advice for wanna-be-gamekeepers

[trisha 1]

ideation empty your inbox lol

[Bobba_fett 117]

as a young full time grouse keeper who just left college i'd say all you need is a bit of luck and to be keen. find a keeper that knows people and needs a hand, show him your keen by being there first thing in the morrning and leaving after you been out lamping, never being off the place and with any luck he will put you forward for a job on an estate they know someone on, thats what i did. It doesn't matter how many courses or qualifications you have its all about who you know. I only went to college to get into the loop comming from a background where none of my friends or family shoot or hunt. theres no point helping out on an estate where the keeper doesnt really need your help or doesn't try to help you get a job somewhere at the end of it. I help out on a few estates where they were nice enough but never thought much about helping me get a job only really thought about there own, may sound harsh but you cant spend your whole life helping out for nothing.

thats just what worked for me.

[Bobba_fett 117]

Not wanting to put the aspiring young gamekeepers off but I will add all the gamekeepers I know do very little shooting themselves. In general it is more rifle work than anything else, mainly foxing and rabbiting, and often they let a trusted helper do the bulk of that, especially during the summer when most daylight hours are spent on the rearing field.

 

Sensible keepers buy poults in and save all that time and just focus most of the time in fixing up/building pens, doing drinkers and feeders etc. and also alot of the keepers round here use that spare time to do a bit of pigeon shooting as well as fox control.

 

Sensible keepers become grouse keepers none of that chicken farming, If you like shooting and trapping grouse is the way to go.