A career in gamekeeping

[HarveyTheHunter 6]

hello mate im a sparsholt college studing agriculture but i know alot of lads doing the game keeping course and mostly every one whos come out of the course has got a full time job or a apprentrship! the college is really good at makeing sure youll get a job at the end of your course and their alot of older people doing the course aswell in their 20s and 30s. if you live far you can live on campus. sparsholt is a really good college aswell the game and wildlife secton has got a amazing modern facilitys! have a look on sparsholts website.

[Wolfie 106]

Hi everyone, just seeking a bit of advice from those of you in the know.

 

A mate of mine does a bit of part time gamekeeping and has been looking for a full time keepers job for a year or so with little success. I'm keen to get into gamekeeping myself but he's warning me off it as he says there's a glut of young lads that've done dedicated gamekeeping courses and are then working as £50 pw apprentices for a couple of years, leaving few vacancies for guys seeking to gain further experience without a qualification behind them and still wanting to earn a living.

 

Is this accurate countrywide? Is a qualification particularly favoured/valued by the majority of estates/shoots? Obviously it shows commitment to the craft, but I'm hoping to prove this by gaining experience with several different keepers. As a 30 yr old married man, I'd prefer not to have to stop work for a year or two to go to college, but if it's really going to help then I'm going to take the plunge.

 

Just trying to canvass opinion. Any pointers/advice would be most welcome.

 

Cheers

I have just took the leep and started doing the gamekeeping course at askam bryan luckily i got the under keepers/foresters job on a local estate . moneys not brill but im getting bye i am 40 . Wolfie