Another one for the forum to discuss:

In true form, we, on our little shoot, are already in the process of planning next season. As the owner (and main cheque book!) I know what and how I want to run my shoot.

As discused in other topics, this year has all been about trial and error: finding out what works and what dont. As such, the syndicate fee has been, well, very small!

As I have spent the past god-knows how many years getting a shoot, now I have one, I want to run it the way I want, with the days I want and at the cost I want.

I, along with one of the Guns (we do the keepering between both of us) have decided how we can run a small shoot at a competative cost for other syndicate members.

Here in lies the problem.

We aim to have 8 x 50 bird days next season, at a cost of Ł30 per bird (local average price) giving a syndicate fee of Ł1200 per gun. This price would also include a few extras - duck flights, mop-up days etc.

2 of the guns have already said yes, but I have had more moans than I would like from the others. Moans include "too expensive, why cant we just pay Ł800 for the same days" etc etc.... I have expalined the costs of running a shoot, releasing birds, paying beaters, buying grain etc but too no avail.

One comment was "why cant we keep it the same as this year, as I cant see what you do when you go to do jobs or feeding on the shoot. And we could PAY LESS by bringing our own lunch, that way we get more shooting"

So, the question is: Is Ł1200 per year a reasonable figure? Persoanly, I would be happy to pay that sum for 8 driven days shooting without the extra bits and bobs.

Or

Should I be led by one or two guns who dont want to help in any way, just turn up and shoot as much as posible for as little as posible?

Discuss.....