Hunting Season & Game Meat in London 2024-2025

Before the opening of the British hunting season that traditionally falls on the "Glorious Twelfth of August," local hunters clean their guns and prepare all the necessary equipment and ready themselves for exciting days and sleepless nights of vigilance that continues until February. The best hunters need a lot of patience, alertness, attention, and accuracy. Wild Grouse is usually first followed by snipe, plovers, and partridge. Bird hunting season proceeds with duck, goose, woodcock, and pheasant followed eventually by the highly anticipated deer season.

The closest hunting areas to London include Oxfordshire, that is only a 1 hour away from London. About 12.000 ha is available for hunting. The game includes wild birds, muntjac and fallow deer. Another location is E.J. Churchill shooting ground at The Swinton Estate that offers pheasant shooting. In Britain, you are required to have a license to be allowed to hunt, but in the course of the season butcheries are full of fresh game and restaurants also offer plenty​. So if you don't manage to join the hunt, at least you can treat your palate.