Walking in the shooting season: the law, the signs and the right habits

Can you go walking in the shooting season? Yes. In Britain, game shooting opens with grouse on 12 August and closes with pheasant and partridge on 1 February [1, 2], while the open seasons for the different deer, taken together, cover every month of the year [3, 4]. Through autumn and winter, walkers and shoots share the same countryside, and a few rules, on both sides, keep that sharing safe.

Is it dangerous? The shooters’ own rulebook takes the question seriously. The Code of Good Shooting Practice, endorsed by shooting and countryside organisations, says that shoot managers and guns must make sure shooting does not obstruct, endanger or alarm anyone on a road, bridleway or footpath. It also warns that shooting across a right of way in use by walkers may amount to a public nuisance, which is a criminal offence, or to wilful obstruction [5]. That ‘must’ is the code’s own standard rather than a legal obligation, as the code points out, but it expects the effort from the shoot. Your part is to be seen, heard and predictable.

In England and Wales: what the law says

What the law says, first. Footpaths, bridleways and other rights of way are part of the public highway [5], and a shoot day changes nothing: a path can be closed temporarily only by the local authority, by a traffic regulation order, and only for certain reasons [6]. Near roads, the Highways Act 1980 makes it an offence to fire a gun within 50 feet (15 m) of the centre of a road, without lawful authority or excuse, if a road user is injured, interrupted or endangered as a result [7].

Open access land, the open country (mountain, moor, heath or down) and registered common land mapped under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, works differently. There, the owner can exclude or restrict the public for up to 28 days a year, and apply for longer restrictions for land management, sporting activities included. But these powers cannot be used on footpaths, bridleways or other public rights of way [8], and Natural Resources Wales says the same of the restrictions it publishes for Wales [9].

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What it means for you: a ‘shooting in progress’ sign on a public footpath asks you to take care, but it doesn’t close the path. The shooting code recommends information signs on footpaths and bridleways on shoot days, where appropriate, and asks guns to pause shooting or beating so that path users can pass [5]. A sign that claims to shut a public path is another matter: misleading or intimidating signs on rights of way are unlawful, and South Gloucestershire Council, for one, asks walkers to report them; on the day, it advises avoiding a confrontation and taking another route if you can [10]. The Countryside Code gives the example of a ‘private, no entry’ sign on a public footpath, and sends you to the local authority [11].

Then there is the day of the week. In England and Wales, the Game Act 1831 makes it an offence to kill or take game, pheasant, partridge and grouse included, on a Sunday or on Christmas Day [1]. The rule covers game only: wildfowling, for instance, is barred on Sundays only in areas designated by order [2], so a Sunday is no guarantee of a quiet wood.

Before you set off: find out where shooting is planned

The open season doesn’t tell you where or when a shoot will take place. On open access land, Natural England publishes restrictions on its online maps, and owners can flag them with signs where people are most likely to enter the land [8]; Natural Resources Wales shows the restrictions in force or planned in Wales on its own map [9]. Both are worth a look before a moorland walk from 12 August, when the grouse season opens.

In doubt about a sign or a restriction, ask the local authority, or the national park authority within a national park [8, 11]. Our guide to planning a walk puts this check alongside the weather forecast, the night before and on the morning you set off.

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On the path: be seen and be heard

On the day, pay close attention to signs when you arrive and as you go, as NatureScot advises [4], and keep to marked paths unless wider access is available, as the Countryside Code asks [11]: the shooting code wants every gun to know where the rights of way are, and drives to be organised with them in mind [5]. Take extra care around dawn and dusk. In Scotland, the Access Code notes that wildfowling usually takes place then, and that deer control in forests, which can happen all year, often does too [12, 13].

• Wear something bright, on you or on your rucksack. The Countryside Code doesn’t ask for it, but France’s hiking federation recommends bright colours to walkers in its hunting season [14].
• Make yourself heard: the same federation suggests a bell or a whistle [14], and a steady conversation works too.
• Keep your dog close, on a lead or in sight, as the Countryside Code asks [11]; the owner of a grouse moor may even exclude dogs, except along public rights of way [8]. Our guide to walking with your dog covers the rest.
• Avoid a confrontation: if someone tries to stop you using a right of way, check on the map that you are on it, take another route if you can and report it to the council afterwards [10].

In the middle of a shoot

Found yourself in the middle of a shoot all the same? On a right of way in England and Wales, the code expects the guns to pause while you pass [5]: stay visible, keep to the line of the path and make yourself heard. In Scotland, the Access Code asks you to avoid crossing land where a shoot is taking place until it is safe to do so, and to take account of advice on alternative routes [17].

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Understanding a driven hunt helps. France’s National Forests Office (ONF), describing the driven hunts in Normandy’s state forests, puts it like this: dogs and beaters work through a block of woodland, the drive, to push the animals out, while lines of hunters in fluorescent orange wait around its edge. Their safety instruction is not to shoot into the drive, and where it borders a road open to traffic, the line stands on the far side, so that nobody shoots across the road [18]. In Britain, the shooting code asks for particular care when guns are placed near roads, and for drives organised with rights of way in mind [5].

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Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland

The check before you set off

To check before you set off, then: in England and Wales, the open access maps and the notices where the path starts; in Scotland, Heading for the Scottish Hills; in Northern Ireland and Ireland, the open seasons above. Walking in France this autumn? There, a ‘Chasse en cours’ sign warns of a hunt without closing the path [14], though a sign asking you not to enter, as hunters post around the hunted sector in some Normandy state forests, is best taken at its word [18]; in Wallonia, in southern Belgium, hunters can ask for the woods to be closed for a drive, which official posters on a red background then signal where public paths enter the area [24]. And in the rucksack, something brightly coloured: at the risk of sounding like the team’s resident killjoy, it’s the first thing I’d add to the day walk kit list from August to February.

Arnaud Couderc

Fact-checking, regulations and safety

Arnaud Couderc reviews our contributors’ articles and writes for Outfarer about regulations, safety, fishing, the sea and outdoor pursuits. He traces every rule back to its official text and every figure to its source, so that you set off with sound benchmarks.

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