New Zealand's outdoor heritage and lifestyle has been very much shaped by the ethos of "hunting, shooting and fishing". For game shooters, the first weekend in May has always been the highlight of the year bound by the traditions of the opening of the duck season. It now also heralds the start of a relatively new activity in this part of the world, driven pheasant and partridge shooting. Since its inception in England almost two centuries ago, driven game shooting has been perceived to be purely a rich man's sport. In reality however, the driven pheasant shooting now offered on The Glencoe Shoot in Hawke's Bay provides a sporting experience that is both world class and affordable.

At historic Glencoe Station, the pheasant shoot is quintessentially an all day social event combining continuous shooting in wonderful countryside with traditional hospitality. The property offers ideal terrain for showing sporting birds and captures the variety of the best English shoots upon which it is modelled: rolling hills like the Scottish Boarders broken by steep valleys, rocky bluffs and free flowing streams similar to the Highlands.

There is a diversity of habitat ideally suited to pheasants with large tracts of long grass around wood lots and stream margins providing perfect cover. Planted game crops of frost resistant kale, giant sorghum, maize and sunflower over extensive areas provide an abundance of natural feed and excellent holding cover for birds.

The shoot owner, Simon Dickie, has had a life time of sporting excellence from being a double Olympic gold medallist to establishing one of the country's most legendary sporting lodges. Driven shooting is now his passion and apart from hosting 35 days on his own two commercial shoots in New Zealand, he is likely to be found with his pair of Purdeys escorting a group of guns through the dove fields of Uruguay or duck marshes of Argentina. He lives by the mantra that:

Great birds do make for a great day but the ultimate way to ensure a memorable experience is to have great hospitality..