A family affair
Emma Christie gives Jasper Fellows a guided tour of the award-winning Auchterhouse Country Sports in Angus
Scotland is a game shooter’s paradise. Grouse drives on the moors have become a rite of passage for any serious bird bagger, while deerstalking in the Highlands has become a sport of national pride and entices hunters the world over.
It may seem, then, that clay shooting takes the back seat north of the border. However, the Christie family and their tireless efforts to create a world-class shooting ground proves the exception to the rule.
“We first opened our doors approximately 30 years ago,” says Emma Christie, who helps keep everything running smoothly alongside her family, when she isn’t shooting DTL for Scotland.
“Back then it was just my father, Gavin, and his business partner working a few hand traps while my mother, Evelyn, provided the catering. My brother Drew and I were both born into the business and have been part of Auchterhouse ever since.”
With the whole family involved, a couple of hand traps and a spot of home cooking have evolved into a multidisciplined shooting centre with more variety than one would ever find out on the moors.
To start with there’s the Sporting course. “Our Sporting layout consists of 12 stands, plus our famed high tower,” explains Emma. “The entire course is hooked up to our Promatic card system, which is great for solo shooters who want to head round the course alone.
“We also have four separate arenas for our trap and skeet shooters, with our Olympic Trap layout being the most recent addition to the ground. Again, these all run off our Promatic system, but also have hands-free microphones for acoustic release, a far cry from the early days of my dad slinging targets by hand.” While experienced licence holders can make use of the benefits of modern technology to tackle all of Auchterhouse’s targets solo, newcomers are equally encouraged to get involved.
“We offer introductory lessons for beginners and encourage them to interact with our regulars. We want all of our shooters to learn in a safe and confident environment,” Emma says. “Head instructor Andy Byrne is responsible for most of our lessons. He’s great at helping newbies into the sport,
intricacies of the shooting disciplines that we offer,” says Emma. “He’s great at helping competitive shooters reach their goals.”
And there are plenty of goals to aim for at Auchterhouse, thanks to an impressive calendar of events. “We host Scottish Clay Target Association-registered competitions throughout the year and the International Clay Target Shooting Council Home Internationals too,” says Emma. “We also host a number of charity events and our own Ladies Charity Day shoot, which will be back in 2022 after last year’s cancellation.
“In between all of this, we also host club shoots and floodlit competitions, which have proven to be popular in the winter months and challenge even the best-trained Shots.”
If you win big at one of Auchterhouse’s many events, you may find yourself with pocket money to spend. Thankfully, The Clay Shop will soon help lighten the load. “The shop sells clothing and shooting accessories,” says Emma. “We stock a wide variety of brands including Musto, Helly Hansen, Deerhunter and Laksen and will soon be expanding our own range of Auchterhouse accessories to sell in the store.”
Unfortunately, however, your winnings may never make it as far as the shop once you’ve discovered The Clay Doo Café.
Sporting, Skeet, Olympic Skeet, DTL, Olympic Trap, Compak, ABT and a high tower
Wednesday, 10am-8:30pm Thursday to Saturday, 10am-6pm
Introductory lessons start from £49 and include 25 clays, cartridges and gun hire.
Standard lessons start from £50 an hour, while master sessions with Drew Christie are £70, excluding clays and cartridges.
Membership is available from £75 a year, plus a £50 joining fee. Members benefit from reduced rate clays.
“We’ve won awards for our breakfasts,” says Emma, “but our speciality is our burgers and our traditional bacon rolls. Our chef, Lee, is also an excellent baker; his home-made cakes are exceptional.”
Breakfasts aren’t the only thing Auchterhouse has won awards for. In 2020, readers of Clay Shooting magazine voted Auchterhouse as The Nation’s Favourite Shooting Ground, proof that, despite its humble beginnings, Auchterhouse is a ground loved by its shooters.
“We are so grateful to all of our customers for supporting us, especially for those who have kept with us through a particularly difficult two years. We’re all very much looking forward to welcoming everyone back throughout 2022 as we continue to evolve the business while still offering that traditional family welcome that our shooters enjoy so much.”