Recent content by British gamekeeper

Over here it seems the poults, when old enough, follow the hen up to roost. Then I guess that's passed on through the generations until it's become imprinted. Even if there is no real predator problem. Also most of the winters we have are not as harsh as some in the states so the birds can...

We have an owl (tawny owl) that will kill endless amount of pheasant poults when they are in the release pens. Kinda like chickens in a run. They just fly in give them a pinch go and land on a post and will do this all night long. I had one owl kill at least 40 poults in one night! But they...

Yep. I would say 90% will roost up a tree or a hedgerow. Anything to get off the ground to avoid foxes or badgers.

Me in my shoot day tweed. It's the estate tweed. Not normally a bright colour. But it's been the family tweed for years.

Polaris are the best.

Is there ever the opportunity for full time employment in the pheasant hunting industry in the US? I understand about hunting guides, but wondered if any large land owners employ full time staff to look after pheasants/game as we do in the UK? Shoot management including managing game plots...

Thanks for the info! We do have a strain of black neck pheasant, but it was found that after 3/4 generations they would revert back to ring neck. If you want to have some fun try wing tagging your birds. It will scare you! But it is also fun. Different colours for different years. God do they...

Just a list of some of the game covers we use. Annual and perennial. If you can please try this one though! Chicory. It is a really good all round cover. Nesting,brood and driving all work well from this cover. Don't drill too thick! It will last 3 seasons. Season 2/3 will give the best results...

We are lucky because of the size of our hunting ground. We are able to have both wild and reared pheasants as we have a major highway that splits the estate in half and keeps the hunting grounds separate. You are right about having good retaining cover. We have neighbouring shoots and don't wish...

Just wondered what your most common strain of pheasant? Does it vary from state to state? We have Kansas and Michigan blue backs in the UK. EXTREMELY hard to hold in a certain area. And they will even lead other birds away! A newish strain coming on to the scene in the Uk at the moment is the...

We ear tag red deer in some places in the UK. This has allowed us to track some of the deer. Some have travelled more than 80 miles. Crossing motorways, rivers and around towns. Mainly males.

So the main reason we use game cover in the UK is to draw pheasant to a certain area in large enough numbers to produce 'drives' to push birds over standing guns. This applies to reared and wild birds. We also feed the game cover as an extra draw for the birds with whole wheat. This is done by...

Yes, lots of different things happening on the estate. Even though the boss has lots of money, the estate has to pay for itself. We have departments that are financially responsible for themselves. Farm,forestry,game,housing and retail. We butt heads sometimes because we each have our own...

Hi from the UK. Please realise I am unaware of any laws or restrictions you may have in the US. This is written from my experience as a gamekeeper in the UK. Game cover is the most manageable habitat that we use in our sport in the UK. So we all use game cover in one form or another. Weather...

I work on an estate called Elveden Estate. Put a .com on the end of that an you will find it. The estate doesn't advertise the fact that we are a shooting estate. Bad for publicity etc..... But does put a big emphasis on conservation! Most people who don't hunt realise that hunting and...