Our Philosophy at the Morghew Shoot
So, what are we trying to do here? Ideally, we like to deliver 100-250-bird days for roving syndicates and corporate teams of between eight and ten Guns. As one of our recent clients remarked: ‘When I lie back in the bath after a good day’s shooting, I want to be able to remember every bird I’ve shot that day. Otherwise, I start to question what I’ve been doing.’ We couldn’t agree more …
In simple terms, a day’s shooting at Morghew is about much more than simply squeezing the trigger as often as possible. We aim to deliver smallish numbers of healthy quality birds in the beautiful surroundings of a tidy and well-run agricultural operation. Indeed, one or two of our clients have said that they derive nearly as much pleasure from the surroundings as they do from the shooting. Kentish agricultural landscapes are rarely dramatic, but our autumn and winter landscapes are quietly beautiful, unspoilt and remarkably peaceful whenever the guns fall silent. Never more so than on a cold winter’s evening in December, when the steam from a vintage train on the Kent and East Sussex Railway lends a suitably Edwardian feel to the last drive of the day as it crosses the Estate.
Let me put it another way. Morghew is an agricultural estate first and foremost, and shooting is a small part of what happens on The Estate. In other words, we run a small shoot on what is, by Kentish standards, a fairly large estate. The benefit of this for our Guns is a relaxed and spacious environment which is neither overstocked, nor overshot..
Finally, we also have something to say about what happens to the bag at the end of a day’s shooting. Any Guns who know how to pluck and gut a pheasant are invited to take a brace ‘in the feather’, and any remaining birds are consumed by folk connected with the Estate in one way or another – so no birds from the Morghew Shoot are ever wasted.