I often get asked about, and complimented on what I wear when I’m shooting, and also get asked what kit I use, so I thought I would pop a quick blog post up.
I love getting ‘dressed up’ to shoot, as I spend my days at work in trousers and a shirt, or a dress, so it’s a good excuse to wear clothes that make me feel confident and are separate to my day to day wardrobe.
Most of the clothing & kit I wear & use, are from small British brands and so I’ve provided links to to their website, so you can have a browse and maybe do some shopping of your own.
I will do a post on what guns I’ve shot/shoot with, as felt they deserved their own blog post (I may have owned a few in the short time I’ve been shooting!).
Clay shooting
- The lovely printed shirts I wear are either from Hartwell Clothing (www.hartwellclothing.com) or Rydale. I love Hartwell shirts, as they have a modesty button for us ladies; so no ‘gape’. Both makes of shirts, tuck nicely into jeans/trousers or a skirt.
- My shooting waistcoats are from Gamebirds Clothing (www.gamebirdsclothing.co.uk) they have ambidextrous recoil pads built in and lovely deep cartridge pockets.
- I love my blazers from Sporting Hares (www.sportinghares.com/beauchamp) close fitting and flattering, but have enough give for me to be able to shoot and not be restricted.
- Boots; For clay shooting I can found in my Fairfax and Favour Explorers or my trusty old favourites, my Ariat Coniston Pro GTX.
- Ear defenders; Swatcom Active8 in Carbon Fibre.
- Glasses: Pilla, a pair of yellow lens and a pair purple lens, also have a pair of Oakley glasses that were gifted to me when I first started shooting, which have a rose/pink lens.
- Gunslip: I like to be different, so I had a made to measure floral gunslip made for me by Bradley’s Tannery (www.bradleysthetannery.co.uk).
- Hat; I can usually be found in found in my NLSD/S&CBC 2019 Hull baseball cap when I’m clay shooting, or can sometimes be found in a gorgeous fedora by Hayfield England (www.hayfieldengland.com) who also make some stunning feather hat pins to compliment them! I also love Spent Shells hat pins (www.spentshells.co.uk)
I’ve yet to find a pair of gloves I’m happy to clay shoot in, and with winter approaching, I’m open to suggestions as to what brands to try?!
Game days/beating
- Shirts; same ones as what I wear for clay shooting, usually teamed with a gilet; and no, I don’t own a Schoffel one!
- For game days & beating, I wear breeks. Usually gortex lined as they keep the wind and rain out.
- Boots: My Ariats or Aigle Parcours
- Have a lovely Musto tweed suit consisting of matching waistcoat, breeks and coat. for game days; yet to see the light of day! Hoping this season it will have an outing (or 3!). For beating, I wear my Seeland jacket until it starts to get colder and weather really turns, and then my ‘posh’ Schoffel ptarmigan tweed jacket comes out; yes, I really do wear it for beating in!
- Gun slip: Big thank you to The Crafty Rabbit (www.craftyrabbitengland.co.uk) for my game gunslip, it’s a basic green foldable slip, nice and lightweight and I don’t mind if it gets muddy!
- Gloves; I won a beautiful pair of Maude & Fox fingerless mittens (www.maudeandfox.com) via The CountryMans Weekly, and they have become my go to gloves for when I’m beating. Due to Covid, I lost all my game days last season- so can’t comment on what the are like to shoot with.
Clays2Game_lady 