Gents,

I thought I would put this here before I advertise in the press.

My little pheasant shooting syndicate in East Sussex, (between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead) is looking for a new part time keeper this year.

We shoot over a little more than 300 acres and will be rearing pheasants and duck. There are two pheasant release pens and one or two duck ponds.

If anyone thinks they may be interested in more details about the role then please PM me.

Rgds,
K

This post piqued my interest a bit, as I'm not far away from the place. I know I'm definately not qualified as a gamekeeper but I need to ask and please forgive my ignorance.....what exactly does the gamekeeper do?

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
This post piqued my interest a bit, as I'm not far away from the place. I know I'm definately not qualified as a gamekeeper but I need to ask and please forgive my ignorance.....what exactly does the gamekeeper do?

Now you have opened a can of worms. What is the keeper supposed to do, as opposed to what he might actually do.....?

Give Kevin Downer A call. He lives in East Grinstead and is the games keeper at several large farms. I know for a fact he puts on the best shoots in the south.

Cell # [0] 7774 211815

Tell him you talked to Anthony

quote:

Originally posted by Claret_Dabbler:

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
This post piqued my interest a bit, as I'm not far away from the place. I know I'm definately not qualified as a gamekeeper but I need to ask and please forgive my ignorance.....what exactly does the gamekeeper do?

Now you have opened a can of worms. What is the keeper supposed to do, as opposed to what he might actually do.....?

Indeed....

Basically a game keeper job in its simplest form involves looking after game birds at various stages of their lives. In this instance we put down pheasant poults at 7 weeks of age in a release pen. The pen is an open topped enclosure that has two or three strands of electric wire around it to deter foxes.

Over time, starting after a couple of days the birds will leave the pen and slowly expand their range. How they expand their range will be dependent on where food is available and how much of it. They will also be influenced by the availability of cover and things like the amount of sunshine etc.

So the gamekeeper needs to make food available and in the correct places. He needs to control vermin and make sure water is available where necessary.

When the shooting season approaches he needs to know the daily pattern of the way the birds move through the coverts. How they will fly and how they should be driven. He needs to run the beating line and picker up line.

If he does all this and the guns shoot straight then generally everyone had a good day out and he gets his tips.

If he doesn't do it then he gets fired and the shot finds a replacement!!

If you want to have a look around the shoot and see what we do then drop me a PM and I'll shot you how we do things. If you are nearby and you want to come and see a day in progress then I think we might be having another AR weekend this year to mix up some pheasants, ducks and fallow deer.

Rgds,
K

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:

If he does all this and the guns shoot straight then generally everyone had a good day out and he gets his tips.

If he doesn't do it then he gets fired and the shot finds a replacement!!


Rgds,
K

Kiri
thats a little harsh
If the guns can't shoot straight is no concern of the keeper, his only concern is he/she puts the number of birds over the guns so they can hav a good day
just unfortunately
guns count the number of birds they hav shot on the day, not shot count so pay accordingly
landlords counts the returns at the end of the year regardless of what bad days they hav due to bad shooting
and the keeper gets shafted for working his ass off because his boss can't sell days to guns that can actually shoot then gets sacked for his efforts
It's a tough life for keeper ain't it

Richard,

Indeed it is a tough life as a Keeper. Especially so in some of the remoter parts of the land.

I agree that it is of no concern of the keeper if the guns can shoot or not. At the end of the day they have to be able to fulfill their end of the bargain and it annoys me no end when I see guns that have a stream of decent killable birds over them throughout the day that they cannot hit. It's one of the reasons that I avoid hosting let days and prefer running a syndicate, as it allows the good and bad days to all come out in the wash.

However the keeper as you say is entirely responsible for putting birds over the guns and if at the end of the year he has been given the tools to do it and he fails then there is a problem.

At the end of the day the keeper is not making a capital investment into a shoot and so when guns come out and don't see birds then they bang on the door of the guy they gave their money to.

Of course if they see birds and don't hit them then that is their look out?

Out of curiosity where do you draw the line in terms of cartridge ratios? Personally I think that if guns end up on more than 6:1 as a team then they are on shaky ground. I've seen it go as high as double that with guns still complaining.

K

Kiri
I do feel for those that work up in scotland where they get some real bad weather and lose days because of it
I shot up there this last Jan on a high bird shoot that presented birds as good as any in the country and the keeper there had lost loads of days due to the snow, I think he worked on a 5-1 ratio I would of thought it to be higher

Personaly I work on a 3-1 ratio for driven ducks for both syndicate and let days
for driven pheasant 4-1 for the syndicate and let days are at a set price for the day based on a 60-70 bird day but generally work out at 4-1 based on 9 standing and 1 walking or back gunning

Our ground is not anything special and some times you do get a better than average shot count

The duck flighting is a set price per flight regardless of shots or ducks seen or shot

I don't think I would draw the line because of a shot count more likely because of how the shot count was being accumilated

quite often guns will shoot at the same bird going down the line of guns or several guns will shoot to try and finish off a wounded bird
these always raise the shots counts on a drive which never reflects the true picture

There are those drives where certain pegs produce and on the day a poorer shot of the group gets it all the birds seem to fly over that peg
the amount of times I hav seen a gun break into a 2nd box of carts and still not hit a bird

I just smile and make sure they hav picked up the empties I am more concerned that all the guns get a share of the shooting as I know what it is like to be out of the shooting even thou I've paid as much as the gun who has shot most of the bag

It's a tough life , just a shame you are to far away I may of been interested
but good luck in finding a new recruit as there must be quite a few semi-retired countryfolk out there who would jump at the chance
ATB

Hi Mate I'm really interested in helping out. I have sent you a pm. I don't have any experience but I'm keen to learn and don't expect to be paid for helping out just want to Learn and gain experience.
ATB Danny

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
Richard,

Indeed it is a tough life as a Keeper. Especially so in some of the remoter parts of the land.

I agree that it is of no concern of the keeper if the guns can shoot or not. At the end of the day they have to be able to fulfill their end of the bargain and it annoys me no end when I see guns that have a stream of decent killable birds over them throughout the day that they cannot hit. It's one of the reasons that I avoid hosting let days and prefer running a syndicate, as it allows the good and bad days to all come out in the wash.

However the keeper as you say is entirely responsible for putting birds over the guns and if at the end of the year he has been given the tools to do it and he fails then there is a problem.

At the end of the day the keeper is not making a capital investment into a shoot and so when guns come out and don't see birds then they bang on the door of the guy they gave their money to.

Of course if they see birds and don't hit them then that is their look out?

Out of curiosity where do you draw the line in terms of cartridge ratios? Personally I think that if guns end up on more than 6:1 as a team then they are on shaky ground. I've seen it go as high as double that with guns still complaining.

K

It also helps if the shoot organiser pays his bills on time, stops blowing smoke up his own arse, and takes more interest in the shoot other than in its ability to line his own pockets.

quote:

Originally posted by Fox204:

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
Richard,

Indeed it is a tough life as a Keeper. Especially so in some of the remoter parts of the land.

I agree that it is of no concern of the keeper if the guns can shoot or not. At the end of the day they have to be able to fulfill their end of the bargain and it annoys me no end when I see guns that have a stream of decent killable birds over them throughout the day that they cannot hit. It's one of the reasons that I avoid hosting let days and prefer running a syndicate, as it allows the good and bad days to all come out in the wash.

However the keeper as you say is entirely responsible for putting birds over the guns and if at the end of the year he has been given the tools to do it and he fails then there is a problem.

At the end of the day the keeper is not making a capital investment into a shoot and so when guns come out and don't see birds then they bang on the door of the guy they gave their money to.

Of course if they see birds and don't hit them then that is their look out?

Out of curiosity where do you draw the line in terms of cartridge ratios? Personally I think that if guns end up on more than 6:1 as a team then they are on shaky ground. I've seen it go as high as double that with guns still complaining.

K

It also helps if the shoot organiser pays his bills on time, stops blowing smoke up his own arse, and takes more interest in the shoot other than in its ability to line his own pockets.

Welcome to the forum.

Of course many people see the money coming in but fail to recognize when it is going out.

I maintain that a keepers job is not to run the shoot, books or market and receive payment from the guns. If the birds are in on time and the facilities,medication food and water, are in place then the keeper has his tools with which to operate. Any other activities/gossip do not impact on the keepers ability to go out and feed/rear his birds, & to subsequently put them over the guns.

K