Whenever William’s environmental work is in the spotlight, there are always people who are quick to point out the fact that he and his family still participate in hunts and shoots.

As someone who also enjoys hunting and shooting, it’s incredibly frustrating when people (cont.)

demonise these activities without any real understanding of how it works and the purpose it serves.

I am under no illusion that to many, the thought of hunting or shooting makes them feel ill. But on a personal level, I couldn’t imagine not being able to participate.

Some background info about hunting and shooting:

“Game” often refers to hares, pheasants, partridges, and grouse.

Game shooting has become popular recently and can be enjoyed as walked up, rough, driven, wild and reared birds.

Depending on the estate and the number of wild game birds, the birds shot could be “wild” or “reared”.

The former means that the birds are born and bred in the wild. While reared birds are born and bred in captivity then released onto an estate for the shooting season.

To my knowledge, the Balmoral and Sandringham estates — where the Royals participate in shoots — use wild birds. In 2019, the Queen cancelled the shooting season at the Balmoral Estate due to a low number of wild birds on the estate.

Game shooting is an accessible sport, enjoyed by many people and can provide a valuable bridge between town and country.

It offers on the one hand, recreation in the countryside and on the other, economic benefits to help sustain a healthy rural community.

There is a misconception that there are only two main stakeholders when we talk about hunts and shoots: the people with the guns, and the animals being shot or hunted.

When in fact, there are so many other people who rely on these country pursuits for their livelihood.

Shooting is worth £2billion to the UK economy, and provides hundreds of jobs to people in rural and farming communities. Whether it’s the ghillies, groundskeepers, or breeders of reared game birds and gun dogs.

A large aspect of hunting and shooting is conservation. In fact, the shooting season is relatively short, and the rest of the year is spent on managing and maintaining the natural environment where these game birds settle.

Gamekeepers on these shooting estates spend most of the year keeping tabs on numbers of game and other factors that may affect the balance of the ecosystem on the estate.

The goal is always to maintain healthy and sustainable numbers of game so that resources aren’t stretched.

When shooting season does roll around, there are strict rules and limits as to the number of birds and game that are shot.

In fact, to discourage people from shooting in excess on commercial shoots, you must pay for every bird or animal that you kill — Pheasants ≈ £34.95(+VAT)

There is so much more to shooting than “people going out with guns and being trigger happy”. There are people involved in every step of the way, and conservation is a huge focus for those in the industry.

I’d hate for shooting and hunting of game animals to be banned. It’s a sport steeped in history and tradition, and I certainly do believe it has a place in today’s society.

It has taught me to respect the environment, to respect my kills, and taught me not to waste meat.

I see a lot of disconnect from what we eat and how it has arrived on our plates.

Hunting and shooting makes things personal, and I think that it’s a far more ethical way of consuming meat.

There are always going to be people who criticise it, but to suggest that everyone who hunts and shoots can’t also care about the environment and conservation is fundamentally false.

This is something I care a lot about and am happy to answer any questions anyone has about hunts and shoots — a large reason why everyone is so quick to demonise it is because it’s so misunderstood as a sport.

Pop your questions below and I’ll get to them as soon as I can!