I'm Adam Gwillam, I'm the director of Hadley Game & Sport here in Worcestershire.
Today. we're on the Hadley Shoot, which is our home shoot and we've
got a fun team of guns out here. So, today we're looking for about 200
birds, hopefully we're going to enjoy today.
The Hadley shoot is comprised of five different farms,
so we have four different farmers alongside ourselves
whose land we use. The shoots been going for around five years now and we now
incorporate a lot of partridge into our days, when we started purely on pheasants here.
Basically days at the Hadley Shoot are fun atmospheres with a family aura,
but also with good quality shooting thrown in, along with home-cooked
hospitality. Just trying to take away the formalities of commercial shooting, but
return a little bit of the family values to the sport.
So, it's a beautiful late October's morning we're at the Hadley shoot in Worcestershire.
By kind invitation of Adam and Alan Gwillam and their family.
This is a fabulous little shoot, a mixed partridge in pheasant, it's a
really friendly group of guns.
The conditions couldn't be more perfect.
Now, of course there's a bright sun in the sky, but that also means it's dry. As you
can see there's a bit of a brisk wind behind us as well.
Just finish the first drive, I was on peg 7. Some lovely partridge are coming over around on this corner here,
sweeping nicely into the wind and a few half-decent pheasants came out as well.
So, it's a little shoots like this that really are the lifeblood of the sport here in the UK.
They're great occasions, beautiful parcels mixed woodland arable
farmland and it's a really good place to get you mates together and have a great day out.
So, at the moment I'm trying to get onto the birds, I'm using
an over and under today as opposed to my side-by-side, the Sauer Appollon.
It's a slightly different style of shooting, a little bit more forgiving, but once again
I've got to be more consistent with my mount. So far so good.
Great first drive, plenty of birds on the deck, I think it's time for love elevenses.
So, I have to say that was great fun but, I think I'm getting a bit too old to be
shooting snap drives like that in the woods. The birds are coming thick and
fast from all different angles, early partridge, later on the pheasants are
going over, but the great thing is behind us as soon as you take a good bird you
can hear that satisfying splosh as a bird lands in the water and the dog goes
in to pick it up. so it's a great mix of shooting here at Hadley. As you've seen
we've had a couple of drives that are out in kind of parkland, the traditional
partridge being driven from cover and they've been some amazing birds in the
wind. But, this really is fast furious and exciting. So, you may have noticed I'm
shooting something slightly different today. Normally I shoot a pair of AYA
Number One Deluxe side-by-sides, nice lightweight 30-inch barrels perfect for
my style of shooting. But, today I'm trying something a little bit different,
this is a Sauer Appollon, it's a new collaboration
Now, Sauer have always been well known
for their beautifully handcrafted side by sides really high-end premium guns.
This on the other hand is slightly more at the budget end of the market. It's an
over-and-under box lock, but it is beautifully appointed.
Now, it's in a traditional over-under game configuration it comes in both 20 and 12
gauge, 28 and 30 inch barrels. Now, today I'm shooting the 30 inch barrel, which is
around seven and a half kilos and it comes in around 48 inches, so it's good
standard size shotgun. Reach to pulls are about 39 inches, which is perfect for me
and a nice straight cast stock.
It's got a traditional narrow game ribs, which is also ventilated.
Four-point locking system, so it's nice
and safe and robust and rugged, but it's got that beautiful understated finish.
An engraved action, black finish for this nice stylish gold Sauer logo on the
hinge pin there. So, far it's taken a little bit of getting used to.
It's a great gun, it's got that nice traditional look about it and this quite interesting
finish as well, this is a laser etched grain on the wood, so it's not high-grade
5 or 6, but it does have that kind of finish to it. So, it's an unusual finish,
but I think it looks quite attractive, but for me switching from a Sauer
over and under from a side-by-side AYA has been a bit challenging. The first drive
took me a little bit of time to get on to it. The second drive took some lovely
crossing partridge, this drive here I think I may need a massage and perhaps a new spinal disc pressing in there.
So, it's a different type of shooting with a different gun, but so far the day has been amazing.
It is also nice to mix up your shooting, whether it's the topography, the region, the species, the
company you are with, but every now and again give it a go trying a new gun. Now, if you
put this alongside the Sauer SL5, Self-Loading Shotgun and Sauer 101, I
think of a perfect three gun collection for any British sportsman - deer stalking,
pigeon shooting and game shooting. So far it's done me pretty well, really enjoying
the day getting used to it and looking forward to the next drive.
What an incredible end to a magnificent day and as you can see now
bright sunshine. Four seasons in one day today and actually four season in one drive.
It was kind of cold and a bit overcast then it was raining and then
sleet and hail storms and now bright sunshine, but it's been a fabulous day.
These are the types of the day I really do enjoy, great people, great company,
great sport, but it really is a camaraderie here. It's been a good
crackle day, everyone laughing and joking and enjoying each other's company.
now, I've shot really well I think, we've an over-and-under the Sauer Appollon has
really quitted itself quite well, I do think I need to get a little bit more
experience with it and take a few of those longer more challenging birds. But,
other than that I think got a great day. Now, Adam and his team here at Hadley,
they know this land really well, they put the work in during the summer, built the
pens, they put the birds down. The husbandry is clearly their to be seen.
So, be interesting to see what the bag is, I think there's been quite a few at these
enthusiastic shots, some are shot well some not quite. So, I think I'm somewhere in the
middle, but overall another one they can't take of us. Well done to Adam
and his family, really appreciate the invitation and hopefully they have good remainder of the season.
So, here at Hadley Shoot we're very family orientated and it's a very friendly, fun
relaxed atmosphere and there's aunties, uncles, grandmothers, mother, father
myself all involved within the shoot. We based a lot of our business around this,
that's what makes this place unique I believe, mixed in with some very good
birds. So, we have a nobility attitude to show you everything from traditional
partridge through to fairly high pheasants and also partridge that are
mixed in with pheasants that come off the top of very nice banks, so there
really is something for everybody here.
We have a Guns on Pegs page, which
details all our availability through the season, we also have an Instagram page,
which is @HadleyGameSport, we put regular updates on their available pegs,
different days, we are getting to a point where there isn't so much about ability
left, which is always a good thing. But, next season we will be taking on another
estate in the former Forthampton Estate, Gloucestershire.
Where we look to emulate exactly what we do here there. Overall today really
pleased, obviously a great bunch of guns, we've got a lot of my friends here,
Mr. Harford himself. So, everybody seems to have really enjoyed themselves. Plenty of
smiling faces come the end of the day, so that's always a positive.