Shoot Benchmarking - data input form Compare your financial and management performance against similar shoots
2013-14 season
Do you want to understand your shoot’s performance better? Our benchmarking, which is free, allows shoots from small private shoots to large commercial ones, to compare their operations against similar shoots, aiding the identification of areas for improvement and refinement.
Key benchmarks from our last survey
Gamekeepers salary Cost per bird put down Price charged per pheasant
£16,414 + benefits £12.42 (excl VAT) £32 (excl VAT)
Each shoot that takes part receives a personalised report (see right) which compares their shoot with the benchmarks. To take part please complete and return this form by 25th April 2014. Your data will be treated in strict confidence and no shoot will be named in the results. Please answer as many questions as possible - including part answers - it all helps. We look forward to your return! The amount and quality of information which is included in this benchmarking survey is astonishing - Shooting Times (2010)
Roger Draycott, Head of Advisory Services Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust t 01440 821325 e rdraycott@gwct.org.uk David Steel, Head of Sporting Smiths Gore t 01200 411051 e david.steel@smithsgore.co.uk
Please respond by 25th April
This survey will provide shoot owners and managers with a wide range of indicators to help compare and manage their shoots. Any information you provide will be treated in strict confidence. You and your shoot will not be identifiable in the survey results. Please fill in what you can - even if you can’t complete all sections. Your Details
Your name:
Shoot name:
Your email (in case we have data queries):
County the shoot is in:
Would you prefer your personalised report by post or email?
By post
By email
Hill
Lowland
If by post, please write your postal address: Type of ground (select best description): Area of shoot (acres):
Bare land
ac
Game crops
Woodland ac
Woodland
ac
Total
For all shoots
Number of days shot in the season:
Private (family &
What was the average bag size per day?
Private (family &
friends only) friends only)
Syndicated days
Let days
Syndicated days
Let days
Number of birds put down:
Pheasants
Partridge
Duck
Number of birds shot (including wild):
Pheasants
Partridge
Duck
Private days
Syndicated days
Let days
Total number of birds shot (including wild) on: Returns (% of birds recovered):
%
2013/14
%
2012/13
None - all wild Total various
%
2011/12
(NB Return is number of birds shot divided by the number of birds put down. Please only include released species in the number of birds shot figure)
What is the average cartridge : kill ratio for your shoot across the season? Do you give your guests... (tick relevant boxes)
Dressed birds
Birds in the feather
What proportion of game is sold? (%)
%
What proportion of game is given away? (%)
%
Average price dead game is sold for (per bird in feather) If any land is rented in, how much do you pay per acre? (£/acre) Do you adhere to the Code of Good Shooting Practice?
Pheasants £
Duck £
Partridge £
Bare land £/ac
ie. sporting rights
Yes
None
Game crops £/ac
(exc establishment costs)
No
Woodland £/ac
Average if can’t split £/ac
ac
For All Shoots That Sell One Let Day or More (even if run on a partially commercial basis)
Total number of days let: before the start of the season
% of available let days sold…
%
Pheasants £
Price charged per bird (excluding VAT): Do you charge VAT?
by the end of the season
Partridge
%
Duck £
£
Yes
No - below threshold
No - as a club
No overage
No overage & no underage
Charge per bird shot with no leeway
5% leeway allowed then charge
10% leeway allowed then charge
Other
What is your policy on overages?
No - other
If other, please specify About Your Staff
Number of people employed on the shoot:
Full time
Part time
Pickers up (ave total per day)
Beaters (ave total per day)
Please make a copy of this sheet if you have more than four shoot employees
Please complete for each employee (full or part time only) Employee 1
Employee 2
Employee 3
Employee 4
Job title (head keeper, under keeper, other) Full or part time (write FT or PT) Salary (£ annual basic salary, before tax and NI)
£
Bonus payments (£ annual)
£
Provided with pension? (write Yes or No)
£
£
£
£
£
£
Provided with house? (Yes or No) If yes, does shoot pay utility bills? (Yes or No)
If yes, does shoot pay council tax? (Yes or No)
Provided with vehicle for business use? (Yes or No) Provided with vehicle for private use? (Yes or No) Provided with dog allowance? (Yes or No) Provided with clothing allowance? (Yes or No) Provided with mobile phone? (Yes or No) Allowed a ‘keeper’s day’? (Yes or No) Provided with other benefits? (Yes or No) If yes, please specify Rate paid per day for…
Pickers up £
Beaters £
About Your Shoot Budget
Price paid per poult / duckling:
Pheasants £
Partridge £
Duck £
Price paid per day old chick / duckling:
Pheasants £
Partridge £
Duck £
Price paid per egg:
Pheasants £
Partridge £
Duck £
What % of your birds are day olds, poults or do you hatch?
Day olds
%
Poults
Hatched
%
%
(all species)
UK
Are your birds are of UK or overseas origin?
Overseas
UK & overseas
Don’t know
Income (£; total per season) Income from let days
£
Income from game sales
£
Income from syndicate guns
£
Income from hospitality / accommodation
£
Any other income to the shoot (please specify below)
£
Total income (£; total of five boxes)
£
Variable costs (£; total per season)
Fixed costs (£; total per season)
Feed
£
Staff salaries (including tax, NI and pensions) i.e. cost of staff to employer £
Fuel (for vehicles and brooders)
£
Management costs of operating the shoot
£
Birds (poults, day olds, eggs)
£
Housing - maintenance of housing
£
Vet and medical
£
Housing - income foregone as staff housing not let out
£
Seeds / fert / sprays for game crops
£
Housing - utility bills paid for staff, inc Council Tax
£
Professional advice
£
Housing - rent paid to 3rd parties for staff housing
£
Shoot equipment (pegs, radios etc)
£
Rent paid to 3rd parties for land or sporting rights
£
Ammunition
£
Dog allowances
£
Materials for pens
£
Clothing allowances
£
Beaters and pickers up pay
£
Mobile phones
£
Hospitality costs
£
Other staff benefits
£
Advertising and marketing costs
£
Vehicle and trailer costs
£
Any other variable costs e.g. shavings, water and electricity for rearing
£
Insurance
£
Depreciation
£
Any other fixed costs (please specify)
£
Total fixed costs (£; total of above)
£
(please specify below)
Total variable costs (£; total of above)
£
About Habitat and Predator Management
Part of a paid agrienvironment habitat improvement scheme
Part of a voluntary habitat improvement scheme (e.g. CFE)
Self-funded to benefit the shoot
Not part of a scheme and no environmental management carried out
Buffer strips and / or field corners
Wild bird seed mix
Pollen and nectar mix
Conservation headlands
Has any woodland been managed to benefit the shoot in the last 10 years?
Yes
No
Area
ac
Has any woodland been planted in the last 10 years?
Yes
No
Area
ac
Do you feed your birds after the shooting season? (not including any additional feeding carried out under an agri-environment scheme)
Yes
No
If yes, do you feed them until “nature takes over and provides food”?
Yes
No
Have you taken up a supplementary feeding agri-environment scheme option (e.g. EF23)?
Yes
No
Is any of the land shot over in the following schemes… (please tick all that apply)
Have you established…
Undertaking voluntary feeding for songbirds
For All Shoots That Shoot Wild Birds (even if others are put down)
Do you have wild birds on your shoot? (please tick which species)
Pheasants
Partridge (red legged)
Partridge (grey)
Duck
Woodcock
Pheasants
Partridge (red legged)
Partridge (grey)
Duck
Woodcock
How has the wild population of each species changed over the last 3 years? (write increase, decrease or same for each species)
Which wild birds do you allow to be shot? (please tick which species)
Intentions for your shoot next season 2014/15 - for all shoots
How optimistic are you about your shoot compared with the 2013/14 season?
More optimistic
About the same
Less optimistic
More birds
About the same
Fewer birds
More bookings
About the same
Fewer bookings
Increase charges
Keep the same
Decrease charges
Reason Will you put down more or fewer birds for the coming season?
Reason
Are there any significant changes or risks that might affect your shoot? For shoots that sell one let day or more (even if run on a partially commercial basis)
Compared with this time last year, are your confirmed bookings more or fewer, or about the same? Reason With regard to charges per bird, compared with the 2013/14 season are you planning to… Reason
If you are planning to change how much you charge, how much per bird? (e.g., +£2 per pheasant or -£1 per partridge)
Thank you for providing your data. Please post it or email it to us at the address below by 25th April and we will send your bespoke report in the summer. Smiths Gore, 5 Church Street, Clitheroe, BB7 2DD or david.steel@smithsgore.co.uk Additional copies of this form can be downloaded from smithsgore.co.uk/publications