Releasing game birds to then blast them out of the sky is actually quite hard to justify as a humane sport. Deer need to be culled as they are a prey species with no viable predators and they breed accordingly. Pigeon numbers are increasing at an alarming rate as game shoots won't allow people to shoot them for fear of disturbing the game birds. The gas guns and bangers merely move the problem elsewhere without addressing it. Pigeons (and rabbits) can drastically affect human food production. I believe that deer and vermin shooters have a future but game shooters days are numbered. Pheasants and partridge don't really need to be shot. I do shoot them for sport, but I also have to accept the reality of the situation..
MS
I do enjoy the odd 150 plus bird day each year, but as you say, blasting away at pheasants being launched over you is a tough one to justify as sport. Come the day that the raving PC liberals take over we might find it a tough argument to win. When you get into the city boys and their 500 bird corporate days it becomes even more difficult, if not impossible.
I'm not saying there is not a good economic argument for it, direct jobs, indirect jobs in the industry, local hotels/restaurants etc., but we are an easy target for the PC brigade.
The Italians have a good model that I like. Now you can say lots about how they shoot, and I have been scared by a few on more than one occasion, but they do much more walked up shooting with their dogs. And it is all about working the dog. They take huge pride in them. A good day might be 5 birds to your own gun, but your own dog has flushed or pointed all of them.
They pay to be part of a club which has a few hundred hectares, releases birds and keeper it well - very much like a golf club or any other sports club. You buy the right to take say 30 birds a year and go as often as you like during the season until your bag is reached. Most go with mates, groups of 3 or 4, most with their own dogs, and make a day of it as we do. If you look at it as a cost per bird it will be a lot more than the £35 or so we are used to paying, but the Club model is very different.
We are very fixated about driven shooting over here, and quite rightly so, it's part of our rich heritage, but I have just as much fun going out with the HWV and four mates who will take turns to shoot over his points. On a good day we might shoot 30 birds, mixed pheasant, partridge and the odd snipe or woodcock, followed by a seat at the spashes waiting for the teal to flight in. It's the sport and the crack that counts, not the size of the bag.
Shooting isn't doomed, but with the way the world is going it might have to change shape a bit over the next 20 years.