A bit of fun... virtual sweepstake/poll for the restart of shooting in England...

Just for a little fun...

April   if we are lucky !!   

If your asking when will clay shooting recommence, possibly February. I can’t see registered events recommencing until March at the earliest. We’ll probably go back to a tiered system. Some areas may not shoot competition until the summer.

I’m working on the assumption that all the spring and summer National, European and International events, including the Olympics, will be cancelled or postponed. The Northern Shooting Show’s in May. Probably just a matter of time before that’s shelved.

I reckon late March.  Vaccine rollout should have been quite extensive by then. I also think the present wave will have subsided considerably. This government are keen to keep the economy rolling so I expect them to ease all restrictions at first opportunity. 

We will have to be VERY lucky to be shooting by June. 

If last year was anything to go by, the government and scientists were flying blind then with a 3-4 month lockdown, now a bit wiser and knowing there that there is an even more transmissable derivative of the virus in in the wild they will keep the lockdown in place I guess until 70% or so of the population is fully vaccinated. 

It would be amazing if that was achieved by say September.

No politician wants to utter such thoughts openly for fear of revolt however the practical realities are evident.

Practice in late April / early May, June for comps restarting. 

My guess is that they will want all over-65s and those in high risk groups that are younger than that vaccinated before they start to lessen restrictions. They should have that done by end of March and be into the over-50s by that point. Once all over 50s are done I think that providing hospitals spaces are under control they will loosen restrictions back to almost normal.  Risk of under-50s needing hospitalisation is much much lower.

With respect to the above , I’ve not ordered a ticket for the Northern Shooting Show as under current circumstances I can’t see how  packing  several thousand people into halls is going to be possible whilst the vaccination program continues to be rolled out . My 90 year old aunt got her shot this morning , the date for jab 2 is 7th April . Based on that  the top 5 groups which encompass the over 65s won’t have full protection until  perhaps  May and June   Bojo is between a rock and a hard place . He’s can’t afford another Cheltenham Festival , he can’t afford another Xmas fiasco .  I can see practice shooting being allowed under controlled conditions in time and the driver for that will be relaxation of local travel , we’ll be lucky if that occurs before April .

I expect that there may be further measures within the next fortnight, unless numbers really start to fall. 
A review at half term, and then back to a tiered system by early to mid March. 
It’s grim out there.... 1500 deaths in a day despite all the extra drugs that help prevent the most serious cases. 
The new variants are making the country worry. The rise in new cases are from New Years celebrations, and we will see the serious cases hit the hospitals in the next 10 days or so. 
People are still out and about and the guidance is woolly so people exploit it.

How is Costa, McDonalds etc essential? FFS! 

Think there is some pessimism here. Just heard a news article today that Welsh rate is on it's way down. Welsh government are considering easing restrictions at the end of the month. 

...I’m sticking with mid-March as my prediction for getting out to at least practice.. i.e. grounds open and triggers being pulled.

Competitions will be some time after that of course.

I was out pigeon Shooting today ...

Clays, I think practice will be back for Easter, vaccines flying and restrictions will bite in numbers early Feb, even with tiers practice in household groups should be fine.

Comps/groups/game fairs... well for me they can wait til I’ve been vaccinated which should be ‘by autumn’..

I think we’ll go into tiers April time and depending on what tier you are in will determine if you can shoot bit like second lockdown.   I think we will not be able to meet-up for Easter like Christmas. Maybe comps by summer.  I think Essex is doomed. I think Worlds will be as well simply because of the scale of it and I don’t think air travel will be flexible enough for foereign shooters and teams. If it goes ahead it’ll be a shell of what it usually is. Hope I’m wrong. 

I think you are correct Sian, can’t see there being any big events this year, can’t see us coming out of lockdown until fwits stop spreading this virus... starting to think game season will be off too.