Shooting has spoken
The call for evidence on game shooting in England generated more than 26,000 emails to Defra. Conor O’Gorman takes stock and looks at what comes next.
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BASC is encouraging all members to complete the 2025 GunsOnPegs Game Shooting Census and Shoot Owner Census, with the chance of winning a fantastic prize for taking part.
By completing the Game Shooting Census, you’ll be entered into a draw to win two pegs on a 150-bird day at the spectacular Stoke Edith shoot in Herefordshire.
This renowned shoot offers breathtaking drives across 5,000 acres of beautiful wooded valleys, including the famous Punch Bowl – a natural amphitheatre that provides superb and challenging shooting.
If you help run or manage a shoot, complete the Shoot Owner Census to double your chance of winning and receive a second entry into the draw.
The GunsOnPegs Census, now in it’s 12th year, is the largest and longest-running survey of its kind. It gathers essential information from guns across the UK, offering powerful insights that help shape the future of our sport. The census closes on 6 July.
Your views help to provide data for GunsOnPegs, BASC, and other partners understand the issues that matter most and guide our work to support and defend shooting at every level.
The Shoot Owner Census complements this by collecting vital data on how shoots of all sizes operate – from syndicates to commercial shoots – and how owners and managers view the changing landscape of game shooting.
Run by GunsOnPegs and Lycetts, with support from BASC, the Countryside Alliance and GWCT, the surveys are vital to protecting the sport we all love.
Take part in the Game Shooting Census here, or click this link to take part in the Shoot Owner Census.
The call for evidence on game shooting in England generated more than 26,000 emails to Defra. Conor O’Gorman takes stock and looks at what comes next.

Junior BASC member Felix Hodgkinson-Last wrote his A-level EPQ on whether game shooting can be justified today, then submitted it to Defra.
Artist and author Will Garfit explains how his small shoot turned 69 acres of gravel workings into a haven for 148 bird species and over 460 plants.