We are fortunate in Northumberland to still have pockets of the native red squirrel in several areas. This is not by accident. The work that is quietly being carried out on estates by the shooting community is managing to sustain these populations. Every estate I have visited over the last…
Gamekeeping
Gamekeepers and their profession are the unsung guardians of the countryside who ensure that the shooting industry and the British countryside thrive. The job has become more and more technical over the last century as gamekeepers now have to understand agricultural practices, veterinary medicines and annual budgets as well as interpret changing government policy.
There are plenty of useful resources and articles on Shooting UK that highlight the importance of gamekeeping but also can help guide and offer advice to those in the profession.
If there is anything you would like to see on the site email shootinguk@timeinc.com
Game shooting| Deer stalking| Gundog training| Gun reviews| Pest control | Current affairs
What happened on a ladies-only shoot day with an all-female keepering team?
Shooting is becoming ever more accessible to a greater audience, none more so than women. This increasing popularity has driven the creation of fantastic communities such as Femmes Fatales and the Shotgun & Chelsea Bun Club, allowing women of all ages and abilities to get involved and meet like-minded individuals.…
How to use traps for pest control
Using traps for pest control to control small predators such as stoats, weasels and rats is time-consuming, but is nevertheless important for those of us who want to try and nurture some wild stock. Foxes and crows might be at the top of the list but, once their numbers are under…
The best cover crops for the part-time keeper
Cover crops can do many things to enhance a shoot: Provide options for early-season drives when the woods might have too much leaf on the trees to push pheasants out Link areas of land where there are no natural transfer points such as hedges or ditches Give more options in…
Stark choice for game industry on antibiotics
A coalition of shooting and veterinary groups has urged the game sector to make further cuts to antibiotic use in game birds. A joint statement has been released by the British Veterinary Association, BASC, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Countryside Alliance, the British Veterinary Poultry Association, the Game…
Queen makes donation in support of gamekeepers
HM The Queen has shown her support for the fieldsports community by making a donation to the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust. The gift to the charity was revealed following the Trust’s annual general meeting last month, though the donated sum remains undisclosed. Founded in 1992, the Trust was set up to…
Scotland seeks to solve salmon crisis
The Scottish Government has pledged £700,000 to tackle declining wild salmon stocks. With survival rates for salmon at sea having dropped to just five per cent, ministers say that the money will help to fund new research and activities and mitigate damaging factors such as predation, illegal poaching and salmon…
Labour Party proposes a ban on “intensive rearing”
The Labour Party’s proposed animal welfare plan, which includes a pledge to “promote high standards with regards to game shoots”, has had a mixed reception from rural groups. Published on the heels of the Government’s own proposed Animal Welfare Bill, the 50-point plan seeks to improve the treatment of wild,…
Does a gamekeeper really need a degree?
This is my eighth season being a headkeeper on an estate in the Cotswolds. Having entered the gamekeeping profession full-time at the age of 23, my initial knowledge came from running a small shoot in Suffolk for a farmers syndicate and having a BSc (Hons) degree in conservation and environment.…
Honorary President of National Gamekeepers’ Organisation receives Royal Victorian Order (LVO) from Her Majesty The Queen
Awards in the Royal Victorian Order are in the gift of Her Majesty, who made the presentation in person. David Clark said: “It is a great honour to have been made Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, for which I would like to thank Her Majesty The Queen. I will…
Ampleforth College Shoot 2018
In the past five years the school shoot has grown in both extent and professionalism. Student-led and supported, with guidance by staff and parents, Ampleforth is putting down around 800 pheasants and partridges each year in three pens across the valley, shooting a good 10 days in the season. Eight…
Keepers helped feed homeless this Christmas
Angus and Grampian gamekeepers teamed up to give more than 600 homeless and vulnerable people a freshly cooked meal of local game over the festive period. Members of the Angus Glens Moorland Group and Grampian Moorland Group worked to deliver locally reared oven-ready pheasants and partridges, as well as fresh…
How to organise beaters’ day
As January approaches, thoughts of keepers, beaters and pickers-up are turning to the end-of- season cock’s or beaters’ days. Originally called keeper’s days — because they were gifted to the keeper to invite whom he wished — the Guns are now usually a mix of the keeper’s guests, the beaters…
Do Guns appreciate the planning that goes into a shoot day?
I wonder if people appreciate the amount of work and organisation that goes into planning a shoot day? The day starts way back in the summer when your poults first arrive in the release pens and the feeding regime, which is a seven-days-a-week job, goes on through the autumn in…
Gamekeepers and beekeepers work together on moorland heather
A new film explores how Scottish grouse estates are supporting local businesses, by teaming up with honey producers to give bees access to managed heather. Estates in Tayside, the Angus Glens and the Lammermuirs work with beekeepers who put their hives on the moors every August and September. The bees…
This is how to put out the pegs
When I worked in Wales, not far away there was a rather elderly and eccentric estate owner, who employed a full-time keeper and shot six days. One of his more interesting quirks was that he never drew pegs. He insisted that the Guns — who were a closed syndicate of…
Are gamekeepers being tipped too much?
Gamekeepers: A thorny issue involving gamekeepers and their wallets.
Is this the best way of “dogging-in?”
Dogging-in means using a dog to push straying pheasants from the boundaries of a shoot back into the middle. This time of year the majority of keepers face this seemingly never-ending and infuriating task. Time-consuming and impossible without a dog The art of pushing wandering poults back to the more…
How to keep your pheasants close to home
As birds mature, they start to wander. Not necessarily because there is something badly wrong with where they are, nor because they are looking for something particular that their release wood can’t provide, but more because it is part of the natural maturing process of most wild things, pheasants and…
Scottish keepers restore wild grey partridges
Wild grey partridges have been returned to the Tomatin moors in Inverness-shire thanks to local gamekeepers and some unusual help from bantam chickens. Wild greys had not been seen on the moor since the late 1990s, but in 2011 the team at Clune estate set out to bring them back.…