THE PRETEND KEEPER

[Rhodesianjess]

@stavross , the old keeper that mentored me early on in my career was full of funny sayings. When a chap on the boundary accused him of feeding his birds away, the old keeper replied " how do know they're your birds,are they wearing kilts".
God rest the old boy, brilliant keeper of the old school.

 

[jall55]

Just been down to ours and the little stream is like a tsunami ! - the car park is over my boots !

Might need to switch a few things round for Saturday - its been raining for close to 28 hours non stop

Cant moan though as im sure many houses and businesses are getting ruined

 

[stavross]

@stavross , the old keeper that mentored me early on in my career was full of funny sayings. When a chap on the boundary accused him of feeding his birds away, the old keeper replied " how do know they're your birds,are they wearing kilts".
God rest the old boy, brilliant keeper of the old school.

I’ve known a few proper keepers I’m my time, lads that knew the game inside and out, one that reared his own birds and never used a rifle or shotgun to control his vermin and lived in a caravan on the land, I’ve never considered myself to be a keeper, not because I don’t do it full time, but because I just feed birds and try to make sure there’s a few to shoot come the season, what I do and many other do is worlds away from what these lads did

 

[Rhodesianjess]

The old boy was mustard with snares, could catch butterflies I reckon if he'd wanted to only ever used 22rf for vermin,deer he used his big rifle,22Hornet. Vermin control superb,us modern lads don't get the numbers they did.
Didn't believe in hoppers/feeders,fed by hand his whole life. Used a push bike until the 50's when they got him tractor and trailer. He'd progressed to a land rover by the time I started.
Had 4 heart attacks before retirement,5th one took him.
Often think of him,left me a wiser man.

 

[Bo Diddley]

Just been down to ours and the little stream is like a tsunami ! - the car park is over my boots !

Might need to switch a few things round for Saturday - its been raining for close to 28 hours non stop

Cant moan though as im sure many houses and businesses are getting ruined

It sounds like you might be concentrating on the ducks on Saturday

Joking aside, I hope it dries up for you, nothing worse than the weather being against you as well.

 

[jall55]

It sounds like you might be concentrating on the ducks on Saturday

Joking aside, I hope it dries up for you, nothing worse than the weather being against you as well.

Hahahah
Funny you say that as we dont normally shoot ducks on our driven days - but we have had such a good couple or three breeding seasons i think we have more duck than anything else and with us trialing steel this year we are going to harvest a few on the outlying drives

Im not worried about the day itself - its just the safety aspect being round fast flowing water

 

[Smellydog]

The old boy was mustard with snares, could catch butterflies I reckon if he'd wanted to only ever used 22rf for vermin,deer he used his big rifle,22Hornet. Vermin control superb,us modern lads don't get the numbers they did.
Didn't believe in hoppers/feeders,fed by hand his whole life. Used a push bike until the 50's when they got him tractor and trailer. He'd progressed to a land rover by the time I started.
Had 4 heart attacks before retirement,5th one took him.
Often think of him,left me a wiser man.

I phone my old mentor all the time. At nearly 90 he likes to hear what I've seen and done.
He likes to moan about how " the estate" has gone...!
What he doesn't know isn't worth knowing!!
Absolutely loves nature. Loathes vermin and loves to retell tails from the past.
A dam fine friend.

 

[snoozlecracker]

Hello,
Thank you to all the contributors! This has been a really enjoyable read.

Also very useful as I’m starting a similar endeavour in the new year as there’s now some young blood on the estate and it’s getting the much needed investment. I’ve been asked to be the keeper.
Big learning curve approaching, so I hope to contribute to this thread ( most probably questions)

Cheers
Tim

 

[jall55]

Had a good day today on some stubble
Mixed 50 /50 ish of corvid / pigeon
Just shy of 100 head

Used steel - and honestly was very very impressed

 

[jall55]

Ace day today on the phezzies
Flew really well for first time through and again TBH Steel did its thing well

Be a few to pick up in the morning as the cover is so so thick and the dogs were shattered with the warmth we had

 

[jall55]

Had a lovely morning and picked one or two birds missed yesterday
Then had a trip out with a couple of pals and managed to get a couple of fallow and a muntie
Happy days

 

[Phil fox man]

Had a couple of hours on some pigeons this afternoon.finisjed up on 16 for an embarrassing amount of shots.tp be fair,
the sun was in my eyes,
only cheap cartrages,
I've not used the gun for ages,
wrong chokes,
and most of all I can't shoot.
Phil.

 

[stavross]

With sideways rain today it’s no wonder no one else wants to do my job, birds are well spread out around the shoot now, I’ve now managed to get some good numbers back at my forestry pen after a bit of a calamity when they first went in, this is a bit of a weight off my shoulders as this pen feeds two big drives and tops up a couple of others around the pen

 

[AHPP]

What waterproof jacket(s) are you wearing, stavross?

 

[stavross]

What waterproof jacket(s) are you wearing, stavross?

It’s a navy issue Gore-Tex jacket, ideal for the bad weather

 

[stavross]

100 bags of wheat done and loaded onto the trailer today ready for the shoot captain to take up in the morning, where he’ll meet me, see what I’ve been doing and we’ll put a shoot plan together, we are two weeks away from the first day now so it’s time to get them where we want them and spread them out further as there’s nothing worse than one amazing drive then spend the rest of the day looking for birds

 

[jall55]

Our second day tomorrow and really looking forward to it
Just in from fox patrol - early - but got an early start - Nothing seen
Shot a rat or two on the way out

 

[Smellydog]

Hard work Stav. Whare a mask!

 

[David.evans]

I was out foxing last nite and saw this bloke , in the thermal walking across the fields clapping his hand , after blasting my truck horn , we meet , I asked him what the fec was he’s doing, looking for my pheasants , he is the under keeper on a shoot next door , he said there were 400 in the pens , and on feeding today there where 6 , there I did see about 10 hens on my land 600 acres dotted about
But how do you loose that many
I gave Him tea out my flask , and lent him a torch , and he went on his way
I went home not vey happy with wanders in the night

 

[Bo Diddley]

I was out foxing last nite and saw this bloke , in the thermal walking across the fields clapping his hand , after blasting my truck horn , we meet , I asked him what the fec was he’s doing, looking for my pheasants , he is the under keeper on a shoot next door , he said there were 400 in the pens , and on feeding today there where 6 , there I did see about 10 hens on my land 600 acres dotted about
But how do you loose that many
I gave Him tea out my flask , and lent him a torch , and he went on his way
I went home not vey happy with wanders in the night

Keepers hey, they have some strange ideas at times