Outraged

[B725]

There's no fun when it's freezing cold and wet and your standing about because the gun's have decided to have an impromptu drink.

[Rim Fire]

55 minutes ago, London Best said:

Yes, beating can be hard work, but it’s not WORK

So it is WORK then weather you enjoy it or not 

 

2 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

You obviously beat on the WRONG shoot

How was he supposed to know that it was cancelled on the last week of the season 

[B725]

activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

"he was tired after a day's work"

Definition of work,paid or unpaid 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Similar:

 

[marsh man]

Some interesting posts , but at the end of the day no one force you to go beating , if you are fresh into shooting and finding it hard to get any perms then beating is a very good first step onto the ladder , you are with like minded people and small doors will open from time to time , it is then up to you to go through it , it might involve taking the odd days holiday if the shoot you are on have the odd mid week shoot , the more shoots you can attend the better , I can only vouch for the shoots I have been on and all of them have treated me well , one shoot I went on for a number of years always had a beaters day and all the guns would do the beating all day and any game could be shot , hens or cocks it didn't make any difference as they started off fresh for the following season , at the shoots dinner the chap who ran it paid for the beaters meal , you help yourself to the game once the guns have taken what they wanted and yes we did get paid for the days beating .

The beaters day is a big part of the game season on the shoots around this way , I can honestly say that I don't know of any of the bigger ones that don't have at least one beaters day and a lot of them have two , when we used to have a lot of Partridge days we would often have two , one would be a beaters day and the other one would be a keepers day , this would be a day when the tennent farmers would be asked and a few beaters and helpers who have turned up on most if not all the shoots and in those days we had 30 odd days , some of the beaters also went on other shoots and by having two days it was handy if the two shoots picked the same day , as these big Partridge shoots often had a 2 / 300 bird beaters day and our good friend Simon ( Ditchman ) would tell you that's right because he often done the picking up on the shoot I am referring to .

So around here it would be very doubtful the beaters day would be called off at the last minute and if it did , then it would be through a major disaster and not the feeble excuse the op said at the beginning of this thread .   MM

[button]

4 hours ago, London Best said:

That is very true, of course. 
Yes, beating can be hard work, but it’s not WORK.

 Let’s face it, most beaters do it because they enjoy it, because it’s FUN.

In some communities it is work! Just like a ghillie in the Highlands! Seasonal yes, work definitely, a much needed source of income, absolutely, think it would be hard dispute it is WORK!

[12gauge82]

Anyone claiming beaters should as a matter of course turn up on a regular basis beating for zero pay and no other perks need to get real.

Should the guns equally expect the shoots to put free shooting on for them? 

Nobody turns up as a beater expecting to be able to retire on it, but it should be a mutually beneficial arrangement and that is is even more relevant when you beaten all year on the presumption of a beaters day at the end of the season. 

[Weihrauch17]

I used to beat on 2 shoots but the arrogance of some guns and their rudeness in having 2 hour lunches made me quit.  The money I got didn't even cover my fuel costs. One guy winged a hen that came down 40 yards behind him, I sent my dog for it and he said if I want birds picking up round my feet I will ask!  I told him to go forth put my dog on its lead and left and that was it.   

Edited February 3, 2023 by Weihrauch17

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, 12gauge82 said:

Anyone claiming beaters should as a matter of course turn up on a regular basis beating for zero pay and no other perks need to get real.

Should the guns equally expect the shoots to put free shooting on for them? 

Nobody turns up as a beater expecting to be able to retire on it, but it should be a mutually beneficial arrangement and that is is even more relevant when you beaten all year on the presumption of a beaters day at the end of the season. 

Apart from the op , do anyone else go beating on a regular shoot and don't get a day at the end of the season where you can have a few shots at some left over cocks or any other game ?

Also what would be a average days pay for beating on the commercial shoots that pay the helpers ? , around here it would be a minimum of £30.00 and I know some that pay £40 and a bit more for picking up plus a brace of birds .

[London Best]

13 hours ago, marsh man said:

Apart from the op , do anyone else go beating on a regular shoot and don't get a day at the end of the season where you can have a few shots at some left over cocks or any other game

In the mid 1960’s, as a teenager, I used to beat on two local shoots. One was a landed gentry job, the other was a syndicate of doctors, estate agents and solicitors. On both shoots a beater’s day was unheard of.
It was the 1979/80 season before I experienced a beater’s day.

[marsh man]

22 minutes ago, London Best said:

In the mid 1960’s, as a teenager, I used to beat on two local shoots. One was a landed gentry job, the other was a syndicate of doctors, estate agents and solicitors. On both shoots a beater’s day was unheard of.
It was the 1979/80 season before I experienced a beater’s day.

We have come a long way since the mid 60s L B , we more or less only had one shoot in the area and that strangely enough is where I still help out , the team then was the owner and his close family and friends and casting my mind back they were not one of the most social teams of guns to beat for , most of the team had letters in front of there name or after it , no radios then and many a time we would be standing about in the cold after we had our lunch waiting for the team of guns to come out for the two drives after dinner , when they did come out the light was already going and we often done the last drive in nigh on dark conditions , we very rarely got a thanks and the keeper then was called by his last name and so was the driver who also worked on the estate .

As this was the first time we had ever gone beating then we didn't know any difference but at the end of the season we still got a beaters day and just having one shot at a driven Pheasant was well worth the 9 or 10 days we went beating , plus we got £3.00 and a bottle of beer , a letter of thanks was always sent to the owner and we have always had at least one beaters day ever since . 

[London Best]

5 hours ago, marsh man said:

We have come a long way since the mid 60s L B , we more or less only had one shoot in the area and that strangely enough is where I still help out , the team then was the owner and his close family and friends and casting my mind back they were not one of the most social teams of guns to beat for , most of the team had letters in front of there name or after it , no radios then and many a time we would be standing about in the cold after we had our lunch waiting for the team of guns to come out for the two drives after dinner , when they did come out the light was already going and we often done the last drive in nigh on dark conditions , we very rarely got a thanks and the keeper then was called by his last name and so was the driver who also worked on the estate .

As this was the first time we had ever gone beating then we didn't know any difference but at the end of the season we still got a beaters day and just having one shot at a driven Pheasant was well worth the 9 or 10 days we went beating , plus we got £3.00 and a bottle of beer , a letter of thanks was always sent to the owner and we have always had at least one beaters day ever since . 

My first beating was for ten shillings/day plus a beer, as a lad, men were £1.

£3 was a lot when Dad was a copper on £10/week.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, London Best said:

My first beating was for ten shillings/day plus a beer, as a lad, men were £1.

£3 was a lot when Dad was a copper on £10/week.

I left school in 62 so it would had been around the late 60s , also for many years the women in the village would come to the game larder at the end of a shooting day after a brace of Pheasants , at the time they were quite expensive , around 2 to £3 a brace , these were taken off the hooks as they came and it was pot luck weather they got a good brace or not , at the time the keeper used to tell me the days bag which was around 100 / 150 bird day would pay for all the beaters , picker ups and still put a few bob in the estate , as time wore on and the Pheasants were worth less , the bag from the shoot before Christmas was kept for Christmas boxes , I had started work on the estate then and I can well remember the boss coming round to see all the employees to give them a brace of birds and a bottle of Port ........ Happy days  

[button]

19 hours ago, London Best said:

My first beating was for ten shillings/day plus a beer, as a lad, men were £1.

£3 was a lot when Dad was a copper on £10/week.

And there you have it, in your own words you did it for the money

That is not a criticism in anyway but unless I'm reading it wrong it was welcome income and rightly so

[London Best]

6 hours ago, button said:

And there you have it, in your own words you did it for the money

That is not a criticism in anyway but unless I'm reading it wrong it was welcome income and rightly so

And just where did I say I did it for the money? I said I was paid for it. I did it because it was the first time I had been on a “proper” shoot, that is, not rough shooting.

[button]

16 minutes ago, London Best said:

And just where did I say I did it for the money? I said I was paid for it. I did it because it was the first time I had been on a “proper” shoot, that is, not rough shooting.

So why did you do it? If not for the money, I take it you didn't accept the money then

[London Best]

2 hours ago, button said:

So why did you do it? If not for the money, I take it you didn't accept the money then

I was 14 then. I did it for the experience, and to learn, just like I still do.  The money was/is secondary to gaining experience. I have done plenty for no payment since. Nowadays, I generally turn down an invite to any beater’s days.

[Penelope]

On 02/02/2023 at 05:58, jall25 said:

Being part of a shoot and that community is a two way street - You have only been there a year you say - well i would be asking questions of the people in charge and not posting on a forum. Anything could have happened - if my shoot was plastered all over the internet no way would you be welcome back next year anyway 

Do you know the shoot in question, then?

[jall25]

41 minutes ago, Penelope said:

Do you know the shoot in question, then?

No 

Why do you ask ?

[Penelope]

11 minutes ago, jall25 said:

No 

Why do you ask ?

I just wondered how the shoot in question was plastered all over the internet? If you don't know and I don't know, and all the others on here don't know it?

[udderlyoffroad]

Has the OP found out any more yet as to why it was cancelled?

[jall25]

1 hour ago, Penelope said:

I just wondered how the shoot in question was plastered all over the internet? If you don't know and I don't know, and all the others on here don't know it?

It only matters if one person from that shoot knows does it not ?

[Rim Fire]

47 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Has the OP found out any more yet as to why it was cancelled?

This is a good question i would like to know as well

On 02/02/2023 at 05:58, jall25 said:

if my shoot was plastered all over the internet no way would you be welcome back next year

If i was promised a beaters and it was cancelled without a good excuse they wouldn't have to not welcome me i would be telling them to stuff it 

[London Best]

2 hours ago, Rim Fire said:

 

If i was promised a beaters and it was cancelled without a good excuse they wouldn't have to not welcome me i would be telling them to stuff it 

Not many shoots will promise you a beater’s day at the end of the season. 
 

If you have performed well and regularly, you may, if you are lucky, be INVITED to attend.

[Scully]

We missed one beaters day when the season was cut short due to covid. It was pretty obvious we were going to go back into lockdown and it wasn’t going to happen, but everyone turned up to beat what days were left. 
We had a fabulous beaters day last 1st Feb’, ( may do a write up yet of our last days syndicate shoot, compared to our last day on BIG shoot ) but as the keeper rightly said that morning with a shrug of his shoulders…..’It is what it is lads; no keeper gets his birds in June with beaters day in mind. If there’s some left then all well and good, but if not, well then.’ 
We all knew however, there was plenty left. 🙂

Edited February 14, 2023 by Scully

[ditchman]

On 04/02/2023 at 09:29, London Best said:

In the mid 1960’s, as a teenager, I used to beat on two local shoots. One was a landed gentry job, the other was a syndicate of doctors, estate agents and solicitors. On both shoots a beater’s day was unheard of.
It was the 1979/80 season before I experienced a beater’s day.

quite right.........the big shoots used to have what was called "keepers day"....where the head keeper ..underkeepers and keepers from surrounding land that used to borrow out dog men or beaters to cover for illness to each other......

the keepers would pay for beaters on that day ...(usually 2 days)....

and as London says it wasnt till the late 70's/80's that the so called beaters day started to appear.....and the onus was to shoot all weak and low flying birds....so when the catch up was done...and the eggs went into the incubator...the progeny was assumed to be strong...