Whereas, in the past, hunting has been the sole way of putting food on the table, the convenience and locality of supermarkets over the last 60 years means that many consumers are ignorant of how their meat is reared. More often than not, shooting is viewed unfavourably, as a hobby for men of high-society with an over-dose of male-bravado.

But why is shooting considered less humane than farming? I have been surprised to discover the degree of conservation actually involved in ‘running a shoot’, and how much its members put back into wildlife and the land. Of course, big shoots are often ‘unfair game’, as the guns stand at their pegs waiting for a huge quantity of birds to be driven overhead. But there are also those groups that place an emphasis on hands-on involvement and conservation management, with all its members putting back in, and earning what they take home for their supper.

Situated close to Dunning, in Perthshire, the shooting syndicate enjoy 1200acres of mixed moor, wood and arable land for the purpose of their shoot. John Boath, who set up a modest syndicate 12 years ago by renting land from a local estate, now rears and manages up to 1500 birds a year, with the help and involvement of a 14-man group.

My first day on the shoot was in August at the start of the season, for the syndicate’s annual grouse day. Arriving with slight trepidation of a masculine day on the moor, it didn’t take long to relax into the jovial atmosphere – my father is in the building trade and, once I had been introduced to a joiner, a scrap merchant and a builder

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