Where once the big business deals were made over a round of golf, they are increasingly being made on the pheasant shoot and grouse moor.

The huge rise in the popularity of the sport will see more than a million people participating in a shoot this year, more than rugby, hockey or athletics.

Jonathan Irby, general manager at West London Shooting School, which was voted best shooting ground last year and is a favourite with the City’s business elite, said: “Shooting has experienced a massive growth in popularity in recent years and is particularly attractive to property developers, bankers, chief executives and entrepreneurs for whom it is a great networking opportunity.

“High-profile advocates such as Madonna, Richard E Grant, Jeremy Clarkson and Boris Johnson have greatly increased the profile of the sport.”

It is thought that about 150 chief executives of Britain’s 250 biggest companies shoot regularly, as well as many senior figures in the banking and venture capital industries. Chris Gent, the head of Vodafone, and Robin Saunders, the former banking star who left WestLB, the German bank, this year amid a blaze of publicity, are known to be keen shooters.

Shooting has long been ingrained among the aristocracy and large swaths of rural Britain. Greg Turner, the surly gamekeeper in The Archers, was a central character in the Radio 4 drama series for six years until he used one of his guns to commit suicide this month.

The national passion has also translated into British gold and silver medals for clay pigeon shooting in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and another gold in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Corinna Sayn-Wittgenstein, who runs shooting expeditions for Boss & Co, Britain’s oldest gunshop based in Mayfair, London, said: “Shooting is the great escape and is favoured among the most powerful men in Britain — it is a very male activity, women prefer to go to the Chelsea flower show. There are no phones ringing and it has the effect of putting everybody on the same level.

“Being out in the countryside in small groups is so much more appealing as a corporate event than going to the theatre or ballet, which doesn’t allow much time for talking.” Ken Butler, chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Association and a full-time gamekeeper, says that the increasing popularity of the sport is not confined to the upper echelons of society: “In the 40 years I have been a gamekeeper, the sport has become increasingly within the reach of the public. It is now more within the reach of the working man than ever before.”

The British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) is attracting new members at a record rate, while the West London Shooting School is running twice as many corporate jollies this year as in 2002.

Simon Clarke, of BASC, said: “Shooting is a massive growth industry and these days gamekeepers are doing the work that used to be done by ten or twenty people.”

Britain’s 5,000 full-time gamekeepers earn an average salary of £11,000 in an industry that is expected to generate more than £1.1 billion in revenues this year, double the amount in 1997.

Although the main bird shooting season runs from the Glorious 12th to the end of January, gamekeeping is a year-round occupation. It is the gamekeeper’s job to make sure there is a big enough supply of birds for a shoot, to plan the route and to oversee a team of beaters and picker-uppers. They must also breed the birds, control foxes and other pests, maintain the woodland and ensure that there are enough crops for shelter. Birds, particularly grouse and pheasants, are the most commonly shot, although rabbits and deer can also be hunted.

The most elaborate corporate shoots could set a company back as much as £100,000 for a weekend for just a handful of people, as every guest’s whim is catered for. This may include helicopter flights to and from the estate, a personalised menu, flowers and evening entertainment.

But the typical cost of a jaunt is a mere £1,500 a head. If you are planning a shooting trip though, you should book early. Many are booked a year in advance. The British season runs from August 12, when grouse shooting begins, and finishes at the start of February — although most serious guns would not be caught dead on a grouse moor that early — until the pheasant season ends on October 1.

• The West London Shooting School, in Northolt, charges £84 for a one-hour clay-pigeon lesson and £420 for a course of six. Beginners should try this first.

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