Introduction

Introduction To The Mountgarret Shoot
The Mountgarret Shoot
by Frank Boddy

After 30 years my Sporting Leases at Ripley Castle and Hob Green came to an end on 31st January 2022. However I am very pleased to advise my management of The Mountgarret Shoot continues. 

The Mountgarret Shoot is made up of three North Yorkshire Estates.

Mountgarret Estate covers 2,000 acres, Nidd Estate 2,100 acres and Cayton Estate 400 acres. All three Estates cover a total area of 4,500 acres and run together just north of Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

Cayton Estate was previously shot up to 31st January 2022 as part of The Ripley Castle Shoot.

The land is best described as rolling countryside with woodlands established over many years to produce quality sporting birds. These are complimented by areas of well-placed wild bird cover which produce a variety of testing drives.

In the current season our young team of Keepers lead by Callum McIntosh assisted by Jared Inman and Tom Riley, have shown what can be achieved with hard work and dedication. In addition we have an excellent team of beaters and pickers up who have shown they can present some testing birds.

To ensure your days are run as smoothly as possible our Shoot Hosts, Stuart Thompson, Christopher Orme, Steph Bennett and Debbie Clayton make up our team on the ground.

Finally and most importantly, everything is co-ordinated by my resilient and patient p.a. Lynda Wigby who is always there to help.

We offer days to remember with a combination of testing birds in convivial company with delicious meals and refreshments. All set in Gods own County, our beautiful North Yorkshire Countryside. 
Frank Boddy - Shoot Captain
A day with The Mountgarret Shoot is “Just how a Proper Driven Shoot Day should be” or should I say, this is what we always try to achieve!

I am often asked what do I enjoy about running a shoot. It certainly does have its challenges but these are soon forgotten once in the company of like-minded people from all walks of life and the real characters driven game shooting seems to attract! One aspect of the shoot I really enjoy is to plan a new drive and to see it work, it may take a few times but we normally get there! I have quite a number of new drives planned for our next season.

There is no doubt that driven game shooting is increasing in popularity and am delighted to see more ladies and young people are taking up our sport. 

So what is different about our Shoot. Although we welcome full teams, we particularly cater for single guns and small parties. I encourage novice guns to join us providing they have had some clay shooting experience and have an experienced shot or one of our loader/instructors standing with them. I would be disappointed if an individual gun joining us for the first time did not feel at home within a few minutes of arrival. 

Planning the days is a challenge in itself as everyone seems to have quite different priorities. I plan each shoot day just how I would expect it to be if I were in the line of guns. The following is how I would hope our shoot days will be but as always anything can happen!
  • For the shoot to be hosted in a relaxed no rush manner with refreshments throughout the day.
  • To shoot with a convivial team of like-minded people.
  • Once on your peg not to have to wait ages for the birds to show. A mix of pheasant and partridge achieves this.
  • To be presented with challenging birds but not impossible, spread over the whole line of guns on each drive.
  • To have fellow guns who are selective and respect their neighbour’s birds.
  • To be able to work my dogs at the end of a drive without the birds already being vacuumed up by the pickers up.
  • To experience a full days shooting with four or five drives and achieving an excess over the target bag without being charged an overage.
  • To have a tasty lunch with decent wine not cheap plonk!
  • There are many other aspects of a shoot day but if we can achieve these I am sure everyone will go away happy. 
I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect. However we must never forget we are always faced with our unpredictable weather and wild creatures. So some days will certainly be better than others. 
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