Bird Shooting in Scotland
Scotland offers four quarry species to the visiting gun: red grouse, partridge, pheasant and woodcock. The shooting year opens on the Twelfth of August with grouse on the high heather moors, partridge follows in September, pheasant from October, and woodcock through the winter when birds arrive from Scandinavia. Hendry, Ramsay & Waters arrange driven and walked-up days across Scotland for sporting clients, at estates we know personally and shoot on ourselves.
What You Can Shoot, and When
| Scotland | Date From | Date To |
| Grouse | 12th August | 10th December |
| Partridge | 1st September | 31st January |
| Woodcock | 1st September | 31st January |
| Pheasant | 1st October | 1st February |
| (woodcock are normally shot after or during the first full moon in November) | ||
Each quarry has its own page giving the ground, the style of day and what to expect. The dates above are the Scottish seasons; sporting practice on any given estate may be shorter, and the best days sit well inside the season rather than at its edges.
Driven Days
On a driven day the birds are moved towards a line of standing guns by a team of beaters working the drives in sequence. The guns are placed at numbered pegs and draw for position, moving up the line between drives so that everyone shares the best of the day. Grouse are driven over butts cut into the heather and come low, fast and downwind, which is why driven grouse is held to be the most demanding shooting in the world. Driven pheasant and partridge are presented from woodland and hillside, the birds curling high overhead.
A driven day is a formal, sociable affair: a team of eight guns, a loader if you wish, elevenses in the field and lunch taken together. It suits clients who want the classic Scottish shooting day and the company that goes with it.
Walked-Up Days
Walked-up shooting is the older and quieter form. A small party walks the ground in line, usually with dogs working ahead, and birds are shot as they rise. Over grouse this means walking the heather with pointers or setters; over partridge and pheasant it means working the hedgerows, roots and rough ground.
The bag is smaller than on a driven day and the shooting is less predictable, which is exactly its appeal. It asks more of the gun and of the legs, it puts you into the hill rather than on it, and it is the better choice for a party of two or three rather than a full team.
Planning a Trip from Overseas
Most of our overseas clients travel from the United States, and the practical questions are always the same ones. Fly into Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen depending on where the shooting is; Scotland is small enough that the ground is rarely more than a few hours from the airport. Firearms can be brought in under a visitor permit, which we arrange, or guns can be hired locally — many clients prefer to hire rather than travel with their own.
Timing matters more than anything else. August and September put you on the grouse moor with the heather in flower; October and November give you driven pheasant and partridge with the woods turning; the winter months are the time for woodcock. Days are arranged individually for each party, and we will tell you plainly which weeks are worth travelling for and which are not.
A trip is normally built around three or four shooting days with accommodation nearby, and there is enough in Scotland besides the shooting to bring a non-shooting partner along.
Enquire
Tell us what you would like to shoot, roughly when, and how many guns are in your party, and we will come back with what is available and what it involves. We arrange days for sporting clients from all over the world and have done so for more than thirty years.
