Gamekeeping. Past, present and future.

[FightTheBan 1,147]

Its a strange one for me. I've never worked for estate and any shoots i've had have been me renting the place and letting out shooting. I never went to college but i learned the stuff i know from my Grandad. I spent alot of time learning on the rearing field first....and although maybe a little biased i have always thought that this is the hard bit of the job..... The keepering side of things for me was great. I loved shoot days(when it was going right) and just getting out there and working the dogs.

Obviously there are alot of bad points with the main one being 'time'.You have no time for a private life......guarenteed when friends/family have something on you are up to your arse with work.. When your young you dont want to work every weekend but in the keepering world you do.

I reckon its a great job for 30-60 year old. When you leave school get yourself a 9-5 and enjoy a bit of life....then when you've had your fun and settled down a bit the weekends just roll into the weeks and you wont feel like your missing out anytimes.

For me i wouldn't change it for the world and always have an ear out for a bit of land that might suit me for a shoot. But my bread and butter is the rearing side of things so it would have to fit in nicely with that.....

 

Thanks for your input mate. I agree with you 100% it is a career more ideally suited to someone who has already gone through the 'daft stage' where you want to be out drinking and shagging every weekend.

But then again, the grouse side of things is more and more being tailored to suit the younger ones and they are struggling to get decent lads.

 

What man in his right mind would get up at 4am sit out for hours on end waiting on some vermin to come in, spend the rest of the day checking snares, traps,gritting,burning, shooting etc etc then stroll in at dark Oclock to a wife and kids have a bite to eat then feck off out lamping?

But on many commercial grouse moors this is what is expected of you. I know of one particular Scottish moor where the turnover of beatkeepers is about 6months - 1 year.

As soon as they have finished driving grouse, they are onto partridges

 

It is a hard one thats foir sure, and to those who stick it out and make it work then hats off to you.

And this is before we have even started on the legality side of things, it is getting more and more diffiult to do the job that has always been done and to get the job done without getting pinched the lads have to work every hour under the sun

 

Hopefully if we can get enough thoughts and opinions from people who know what they are talking about it should make the younger ones on here think twice before spending their hard earned going to college.

 

FTB

Edited November 17, 2011 by FightTheBan

[Lab 10,979]

Its a strange one for me. I've never worked for estate and any shoots i've had have been me renting the place and letting out shooting. I never went to college but i learned the stuff i know from my Grandad. I spent alot of time learning on the rearing field first....and although maybe a little biased i have always thought that this is the hard bit of the job..... The keepering side of things for me was great. I loved shoot days(when it was going right) and just getting out there and working the dogs.

Obviously there are alot of bad points with the main one being 'time'.You have no time for a private life......guarenteed when friends/family have something on you are up to your arse with work.. When your young you dont want to work every weekend but in the keepering world you do.

I reckon its a great job for 30-60 year old. When you leave school get yourself a 9-5 and enjoy a bit of life....then when you've had your fun and settled down a bit the weekends just roll into the weeks and you wont feel like your missing out anytimes.

For me i wouldn't change it for the world and always have an ear out for a bit of land that might suit me for a shoot. But my bread and butter is the rearing side of things so it would have to fit in nicely with that.....

 

Thanks for your input mate. I agree with you 100% it is a career more ideally suited to someone who has already gone through the 'daft stage' where you want to be out drinking and shagging every weekend.

But then again, the grouse side of things is more and more being tailored to suit the younger ones and they are struggling to get decent lads.

 

What man in his right mind would get up at 4am sit out for hours on end waiting on some vermin to come in, spend the rest of the day checking snares, traps,gritting,burning, shooting etc etc then stroll in at dark Oclock to a wife and kids have a bite to eat then feck off out lamping?

But on many commercial grouse moors this is what is expected of you. I know of one particular Scottish moor where the turnover of beatkeepers is about 6months - 1 year.

As soon as they have finished driving grouse, they are onto partridges

 

It is a hard one thats foir sure, and to those who stick it out and make it work then hats off to you.

And this is before we have even started on the legality side of things, it is getting more and more diffiult to do the job that has always been done and to get the job done without getting pinched the lads have to work every hour under the sun

 

Hopefully if we can get enough thoughts and opinions from people who know what they are talking about it should make the younger ones on here think twice before spending their hard earned going to college.

 

FTB

I get quite a few of the college lads/lassies doing work experience on the rearing field. I sometimes think its a shame for them scooping up shite out of sheds, repairing nets and such.....and then i think 'f**k it' i had too do it. Its the crap bits of the job that weed out the ones that are there for a f**k about. You can tell the minute they turn up if there going to make it or not..........alot of them that have been here i will be seeing again and they will be asking me if i want 'fries with that!!'....

Heres a top tip for any student recently passed through college and lands a job on a rearing field/keepered estate.........SHUT UP AND LISTEN!!. and never say "Thats not what we done at college?"......

I know its sounds alot of doom and gloom sometimes but there are jobs out there that wil be a dream come true for some young keepers, they maybe few and far between but if you keep your head down, do the job, dont moan and produce results your reputation will grow and being a close knit industry you may well fall right on your feet......

[danw 1,748]

I think these colleges give the wrong impression of the job just to fill places on there courses they also give unrealistic guarantees of job placement after the course is done they churn out all these trainees into a job market which is already saturated most come out the college thinking they are now headkeeper/single handed material when the reality is that they have yet to learn anything and lets be honest if their tutors where any sense at the job they wouldn't be sat in a college teaching would they.

[sikastag_1 689]

.....

Edited September 3, 2019 by grant_c

[FightTheBan 1,147]

Used to be a keeper, done 3 years in the college aswell, went or an interview and got the job when my son was 6 months old after seeing the roof insulation comin through the roof and dampness we decided against that job, needed security for my son so living on hope was no good, iv worked somewhere else for 3 years just because of settlement but to be honest in the last week iv put the feelers out again to go back, it's a job you love or hate iv worked under good bosses and iv worked under wankers, I'm working under a wanker of a boss just now and that's in a totally unrelated job there's good and bad in every employment , and there all there to be found, it's an industry where word travels fast so you can usually hear through the grapevine wether a place is a no go or not, if you love that life then half of it can't be classed as work, my shift patterns now mean hardly a social life, some people land on their feet with trade apprenticeships etc or cooshty keepering jobs, I just seem to be an unlucky f****r lol, I'll see what comes along and what the future holds but seriously considering going back, if the right job comes up I'm away, if it doesn't it will always be an option.

 

A word of warning for the youngsters wanting to go to college and how hard the life is some of the lads I went to college with didny even make it to the end of the course I could probably count on 1 hand how many are keepers now, some like maself through life not goin along the planned out line but most because it just wasn't for them, a dick of a head keeper is enough to put somebody off for life.

 

100%

The difference between a c**t of a boss and a c**t of a headkeeper is when you have a c**t of a boss you only see them 9 to 5 monday to friday and you have time to switch off and forget.

A c**t of a headkeeper can have you out at any time and has your number at hand 24/7. If he really dislikes you he can make your life hell and 9 times out of 10 your contract is written so you have no comeback.

Its a predicament I wouldn't wish upon anyone.

 

FTB

[MOO 730]

Its the best job in the world ...stop being a moaning auld wifey FTB

[sikastag_1 689]

A wish ma job was 9-5 mon tae fri mate lol, boys with nothing else just coming in tae the game need to take what they get but if you know a squad of keepers you soon find out if a move is a good move or it and if the head keepers a dick, but there's lazy under keepers aswell, hard graft is one thing but testing patience and taking the piss out of people under you is what makes the difference, a good lifestyle if you like it and if youse get on well or the jobs a good one but if it's not for some people it wouldn't take long for them to figure it out

[clachan 72]

I, like alot of young lads decided i wanted to be a keeper at a very early age.I did the usual beating and helping around the estate on weekends/holidays ect.so i had a good idea what the job involved.I got a college placement when i left school at Elmwood in Fife.I was only at college for 4x2 week blocks per year.The rest of the time i was on an estate doing work.The course was only 2 years.Once the course was over i stayed on for another year,followed by a season on a rearing field.The work was hard and long and extreamly lonely at times.A normal day would start around 7 and go on till about 5,stop for tea and back out until 8 or9.With lamping a regular do as well.This was in the early 90s,and in that time we had about half a dozen young lads through the door.After the season at the rearing i was a full time rabbit trapper for just over a year.Since then i have been a pest controler.I decided to go into this line of work because i had more job security,more time for myself and family and it still kept me in that line of work.Do i regret coming away from keepering?No.Do i miss every miniute i spent keepering?Hell ye.Its a way of life that will suit some and not others.Ive always said that if possible,when the kids are away that i would love to get back into it.On a small scale/part time.If i had any advice for any lads going into keepering it would be.It is hard work with very little time to yourself,You dont go shooting every day and it can be a very lonely place sometimes.But if you decide this is for you listen to all the adice and knowledge everyone is willing to share with you,keep your nose cleen and enjoy.Cause in this day and age you should count yourself a very privilaged person.clachan

[sikastag_1 689]

Nothing worse than rearing mate, better when poults are bought in, grouse and deer would be my preference but i wouldn't say no to a good pheasant / partridge job if I thought it was the right move for us

[Guest ragumup]

Iv done it for last 24 years and enjoyed most of it... i hate people and most hate me lol...(i have to fake it on shoot days though lol) To the young lads out there i wouldnt be put off you may get a wank headkeeper as i did but just get on with it and keep your big mouth shut as once you get single handed you can manage your time, so it not alI doom and gloom but maybe iv been lucky ,i know your often only as good as your last season which stinks , i think it about finding the right job i know some keepers that do less than nothing most of the year !!! i dont know how they keep their jobs

[Rabbit Hunter 6,608]

It's something i've always fancied and being young and willing I think I'd give it a fair go, but I love my terrierwork (digging)...do you lads that are keepers do much with the terriers? Or is it all shooting and trapping to control the 'pests'?

[danw 1,748]

It's something i've always fancied and being young and willing I think I'd give it a fair go, but I love my terrierwork (digging)...do you lads that are keepers do much with the terriers? Or is it all shooting and trapping to control the 'pests'?

 

I used to keep the odd pat but now find it easier to call the hunt My heart aint in digging got enough to do without digging bloody holes so the terrier lad from the hunt turns up and removes any foxes I need gone, but should it be your game then there is always digging to be on with

[jazz_11 5]

evening all,

im 19 and i quit my full time job to study at a agricultural college.. first thing i wanted to do was gamekeeping but was only a 1 day a week and the college had actually stopped it as of this year... stil wanting to graft as such and wanted to be working outdoors, in the countryside i am looking further affield with all my options open, the course i am doing now is a pretty full on course and covers everything, estate skills, deer management , forrestry etc etc after passing my chainsaw course 2 weeks ago and getting an insight in to forretry, yes it was hard graft im not going to lie, but i F****** loved it i really did.. im now looking at a possible future (if i can get some sort of funding for the equipment and further courses) in to tree surgery... although i would like to be more in the countryside so to speak jobs are very limited.

[monique06 0]

Shooting is great!

It makes you work all of your senses.

But for some it's a negative kind of thing.

 

the way we see what we have, is how we perceive it.

everything will gonna be ok if you love what you are doing.

If you think your life is boring with that, shift to something that could make your life worthwhile.

 

job is not just making money, it's a career. it determines what and who you are.

[khakibob 1]

There is a huge future in "game management".

Game keeping? Seems the money & hours aren't so good.

Hunting is a huge industry,start to value it & remuneration will come.

 

As for the furure.Do a property based management plan, become the manager & hunting guide.

Run your own business.

Take the risk & the reward.

 

Cheers khakibob