Tomorrow is the most important date in the calendar for enthusiasts of field sports. The Glorious Twelfth is a day of even greater significance to the thousands of grouse that may not live to see its sunset. This year looks set to be one of the most successful yet for an industry that is worth £1.6 billion to the UK economy, provides the equivalent of 70,000 full-time jobs and provides management for two thirds of the UK's rural land area.

But there are concerns among the shooting fraternity that, longer-term, the absence of corporate business and the big guns from the City could hurt their pastime. This year is probably safe, Christopher Graffius, director of communications for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said. Most of the bookings are paid for in the first third of the year. “All those bookings were made before the credit crunch really hit,” he said.

However, a study in June by the specialist firm Fox Harris found that some estates normally unavailable were offering days in the present season, if not yet at a discount, and there were some signs of softness elsewhere in the market. Meanwhile, shooting is being hit by the same inflationary pressures as elsewhere, such as rising costs of fuel and ammunition.

One City banker, who did not wish to be named, admitted to The Times that in today's climate, taking large numbers of clients out to shoots costing as much as £30,000 was probably a non-starter on PR grounds. One agent said that there was a dearth of corp-orate customers, and some who have paid deposits may walk away. “We're aware of shoots normally full and difficult to get into that are now offering days. There will be some days coming back on the market discounted.”

This season, in terms of the numbers of birds available, at one stage looked like the best since the early 1980s, Jonathan Young, editor of The Field magazine, said. However, recent rain had reduced the number of birds, and some days' shoots are being cancelled.

Grouse work on a Malthusian cycle of five years or more. The populations build to a peak, influenced by weather and other factors such as predators and parasites, and then crash. The torrential rain of last year helped towards this summer's population peak by reducing the action of parasites. This unreliable cycle makes grouse moors unsuitable as investments.

“You can't make money out of grouse,” Mr Young said. “You have one incredible year, two moderate years, one poor year and one disaster. You still have to have the keepers. You've got to have everything else running. I can't think of a single person making money out of grouse moors.” The Moorland Association puts the annual cost of maintaining a 7,000- acre moor, whether any bird is shot or not, at £75,000. It really is a rich man's game, then? “It was ever thus.”

Little surprise that the market for moors has been driven by the emergence of large numbers of people for whom such economics are irrelevant. Hedge fund managers have bought moors. Arpad Busson, London's most high-profile hedgie and recently engaged to the actress Uma Thurman, has been spotted behind a Purdey. David Ross, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, is reported to have paid £22 million for a moor some years ago.

Syndicated shoots, involving groups of ten to 20 individuals, may take 50 to 250 birds a day, Mr Graffius said. Large corporate shoots may take 500 - much above this figure is frowned on in shooting circles. With birds costing £100 or more a brace to shoot, such events then cost tens of thousands of pounds for a day's business. “It's the large, more commercial shoots which rely on customers from the City or the construction industry that may have problems if the credit crunch continues into next year,” Mr Graffius said.

Mr Young worries about partridge and pheasant shooting when their respective seasons start in September and October. “Grouse shooting is in finite supply - it really is the finest shooting in the world,” he said. “Grouse is going to be full, as ever. You may see people asking for smaller days for pheasant and partridge.”

Really good shoots for these birds, which, unlike the wild grouse, are mainly reared, are fully booked. But there may be some vacancies among the “second division”, he said.

Those shot birds not wanted by their executioners are sold to butchers and supermarkets rather than wasted, contrary to popular myth. Mr Young said that there was little evidence that restrictions on wild bird shooting are moving up the political agenda. “In North Yorkshire, shooting keeps whole rural communities going.” he said. “Grouse are no different than growing wheat. You grow the harvest, you take the harvest and you eat it.”

Peter Schwerdt, a property investor, bagged his first woodpigeon at the age of 8 and regularly features in the list of the country's top shots published in The Field. “Wild game is the pièce de résistance, woodpigeon and grouse for their natural ability in taking avoidance tactics at the slightest hint of Man,” he said. “Nothing can prepare you for 90mph driven grouse barrel-rolling in a gale of wind while your two rather pathetic shots go wide of the mark, and all in God's own country.”

He said that his expectations for the season were high. “But no one shall truly know how good it really is until the first few shots have been fired.”

Costs to grouse about

£75,000
Cost of running a 7,000-acre grouse moor, regardless of whether any birds are shot

£3m
Cost of wages for moorland keepers before vehicle running costs, telephone, council tax, insurance, fuel, property maintenance and other costs

£288,000
Potential revenue from 7,000-acre moor let for 16 days a year

Source: The Moorland Association

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