In the UK game is defined in law by the Game Act 1831. It is illegal to shoot game on Sundays or at night. Other (non-game birds) that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. UK law defines game as including:

Black grouse (no longer hunted due to decline in numbers)
Red grouse
Brown hare
Ptarmigan
Grey partridge and red-legged partridge
Common pheasant

Deer are not included in the definition, but similar controls provided to those in the Game Act apply to deer (from the Deer Act 1991). Deer hunted in the UK are:

Red deer
Roe deer
Fallow deer
Sika deer
Muntjac deer
Chinese water deer
and hybrids of these deer

Other animals which are hunted in the UK include:

Duck, including Mallard, Tufted Duck, Teal, Pintail and Pochard
Goose, including Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Pink-footed Goose and in England and Wales White-fronted Goose
Woodpigeon
Woodcock
Snipe
Rabbit
Golden Plover

Capercaillie are not currently hunted in the UK because of a recent decline in numbers and conservation projects towards their recovery. The ban is generally considered voluntary on private lands, and few birds live away from RSPB or Forestry Commission land anyway.

rabbit	pigeon	quail
duck breast	duck leg	whole duck
venison shank	venison silverside	venison thick flank roast
venison rump roast	venison silverside roast	venison leg steak
venison chandler roast	venison diced	venison medallions
rabbit saddle	legs of rabbit	front of rabbit

Hunting game history.

Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom.

An English Springer Spaniel in a typical English shooting scene.

In the United Kingdom hunting without qualification generally refers to hunting with hounds-normally fox hunting, beagling, stag (deer) hunting or Mink-hunting-whereas shooting is the shooting of game birds. What is called deer hunting elsewhere is deer stalking.

Hunting and shooting have been practised for many centuries and, in some areas, are a part of British rural culture. Opponents of hunting and of shooting dispute how deep and cultural the roots of hunting and shooting are in modern rural culture.

As of 2012 game shooting and deer stalking are practised in the UK. Hunting with hounds in the traditional manner became illegal in 2002 in Scotland and 2005 in England and Wales, but continues on Northern Ireland. Following a trail (similar to drag hunting) rather than a live quarry subsequently grew in importance. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) says that over a million people a year participate in shooting, including game shooting, clay shooting and target shooting.

Hunting has been practised in Britain since prehistoric times; it was a crucial activity of hunter-gatherer societies before the domestication of animals and the dawn of agriculture.

During the last ice age, humans and neanderthals hunted mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses by driving them over cliffs; evidence has been found at La Cotte de St Brelade on the island of Jersey.

In Britain, hunting with hounds was popular in Celtic Britain before the Romans arrived, using the Agassaei breed. The Romans brought their Castorian and Fulpine hound breeds to England, along with importing the brown hare (the mountain hare is native) and fallow deer as quarry. Wild boar was also hunted.

The earliest known attempt to specifically hunt a fox with hounds was in Norfolk, in the East of England, in 1534, where farmers began chasing down foxes with their dogs as a form of pest control. Packs of hounds were first trained specifically to hunt foxes in the late 17th century, with the oldest such fox hunt likely to be the Bilsdale in Yorkshire. By the end of the 17th century, many organised packs were hunting both hare and fox.

Shotguns were improved during the 18th and 19th centuries and game shooting became more popular. To protect the pheasants for the shooters, gamekeepers culled vermin such as foxes, magpies and birds of prey almost to extirpation in popular areas, and landowners improved their coverts and other habitats for game. Game Laws were relaxed in 1831 which meant anyone could obtain a permit to take rabbits, hares and gamebirds.

Hunting was formerly a royal sport, and to an extent shooting still is, with many Kings and Queens being involved in hunting and shooting, including King Edward VII, King George V (who on 18 December 1913 shot over a thousand pheasants out of a total bag of 3937),King George VI and the present day Prince Philip, although Queen Elizabeth II does not shoot. Shooting on the large estates of Scotland was particularly popular. This trend is generally attributed to the Victorians who were inspired by the romantic imagery of the Scottish Highlands.

Shooting
The shooting of game birds, in particular pheasant, is found in the UK, on large, traditional driven shoots on estates and on small-scale rough shoots. Shooting of game birds is carried out using a shotgun, most often 12 and 20 bore or a .410, often on land managed by a gamekeeper.

Game birds are shot in different ways. In driven game shooting, where beaters are employed to walk through woods and over moors or fields, dependent on the quarry and time of year and drive game towards a line of 8–10 standing guns standing about 50 or 60 metres apart. The guns will be members of a syndicate sharing costs, or have paid in the region of £25+ per bird for pheasants and much more for grouse. The total bag (number of birds shot) will be anywhere between 10 and 400, again dependent on the budget and quarry. The day may be very formal, and the head gamekeeper or a shoot captain will oversee proceedings. Great emphasis is placed on safety. Pickers-up with dogs are also employed to make sure all shot or wounded game is collected. On such estates, large numbers of pheasants, partridge and duck, but not grouse, are reared and released to provide sufficient numbers of game. Grouse cannot be reared intensively but the heather moorland where they live is intensively managed to maximise numbers.

Rough shooting, where several guns walk through a woodland, moor or field and shoot the birds their dogs put up, is increasingly popular. It is less formal and may be funded by several people grouping together to form a "syndicate", paying a certain amount each year towards pheasants, habitat maintenance, etc.

Wildfowling is often a lonely and uncomfortable sport. A single gun sits in pursuit of wildfowl by a body of water, or on the coastal foreshore, often at dawn or dusk, and waits for birds to "flight" in. This is sometimes undertaken in total darkness or by the light of the moon. Duck are also shot by the two methods described above.

Deer stalking
High-powered rifles are used for deer stalking. This may take place high on moors, or from a "high seat" in woodland. Venison is also a highly popular meat. Victorian era English dramatist W. S. Gilbert remarked, "Deer-stalking would be a very fine sport if only the deer had guns".

Game animals
In the UK "game" is defined in law by the Game Act 1831. Other (non-game) birds that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. UK law defines game as including:

Species Season (England, Scotland and Wales) Season (Northern Ireland)
Pheasant October 1 – February 1 October 1 – January 31
Partridge, Grey and Red-legged September 1 – February 1 September 1 – January 31
Black Grouse August 20 – December 10 N/A
Red Grouse August 12 – December 10 August 12 – November 30
Ptarmigan August 12 – December 10 N/A
Brown Hare No closed season August 12 – January 31

Although there is no close season for hare outside Northern Ireland, the Hare Preservation Act of 1892 makes it illegal to sell, or offer to sell, hare between 1 March and 31 July. Deer are not included in the definition, but similar controls provided to those in the Game Act apply to deer (from the Deer Act 1991). Deer hunted in the UK are:

Red Deer
Roe Deer
Fallow Deer
Sika Deer
Muntjac Deer
Chinese Water Deer
Hybrids of these deer
Other birds and animals shot in the UK include:

Duck
Mallard
Wigeon
Teal
Shoveler
Pintail
Common Pochard
Common Goldeneye
Gadwall
Tufted Duck
Goose
Greylag Goose
Canada Goose
Pink-footed Goose
White-fronted Goose (England and Wales only)
Wood Pigeon
Woodcock
Snipe
Rabbit
Golden Plover

Other
The aforementioned species are those primarily pursued for game shooting. To this list can be added Feral Pigeon, Jay, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Rook and Collared Dove, which are shot in the interests of vermin control rather than as game birds.

Black Grouse are no longer shot regularly, due to a continuing decline in numbers and those that are shot are most likely to be females mistaken for Red Grouse.

Capercaillie are no longer shot in the UK, as they are now protected due to a long-term decline in population.

Eurasian Coot and Moorhen are also shot, but not as much as in the past; they have a closed season that follows the wildfowl season and are classed as game.

A hunting lodge is a small country property specifically used for organising hunting parties. It can also be called a hunting box, shooting box or shooting lodge.

Such places might be quite separate or detached from the main property, or in a different part of the country.

Chatelherault, built by William Adam in 1743 as the Duke of Hamilton's hunting lodge.
The lodge may have a special room for hanging game and a gun room where guns were lodged and ammunition stored.

Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, formerly known as The Great Standing, is located in Epping Forest. It is an example of such a Tudor installation.