Shoot Day Information

On all our days we will start with a full breakfast at 8.30 a.m. in our Shoot Lodge on the Mountgarret Estate. A late afternoon lunch at around 3.00 p.m. will also be served in our Shoot Lodge. There are drinks breaks throughout the day with soup and pies at midday. All meals and refreshments are included in the shoot fee, any non shooting guests are requested to make a donation towards our Charity Fund. 

The majority of our days are sold by the gun per day to individual guns or small parties making up the team.  

We field 9 guns each day with target bags of 200, 250, 300 and 350 birds. We also offer our new 6 gun days with 150 and 175 birds. 

Exclusive Days for Full Teams or Roving Syndicates. The dates can be chosen from the list of available dates. However we can be flexible if the date you require is not on the list. Any day on the list where no guns have been taken can become and Exclusive Day. The actual bag chosen can be to suit the host. The minimum bag for an Exclusive Day is 250 birds and can be up to 350 birds. If your team is dining in the evening, as an alternative to a full lunch, Afternoon Tea can be arranged in the Shoot Lodge.

A target bag of 175 birds fielding 10 guns. Full hospitality with breakfast, lunch and all refreshments are included. We shoot whatever is available, maybe over, maybe below the bag. Some drives may be cock pheasants only. No guarantee or refunds given.

We always aim to achieve approximately 10% over our target bag each day. Last season we achieved an overall excess of 7% over the combined target bags.

Our days are made up of pheasant and French partridge with an odd English partridge and duck. 

September: French partridge with a few English partridge and duck .

Up to Mid-October: 70% French partridge, 30% pheasant with a few English partridge and duck.

Mid-October Onwards: These days are made up of approximately 55% pheasant and 45% French partridge but these percentages can vary. Plus a few English partridge and duck.

On Mountgarret we have a small lake which attracts wild duck and geese. It they are there it will be shot.

Mark Eddon the Sporting Leaseholder at Ripley Castle has kindly agreed we are able to shoot duck and geese on the Top Lake on eight occasions during the season. The majority of these visits will be on our 350 bird days. Guns will receive non lead cartridges with the compliments of the Shoot. 

In principle no overages will be charged, however overages may, I stress may, be charged on Exclusive Days taken by a Roving Syndicate or Corporate Days if agreed prior to the shoot day. I much prefer to agree the target bag before the day in order to avoid any misunderstanding. 

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 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. 

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. 

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. 

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 the Certificate. 

We can arrange this for you but please allow a minimum of 8 weeks for our local Police to process. 

It is important to check that the point of entry in the UK will permit shotguns. Manchester Airport will not permit entry for shotguns. 

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. 

There will always be adequate parking to leave your car all day and everyone is welcome to bring their own four wheeled drive vehicle, there is no restriction to the number on the day, however I prefer no-one to be on their own, unless this is necessary for private phone calls etc. If you travel to the Shoot by car, there is normally space available in the other guns vehicles for you to travel with them. However please bear in mind that not everyone wishes to give a wet muddy dog a lift in their vehicle. 

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 Mountgarret Shoot has this level of cover, however in the event of a claim for an accident or injury caused by a Shoot Member or his/her guest, the first port of call will be on the persons own insurance. 

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.

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 cover. 

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 The Team. Tel: 0207 491 1363.

E-Mail: theteam@itapgroup.com     Website: www.itapgroup.com/insurance

Following your booking a confirmation will be sent (by post and/or e-mail) detailing your day(s), with the day, date, location, type of day, target bag, meeting place, breakfast and luncheon arrangements, start and finish times and shoot fee. A VAT invoice will accompany your confirmation. Please do not send any payment until you receive an invoice. Upon the issue of such confirmation your booking will be binding and you will be deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions, which are also detailed on this website.

If you wish to cancel a gun you have already booked, providing a minimum of 30 days’ notice is given, the gun may be cancelled and either another date chosen or a full refund given. This applies to bookings of up to two guns on any one day. Should you wish to cancel three guns or more on any one day, a refund will only be given at our absolute discretion and subject to us being able to re-sell the cancelled guns (which may be possible depending on the time of the season and provided sufficient notice is given). 

When a booking is made out of the 30 day cancellation period i.e. with less than 30 days remaining before the shoot day, should you find it is necessary to cancel the day the full shoot fee is due (and if already paid, no refund will be given) or you can send a safe replacement gun to shoot your peg. Should you be unable to send someone in your place, we will try and sell your gun at a discount on your behalf.

Shoot fees of £2,000 or more:

30% due 1st February 40% due 1st May 30% due 1st August 

Shoot fees of less than £2,000: 50% due 1st February and 50% due 1st August 

For bookings made after 1st August, payment of the whole fee is due within fourteen days of our issue of your booking confirmation and your invoice. We reserve the right to release the booking to a third party if payment is not made in full within 14 days of the due date. 

VAT is added to all Shoot Fees with a VAT invoice issued prior to the due date. 

Payment can be made by cheque, payable to Ripley Sporting or direct into our bank. Bank details are printed on the invoice. We do not take credit card payments.