Shooting Etiquette & Safety

Guide to a driven shoot day.

Etiquette and safety.

Shooting is steeped in etiquette, much of it related to safety in one way or another. Remember when shooting that you want to be asked back again. Modesty and humility in the field, particularly if you are a newcomer, will serve you well. If you have not shot on a driven day before then it is essential that someone, an experienced shot or an instructor, should stand with you on the day. This is the best way to learn and will insure that you don’t commit any etiquette or safety faux pas and maximize you chances of a repeat invite. If in doubt with safety always err on the side of caution – remember:

You may kill or you may miss

But at all times think this:

“All the pheasants ever bred

Won’t repay for one man dead.”

If you are familiar with the practices and etiquette involved you will undoubtedly enjoy your day more. Consider referring to John King’s – Game Shooting From Scratch.

Below is a basic outline of a typical day’s Driven Shooting.

·         Arrival – be on time, shoot days rely on timing.

·         Briefing – all shoot days will start with a briefing outlining how the day will run – how many drives, how guns are numbered etc. There will also be a safety talk.

·         The draw – Guns draw for their peg numbers. These will normally change each drive i.e. moving up two or four.

·         Depart - by foot or vehicle to the first Drive.

·         Drive 1 - after which move by foot or vehicle to Drive 2

·         Drive 2 - followed often by a mid morning refreshment break

·         Drive 3

·         Lunch –on more formal days this will be catered or you may be required to bring your own sandwiches, always worth asking in advance!

·       Drive 4, Drive 5 and possibly 6 after lunch

·        Day’s end.

(Some shoots operate differently and may have a different amount of drives or will break in different places. Some shoot ‘straight through’ which means that they do not break for lunch but rather have a late lunch at about 4 – 5pm after all of the drives).