Whether it’s your first or 50th game shoot, you want to look the part. Some things are frowned upon (camo for instance) so you need to get it right.
If you want to learn what to wear and how to wear it, this guide is for you. We’ve even done the hard work for you and put a few different outfits together to suit different types of days and also, budgets.
What to Wear for Formal Driven Shoot Days
Although your hat, coat and breeks don’t necessarily have to be from the same range, a matching tweed outfit always looks the part. Mis-matching tweed can look terrible if you don’t get it right so if wearing different items from different ranges, try to also mix up the material being used.
The matching tweed outfit below is from Musto, we love the design. To compliment the tweed, we’ve added a few accessories to complete the outfit. You’ll find links to all products underneath.
The footwear we have chosen are probably the most luxury wellington boots on the market – the Le Chameau Chasseur.
Hat – Technical Tweed Cap by Musto
Coat – Lightweight Machine Washable Tweed Jacket by Musto
Breeks – Lightweight Machine Washable Tweed Breeks by Musto
Shirt – Classic Twill Shirt by Musto
Socks – Schoffel Rugby Stripe Sock
Tie – Heritage 1845 Silk Tie Flying Pheasant – Wine by Philip Morris & Son
Boots – Le Chameau Chasseur
What to Wear for Less Formal Days
As nice as it might be to turn up to a shoot wearing matching tweeds, sometimes it’s just not needed. There’s still nothing wrong with wearing them of course but on less formal boundary days or syndicate days for example, you can get away with a less luxury outfit.
This is where moleskin and technical type materials come into their own. Offering similar performance to tweed but at a lower price point, these materials are a great alternative and can still look good.
We’ve put together two outfits below which still look good but they aren’t as formal as matching tweed. The first is still a matching outfit but made with more modern, technical type materials and the second is a mixture of materials and ranges but is great if you’re working to a more strict budget.
Hat – Seeland Woodcock Flat Cap
Coat – Seeland Woodcock Jacket
Breeks – Seeland Woodcock Breeks
Shirt – Alan Paine Ilkley Men’s Shirt
Socks – Schoffel Ptarmigan Sock (Mustard)
Tie – Alan Paine Flying Pheasant Design Ripon Silk Tie (Rust)
Boots – Aigle Paracours 2 ISO Boot (Khaki)
Hat – Barbour Moleskin Cap
Coat – Hoggs of Fife Field Pro Strathmoore Shooting Jacket
Breeks – Hoggs of Fife Moleskin Breeks (Lovat)
Shirt – Bonart Glastonbury Country Shirt (Burgundy)
Socks – The Stalker Cushion Foot Shooting Sock (Burgundy Pheasant)
Tie – Sporting Lodge Pheasant Tie (Burgundy)
Boots – Seeland Allround 18″ Neoprene Lined Wellingtons
How to Wear Breeks and Tie Shooting Garters
This is probably the most common question asked as everything else is self explanatory.
The process is as follows:
- Put on breeks first and fasten the buckle/strap around the leg (not too tight but enough to hold)
- Put on shooting socks – pull right up over the breeks
- Tie the garter above the buckle/strap of the breeks just under the knee
- Roll the socks down to the garter – if the top of the sock covers it, you can always fold it half way back up so that the garter can be seen
Although the video below shows somebody tying a garter to wear with a kilt, the process is the same.
Safety Wear for Shooting
As well as looking the part, you should also look after eyes and ears. A good pair of shooting glasses and ear defenders is always a good investment.
Glasses should provide adequate UV protection as well as meeting relevant safety standards. The CPSA have a great resource to learn more about this here.
Ear protection can come in either muff type or plug type. EN352-1 is the European safety standard code for muff type defenders and EN352-2 for plug type ear protection so look out for these when buying.
Electronic ear defenders are good as they allow you to have a normal conversation yet they will block out sounds above a certain DB (ie gunshot). There are advanced plugs on the market too though including ones that can be moulded to fit your ears. Choose whichever suits you the best but never fire your gun without them in/on.
