My final word on this topic, and in regards to my original post and nothing to do with the politics that has come after.
I was born on the Lovats Estates, I grew up bouncing from place to place and finally resettled with my family when I was 14 back to near where I was born. I am 40 years of age and lived my whole life in the farming and keepering community, I tried a different path for a very long time, but, whether it be in my blood or whatever, I found myself ass deep in the industry that destroyed my father. For most of my childhood my father was unemployed and sadly he has never recovered. So although my experience in regards to how these changes will effect SOME families is great, I do severely hope that things are different.
Each year the intake of all the Game keeping courses in the UK are filled with youngsters, eager to down the estates tweed that they gleefully represent and each time I think if they know what is coming.
Country sports in general is run by, controlled and dictated to by the actions and the money that comes from people who do not rely on it as their livelihood. Even in this forum and highlighted on the posts of this thread we see this. Stalking would not survive as a sport without it, but, because the word Sport is used as the main drive of the industry that many of us rely on to keep a roof over our heads it is classed as a non essential commodity. This has never been more prevalent than what is today during this pandemic. Country Sports and those who work professionally in it is deemed as non essential work, classed the same as Athletes who rely on sporting events to keep their sponsors. Due to this most of us in the industry do not qualify for any bail out. Unfortunately the downsides are never reiterated to the youngsters that come into the business through these colleges.
IF the industry changes dramatically as I predict, then what re these colleges offering the new blood that comes in?
This week I have had 3 emails from lads who are coming to or are at the end of their training period at their estates, I am sure every one of them has worked their asses off learning the trade but there is NO position for them after their training is over. Each email has asked IF I have any work for them and unfortunately each reply is the same "sorry no". This is not a unique year as I get similar emails, phone calls and messages on social media every year around this time. I wish I could help them but in the end I am not an employer.
It is very easy for those who do not rely on country sports as their livelihood to have an opinion on what is happening and have millions of solutions on how to fix it but when it is happening to you it becomes very difficult. Losing your job and getting another one is not as easy as you think and it is even harder when you work in a niche industry like shooting sports, most change employment while they have a job in the industry for a reason.
I worry for those in the industry, and I worry for myself. At the moment I get no wage, no bail out, I do not qualify for Universal Credit and majority of the work I am doing right now is for free, I am however surviving for the most part, I dread to think what is going on in the lives of those young keepers, under keepers and Estate workers and their families of whom have suffered pay offs due to Covid-19 and it is very easy for those sitting comfortable, either benefiting from furlough or still able to go back to their normal day job, to say "They will be fine another Estate will take them on". I have seen what really happens behind closed doors of an unemployed keeper/farmer workers house and it is never fun.
The gamekeeping Industry is the same as any other, there are a finite number of jobs. The number of jobs are and will be reduced by the Political policies of the day if it makes it prohibitively expensive to keep them and that is what is happening in the current climate.
There will be trainees who are successful and ones who don’t really enjoy it, or indeed there isn’t a job that suits them or the employer, a bit like someone who trains to be a chef but ends up working in Tesco or a gamekeeper who throws in the towel and gains work in the public sector.
The current Land Reform policy championed by the SNP looks to seek the end of the grouse shooting side of industry by hook or by crook, you can make your own mind up what you think the reasons are for that but unless your blinkered it’s hard to avoid.
Grouse shooting generally requires significantly more outlay than stalking estates and the owners of said estates are happy to spend their own personal wealth knowing that there is a good chance they won’t get a return.
Game shooting will be next, it’s clear from the additional taxes levied and current lack of support regarding Covid-19 in Scotland which appears to be being made in England, the money is there, it is up to devolved administrations how they spend it.
The above scenario would greatly increase the number of applicants for stalking jobs which aren’t there as I do not believe for one minute they would remain employed long term in future ventures on the same ground owned by whoever with the current suggestions for land use.
Stalking is relatively safe meantime as long as reducing deer numbers significantly remains on the horizon, however, if you reduced the numbers to say European or Nordic numbers the opportunities would significantly reduce and the resulted cost would spiral way past the cost that many of the boys you sell syndicate places to could afford - thus immediately making it an upper class or ‘toffs’ pastime - class war box ticked.
A lot of the lads I know are currently lucky as they work on ‘Old Money’ estates or estates where new regimes and investment has been taking place.
The landowners in these cases are taking the hit and accept it as they have other incomes which allows them to ride the rough with the smooth and can already accept they will get no help - is that an ‘inclusive, progressive policy’?
The country as a whole will take decades to recover from the current pandemic and no one really knows what will happen in all walks of life. If one owner/employer on a moderately sized estate is still willing to employ upwards of 6 full time staff in rural areas with no other employment opportunities (which wouldn’t be there if in great numbers if you planted trees or a wind farm either incidentally), are these people a government should seek to punish to suit their rhetoric? Is it acceptable that policies would lead needlessly to increased unemployment leaving the tax payer to pick up the tab for benefits to suit rhetoric?
I don’t know your personal employment circumstances but you have to ask yourself if you aren’t getting anything from your employer and are not able to apply for benefits that is wrong. If however your employer can’t give you anything due to lack of furlough, and, would you be better off in your current employment being south of the border, what does that tell you about the SNP.
