There was a time when the end of a day's shooting did not quite mark the end of the occasion.

The guns were cleaned and returned to their slips, boots were brushed, perhaps a brace of birds was taken home, and farewells were exchanged with the keeper, beaters and picking up team. Then, often the following morning, came one final courtesy: a handwritten letter to the host.

For generations, the shooting thank you letter has been part of the etiquette surrounding British game shooting. It is a small gesture, but an important one. A successful driven shoot may appear effortless to the visiting Guns, yet behind it lie months of keepering, game management, feeding, planning, beating, picking up and considerable hospitality.

A handwritten thank you acknowledges all of that.

The Tradition of the Shooting Invitation

The etiquette begins long before the first drive.

Traditionally, an invitation to a day's shooting was itself something rather special. Private estates and country houses frequently used engraved or headed correspondence, sometimes carrying an estate crest, monogram or illustration of game.

The invitation would give the date of the shoot, where and when the Guns were expected to meet and, where necessary, details concerning lunch, dress or overnight arrangements.

Long before emails, text messages and online diaries, these invitations formed part of the ceremony of a sporting day. Many were attractive enough to be kept as souvenirs, becoming part of the wider history of a shoot, an estate and the people who had enjoyed sport there.

There is something rather appealing about that idea today. An invitation arriving through the letterbox immediately gives a shoot day a sense of occasion that a message on a telephone never quite manages.

Accepting an Invitation to Shoot

A shooting invitation should be answered promptly.

The host needs to know the number of Guns attending and may be arranging transport, loaders, accommodation, lunch and the organisation of the shooting itself. Leaving an invitation unanswered until the last moment therefore causes considerably more inconvenience than declining politely at the outset.

Once accepted, the invitation should be regarded as a firm commitment. Unless illness or another genuine emergency intervenes, withdrawing at short notice is poor form.

The same principle applies to arriving on time. A whole shoot day can be delayed by one Gun who appears after everyone else has assembled.

Good Manners on a Shoot Day

Most of the etiquette surrounding game shooting is really common courtesy as is safety too.

A visiting Gun should remember that they are a guest, respect the instructions of the host and keeper, shoot safely and sportingly, and make an effort to be good company throughout the day.

The shooting itself is only one part of the occasion.

The keeper and his team may have spent much of the year preparing for a few days of sport. Beaters have worked through cover crops and woodland in all weathers. Pickers up and their dogs may spend considerably longer looking for a wounded bird than the Gun spent shooting it.

A word of thanks during the day costs nothing and is always appreciated.

Many shoots also retain the charming tradition of drawing for pegs before the first drive. Numbered shoot peg markers help organise the line of Guns and are one of those small details that immediately make a shoot feel properly run.

The Game Card: A Record of the Day

Another traditional piece of shooting ephemera is the game card.

At the end of each drive, the day's bag is recorded, usually by species, creating a simple record of the shoot. Over the years these cards can become surprisingly evocative documents.

A game card may record a wet December pheasant day, an exceptional partridge drive, a first day shooting with a son or daughter, or simply an especially enjoyable gathering of friends.

Kept together, they form part sporting record and part social history.

Our Shoot Game Cards have spaces for the names of up to ten Guns together with the species and totals for the day, combining this old sporting tradition with the humour of Bryn Parry's much loved shooting cartoons.

Why Write After a Day's Shooting?

Once home, the traditional courtesy is to write to the person who invited you.

It need not be elaborate and certainly need not be flowery. Indeed, a short and personal letter is usually far better than something formal and overworked.

Thank the host for the invitation and hospitality. Mention something specific that you particularly enjoyed, perhaps an especially memorable drive, good company at lunch, a fine team of dogs or simply a beautifully run day.

It is also thoughtful to ask the host to pass your thanks to the keeper and shoot team.

What matters is that the letter demonstrates that you appreciated the invitation and recognised the work that went into providing the day.

Should You Mention the Bag?

There is nothing wrong with referring to a memorable day's sport, but traditionally the quality of a shooting day has never been measured simply by the number of birds killed.

Good game shooting is about far more than the bag. It is about challenging and sporting birds, good dog work, beautiful countryside, companionship, hospitality and the pleasure of a day properly conducted.

Consequently, a thank you letter that concentrates entirely on numbers can rather miss the point.

An Example of a Shooting Thank You Letter

A note might read:

Dear Jonathan,

I have finally managed to remove the last traces of Suffolk mud from my boots, though I confess I rather wish I hadn't, as it would have prolonged the memory of such an excellent day.

Thank you for your wonderfully generous invitation. One rather forgets how much quiet organisation lies behind a successful day's shooting until one experiences a day where absolutely everything appears to happen exactly as it should. The birds flew as though they'd read the script, the keeper and his team were magnificent, and the hospitality could scarcely have been improved upon.

The High Wood drive will no doubt feature in future conversations whenever someone asks, "Do you remember that day...?"

Please would you convey my grateful thanks to your keeper, the beaters, the picking up team and everyone else who played their part. They produced not merely a day's shooting but one of those increasingly rare occasions that leaves one driving home already hoping for an invitation to return.

Until then, my sincere thanks once again.

Yours ever,

Charles

There is nothing complicated about it. What makes the letter special is simply that someone took the trouble to write it.

Why Handwritten Correspondence Still Matters

Email and messaging have transformed the organisation of shooting. They are undeniably useful for circulating dates, meeting points, menus and last minute information.

But convenience is not quite the same thing as courtesy.

A handwritten card or letter arriving a day or two after a shoot has a permanence that a text message does not. It can sit on a desk, mantelpiece or kitchen table and, occasionally, be kept for years.

Perhaps that explains why the tradition survives particularly strongly within game shooting. Shooting itself retains many customs that connect one generation with another, from drawing pegs and keeping game cards to thanking the keeper at the end of the day.

The handwritten letter belongs naturally among them.

Choosing a Shooting Thank You Card

The card itself does not need to say "thank you" on the front. In fact, a blank sporting card can often be more personal because it leaves the entire message to the writer.

An illustration of pheasants, partridges, a working gundog or a humorous shooting scene immediately makes the correspondence appropriate to the occasion.

Our collection of Shooting Greeting Cards includes traditional field sports photography and sporting cartoons by artists including Bryn Parry and Norman Thelwell, with designs particularly suited to thank you notes after a shoot day.

A Small Tradition Worth Keeping

There are many traditions associated with British game shooting and some inevitably change with time.

The thank you letter, however, requires little more than a good card, a pen and five minutes.

It recognises that being invited to shoot is an act of hospitality. It acknowledges the work of the keeper and shoot team. And, perhaps most importantly, it reminds us that the best sporting days are remembered not simply for what was shot, but for the people, the countryside and the friendships surrounding them.

In an increasingly digital world, that makes the handwritten shooting thank you not an outdated custom, but one that may be more meaningful than ever.

Explore our collections:
Shooting Greeting Cards
Shoot Game Cards
Shoot Peg Markers & Shoot Cards