game_keeper

Hi there, Just applied for my .243 or .308 and have had an open license for .22 rimfire for 15 years but have no deer on my current permissions. I have been told that although its not a requirement officially its pretty much a requirement (unofficially) to do your dsc L1 but i cant spare the 2 weekends it takes. I would just like to ask deer stalkers out there what do you think my chances of getting the variation without doing the course? If i am successful i intend on advertise for deer stalking rights but am reluctant to go to the trouble and expense until i have the appropriate weapon for the job. Any tips of ideas much appreciated. Many thanks, Game_keeper

jus like turkeys then, that what they used to do in the good old days according to me mum lol

b b b b b bump!!!!!

200 yds actually mate , sorry havent replyed, had internet trouble, ended up wiping the whole laptop cos of a virus, so will take more pics today then get back to everyone. The gun is still for sale.

used to be able to use sheep panacure to cure it but they have stopped it now, unless you tell the bloke at the store you have a small group of sheep. Hope all goes well, they only have it when they are young as they can cough them out when they are older. Not sure what the name of the pheasant wormer is, but you just put it in your water source. If you use tanks then its help full as you can dilute it easily. just remember to tie the stop cock up Again hope everything goes ok, Rob

sorry, couldnt see, did he hit the pigeon? lol

Picture from combining the other week. I saw one fox ran into a wood and thought he would be long gone. I went over there waited for a bit then he came out of a patch of brambles no further than my barrels length away. He then ran at full speed away from me but the lead shot was quicker. The other one broke early aswell when i was walking next to the combine. Dad was at the top covering anything that ran out but i had a go anyway and bowled him straight over, was chuffed as it was a fair old distance espically as i was using a number 6 cartridge. Both dog foxes. Ended up with 15 rabbits at the end.

B...B...B...BUMP, Come on people, someone must want this gun, took it out friday nailed 14 rabbits and 2 foxes in one afternoon. Fox was taken at 50 yards with a number 6 cartridge and open choke and still knocked him over. My old man went over and finished him and then claimed it was his fox.

BuMp!

Thanks for the advise people. I am a good friend of the head keeper, so dont want to disappoint him. The person that i work for on saturdays is a good friend aswell so its a hard decision. I will have to tell the shooting instructor that i cant and that i had already planned on going beating. Thanks again for the advice people.

have you got any pics mate?

Hi there all, me bein me i have just found myself regretting the last conversation i had with my employer. I work as a shooting instructor on saturdays because my boss's other employee broke his arm and couldnt work. So i have been working there and was told it would last for roughly 6 weeks. Anyways he just phoned me up and was just chattin and i said i had just got my beating list through, so he goes oh so are you going to work for me or go beating, i said i would work for him just to keep him happy. But now im regretting it. So I have to decide whether to go beating or work for him? I want to be a gamekeeper and was hoping the estate beat at might give me a job. Anyways i was shooting there with dad this afternoon and dad has just told me that when i was out shooting the gamekeeper told dad that he is tryng to get rid of the underkeeper and employee me instead. So I dont really want to disappoint him and say im not going beating anymore. I was thinking of telling the shooting instructor that i would go along if he has a booking, but if not i would go beating instead. What do you guys think? Sorry if its a bit confusing. Many thanks, Rob

sure mate, whats your email addy?

For sale: Winchester Super Grade 12g O/U, excellent condition. A beautiful gun, attractive engravings with an excellent pistol grip stock. It has 28" barrels with open and 1/4 chokes. It is light and shoots very well, ideal for game or clays. I am looking for £475 for the gun. I am only selling this as i have to raise some funds. Pictures can be sent via email. Many thanks, Rob

I have my Winchester Super Grade for sale. It has 28" barrels, cyl and 1/4 chokes. It has an attractive pistol grip stock which is in good condition. The gun overall is in excellent condition and will make a nice clay or game gun. I am only selling as i have to raise some funds. Pics can be sent via email. I am looking for £475 ono. Many thanks, Rob

I have decided to apply for my firearms license, hopefully to get a .22lr. Just a few questions about the procedurre. I have already obtained a shotgun certificate so i know about having the firearms officer round etc. But what is different in getting a fireams certificate to getting a shotgun certificate? I know all about having to have the land checked out and that but what sort of questions is the firearms officer going to ask me? I have a general knowlegde of firearms but not an in depth understanding. is tyhere any sites you can recommend to help me gain more knowledge? Many thanks Rob

i had one the other night, three cubs out on the stubble, gave a little squeak and they all ran at me, smacked one with a bb cartridge, only 2 ran off, since then i have had 2 more but cant squeak them now, everytime i do they run off so have to wait and catch them with the lamp Rob

we have had a good wild bird breeding season, although there is still al ot of fields standing, so you cannot see the true extent of how many chicks there are, you get a rough idea of how many there are by looking on the outsides, we have seen around 50+ wild pheasants, which are good looking birds, also seen around 30+ french partridge chicks (look like bumble bees with legs) and about 10+ english partridge chicks. Although we deal with many thousands of pheansants, its always nice to see the truely wild birds surviving and breeding. The only shame is when the pheasant poults that have been brought kill the wild ones, but nothing can stop that. Rob

Hay there all, for some reason i have not been able to get on this site for a while. Anyways sonce then I hav managed to gain some shooting permission. When we have taken our dos out for a walk, we visit the same place each time. First we walk around the sports field, then into a a paddock, where I do a lot of training with my dogs. Anyways this ground is littered with rabbits, must see about 40+ everytime you visit the paddock, thats just during the day. Anyways there i was taking my dog out, went around the sports field, went into the paddock and there was someone cuttin the field for hay. I decided to go and ask him if i could shoot the ground. It turned out he only worked there and told me to go and see the owners, which i did. Turns out they have been looking for someone sensible to shoot the ground for a long time and they was happy for me to shoot the ground. So once i had got my letter stating that i have permission to shoot the ground, I went home, and there was dad sitting on the sofa. I dropped the envolope with the letter in it onto his lap and went and sat down, he started reading it and went well done, where have you got permission to shoot? ( didnt recognise the address), anyways i tell him its for the rabbit infested fields, he starts to get all excited, well done son, this is goining to be great blah blah blah, i tell him to read the letter again, he does and goes what? I go if you notice it says Rob has permission to shoot haha, so i let him tag along every so often Anyways started shooting it now, struggling to keep up and to have enough cartridges, getting about a dozen+ everytime. If only that happens everytime, Thanks for reading my post, Rob

might be a gd time to build a trap, we are finding that problem and have built 2 massive traps, just today we caught 7, work well as long as you have decoy birds

Hi there, I experienced problems with this at first. I done brilliantly on clays, my tution was free as my tutor wanted to train me to go to competions etc as the moment i picked a gun up, i shot straight with it. With a little bit of basic help and some pointers i soon started improving and improving. After maybe 3 months i went pigeon shooting with a friend of mine and had the worst time of my life ever. Couldnt hit a anything, not anything. I started asking myself the usuall question: too much/not enough lead? not suitable cartridge? not suitable gun? invincible pigeons? But the main thing that got me through it was not giving up. When other people was bagging 40 or 50 birds and i was coming back empty handed, had the micky taken out of me by every one there, i felt like chucking the gun on the floor and going home. But after many a time going there empty handed and coming back the same, i gradually started to increase my bag, which increased my confidence and i have been gradually improving since. To this day i still find pigeon shooting one of the most chanllenging of all quarry, even more so that january pheasants or english partridge. As my head keeper told me, shooting is 80% mentality, once you have trained yourself mentaly then you will start hitting your quarry. Hope you continue on, even though you may feel like giving up

I had the same experience as you, i was looking for land but could not find anywhere to shoot. When we take our dogs out, we go to the same place everytime, a rabbit infested paddock, ususally count over 50 rabbits per field. Me and dad always walked the dogs around the field, talking about how great it would be to have permission here. Nice land, Nice shooting and not 5 mins away from home. One day, me and mum was taking the dogs around the field when i saw someone on a tractor mowing the field. I sucked up my courage and blocked his way, i then started talking and things led from there. After we had finished taking the dogs out, and discussed where i can shoot rabbits, i went home and put the letter on my dads lap, he aid wow, wheres that for? i said where we take the dogs, where its rabbit infested, he almost had a heart attack, he was so excited, until i pointed out to him on the letter...... "robert has permission to shoot..." Then i did tell him that i had told the woman, he would be joining me on a few occations Now hes at my mercy! Enjoy your permission! Hope you enjoy the sport! Rob

well said Bertie! Its not how many you shoot, its about enjoying yourself and having some good shooting. I agree with the comment about dogging in twice a day, but it depends on what the birds do, in some areas of the estae you can spend 5 or 6 times a day there dogging the birds back, but on other bits you may only have to do it only once every 2 days. So going down there with a dog might increase your chances of getting that left to right screamer that you remember for the rest of the season and for seasons to come, as i said at the start the important thing is enjoying yourself. Im glad you have decided to try this out as its shows how much work goes into looking after these birds and you can experience the joys of shooting birds that you have looked after. I hope it all goes well and remember to keep us informed and if you need any advice, we are all here to help. Rob

i wouldnt be running away, even if it meant getting a black eye and broken nose, we all love a bit of venison! Anyways, what a great story to tell in the pub. " How did you hurt your face?", "well hears what happened...... A ravaging animal attacked me, and i had to wrestle it to the floor with my bear hands". Jus dont tell them it was a deer If they ask just say it was a giant animal with massive horns and bones as hard as rocks. Rob

good point fert, do you have dogs Bertie? if not it may be worth considering buying one or even asking a friend to come and help you out. Although a dog is not 100% neccesary, it is a great advantage and extremely helpful. Even if you dont, going out at first light and early evening can tell you about where they are going throughout the day and where they are coming from, which meanss that you can be there to stop them. As far as i can remember these are the main points, Food, Water and Dogging in. Anything else you do just increases your chances of keeping birds on your land and increases the chance of them surviving. remember also that even though this may seem like a lot of work, that vermin control also needs to be undertaken. You can feed or provide water as much as you want, but if theres foxes about then they will soon have them anyways. Hope this helps, sorry to ramble Rob