copy will be sent to everyone who has booked days. The other Risk Assessment if for all full time and daily staff.

One of the main changes brought about by Covid-19 is in our catering arrangements. This season breakfast and a late lunch on all shoot days at both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret Shoots will be taken in Ripley Castle. I am sure we will all enjoy this. Your confirmation details these arrangements.

Loaders and Instructors

In order to abide by Government distancing rules. Everyone loading or instructing who is not a family member should have their own plastic face visor available.

As many loader/instructors are well known to the guns it is up to the guns and their instructor/loader to decide if the visor or any other face covering is required. It is also up to them to decide if disposable gloves are required when handling the shotgun in order to avoid cross contamination.

Our Birds and Rearing Field

As always the weather decides everything and seems to be wanting its own way far too often! After a warm and wet season last year we started our rearing field in very dry conditions. You could say ideal conditions but not quite!

As the rearing season progressed we were faced with warm days and very cold nights. This is one combination which brings on stress and disease in the birds. In short it was a testing time but we came through quite well and now have more than enough very fit birds released to produce our target bags. That is provided you can hit them!

It has been a very busy time for David and his team. Working hard in the daytime and sitting out at night for foxes. I will not quote how many we have had but it is more than any other previous season. So here we are ready for you all.

How Are The Days Selling and Are There Any Special Offers?

I decided to release 25% less birds compared to previous seasons. This has proved to be the correct decision as all our American and some other overseas Members are unable to join us this season. Otherwise sales are similar to last season but there are still plenty of days remaining.

Special Offers

As most of our days are sold to individual guns and small parties. It is inevitable that once the season starts there are a number of unsold pegs on some days. When this happens I am faced with the option of running a day with less guns. A day will be run provided there are a minimum of 6 guns and the target bag will be reduced in line with the reduced number of guns.

I am often asked if there are any discounted days by non-members. My answer is always, any discounted days will only be sold to guns who have already supported the Shoot by purchasing days in the season, or to GunsOnPegs Premium Members.

I have now produced a discount structure which rewards everyone who has taken days in the new season.

These days will often be offered at short notice by e-mail so if possible, we need everyone’s e-mail address.

I appreciate there are some of you who do not wish to correspond by e-mail. In which case I will try and send offers to you by post as soon as available.

This discount structure is a win, win for all of us. Members are rewarded for their support whilst at the same time I am able to hopefully fill all our days.

Ripley Sporting Members

A Member is anyone who has purchased one day or more in the new season.

GunsOnPegs Premium Members

I am therefore extending our Members Offers of 20% discount on our Selected days to GunsOnPegs Premium Members.

Ripley Sporting Exclusive Members

Last Minute availability

It does happen through the season that for a number of reasons you need to cancel a day at very short notice, even the night before the day.

Providing the day has been paid for in full, Lynda and myself would do our very best to move the day on your behalf. If you feel we do not have your e-mail and phone number could you please advise Lynda on 01423 323321 or info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk of these details.

These days are sold on your behalf so the discount offered is up to you. For 7 days or less notice I suggest 40% or for two or three days before the day I suggest 50% discount.

List of Guns who may take a Last Minute Offer, even the Evening Before

If you feel you would be able to take a gun offered at such short notice like the following day could you please advise Lynda on the best numbers to contact you on.

Available Days

I am pleased to attach a list of our Remaining Days. As so many days have moved around there are many days not included on previous lists. There is an excellent variety of every type of day still available.

Considering the very attractive discounts which will be available on a number of Selected Days it is well worthwhile booking some shooting now to be eligible for these discounts.

Testimonials

Hotels and Accommodation

The Covid epidemic has had a significant effect on the survival of a number of the hotels our guns have used in the past. Of the 29 hotels on our previous list 9 have either closed down or will not be re-opening again as a hotel.

We have now produced a new list with some hotels and accommodation not on the previous list. A copy is attached to this Newsletter or can be accessed from our website www.ripleycastleshoot.com or telephone Lynda on 01423 323321.

Revised GunsOnPegs Insurance 2020-2021

Shoot Cancellation, Public Liability and Gun cover Insurance

Full details are attached to this Newsletter and are also available from Alex Braithwaite-Exley on 0207 491 1363 e-mail alex@gunsonpegs.com

Shoot Brochure

Due to the uncertainly of the season, I have not produced a brochure for this season. Much of the information in our 2019-2020 Brochure is still valid and copies are available from Lynda info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk or by downloading from our website www.ripleycastleshoot.com

I am pleased to attach to this Newsletter No.7 up to date information of “What Happens on a Shoot Day”. This could prove very useful in planning your season at both Ripley Sporting and elsewhere.

Market for Game

The new optimism with regard to the future of game for the table continues. Other than the game given to guns and staff. All our game is processed and marketed by Ox Close Find Foods who we have worked with for a number of seasons.

At the end of a shoot day each gun will receive a pack of oven ready pheasant or partridge breasts. Guns may take as many birds in feather as they wish with the compliments of the Shoot.

In addition to this Ox Close Fine Foods offer a selection of game which you can purchase direct and delivered to your home or can be collected on a shoot day. A copy of their price list is attached to this Newsletter or is available from our website www.ripleycastleshoot.com or from Lynda info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk

Cartridges

There is much discussion in the press regarding phasing out lead shot. I have no problem with this and the use of steel as an alternative to lead. However in order to introduce steel a workable alternative to plastic wads must be found. It is unacceptable to have the land and lakes covered in plastic wads.

There are now available a number of cartridges with steel shot and degradable wads. We have found that Bismuth shot with fibre wads from Gamebore has performed very well but are expensive! Just as important as the type of shot and wad is whether or not your shotgun is suitable for these products. This is up to each individual to check. Our policy is for guns to use lead shot with fibre wads whilst lead shot remains legal to use. However as a way forward, in addition to stocking lead cartridges, we will be offering a limited range of steel cartridges with paper cup wads sold under the brand name of Jocker.

As another alternative to Bismuth, when we shoot a duck drive, guns will be offered Jocker steel cartridges with paper cup wads. Our initial stock will be 12 gauge 30 gram No.4 with 67mm cases. We also hope to have an “alternative shot” cartridge which is an alloy made up of nickel, zinc, bismuth and aluminium, in 12 gauge 26 gram, No.6 with 67mm case. It will be interesting to see how these new products perform compared to lead.

Shotgun Certificate and Proof of Personal Liability Insurance

Shotgun Hire

The law states that anyone may use a shotgun without a UK Shotgun Certificate or Visitors Permit provided it is in the presence of the owner who has the serial number registered on his Shotgun Certificate or Visitors Permit but you must also have the required Personal/Public Liability insurance cover in place. Shotguns are available for hire, provided notice is given, from one of our instructor/loaders at £50 per day. Knowledge of height and if he or she is left or right handed would help in selecting the most suitable shotgun available.

Last Minute Check List

Personal, Product Liability and Shoot cancellation insurance

I was somewhat shocked to read that following a recent survey of driven game shots 30% admitted to having no Personal Liability Insurance. I sincerely do hope that this statistic does not apply to anyone shooting with us. Compared to the cost of a shoot day the cost of insurance is negligible. Together with Personal Liability Insurance, Cancellation Insurance is just as important, as if a day is cancelled due to bad weather, or any acceptable reason; the full cost of the shoot day still stands.

Please do not delay and apply for cover now from GunsOnPegs www.gunsonpegs.com/insurance , or telephone 0207 491 1363 for a quotation.

Four Wheel Drive Vehicle Courtesy Vehicles

As more and more guns are travelling some distance to shoot with us, we now have available on both Shoots a long wheelbase Land Rover Station Wagon with a driver which will seat up to five people comfortably. Each vehicle is available at no cost to the guns or their guests, however prior booking is recommended to ensure space is available. Your dog will travel in the Keepers vehicles.

As always David and his team will be doing everything possible to give you some memorable shooting in our stunning North Yorkshire countryside. I only hope we will have some dry and breezy days but as always, we will face whatever is presented to us by enjoying ourselves and carrying on regardless.

Newsletter No.6 2020-2021 Season

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 13:34:12 GMT

Social Distancing

NEWSLETTER No. 6 : 2020–2021 SEASON

We have all lived through the last few months of lockdown, wondering what the new season will bring. Everything is now slowly grinding back to some kind of normality if that were ever possible again!

Although we must learn to accept and work with the ever changing Government rules, I do believe with some thought and planning we can produce as near a normal shoot day as we have experienced in the past. This is what we have set out to achieve in our New Season. I hope we can do it!!

Social Distancing in the Shooting Field

One of the main challenges at the present time is to run a day within the safe social distancing rules.

Out in the shooting field should not be a problem as we can socially distance 2 metres or more very easily. When travelling between drives we may be required to use more vehicles. You may need to take your own vehicle and travel alone. This should not be too much of a problem as the roads are in reasonable condition for two wheel drive vehicles and we have ample parking space on each drive.

There is much discussion regarding loader/instructors. Some Shoots are not allowing any nonfamily members as loader/instructors. I have not been able to find any official directive. So will be asking loader/instructors who are not family members or close friends to wear plastic face visors and disposable gloves. I would welcome any comments and suggestions you may have regarding this.

Social Distancing Refreshments and Hospitality

I appreciate everyone joins a shoot day for the actual shooting. However, in order to experience a full traditional shoot day refreshments and hospitality are still important. Try as we may the area restraints at both our Shoot Cabin at Ripley Castle and Shoot Lodge at Mountgarret make it impossible to offer the safe social distancing required under the present Government rules in order to experience safe and relaxed dining.

I understand that a number of Shoots have decided not to provide any refreshments or meals this season due to being unable to social distance in their shoot facilities.

However I am very pleased to advise that with the assistance of the Ripley Castle Management we have come up with a workable solution.

At Ripley Castle in addition to the Dining Room which gives social distancing but is only suitable for small teams. There are the Morning Room and the Library which are good sized rooms. Our proposal is to use these two rooms. We will take breakfast and a late lunch on 5 or 6 foot diameter tables with 4 or 5 people seated at each table. Guns and guests from the same family may choose to dine closer in a social bubble is they wish.

Menus, wine and refreshments would be as experienced in the past.

These new arrangements mean there is no restriction on the number of non shooting guests, within reason!

Due to the pandemic the hospitality side of Ripley Castle is not yet back to full capacity so there are staff restrictions which we must work with. For the new season, the following will apply.

All Shoot Days at both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret will start with breakfast in Ripley Castle at 8.30 a.m. followed by the brief for the day. We will then shoot through each day taking a late lunch in Ripley Castle for both Shoots at around 3.00 p.m.

There will of course be drinks breaks throughout the day with a soup and pie break around midday.

I do appreciate that a number of you and myself included prefer to take lunch at midday whereas others prefer to shoot through. This season, I regret we must shoot through.

I stress this applies to all our days including Boundary Days and Clear Up Days on both Shoots. From now on there will be no more days classed at Boundary Days. These will become normal shoot days with a bag of 150 birds. There will be no increase in cost to the guns.

Clear Up Days will still be Clear Up Days and will include all meals and refreshments.

In short, all our days on both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret Shoots will now include breakfast and a late lunch when we can relax in the ambience of Ripley Castle.

When we have shot through in the past it has not always suited everyone mainly due to other arrangements in the evening. I do appreciate this and request that you advise at breakfast if you do not intend to take a late lunch. There will be no reduction in the shoot fee if you do not take lunch.

I also appreciate that not everyone may wish to take breakfast, refreshments or a late lunch in the present climate. I fully respect everyone’s wishes on this matter. I do however expect everyone to be at Ripley Castle by 8.50 a.m. at the latest for the daily brief.

Ripley Castle: Access and Facilities

For access to Ripely Castle drive through the main arched entrance and park. There will be someone to meet you. Any vehicles which are left all day must be parked near the Castle Wall outside the main entrance.

Disabled toilets and a boot wash are also available.

Should you wish to exercise your dog(s), please do not use the Castle grounds. Walk back through the arched entrance, turn right and after 150 yards you will find an ideal area.

Hotels and Restaurants

Unfortunately due to the pandemic a number of hotels and restaurants have either closed down or have not yet reopened. A new list is available from Lynda info@ripleycastleshoot.co.uk. Please note that this list and our website are being updated as and when hotels re-open. As an increased number of people now wish to holiday in our region, hotels are booking up, even into the Winter.

Available Days

I would like to thank everyone who has booked and paid for their shoot days on the due dates. As always, your support is really appreciated.

I understand that quite a number of you have not booked due to concerns regarding safety from the virus. Nothing today can be guaranteed; however each day is carefully thought through with the safety of guns and guests a main priority.

You will see from the attached list of available days there is an excellent variety of days still available and do hope there is something to suit you.

I am always available to discuss the Shoot and would welcome your call

2020-2021: Newsletter No. 4

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 15:35:37 GMT

Newsletter No. 4 June 2020

June 2020

NEWSLETTER No. 4 : 2020–2021 SEASON

Over the last few weeks the majority of us have been living with and abiding by various new “rules” enforced by our Government.

The problem is that some of our wonderful Politicians and their Advisors cannot seem to decide which of these rules they wish to abide by!

So how do the current rules affect our new shooting season.

The New Season

The following headlines appeared in The Shooting Times on Wednesday 3rd June 2020

“Shooting Back on as Covid Restrictions Ease”.

It continues “In a welcome announcement the Government confirmed that shooters in England can now return to the field to enjoy their sport again”. It states, “The Government has given an unequivocal green light to the return of shooting in England”.

This editorial is somewhat misleading. Reading through the lines it would seem that the Sports Minister and DEFRA Minister have had to admit that under the present rules on outside activities, shooting can recommence.

Horse Racing has recommenced behind closed doors but sadly no mention of Hunting at this time.

As the start of our season is now three months away and we all know so much can happen in this time. It is too soon to know precisely what restrictions will remain in place once we start.

This editorial is partly correct but we are limited at present to no more than six people participating in one outside activity. I understand this advice is due to change on 15th June. Sadly this rule seems to have been lost by those attending mass rallies in London and other Cities over this weekend!! I do hope we are not living in a society of one rule for one and another rule for the others.

As law abiding citizens, we must give it time and wait and see how things progress. This Shooting Times Editorial, although misleading is certainly a step in the right direction. We must trust and believe what our Politicians say, if this is now at all possible!!

Our Birds

The rearing fields at Ripley Castle and Mountgarret are now full of pheasant and partridge chicks. Our oldest are now five weeks, so will be very mature by the start of the season. Other than the usual problem of hot days and cold nights, everything is progressing well and I have made sure we will have more than enough birds available for our new season.

Game Cover

As you can imagine with May being the driest May for over 150 years, I was very concerned that we may not have any Game Cover this season. I should have remembered we are in England and we always have some rain. It has now arrived and everything is growing well.

Catering and Hospitality

I am still working on our catering and hospitality plans but until we know what actual restrictions will be in place once this season starts, it is too early to give firm details. For example if the 2 metre distancing rule were to be reduced to 1 metre, which I understand is under consideration, it would make a significant difference.

What is certain is that we will have more than enough to talk about over lunch and drinks breaks, albeit at a distance!

I can assure everyone that you will not go away hungry at the end of the day. You never have done in the past!

Travel

I appreciate it is now the time of year to either be planning or departing on a summer holiday. However as of today it seems near enough impossible to plan an overseas holiday due to the 14 day quarantine period which was imposed from Monday 8th June on everyone entering the UK.

This quarantine, which seems to have started in chaos, is now very much in question. As well as strong opposition from many Politicians, the travel and airline industries including British Airways and Ryanair. There may be a legal challenge against this legislation under the heading “Quash Quarantine”. Even if it does proceed for a while it may only be for June and early July which is well before the start of our season. So it should not affect our overseas guns who will be fine. Otherwise we may no longer have an airline or travel industry.

Accommodation

In all this madness if you would like to have a dose of North Yorkshire sanity and fresh air now is the time to consider this.

The Boar’s Head will definitely be offering accommodation in some form to all our guns throughout the season. They also plan to offer accommodation even on an Airbnb basis from July onwards. I understand pubs and restaurants with gardens may open from 20th June.

For bookings and full details please contact Mike Gosling mgosling@ripleycastle.co.uk

No-one really knows what the new “normal” will be with regard to accommodation and restaurants but we must be positive and hope common sense will prevail on the part of our Politicians. I trust this is not a forlorn hope!

Available Days

When the whole Pandemic started, I decided I would try at all costs to keep our team of six keepers and daily staff together. After one month of Furlough Leave, they have all been working hard on the rearing fields and getting release pens ready for our birds.

As you can appreciate my decision to release 25% less birds with less days, but still keep our team together, has put pressure on shoot finances.

On return from Furlough Leave all our full time staff agreed to take a pay cut for the remainder of the season. This and other cost cutting measures have been put in place without affecting the quality of each day.

The shoot days are moving well and I do thank everyone who has made a booking and also paid their due shoot fees. Providing I can sell all the reduced number of days planned everything will be fine.

I am pleased to attach a list of available days. There are plenty to choose from and I do hope you will find something of interest.

As always, I am available to discuss the new season and look forward to hearing from you.

Newsletter No. 3 2020-2021 Season

Wed, 06 May 2020 14:36:09 GMT

Newsletter No. 3

May 2020

REVISED NEWSLETTER No. 3 : 2020–2021 SEASON

I initially sent Newsletter No. 3 to everyone who had booked days in our new 2020-2021 Season. However everything has moved so fast that no sooner had I sent this out that it became very much out of date!

So here is my Revised Newsletter No. 3 for our 2020-2021 Season.

Being in the so called vulnerable category of over 70 and overweight! I have spent the last few weeks in lockdown at home overdosing on Sky News, which is not good for anyone!!

After seven very long weeks in lockdown, it looks like we have turned the first corner in the fight against Covid-19.

On 11th May, Boris issued details of his three stage plan to move out of lockdown. This is detailed in a 50 page report. Having read this, some clarification is required but overall it is a positive step forward. It should work providing everyone behaves and stays within the rules laid down. It would be such a disaster if all this pain and suffering over the last seven weeks were lost.

What is clear is that our Government wants to get everyone back to work but in a planned orderly manner!

It is also clear from this report that outside activities where social distancing is possible can restart quite quickly. In fact we can start fishing and playing golf again this week! With these activities being permitted surely clay shooting should also be permitted?

Country Sports are just that. We are outside in the fresh air and not packed together in a stadium or in large groups outside. We also do not have any spectators. Driven game shooting by its nature is an activity which exercises “Social Distancing”, which is certainly not a problem. We can soon become used to standing apart from each other. In fact a number of people seem to prefer this!!

Travelling around the Shoot in your own vehicle is also not a problem as with care all our roads and tracks are suitable for both two and four wheeled drive vehicles.

Actual hospitality on the day requires some imaginative thinking and I am working on this with our caterers.

With regard to accommodation. should we find that our regular hotels are unfortunately still in lockdown once the season starts. There are a number of Airbnb’s in the locality of the Shoot.

If hotel accommodation were to look like being a problem, I will produce a list of local Airbnb’s.

When this pandemic originally struck, I considered the option of not fielding our Shoot in the new season. If I had done this it may well have been the end of our Shoot as it would have been necessary to make most of our staff redundant. After 29 years of running the Shoot this is something I just could not accept. For me it is more important to keep our team together. In order to achieve this, initially for April everyone was put on Furlough Leave offered under the Government Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. From 1st May all staff returned to full time work on our rearing fields.

A number of other Shoots like ourselves were initially hesitant about the season.

I decided to run a season approximately 30% smaller than our 2019-2020 Season. The following were the encouraging results of a recent survey carried out by British Game Alliance on 350 of their Members.

70% are shooting

20% are unsure of shooting

10% are not shooting

75% of those shooting are doing so on a reduced programme with 25% doing a full programme.

35% average reduction in numbers of birds released

The days in our new slimmed down 2020-2021 Season are planned around the bookings already received. There are also a number of additional days to assist Members whom I have requested to move some of their dates. Luckily, there are not too many of these and there are plenty of alternatives to choose from.

I am writing to everyone who has booked days together with a copy of their confirmation.

I have reconsidered our position with regard to poults and we are now rearing the majority of our birds from day old chicks on our two rearing fields.

We now have our first chicks on the rearing fields to cover some of the days I have planned. However should more days be required it is still possible to source more birds but I would need to know quite soon. So our final number of days this season will depend on demand.

I do appreciate it is somewhat early for many of you to decide your days this season. I would however welcome and indication of your plans to join us and the number of days you hope to book.

I would also like to thank everyone who has made a booking in the new season and particularly those of you who have paid part and in some cases all your shoot fees, this is very much appreciated.

Our revised season is somewhat different to what I had originally planned.

At Ripley Castle, Hob Green and Cayton we will field a reduced number of days which will be made up mostly of main drives. The average target bag will be similar to previous seasons.

At Mountgarret we will be fielding a season with slightly smaller overall bags.

The Nidd Beat of Mountgarret Estate, which I know well as I have leased it for 29 years, has in past seasons been shot as part of the Ripley Castle Shoot. For this season it will be run as part of the Mountgarret Shoot. Nidd offers a number of drives producing from 25 to 50 quite challenging birds which are ideal for 150 to 200 bird days.

In the present financial climate no doubt a number of shooting budgets may be affected so I hope these smaller bags will prove popular.

Boundary Days

Our 150 bird days are referred to as Boundary Days which is misleading as they are most certainly not all on the boundaries. There are still a few Boundary Days at Ripley Castle but the main will be included in the Mountgarret Shoot Calendar. These days will be shot between drives on Mountgarret and Nidd.

The only difference between a Boundary Day and other shoot days, other than the size of bag, are our catering arrangements which are the same for both Ripley Castle and Mountgarret.

Ripley Castle Boundary Days will start in the Shoot Yard off Birthwaite Lane, Ripley HG3 3JQ as in the past.

However Mountgarret Boundary Days will now use the facilities of our Shoot Lodge on Mountgarret Estate, next to Stainley Hall Farm, South Stainley HG3 3NE. Not in the Keepers Cabin in the Shoot Yard at Low Raikes as in the past.

As in previous seasons each Boundary Day will start with tea/coffee but no breakfast. We will provide a snack lunch of soup and pies. You may also wish to bring a packed lunch but I feel this may not be necessary.

The day will end with tea/coffee. There will be drinks served throughout the day as in the past.

It is said “What goes around comes around”. These days are just as our Nidd Shoot was 29 years ago when we all enjoyed some small but fabulous days. It brings back some great memories.

What Kind of a Season Can We Expect This Year?

This is the question we are all asking.

As described earlier, driven game shooting is very much an outside activity involving only a few people at any one time. Social distancing is certainly not a problem.

Our season is now over four months away and what is apparent is that 70% of Shoots are rearing/releasing birds and planning a season. I have also spoken to the game farmers I deal with. After a slow start they are all now very busy with substantial orders being placed. It seems pheasants are plentiful but partridge may be in short supply. I do however have sufficient partridge for what we require.

I see no reason why we will not be able to run our season. As always, our Shoot Days may be days out in our countryside with a few problems but nothing we cannot cope with.

As last season David Cockshott will take overall charge as Head Keeper with Matthew Pillar at Ripley Castle and Callum McIntosh at Mountgarret, together with Robert, Dan and Ben.

I do feel we all now deserve a few days of fresh North Yorkshire air and can assure everyone that The Ripley Castle and Mountgarret Shoots will be doing everything possible to produce some challenging birds and enjoyable days.

Anything is possible with planning and positive thinking and no doubt our new season will be full of its usual surprises.

What Happens If A Day Is Cancelled Due To Coronavirus?

Until we can see how the post lockdown period evolves, I cannot give a definitive answer.

However I can confirm that if a day is cancelled, as we are now only fielding 3 days each week at Ripley Castle, 2 days on Mountgarret and 1 day at Nidd. There are plenty of opportunities to offer alternative dates later in the season. There are also guns available on other days offered in our list of dates which are also available for guns to move to.

I also understand under GunsOnPegs Triple Barrell Shoot Insurance, if you are unwell for any reason or have a bereavement and are unable to shoot, you are covered. I do suggest you check the cover before taking out the insurance.

Contact: https://www.gunsonpegs.com/insurance or telephone 0207 491 1363 for a quotation.

available Dates

During the last few weeks I have received a number of calls from existing and potentially new Members. All are keen to shoot and I am pleased to attach a revised list of available dates.

I do hope there is something of interest to you.

Charitable Donations

One casualty of these challenging times are Charities and Worthwhile Causes.

Our 2019-2020 Season may seem a long time ago. However I would like to remind you of your generosity over the season. The following was raised from our daily sweep and guest lunches plus a few fines and competitions at our Annual Dinner. These were paid out over the season and in February 2020.

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) £6,000

The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust £1,000

Songbird Survival Trust £250

PPR Foundation: Pam Roberts Brain Tumour Research Charity £1,000

The Country Food Trust £1,000

The Tanfield Grouse Charity Clay Day £600

Yorkshire Charity Clay Days £2,750

Princes Trust: Richard Jackson’s Charity Bonfire £420

Dales Flood Relief Fund £200

Ripley Village: New Children’s Playground £1,000

Nidd Parish Church £270

British Game Alliance (BGA) £16,095

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The total amount raised was a massive £30,585

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I do thank you for your support for these Charities and Worthwhile Causes. I hope we can achieve similar results in the new season. I know we will do our very best.

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To quote a much used cliché: “We are all in this together” and in our case we certainly are!

Keep well and stay safe.

Newsletter No. 1: 2020-2021

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 13:25:19 GMT

Newsletter No.1: 2020-2021 Season

March 2020

NEWSLETTER No. 1 : 2020–2021 SEASON

I have much to tell you all about our Shoot’s progress: however I feel there are more important issues facing our sport, which everyone should be aware of.

The Future of Game Shooting, The Progress of the British Game Alliance and The Future of Lead Shot

During the 50 years I have been involved with game shooting which includes the last 29 years running shoots. The sport of game shooting which we all love and cherish has never before faced so many challenges and possible unwelcome changes ahead.

This is best described in the following extracts from a letter issued by Sam Adams, Shoot Account Manager of the British Game Alliance:

This follows a recent symposium attended by Sporting Agents and Shoot Managers, which as it was out of North Yorkshire, I was unable to attend! This also coincides with the establishment of the BGA 3 years ago.

With almost 50 leading delegates from all over the UK there were presentations from Ex MP and Minister Nick Herbert, the new Chairman of the Countryside Alliance, The British Game Alliance and Lead Working Group with representatives of BASC and GWCT also in attendance, it was made very clear that any inclinations that we may have that “everything’s fine because Boris got in” is completely untrue.

It was no better put than:

“…if shooting does not full embrace a self-regulated assurance scheme very soon, the current Government WILL implement statutory measures, the details of which will be dictated by individuals and bodies that will not necessarily understand, or be interested in our sport, community or industry!

No ifs or buts.

At the end of the meeting it was unanimously agreed all estates and shoots should be strongly encouraged to act in promoting their shooting by joining the British Game Alliance.

This will not only ensure that standards of best practice are being implemented across all shoots and sporting estates but provide a demonstration of unity to politicians and NGO’S alike, that we can manage and thereafter operate under a self-regulated scheme.

Each and every other sector of food production and farming in the UK has an Assurance Scheme. The game sector has been left wanting for years – we now have one – and it is not onerous or challenging. It certainly is not prohibitively expensive and to not participate can only be seen as damaging our standing in the eyes of the Government and legislative bodies.

With over 650 estates already supporting the BGA it has achieved immense success since its formation – many of which have benefitted the whole industry immeasurably.

Along with the major shooting organisations (BASC, CA & GWCT) which have now agreed to sit on the BGA board. BGA will be educating guns and the wider shooting community on the importance of the BGA and why it’s important to buy shooting from shoots who are members.

The British Game Alliance (BGA): The First 24 Months by Dylan Williams

The British Game Alliance has arguably achieved the most significant developments in the perception of British Game in 50 years.

It has created and funded the first ever Assurance Scheme for game meat that can demonstrate best practice to both participants of shooting and buyers of the resultant game meat.

The achievements have been materially significant to politicians of all parties and welcomed by Ministers and supported by Government Departments.

Perhaps its greatest success had been that the BGA has provided a platform for the most cohesive relationship between all the field sports organisations that many believe has been the best ever enjoyed.

At no point in modern day shooting have any individuals, organisation or commercial entities managed to or even attempted on such a scale, to get game meat Assured. This scheme is now recognised by buyers of multi nationals and food outlets, who can now buy game with real confidence in the product.

When reflecting on the 2017-2018 season, when estates were paying up to £1 a bird for them to be collected, with accusations of unsavoury disposal methods – it is extremely rewarding for the industry and all those within, that for 2020-2021 season all estates should look to be paid for their game, with some getting significant premiums if they are BGA Assured Suppliers.

The BGA ethos throughout, has been to provide “added value” to game – much of which was previously discarded, as the market required AAA quality birds with little or no bruising. The BGA created products that eliminate waste almost entirely, but more significant is the fact that processors can now have forward orders, lay down birds, pay a market price to estates and effectively not have to “dump” birds into Europe.

Game historically was massively undersold – even thigh meat – making BGA assured Game a “go to choice” for retailers and end users.

The small committed team at the BGA, under extremely challenging situations in the last 24 months, have achieved a level of success previously only dreamt of and to some felt never achievable.

To identify as few of the more significant successes:

· Compass and Sodexho – 2 of the largest catering companies in the World are now offering game and game products to their clients, from stadiums to universities to large corporations.

· Fairfax Meadow (The United Kingdom’s largest Catering Butcher) has already trebled game sales in year one.

· Sutherland (Hong Kong) have committed to 250,000 head of game for retail and food service following a BGS funded Trade Mission.

· Delaware North have committed to BGA and will be using BGA game products across their venues (Wembley Stadium etc.).

· Samworth Brothers, a £1billion UK food manufacturer has partnered with the BGA and has created a range of game Sku’s for food service, with a budgeted £2m of game sales in year 1. They are also developing a dedicated Asian range in addition to a “food to go” concept for retail and forecourt business using game.

· DB Foods supply 1,600 butchers’ shops and use game in their own Gusto boxed foods business and Muscle Foods brands.

· Marks and Spencer have agreed to sign to the BGA assure scheme for next season and will be presenting BGA game products.

· Waitrose will be signing to use BGA assured for next season and presenting NPD.

It is felt that all organisations, businesses and game shooting participants should be clearly informed of these achievements by the BGA, as the scenarios that could have occurred without its efforts, would certainly have ensured a change in practices historically carried out and indeed possibly to shooting as we know it today.

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Ripley Castle and Mountgarret Shoots have been Members and supported BGA since its inception only 3 years ago. A number of our recording procedures were used as part of the template for its audit system.

Although significant success has been made in promoting sales of game meat here in the UK and abroad. This is only half the story of BGA’s success. For our industry to survive we must be prepared to follow The Code of Good Shooting Practice. The BGA independent audit is so important in showing we are able to self-regulate.

It is certainly not onerous and does help with the overall management of our Shoots. One of the main points of discussion which may well affect the survival of Game Shooting as we know it today, are bag sizes. I feel what is acceptable is up to the individual gun. I am sure we have our own opinion on this which I look forward to discussing over our shoot lunches.

For interest; in the new season Ripley Castle and Mountgarret Shoots will be fielding 149 days. Our target bags range from 150 to 400 birds with an average target bag for the season of 240 birds. As you are all aware it costs roughly the same to field a 150 bird as it does a 400 bird day. So in order to be able to field 150 and 200 bird days we need to field 350 and 400 bird days. I feel it is very important to field smaller bag days. My personal preference is 250 to 300. If all Shoots aimed at this level of bag size, we would not be faced with the surplus of game we have today.

We have an established market for our game and last season 80% of our birds entered the food chain via the Ripley Castle Kitchen and an established local Game Processor. The balance, mainly due to damage were either crowned or incinerated. We did actually receive some payment!

Finally there is one way every gun can help to support BGA. When you book a day, one question to ask is if the Shoot is a Member of the BGA. If a Member you have the assurance of a Shoot which has been independently audited to a Code of Good Shooting Standards. Knowing that the birds you are shooting have been reared correctly and most importantly free from antibiotics when shot and entering the food chain.

If a shoot is not a member of BGA, the question should be asked why not?

For more information on British Game Alliance please contact Sam Adams:

E: sam@britishgamealliance.co.uk Tel: 0203 727 5204

New CEO at BGA

BGA announced the appointment of Liam Stokes as their new Chief Executive Officer. Liam has dedicated his career to the countryside, most recently stepping up to the role of Senior Leader for Farming Sector Policy at DEFRA, where he has worked at the heart of future food and farming policy. Liam has spent the last year briefing Ministers and liaising with departments across the Government as his teams developed strategy, policy and legislation for the farming sectors as we prepare to exit the EU.

Prior to joining DEFRA, Liam was Head of Campaigns at the Countryside Alliance for over three years, where he helped lay the foundations for the British Game Alliance’s shoot assurance scheme. Liam has also worked for the GWCT in their Upland Research department and spent over 6 years at Lackham College running the Game and Conservation department and running the Lackham Shoot, giving him a huge breadth of shooting knowledge. He has served as a member of BASC’s England Committee, given evidence on the value of game shooting to Parliamentary Select Committees and developed a Foundation Degree programme in Game and Wildlife Management with the Royal Agricultural University.

Liam will be tasked with leading the BGA into the next phase of development, generating further new markets for game in the UK and overseas and using his background in politics, government and shoot management to communicate the value of a self-regulating shooting sector.

This announcement follows the recent news of Tom Adams’ departure from the organisation at the end of March 2020, to pursue new challenges in the commercial world. Tom founded the BGA in 2018 and has made enormous progress for the future of the shooting industry by securing new markets around the UK and overseas

The Future of Lead Shot

You will no doubt have read in shooting publications that in a joint statement on 24th February 2020 from GWCT, BGA, BASC, CA, CLA, MA, NGO, SLE and SACS a proposal to end the use of both lead and single use plastic in ammunition used by those taking all live quarry with shotguns within five years.

In a response on 28th February 2020 by cartridge manufactures, Ely Hawk, Gamebore, Hull Cartridge and Lyalvale that they feel this timeline is impossible to achieve.

This has been a subject of discussion for a number of years. As a Shoot organiser we can only use what is commercially available. At present we use lead shot with fibre wads. Steel shot is available but only available with plastic wads. So what is the best or worse of the two evils. If steel shot cartridges were readily available with degradable wads this would be the next best thing to lead.

As there will be much debate in the next few months/years on this subject, I can only confirm our position for anyone shooting over land under the control of Ripley Sporting. Whilst it is within the law, we will continue to use lead shot with fibre wads. Steel shot with plastic wads is not permitted. This is due to the amount of livestock and deer on the land as well as the unacceptable sight of plastic wads over the countryside.

When we shoot a dedicated duck drive the Shoot provides each gun with a complimentary box of 25 Bismuth Gamebore No. 4 cartridges with fibre wads.

Although we may well be required to accept these changes as so called progress, I still have my doubts.

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I think this is enough for one Newsletter.

I have much to tell you about how our last season ended and my plans for the new season. This must wait until next month.

Frank Boddy