Summer Newsletter | July 2016
Shoot
Preparation for the
2016/17 shoot season
is well underway…
Buckminster Shoot team have been busy with
egging in the hatchery buildings, reporting that hens
have laid very well and are now all turned out.
Poults are also now being taken off to the woods on
a weekly basis and are settling well despite the
weather, sometimes with the help of a layer of
straw to keep them off the wet ground!
The team have also been busy preparing the drives,
thinning woodlands and planting game cover; and
the maize is now growing well.
The Royal Ascot week has been and gone and
whilst there has yet to be sight of a wild partridge
we are still on the lookout! There are also some
exciting developments being undertaken at the
Shooting Lodge where many guests enjoy dining
and hospitality.
This year we have introduced
a ‘Kansas’ variety to our hens.
We hear they are high flyers!
Pic of the Season!
We love this photo of one of the younger guns aiming high and well at
a fantastic drive of pheasants whilst his loader watches in appreciation!
Get to know the Gamekeeper
Nigel Smith has been at Buckminster
Shoot for over 30 years. Nigel’s love
for keepering stems from his youth,
when he would help his uncle who was
a gamekeeper at the Winkburn Shoot.
Nigel is described by many guests as a real
character, often heard before he is seen as he
drives the birds over the guns! “I very much
enjoy the challenge of being a Gamekeeper
and I view it as a way of life rather than a job.
I am driven by creating a challenging and enjoyable day for our shoot
guests. I like nothing more than to watch the wind take the birds
high and watch our guests aim well”.
Nigel is also a huge fan of hunting and Point to Point. He has buttons with
the Cottesmore and Belvoir hunts; despite only learning to ride at the age
of 38 when he met his wife Sue.
Recipe of the season
Game breast in an apple and chestnut
sauce served with creamed mash potato
and seasonal vegetables
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes | Serves: 4
Method: Season four breasts with salt and pepper and
wrap in pancetta. Brown in a pan with the oil for about
20 minutes. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
Add four dessert apples (peeled and sliced) to the pan
and allow them to gently colour. Add 1tbsp icing sugar
and caramelise. Remove from the pan. Add 15-20
chestnuts and cook for 2 minutes.
Add 300ml (1/2 pint) cider and reduce until approximately
a third of the liquid remains. Add 300ml (1/2 pint)
chicken stock and a good glug of cream. Stir and return
the pheasant breasts and apple slices to the sauce.
Cook gently for a further 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!
In the past, Nigel has been fortunate enough to be invited to shoot at a
wide variety of locations including Swinton Park, Fourstones (Grouse), and
on the Fens in Lincolnshire.
Our Shoot Host
Sue Smith is renowned by our guests
as ‘the Hostess with the Mostess’!
Sue is focussed on providing guests
with an enjoyable and sociable day,
and is often heard giving our guests
some light-hearted repartee!
Sue’s favourite drive of last year was ‘The
Airfields’, where birds were reaching such
heights that she had to advise many of the
guns to take a trip to Specsavers or threaten
guests with a shot at Nigel’s bare bottom! “There was one shot that I was
so impressed with I had to give them a congratulatory peck on the cheek”!
buckminster.co.uk
Featured Shoot Guest
from 2015-16 Season
Mrs Ann Rowen
Tell us about your
shooting career?
I took up shooting about 15
years ago having always
wanted to shoot but never
found the time or opportunity.
Sitting with a great friend one
day at the Burghley Horse
trials she said that she was
going to try shooting (her
husband was a good shot) and
asked whether I wanted to join
her at her next lesson I did and
the rest as they say is history. I
had a wonderful patient
teacher in John Green and was
soon enjoying hitting the clays
followed by the first thrill out in the field shooting game.
Brian Herbert, a lovely man and very good shot, took me
under his ‘wing’ and introduced me to my first syndicate. I
shot with Brian in two other syndicates and many times at
Buckminster up to his untimely death in 2013.
What is your favourite drive at Buckminster?
My favourite drive at Buckminster is 'The Warren'; we
often do it as the first drive of the day. The birds fly well off
the hillside and you get good shooting so giving you a good
start and confidence for the day.
There are too many good days to pick a favourite out,
maybe it is the day I shot two Woodcock on Bottom Wood
Planting or the day it snowed and the birds flew very high
and the view from Top Parkside on the last drive back up to
the Shooting Lodge was fairytale.
What is the highlight of your career?
Still very fresh in my mind after 15 years is the first drive
after lunch at Colston Bassett, my first syndicate, where as
a very new and only lady gun, there was a single very high
pheasant in the air and heading straight over my peg.
Remembering all I had been taught I put my gun up and
fired, down it came to a cheer from the shoot captain who
was on the next peg. I still go round that corner with a smile
on my face as I think of that moment.
Tell us an interesting fact about you?
I am still the only lady gun in my syndicate; I don’t think the
men think about it anymore as the banter in the gun bus flows!
Gun
28bore Rizzini.
My dog
Binky an 8 year old Labrador is a wonderful companion,
excellent game finder and retriever from Tony Parnell’s
Blackharn Kennels in Norfolk.
A warm welcome to our new
Shoot Coordinator
We are delighted to ‘welcome aboard the
Buckminster gun bus’ our new Shoot
Coordinator, Rebecca Kirk. Rebecca has hit
the ground running, coordinating bookings and
expanding offerings to shooters throughout
the UK and overseas. Rebecca is the person
to speak to about booking your shoot days,
and will be there to take care of every detail
be it before, during or after the day. Whatever
your requirements, Rebecca will make it her
personal mission to fulfil them.
Rebecca’s rural routes stem right back to her childhood, having been
brought up and very involved on the family’s dairy farm near Melton
Mowbray. In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys regularly hunting with
the Quorn on a variety of mounts but particularly her trusty Irish
steed Rocky.
Rebecca has significant experience in events management and
marketing through her previous role at Holstein UK Breed Society.
Prior to this, Rebecca completed a BSc (Hons) in Rural Enterprise and
Land Management at Harper Adams University College.
Did you know…
Buckminster is also home to a spring-fed
trout lake set within our private and peaceful
parkland. The lake has been specifically
designed and managed to provide a productive
environment for rainbow trout, and is regularly
stocked throughout the season to provide
plentiful angling for all visitors. Friendly and
knowledgeable staff are available to pass on
advice and tips to the more regular fisherman,
and to provide tuition to beginners by prior
arrangement or support corporate event days.
Buckminster Shoot is set within 6,000 acres of tranquil and picturesque countryside, offering over 47
established and varied drives suitable for all levels. The 2016/17 Buckminster Shoot price is £27.50 per
bird (plus VAT). 200+ bird days include a complimentary picnic or two-course lunch.
To book your day(s) for the 2016/17 season, please contact
Rebecca Kirk (Shoot Coordinator) | 01476 247 128 | [email protected] | buckminster.co.uk
© 2016 Buckminster
Management Ltd