Dear All,

First of all, thank you for your interest in, and support of our shoot over the past couple of seasons, which have seen our sport struggle with human and avian pandemics followed by rampant inflation and a cost of living crisis.

These difficulties notwithstanding, I’m pleased to say that our shoot has survived and will once again offer our usual range of shooting formats for the forthcoming 2024/25 season.

This newsletter was prompted by the growing suspicion that our driven shooters know little about our accompanied rough shooting format, our rough shooters know little about our driven format, and both of these groups know next to nothing about our DIY pigeon and vermin season ticket.

DIY Pigeon and Vermin Season Ticket

Since the latter is the least understood of our shooting formats, that’s where I’ll begin. For those of our Guns who want to avoid getting too rusty over the summer, may I introduce our DIY pigeon and vermin season ticket. This allows you to visit the Estate on any or all days between 2nd February and 30th September 2024 to shoot pigeons by decoying, flightlining and roost shooting, as well as taking crows, squirrels and rabbits. For the first time, we will shortly set up a WhatsApp group to facilitate communications among everybody involved in the control of vermin on the Estate.

Whenever I have asked Guns to identify the single stand-out benefit of a season ticket, many have referred to the amazing spiritual freedom of knowing that they have a standing invitation to walk and shoot on 2000 acres of the Weald throughout the spring and summer. What that means in practice is that season ticket holders can turn up whenever they like during daylight hours, seven days a week, and simply check in with a text message giving name and vehicle registration number. The cost of a season ticket for the 2024 close season is £250 + VAT, or Guns can buy day tickets for £60 + VAT.

Driven Shoots

Moving on to our driven format, this has remained substantially the same over many years, with the Estate hosting 80-bird driven days for up to ten Guns during the first three months of the season. We call them ‘Strangers’ Days’ because we sell individual pegs on these days; but every year, the vast majority of driven Guns are known to us, and many are known to each other by dint of supporting the shoot over many years. For this reason, our driven shooting feels a lot like a syndicate shoot to which newcomers are welcome.

The basic format of a driven day is as follows. Guns turn up at 8.45am and are greeted with tea and coffee. There is then a team and safety talk at 9.00am before setting off, with Guns aboard our 1968 Unimog gun bus. After two drives canapes are served accompanied by sloe gin, which is followed by two more drives before lunch is taken in our magnificent cross-wing hall house. Guns bring their own field lunch, and we serve claret and coffee to finish. There are then two further drives before tea, coffee and cake are served to end the day. We have recently released Saturday dates for the forthcoming season, and full availability can be found now in Morghew’s entry on the GunsOnPegs website. The cost per peg on a driven day is £525 + VAT, and we still have availability in October, November and December.

Walked-Up and Rough Shooting

And finally, our accompanied walked-up and rough shooting format. It’s now generally accepted that there has been an explosion of interest in rough shooting recently, with Guns valuing its affordability and authenticity, and many observing that this is where their shooting careers started. In the main, rough shooting is available on Mondays to Fridays throughout the season, and on a handful of Saturdays. We sell individual pegs and aim to put together teams of up to seven, who go out with a keeper and at least two assistants with dogs. Guns have an allowance of four pheasants or reared duck each, plus snipe and wild ducks shot on the Estate’s two reservoirs and passing pigeons and crows. The cost is £242 + VAT on weekdays and £268+ VAT on Saturdays. Once again, full availability of our rough shooting dates will be loaded onto our GunsOnPegs entry not later than the end of February.

There you are. I hope this has been useful. If you have any questions, or would like to join us for any of the above shooting formats, please feel free to email me at shoot@morghew.com

Thanks for your time.

With best wishes,

Tom Lewis
shoot@morghew.com