Hawley Gun Club

I love this little club. Very friendly place situated just south of Dartford.

No real clubhouse but there is an undercover seating area and an exceptionally good hot and cold mobile catering van. And I do mean exceptional . . . . best burgers outside of Southend Seafront !!!

This is a club that only runs open shoots, but a great place to practice. Open every Saturday and Sunday with 70 x bird open comps on Sundays and a 100 x birder on the first Sunday of every month.

In addition, apart from when the 100 birder is on, there are also Skeet and Sportrap layouts.

The stands all face in the same direction from a gravelled pathway which does gently slope downhill. As we do at other similar grounds, we find that the best way for me at least is to take a slow walk down the slope to the last stand, and then walk back up the slope a bit at a time shooting the stands along the way.

Although my personal preference is for registered competitions, there are times when this is not possible and we will nearly always head to Hawley for at least part of our Sunday shooting fix  :hunter:

Just out of interest Malcolm, would it not be better taking the stands as they come so you end up at the furthest with less shells to carry ?

Incline Up Hill  -v-  Cartridge Weight Down Hill ?

Have tried it that way but overall it is definitely better, for me at least, to go up hill a stand at a time, same as I do at JJ's, whereas the steady walk down hill even loaded with cartridges (only a 70 birder most of the time) is acceptable there as it is a fairly short distance and there is some seating that I can rest at if necessary.

At Southdown I do shoot on the way down, but the overall distance is much greater than Hawley or JJ's, and I fortunately get a lift back to the top. So it does vary from ground to ground.