Beaters days just not for beaters?

[slider]

I just took up beating this year to get a bit more exercise and stave off the boredom of retirement.
Shoot 1. £60 cash in hand plus lunch, partridge and some pretty steep terrain.
Shoot 2. £55, no lunch had to register with HMRC. Mainly pheasant with some partridge, mixed terrain.

 

[Rake Aboot]

Paying tax on your beating money will play havoc with the tax on your pension
Not worth the hassle

 

[Scotty99]

Just curious, how much does a beater/flag get paid?

When I last did paid beating it was about 8 years ago and we were paid £36 a day.

 

[Scotty99]

Paying tax on your beating money will play havoc with the tax on your pension
Not worth the hassle

It is a lot of hassle in the end gave it up and went to beat on small syndicates with no pay but a lot of fun.

 

[Scotty99]

Tax free/ cash in hand?

In my case paid directly into my bank account and taxed by HMRC which creates a lot of problems if retired as they think it’s your full time job and try to apply your personal tax allowance against that income which causes all sorts of problems. Gave it up in the end in favour of smaller syndicates with no pay.

 

[tarponhead]

Threads such as this shows the best and the worst of phaesant shooting especially when money is involved.

Personally I much rather be part of informal little syndicate where we walk everywhere, tend to have a mix of walking and standing guns with the rolls shared. 6 of us out today aged 16 to 60, all shooting side by sides with three dogs. Covered about 14 km - morning in chest waders as we have 100 acres of marshy bullrushes. We all had shots, abd and all come home with two or three birds. Bag a mix of phaesant and duck - shots were had a snipe, woodcock and partridge as well.

No money changed hands, no real expectations other than fresh air and good exercise followed by a long soak in a bath.

9 miles in chest waders! That’s military selection territory! Sounds great….

 

[Heym SR20]

9 miles in chest waders! That’s military selection territory! Sounds great….

Only the first 4.

 

[lillico]

9 miles in chest waders! That’s military selection territory! Sounds great….

Only if you do it with one (1) barbed wire bergan strap.

 

[Drum123]

Depends where you are in the country it can go from £20 up to say 40 ish

Between £65 and £80 here. Tax paid. Very few estates pay cash in hand now. Certainly not the bigger estates that do a few days.

 

[Dunwaters]

Between £65 and £80 here. Tax paid. Very few estates pay cash in hand now.

How de hell did that ever catch on?

Certainly not the bigger estates that do a few days.

 

[countrryboy]

How do estates not need to pay the national mininum wage when folk are employed on the books?

Really 8hrs at 12 quid really should be paying 96ish.
Althou not sure wot ur take home would be off 96.
But ud think most of the big shoots woyld be paying the same

 

[Puds]

There’s somebody who comes bearing a couple of times a season but don’t shoot themselves.
Every year they send their insufferably posh tit of son to shoot in their place, which inevitably gets everybody’s backs up as he’s not spent the whole season slogging through the brambles every Saturday.

Managing to poach his birds if you’re pegged next to him is a joyous experience.

 

[Will the chippy]

Managing to poach his birds if you’re pegged next to him is a joyous experience.

Just the way it should be...

 

[Drum123]

How do estates not need to pay the national mininum wage when folk are employed on the books?

Really 8hrs at 12 quid really should be paying 96ish.
Althou not sure wot ur take home would be off 96.
But ud think most of the big shoots woyld be paying the same

More realistically a pheasant day will start with the beaters arriving at half eight for a nine o'clock start. Some places your done by half two , if you're not done by half three you'll have seriously ****ed off beaters round here. Grouse days are often a full eight hour day , sometimes longer.

 

[Apthorpe]

Just curious, how much does a beater/flag get paid?

Not a penny on our shoot.

 

[countrryboy]

More realistically a pheasant day will start with the beaters arriving at half eight for a nine o'clock start. Some places your done by half two , if you're not done by half three you'll have seriously ****ed off beaters round here. Grouse days are often a full eight hour day , sometimes longer.

.Aye rare to get under an 8hr day on grouse, seen plentyv 10s.
But grouse been paying 100+ for years now.

The local big shoot even the now with dark nights, pickers are often their till 3.30 or later.
Just last week a nate was walking back to motor at 4.30

 

[Rake Aboot]

Not a penny on our shoot.

Not a penny ?

 

[Drum123]

.Aye rare to get under an 8hr day on grouse, seen plentyv 10s.
But grouse been paying 100+ for years now.

The local big shoot even the now with dark nights, pickers are often their till 3.30 or later.
Just last week a nate was walking back to motor at 4.30

I am a head keeper . I understand the picking up situation, very often I'll be leaving places I've been picking up on with pheasant up to roost.
You've always got to pinch yourself and remind yourself that you enjoy it.
It's already been mentioned about the importance of keeping the beaters and picking up team onside. without the lads that help all the boss owns is 10 thousand acres of rough grazing .

 

[TringSaint]

I did a fair amount of bearing on the Althorp estate in my youth but never seemed to get invited to a beater’s day!
Pay back then was £20 and a brace of birds

 

[k760]

What a sorry state of affairs. It makes our shoot sound very pleasant indeed. It's a farmer's shoot, mostly family members, cousins, close friends. No pomp. No over the top nonsense. I get to shoot my 1907 Stevens pump (yes I know there a rule from 18 something that says I should be allowed, I also know there's plenty who simply wouldn't allow it) an nobody cares save to enquire and ask about it. It takes me a lot longer to load that than any ejected o/u or s/s so I don't stand there like Arnie unloading into the sky. I generally go through fewer cartridges than most.

We all chip in. Have a slap up lunch in the kitchen and the guns mix with the beaters as we're one group. There's no hierarchy on the day. There's plenty of good chat on and between drives. We miss more than we shoot and everybody has a great day.

I appreciate this isn't a commercial shoot at all and it's not done to make money, but give me this arrangement over any estate or fancy pants landowner's shoot.