Good housekeeping for gamekeeping success
By Jack Hughes.
HAVING written the occasional article for this publication for more than 20 years, I apologise to long-time readers if I have touched on this subject before, but it is of crucial importance in gamekeeping and is worth revisiting again.
If you asked a group of amateur or part-time keepers the likely cause of losing their beloved feathered charges, then predators, wandering poults or poaching would top the rankings. Sometimes I wonder if we should be called ‘game losers’ rather than gamekeepers! Hygiene and clean water would be unlikely to feature highly on the list.
In my neck of the woods, there are various annual shoot walks organised by the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust etc. and there are few things we keepers like better than a mooch around someone else’s ground and hopefully have a chat and a pint afterwards.
However experienced you think you are, there is usually something that another shoot does differently which may be worth considering on your own patch. Personally, Old Jack is never too proud to pinch someone else’s good ideas… after getting a personal invitation, I went on an informal wander around a neighbouring farm, just a few months back.
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