Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Gamekeeper
When you’re working with nature there is no end of things that can crop up to ruin your drive, but one has to dig deep and carry on
Our first drive always shoots nicely with a moderate southwesterly and, if all goes to plan, we can follow on well for the second drive. That’s all very well if Mother Nature follows the script, but when morning comes and the wind has swung right around, then even the best-laid plans are squandered. Not to worry, we have options and can turn things around to suit.
Sometimes in this job you have to think on your feet. There are so many variables involved in producing a day’s shooting. Most of the time you think you have covered all eventualities, but I bet you haven’t. There’s always something waiting in the wings to kick you up the backside when you least expect it.
Superstitions
I’m not at all superstitious — apart from the fact I won’t walk under a ladder, put an umbrella up in the house or take the third light from a match. The one thing that I have found over the years is that if the first drive goes to plan, more often than not the rest of the day will follow suit. However, occasionally that fail-safe drive that never lets you down, does. Now for whatever reason, and it could be one of many, your perfect start has ended up in a ball of chalk.
In this situation, it’s pointless stamping your feet and looking for something or someone to blame. You just have to dig deep and crack on, preferably with a smile on your face. There can be a lot of pressure on a keeper on a shoot day, and even keepers with many years’ experience still feel the pre-match jitters. In most cases, this is self-inflicted just because they want the day to be as good as it can be. The fact that they care is what separates the wheat from the chaff.
Having said all this, when things are going well and everything is on song, there is no finer feeling. The beauty of shooting is that it encompasses people from all different walks of life with lots of different opinions on what makes a good shoot day. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but there are some things, even after a lot of years in this job, that still make me shake my head.
When a drive is running nicely and showing some lovely birds, and the Gun line is dealing with good birds and missing them as well, it’s happy days. Occasionally the odd bird slips down low through the Gun line and presents neither a safe nor sporting shot. Fine. Ignore it and focus on the job in hand. What does push my buttons is when the Gun it passes waves at it dismissively. What’s that all about? It serves no useful purpose and actually seems a bit disrespectful.
After the conclusion of a nice drive,
I may say to the Gun, “Did you have a nice drive, Sir?” to which hopefully the response will be, “Yes, I had some really great birds
“There’s always something waiting in the wings to kick you up the backside”
there,” or even, “Well, I was a little bit out of it there but they had some good birds further down the line.” What really gets my goat is when I ask the question and they come straight back with the number of birds shot. One thing we must never lose sight of is that shooting is about the day, the company, the natural surroundings and our wonderful wildlife. It’s about watching the dogs work and the mechanics of the day, working in harmony to achieve the expectations of a great day’s sport and hopefully creating some pleasant memories. We are very privileged.