How to ensure your Guns have a field day

From high birds to hot sausage rolls and modest bags to a friendly host, George Browne discovers what paying guests really want

- George Browne

I have been shooting since I was 11, but it is only since August 2019, when I began working as editor of Guns on Pegs, that I’ve really started to get a feel for how the shooting community actually thinks. I’ve had some of my assumptions challenged and I’m often surprised at the diversity and strength of opinion, even on seemingly innocuous topics.

I confess that before it was my job to think about these things, I never considered what it is that makes people want to go out shooting, or what they might want from a day. I am, however, learning quickly, in part because Guns are never shy of voicing their opinions on social media and in our inbox, but also because my role gives me a unique perspective.

With more than a decade’s worth of data generated by our 120,000plus members and several years of Game Shooting Census data at my fingertips, I can build a fascinating picture of what really matters to the shooting community.

Bag sizes are a perennial talking point. You might think that with my job I now flit around the country from fancy shoot to fancy shoot, accounting for scores of birds, but the reality is that I rarely shoot on days with bags of more than 200. The majority of my shooting takes place on our family shoot, where a bag of 50 is a red-letter day. The truth is that the size of the bag has almost no impact on my enjoyment of the day.

On our family shoot, it is not uncommon to be a spectator on at least one drive. I can derive great pleasure from watching our guests and my brothers shooting well, and even more if they shoot badly. For me, shooting is about the day ‘in the round’: the company, being in the countryside, the badinage and the sense of belonging. Having a few birds in the game cart at the end of the day is a bonus.