Beaters days just not for beaters?

BRACES of Bristol - Sauer 100 XTA Stainless Package
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.
 
Heym SR20 said:
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.
Click to expand...
9 miles in chest waders! That’s military selection territory! Sounds great….😁
 
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
 
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.
 
countrryboy said:
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
Click to expand...
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.
 
Drum123 said:
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.
Click to expand...
.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
 
countrryboy said:
.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
Click to expand...
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 .
 
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
 
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.
 
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