Snipe & Woodcock Shooting
Between mid October and January 31st Colebrooke Park can offer guests 7 – 9 double days of driven Snipe or/and Woodcock shooting. In addition there are a number of walked up rough shooting days when it is an advantage for guests to have their own dogs.
NB: We advise guests to take out insurance against cancellation of their trip due to adverse weather conditions.
The important thing to remember is that these birds are WILD and therefore there can be no absolute guarantee of the number of birds that will be seen. However we can give you a guide as to what numbers might be expected.Providing there is not a hard frost 8 guns should shoot between 15 – 35 snipe per day and could have an average of 1 bird for every 6 shots. It does of course depend on the accuracy and the ratio is normally between 1 in 10 to 1 in 18!! On a particular weekend a few years ago, in a wind, we shot 38 snipe for 780 shots!! The snipe are very exciting and may fly very low or so high that they are almost out of range. If there is a frost, and that is fairly unusual as we do have mild winters due to the Gulf Stream, then we go for woodcock. Like everyone else we have had 3 difficult, cold seasons and without a doubt there were fewer birds seen and shot. However, this last season 2013/14 was a very good and we saw a great many birds – as many as ever and they were on every bog that we visited. During the stormy weather, we and they were blown around a little!
I would say that our quality, if that is what one would call it, is that we have quite special driven snipe and they are quite reliable. , and if we have frosty weather conditions we have a chance of woodcock to back them up. Of course we do accept groups who wish to shoot woodcock only, especially in January.
This is all quite good spectator sport for wives, partners and other non shooting guests as on the open bogs, much to some people’s embarrassment, everyone can see what happens to every bird. In nasty weather the Spa is quite popular with the ‘camp followers’!!
- Numbers: The ideal number of guns is eight and the minimum number for DRIVEN Snipe is SIX (please note our minimum charge).
- Travelling to Northern Ireland: Before booking check with airlines and ferries as to transport of firearms.
- Transport: Shooting guests should be self-sufficient regarding transport. Cars or ‘People Carriers’ are ideal – 4×4’s are not essential. Mini-buses and coaches are not suitable for the small lanes!
- Cartridges: We would ask that, if you bring them, you have fibre wad cartridges. Transporting ammunition can cause some problems, even on ferries, so our advice is to get them from us. Please let us know the calibres.
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