By Joel Holt, GWCT communications officer
FOR many shooting enthusiasts, buying a ticket for our popular Gun Draw is a ritual.
But not for first-timer Jack London, whose first £50 ticket in last year’s raffle saw him win the top prize worth £25,000.
When the news was announced, Jack said he was “overwhelmed to win such an amazing prize”.
He scooped a pair of Perdix shotguns, a day’s driven grouse shooting, 500 cartridges and a double leather covered case, all courtesy of William Powell.
After receiving the prize from Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust communications and membership director Andrew Gilruth and Mark Osborne of William Powell, Jack, who works for a company called Ibstock Brick, visited the Oxfordshire Shooting School to try out his guns.
Then, in September this year, he travelled to the stunning Ashop Moor in Derbyshire with his brother-in-law for a day’s grouse shooting, shortly before he tied the knot with his fiancée.
Shooting pigeon, pheasants and partridge is familiar territory for Jack but grouse shooting is not something he usually gets the chance to do.
“The day was fantastic, I have done a lot of various shotgun shooting and I have to say grouse shooting is by far the best, the birds are just on another level and the scenery just adds to the day’s greatness,” explained Jack, who lives in a village near Tamworth.
“I shot 5 brace by the end of the day, the angle of the birds and the speed of them is like nothing else it takes some time to adjust to get your eye in.
“It still doesn't seem real that the guns are actually mine and I don't have to give them back. The pair are absolutely stunning and my hit rate has almost doubled.”
You can enter this year's draw here. The lucky winner will be drawn in December and will receive the same prize as Jack, which includes;
- A day’s Driven Grouse Shooting
- Your own pair of 12-bore shotguns
- A fitting at Oxfordshire Shooting School
- 500 Game cartridges
Whether you have a lifelong passion for grouse or are hoping to have a day’s grouse shooting for the first time, this is a great chance to win a once in a lifetime prize.
By taking part in the draw, you will also be supporting our scientific research programmes for game and wildlife conservation. We aim to ensure a thriving countryside, rich in game and other wildlife and believe our research can go a long way to achieving this. You will be helping us to tell a more balanced story about game management by funding new research to measure and publish the positive influence it has on our countryside.
Buy draw tickets >