pheasant shoot

mjjl

Well-Known Member
Hello all,

Quick question what roughly is the going rate per acre for a small woodland pheasant shoot?
 
Whatever the farmer can sting you for. Depends if it is a shoot or farm you want to shoot. Could be anything from a bottle to 4-5 grand. A shoot capable of holding and presenting high pheasants is at a premium. Before you commit find out what the farmer is willing to give. game cover, grazing, stock fence maintenance. Seen many a good wood destroyed in days with sheep and cattle flattening the cover and all the farmer says is woops. A good farm with good margins are at a premium. With set aside done away with farmer plough to the fenceposts.Nothing to hold your birds the next door boys will say thanks a bunch, Jim
Be a bit more spacific in your question.
 
Ok basically a land owner that I know is looking to buy a woodland, he has found a small 90 acre wood which is coniferous mainly with some hardwood areas, there is a shoot on it and he's asked me what sort of yearly rent he should get from the shoot. As far as I know there are no fields with it. I thought that 4 or 5 pounds an acre was the going rate but this is small and as mentioned has no open areas so I'm a bit unsure what to tell him.
 
It would all depend on the 90 acre wood. A wood where the canopy has closed over is a dark, cold place that will not hold pheasants. To make drives you need cleared areas from where the pheasants can fly and more clear areas to shoot. Shooting ground needs constant work to improve it's potential to hold birds. Trees in them selves will not hold birds. You need good cover areas. What is the weather like. Ground that constantly being hit with cold winds ain't good.

Can you describe the shoot that already exists? Are there drives? It would make a big difference if there is a possibility of game crops. If a tennent could obtain the fields around the wood it may well make the whole area a better prospect.

Good shooting ground is worth money but ground that will not hold pheasants is worthless.
 
surely if there is a shoot on it then there is a payment in place. just ask the shoot or the current owner.

I have shot on a predominantly coniferous rough shoot. close canopy holds the pheasants just fine. too much in fact.
when driven you get a deluge of birds all at once. highly entertaining!
 
Not sure what you think I mean by closed canopy but after a while the light does not get to the woodland floor, no growth and all that is left is pine needles. This I can assure you does not hold pheasants.
 
Not sure what you think I mean by closed canopy but after a while the light does not get to the woodland floor, no growth and all that is left is pine needles. This I can assure you does not hold pheasants.
X2
 
Hi mjjl,
If there is a shoot already on the land I would check if 1) the sporting rights come with the wood, or 2) are owned by someone else, or 3) are to be retained. If the rights do come with the sale I would find out if there is a written agreement with the current shoot and whether this agreement passes to the new owner. Commercial fees per acre for a good shotgun/game shoot are around £5-10 an acre, with stalking can be more? Good luck,
 
Not sure what you think I mean by closed canopy but after a while the light does not get to the woodland floor, no growth and all that is left is pine needles. This I can assure you does not hold pheasants.

x3
 
Not sure what you think I mean by closed canopy but after a while the light does not get to the woodland floor, no growth and all that is left is pine needles. This I can assure you does not hold pheasants.

granted bare pine needles are a bit sparce for holding birds!
But just beacuse the canopy is closed, it doesnt take much effort to create holding areas and cover without cutting glades into the forest.
all the branches and cuttings from any rides that are cut through piled into strips work wonders in converting an otherwise barren forest floor into cover areas.

if the needle floor is fed as well then they are much more likely to stick around. I dont mean just a feeder but braodcast into the forest floor. they do like scratching around.

its not ideal high bird habitat but not worth discounting just because it is closed canopy. that is often all a shoot may have access to.
 
And straw rides with a good sprinkling of wheat with the odd wooden or spring hopper can get them used to where you want them to be and create a safe environment.
 
Your price of about 5-6 pounds per acre isn't far out BUT, as has been mentioned the type of woodland is critical. Pine is a total waste of time and remember a wood is always changing. Plantations can for a while provide excellent cover then as the trees grow so the undergrowth starts failing and getting thin.
There is a lot more to a pheasant shoot than just getting hold of a bit of land. Perhaps if you could get more details there are those on here who could give more accurate advice. If your chap is thinking of buying then he should be able to get hold of the income figures. Is he looking just at the income or taking it over as a shoot himself?
 
many thanks for all the advice, and to clarify this is purly a financial query he is not loking to run the shoot, he simply wants to know what he can charge in rent as it will help with the decision of wether to buy the woodland or not. i have not seen it so cannot comment to much on what it is like, all he really wants is a ballpark figure.
regards
mjjl
 
I agree with pretty much everything written above but the shooting income on a 90ac bit of forestry should not make much difference towether it is viable to buy. I'd spend more time looking at the timber (age, health, density, need thinned and access for harvesting haulage) the value of sporting rights would be last thing on my mind.

As for value impossible to guesstimate, it could be worthless (bottle of whisky job) or PRICELESS if u shoot over the boundry and that either happens to be at top/bottm of a steep hill/valley so ideal for pen/driving wood to show good birds. Like others have said not the best woods for holding driving birds but plenty off shoots from diy syndicates to big commercial shoots rely on soft wood plantations for there drives.
I would have thought ur land agent would have a better idea and should be able to tell u wot the present tennants are paying
 
agree with all the previous, but 'I' would probably not pay more than £250 pa at the most for that size wood, and that is 'if' it indeed holds some birds or can be improved to create a good holding habitat. There may also be some pigeon flighting and some rook brancher sport too. £500+ for a 90 wood, no chance in H*ll for me!
 
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