Morning Captain,

It's interesting that you should comment on this… We actually have an article on increasing costs in tomorrow's (31st January) Shooting Times, in which we explore the rising costs of shooting — and it also has a DIY shoot expenditure table for you to fill out to estimate your own costs.

I agree with you. There have been some whopping hikes in price, most notably cereals and feed which we estimate have increased by something in the order of 112.5% (If I've got my maths right.)

To a certain extent, the grin and bear it attitude is probably the one most 8xX day syndicates will have to adopt if they want to continue.

With regards to cartridge prices, I subscribe to our columnist John Humphreys' philosophy, which is that cartridges are still the cheapest aspect of a day's shooting, so we shouldn't necessarily complain too much about the price increase. The only reason we notice so much is because we hand over cash for them directly on a regular basis.

If the price rises by Ł100-200 per Gun on a syndicate, then I think most will stomach the cost. Any more and those on a tighter budget will probably have to think more carefully about their sport.

The way I see it, a reduction in the number of poults released would be one of the simplest (if least palatable) ways of reducing overall costs. For a 30-birds a day syndicate shoot that might be a cost-saving too far.

Alastair.