Stobgreen Shoot
We have run the Stobgreen Shoot for 16 years and this offers members year round shooting over roughly 400 acres of moorland edge forestry, open ground, 7 ponds and rough cover.
Stobgreen is situated 5 miles West of Barnard Castle on the edge of Eggleston Moor. It is a south facing forestry plantation sloping down from the moorland edge towards the Tees Valley. It is a scenic site overlooking Upper Teesdale and numerous North Pennine Grouse Moors. The ground itself has exceptionally varied terrain which includes small blocks of Dense Mature Forestry, Moorland, Moorland fringes, 1-15 year old plantings, open ground, rough cover ground, Mature Forestry which is very thin with very good ground cover, bracken banks, heather and bilberry. We have 7 flight ponds and the Pheasant drives are varied and challenging over valleys, streams, rides, roads and off high banks. The ground is hard going so members do need to be fit and capable of beating over difficult and undulating ground.
Closed season (2nd Feb to 31st August) access to Stobgreen is permitted for Pigeon Shooting, Rabbit Shooting and Vermin Control. The Pigeon Shooting can be excellent and prior to us taking on the shooting there was a resident Pigeon Shooting Syndicate. There are very good flight lines into the woods and a few 50+ bags have been shot although we encourage members to shoot a moderate bag sensibly so we keep the flightlines going. We have an Internet Forum for our members and through that they “book in” to shoot during the closed season.
Fishing is available on one of the two lakes we lease over at Deepdale (2 miles outside Barnard Castle).
Game shooting wise we are releasing 2000 Pheasants and we also have a very good fall of Woodcock. We are shooting every second Saturday commencing the 8th October and that will get us 9 formal days. Shooting is on a stand one/walk one basis and we only shoot in the standing line.
We have a small area adjoining Eggleston Moor that was recently felled and that’s coming back as Heather from which we shoot a few Grouse and we’d hope to pick up 20+ brace this year. Grouse shooting takes place away from normal shoot days and is pretty much available to those who wish to go up for a try. It has been under utilised but those who have come along have had a good return.
We work closely with the Gamekeeper from Eggleston Moor and he undertakes all our trapping, snaring and fox control. We are extremely fortunate to have him as an unpaid full time Gamekeeper as he’s extremely trustworthy and competent.
On site we have a lunch hut and a mobile home that members may use.
Duck Flighting on an evening is available to those who can help with the duck feeding rota.
We have a “Rough Shooting Area” marked out on some of our boundaries that members may access outside the formal game shooting days. Members just have to book in via our forum and follow some simple rules so that we avoid over-shooting but this has not proved an issue.
Stobgreen has a target of 20 members – 10 shooting and 10 beating at any time.
General:
We have a work day every month. Bird Delivery days also count as work days so folks have 17 or 18 days to select from
Membership rates are £600 Working Guns, £800 Part-Working Guns and £999 Non-Working Guns. There is a one off joining fee of £100
Subs are due minimum 50% on the 1st April with the balance paid in June.
Working Guns attend a minimum of 8 Work days + they assist weekly with bird checks in the 5 weeks after delivery + they check designated feeders roughly once a fortnight July to March.
Part-Working Guns attend 8 Work Days
Non-working guns do not have to attend any work days
Shoots swaps – we allow syndicate members to swap two days per season with the members at our sister shoot at Deepdale. Deepdale lads can take 2 days at Stobgreen and vice versa.
Guest places – in the event syndicate members cannot attend a day then we make that space available to all the other members. This means that frequently a Stobgreen member will get a free place at our sister shoot at Deepdale and vice versa. This season we had places offered like this on most days and consequently we have had some members get an extra 4 or 5 days shooting and on many days we have still had unfilled places.
We have a Facebook page with lots of photos from the shoots if you wish to have a look https://www.facebook.com/StobgreenShoot/?fref=ts
We welcome Novice Shooters and will provide a mentor.