A perturbation model for high-frequency sound scattering from an irregular elastic sea bed is considered. The sea bed is assumed homogeneous on the average and two kinds of irregularities are assumed to cause scattering: roughness of the water–sea bed interface and volume inhomogeneities of the sediment mass density and the speeds of compressional and shear waves. The first-order small perturbation approximation is used to obtain expressions for the scattering amplitude and bistatic scattering strength. The angular dependence of the scattering strength is calculated for sedimentary rock and the influence of shear elasticity is examined by comparison with the case of a fluid bottom. Shear effects are shown to be strong and complicated.