H&C

15
Jun
2010

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The life of a gamekeeper

Sparsholt students with their dogs and Annie Buckley

“For the last two weeks we have had two groups of Gamekeeping students from Sparsholt College with us as part of their practical working dog assignment.

We are contracted to teach the gamekeepers both in and out of the classroom about the many aspects of owning and using dogs as part of their daily working lives. The modern gamekeeper’s working remit is vast; just stop and think about the enormous skill base a keeper needs to have: Business, people, law, game and wildlife, firearms, fencing, plumbing and working dogs are just a few of the many skills a keeper will need to be highly skilled in.

Our role in the education of these enthusiastic and energetic young people is to offer them our experience and dog training knowledge. Gamekeepers may work with a variety and range of breed types as they go about their daily duties; terriers, gundogs, deer and security dogs will for many of them be a fundamental part of the work. Ensuring that they have a basic understanding of how to choose, source, accommodate, train and handle these essential members of their workforce will make a huge difference to the keeper’s ability to manage and run his empire.

I have to say that looking at the curriculum that is set for these guys, it’s really tempting to take a couple of years out and go and study with them. Not all of the students that have been here studying with us are destined to be gamekeepers - some have their sights set on becoming deer and forestry rangers while a few are destined for positions abroad, including destinations as exciting as Africa.

The gamekeeper, besides being a countryside custodian of his or her patch of the UK, more often than not is a well known member of the local community. Beaters, pickers up, guns and numerous local services and businesses will all be part of the keeper’s day to day interaction with that community. My involvement in the countryside means that I know, work with and communicate with a lot of these hardworking characters.

Running a successful operation will require the gamekeeper to be a superb communicator, no matter how knowledgeable he is, failure to communicate with the people and dogs upon whom he relies will make the task of being a gamekeeper nothing short of difficult.

Look out for our new H&C blogger, gamekeeper Tony Lowry, who will soon be sharing his fascinating weekly game keeping experiences with us all. Brilliant!”