A shooting butt is a small enclosure or wall which provides shelter for the gun, and also partly conceals the gun from the quarry. The butt must be carefully sited with safety and clear sight lines in mind. Birds tend to fly downwind, so the butt is orientated relative to the prevailing wind, whilst also allowing shooting in other directions. The circular butt gives the most flexibility. The floor of the butt should be level for safety reasons.
A butt can also be used for a hide for watching birds and other wildlife.
Design
The walls of the butt are normally about 4’6″ (1.4m) high, for ease of shooting, with a similar height suitable for binocular use. The internal wall of an enclosed butt should have a batter close to vertical, as this is more comfortable for the gun to use, and avoids leaning to compensate for the batter. Likewise, a vertical wall is also more comfortable for bird watchers.
Enclosed butts
Enclosed butts with a small opening are found in various shapes including circles, squares and rectangles, of which circles are the most common. Dimensions vary, but they normally have an internal diameter in the range of 8-10′ (2.4-3m), to give enough space for gun, loader/gillie and and a couple of dogs. The opening, called a ‘haik’ in parts of Scotland, is narrow in order to prevent cattle and sheep getting in and churning and fouling the ground. This example is about 2’6″ (610mm) wide at the top, tapering to only 6″ (150mm) at the bottom. A built-in seat may be included for the gillie, with a niche or small shelf for cartridges and possibly a bottle of whisky.
To accommodate more than one gun, a rectangular shape can be better, as it allows more guns to shoot in one direction. However on shooting estates, rather than increase the size of the individual butts to accommodate more guns, you will often see lines of five or more butts spaced at around 50m intervals. On land alongside the Egton Bridge road near Rosedale Abbey in the North York Moors there are over 20 butts.
In this example at West Tempar, Kinlock Rannock, Perthshire, a wall has been adapted by adding a circular butt at one end, and two semi-circular butts up against the wall. The semi-circular butts have lunkies in the wall to allow the dogs out when shooting across the wall.
These two butts have extended openings to keep out the wind, and as a further deterrent to stock.
Open butts
These include C, L and H shapes. The example shown below is one in a line of eight butts running south west from the road near Langthwaite, Arkengarthdale in the Yorkshire Dales.
Turf tops
Turf or heather tops are the norm for shooting butts, as they are better than stone for resting a gun, and provide camouflage, a quality also useful for observation hides. About 4′ (1.2m) of stonework topped with two layers of turf is typical, but if stone is in short supply the stonework will be lower, with three layers of turf to finish.
As butts are usually in windy and exposed locations, it’s a good idea to secure new turfs with twine or wire, either threaded through the wall, or tied around the thickness of the turfs so that the combined weight holds them. Metal or wooden pins are also sometimes used, driven down into the turf layers to secure them.
Some butts are also clad with turf on the outside as further camouflage. On rising ground, another variant is to build a C shaped butt by cutting into the slope, and using the spoil at the front of the stonework to camouflage it. This design also uses less stone.
