youngairgunner

thanks for the replies guys

hi everyone, just wondered if anybody had any recomendations for coats for lurchers. cheers james

good advice there george mate!! really dissapointed in the course itself but ye college is a quality laugh. dont regret that bit. just get your head down and hopefully you will get into a job

im currently there doing a ND in game and wildlife management. what a load of sh*ite this college is now. its almost as if the college is embarressed of the career we love and enjoy. they try to hide alot of the goings on i a keepering job and has turned into any normal college since it merged with andover compared to a specialist outdoor course college. sooo glad im leaving soon and going into a job. its such a shame as previous lads ive spoken to have said how good it was a few years back but now its gone downhill. after the first year, the lecturers sort of give up with you, loose all time

the idea of going to college is to further your gamekeeping experience with all the different aspects including deer management. i worked full time on an estate before going to college. nowadays it is all about having that bit of paper. plus college is a right laugh and i love it. your only young once

Why did you go to Sparsholt all the way from Oxfordshire? I went to Hartpury....Mind you that was a bundle of bollocks because there is no other colleges like that near me and sparsholt is the best for gamekeeping. im living in at college so travelling isnt an issue. it only takes me about 50 minutes to get from oxford to winchester anyway and only come home every 2 weeks. james

im at sparsholt college in winchester studying game and wildlife management at the moment. bloody love it. like has already been said, its not a job, its a way of life so the money aspect does not come in it. although i already have quite alot of keepering experience, ive come to college to learn about all the other apects such as woodland ecology, fishery management and to get my DSC1. go do a college course mate, social side is ace too james

hi there, as the title says, where online can i get hold of some genuine mk4 fenn traps? cheers james

you dont need good grades mate. just strong desire to do the chosen course and a fair amount of practical experience. cheers james

im about to start my gamekeeping course at college in september too and have a fair bit of experience with a keeper. how did you get your place at college without having a fair bit of previous experience? im going to sparsholt and they required that you had previous experience. cheers james also recommend "the gamekeepers year" and " the keepers diary" dvds

where you doing your 2 year course? i start mine in september at sparsholt

will more than likely be out with the keeper tomoro if i can squeeze it round work so will try then. if not will get them asap. we have 2 ponds on our shoot which gives the wildfowl a variety of areas to travel too and from. at the far edge of our shoot, not too far from the pond i mentioned in the last post, the keeper keeps chickens and 1 mallard duck. the female mallard is very successfull at calling in pairs of mallard onto the pond which can only be a good thing . cheers james

on our shoot, we have a pond very similar to the kind you have. it is kind of seperated into 3 sections. one area is in cover from a willow tree with other trees sprouting out of the water. the visiting wildfowl enjoy being under here in the later evening. the next bit is a boggy marsh with some reeds. again this holds the wildfowl on the pond area well. finally is the open part of the pond, it is a clear open space, easy for the wildfowl to get on and off the pond, it is surrounded by a nice high grassy bank which they sun bathe on. cheers james

hi mate. im about to start at sparsholt in september doing the game and wildlife management course. btec national diploma. i got in with a local keeper, been helping him for quite a while and learning the trick of the trade. if you apply for a college to do that kind of course, they will be looking for a good reference more than anything so dont worry about the grades. they mainly wont a good reference to show you know how gamekeeping works and you have practical experience. my advice is go get in with a keeper. thats what i did and gained an excellent reference. good luck mate.

i think this new section will be a good idea. im about to go to sparsholt college to do game and wildlife management so info on as many different ways of doing things will be great. cheers james