The keeper 1975

[shovel leaner 7,650]

4 hours ago, ianm said:

I hate todays cut throat commercial shoots where no one is valued.

They will be the death knell of game shooting.

Places like Warter priory where thousands of birds are shot each week. The turn over of labour there is phenomenal.

I’ve been to Warter a few times , I was friends with a former keeper . I  spent a few days helping him on a visit and l can tell you that I wouldn’t have stuck it long there . Frank the head keeper runs a tight ship . The guys are on shoot days maybe 6 days a week , so that means feeding and watering their birds before or after a shoot day . They are checked on all the time and god help them if there is a dirty drinker . 
           But the ground is some of the best shooting ground I’ve seen , with unbelievable deep valleys. They are providing what teams of guns want , which is high birds and lots of them . Until attitudes of guns change and they are willing to pay more for smaller bags then there will always be a Warter or shoots like them. That is unless there is legislation to stop it . The thing is is costs the same to put on a 500 bird day as it does a 150 bird day in terms of beaters and loaders  and pickers up . So it’s more cost effective to have big days . 
           I have shot on a few big days and it is a real buzz , but even if my pockets were deep enough I doubt I would pay for them . I get invited to a mates little shoot where a good day is 75 and an average day is 45 or so , and I absolutely love that day . The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and if it happens it happens sort of thing . And for me it’s a total break , I let someone else worry about the birds . 

[MAUSERMAN 23]

On 05/05/2020 at 04:58, Sausagedog said:

I knew two keepers from those times.

Vermin vermin vermin. That's all they were focused on. They had jibs they hung the vermin on. One was a 30yd wire rope full of rotting vermin hanging off it and where the gaffa could drive past it to inspect.

I remember the gallows on the release pens stoats,weasels, mink and crows all there to see

[Longshanx 833]

Another good watch

 

[Stavross 16,100]

Them beaters at the beginning want to put some effort in, there would be none of that lackadaisical beating in my line

[Longshanx 833]

1 hour ago, Stavross said:

Them beaters at the beginning want to put some effort in, there would be none of that lackadaisical beating in my line

You do run a tight line I'll give you that

[Stavross 16,100]

Another good series to watch on YouTube is jacks game, Jack charlton with some proper old characters 

[shovel leaner 7,650]

8 hours ago, Stavross said:

Another good series to watch on YouTube is jacks game, Jack charlton with some proper old characters 

I remember when jacks game first came out . I never used to watch television in them days , too busy getting up to all sorts of mischief. But I would make a point of dropping whatever I was doing and getting back to watch it around my mates house . 
             The Ferretting episode will always stick in my mind . They had a couple of Jack Russell’s  which marked the holes . I didn’t have a terrier at the time and i decided that what I needed was a jack to mark the holes to save me time netting unoccupied holes ( even though you can see if a holes used or not ) . 
               None of my pals had dogs apart from a stray collie that used to tag along sometimes. So I nagged mum and dad to let me have a terrier . I scoured the local paper and eventually I located a pup . The pup was brought home and I called him Patch ( up all night thinking of that one ) , and Patch was the apple of my eye and the envy of my mates . That dog was going to be the edge we needed in our ferreting team . The frosty morning arrived when I first took Patch out rabbiting , signs were good when he sniffed the first bury and wagged his tail . We netted up and it wasn’t long before a rabbit hit the net , my heart nearly burst with pride . I quickly dispatched the bunny and set the net again . My pals were nodding in approval and I felt ten feet tall . 
              We were waiting for the Ferrett to show and I hocked the rabbit, Patch was nearly strangling himself in the lead to get to the rabbit, so I shook it in his face expecting him to grab it , but Patch just licked its ears . At that moment another rabbit hit the net and I dropped the rabbit and raced to dispatch the netted rabbit , I was untangling the rabbit when I heard some sniggering, I looked over and to my horror Patch had his “lipstick” out and was humping the rabbit I’d dropped next to him , his tongue was hanging out and his eyes were rolled back . A mate said “never mind , if he don’t want to bite a rabbit he can f@@k em to death”, I was mortified, that dog was useless. I began to resent him and considered what his future should be but my dad adored him and he became the family pet for about 17 years. I grew to hate that dog and he bit me a couple of times . Mates still take the piss to this day , “remember that Russell you had , ha ha ha “, and that all started from watching Jacks game .

[Sausagedog 7,381]

28 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

I remember when jacks game first came out . I never used to watch television in them days , too busy getting up to all sorts of mischief. But I would make a point of dropping whatever I was doing and getting back to watch it around my mates house . 
             The Ferretting episode will always stick in my mind . They had a couple of Jack Russell’s  which marked the holes . I didn’t have a terrier at the time and i decided that what I needed was a jack to mark the holes to save me time netting unoccupied holes ( even though you can see if a holes used or not ) . 
               None of my pals had dogs apart from a stray collie that used to tag along sometimes. So I nagged mum and dad to let me have a terrier . I scoured the local paper and eventually I located a pup . The pup was brought home and I called him Patch ( up all night thinking of that one ) , and Patch was the apple of my eye and the envy of my mates . That dog was going to be the edge we needed in our ferreting team . The frosty morning arrived when I first took Patch out rabbiting , signs were good when he sniffed the first bury and wagged his tail . We netted up and it wasn’t long before a rabbit hit the net , my heart nearly burst with pride . I quickly dispatched the bunny and set the net again . My pals were nodding in approval and I felt ten feet tall . 
              We were waiting for the Ferrett to show and I hocked the rabbit, Patch was nearly strangling himself in the lead to get to the rabbit, so I shook it in his face expecting him to grab it , but Patch just licked its ears . At that moment another rabbit hit the net and I dropped the rabbit and raced to dispatch the netted rabbit , I was untangling the rabbit when I heard some sniggering, I looked over and to my horror Patch had his “lipstick” out and was humping the rabbit I’d dropped next to him , his tongue was hanging out and his eyes were rolled back . A mate said “never mind , if he don’t want to bite a rabbit he can f@@k em to death”, I was mortified, that dog was useless. I began to resent him and considered what his future should be but my dad adored him and he became the family pet for about 17 years. I grew to hate that dog and he bit me a couple of times . Mates still take the piss to this day , “remember that Russell you had , ha ha ha “, and that all started from watching Jacks game .

Mine was called 'spot'. "Pissquick" my keeper mate called him. As time went by I called him " little ba####d".

I grew to hate spot! Two years I had him until he drowned himself on a frozen lake one February.

He was completely uncontrollable. An egg thief and escape artist! I had to electric fence the garden to keep him in. He would eat a whole rabbit if he got hold of one and then do an impression of a black and white football for the rest of the day struggling to breathe!

I use get hold of the muscle ball and contemplate silencing him forever often such would be my rage often with him!

The only time he ever responded to any training involved a 12g and two cartridges. One at 80y and the other at 100y. One cartridge at an elevated angle and one not! Little ba####d come trotting back with his little head still held high but he never run off again when I had a gun!

Yes I remember the jack's game and the ferreting one.

[shovel leaner 7,650]

21 minutes ago, Sausagedog said:

Mine was called 'spot'. "Pissquick" my keeper mate called him. As time went by I called him " little ba####d".

I grew to hate spot! Two years I had him until he drowned himself on a frozen lake one February.

He was completely uncontrollable. An egg thief and escape artist! I had to electric fence the garden to keep him in. He would eat a whole rabbit if he got hold of one and then do an impression of a black and white football for the rest of the day struggling to breathe!

I use get hold of the muscle ball and contemplate silencing him forever often such would be my rage often with him!

The only time he ever responded to any training involved a 12g and two cartridges. One at 80y and the other at 100y. One cartridge at an elevated angle and one not! Little ba####d come trotting back with his little head still held high but he never run off again when I had a gun!

Yes I remember the jack's game and the ferreting one.

My old man used to say that Patch wasn’t a Russell he was a sooner ( sooner shit on the carpet than outside) it’s a dad joke !

[BenBhoy 4,706]

I feel as though this is turning into Jack Russell confessional!! 

Mine was called George (as in Best) though Jekyll & hide would have suited him better. If he liked you then 50% of the time he was alright. If he didn't then he'd have you soon as look at you. Came from fox hunt kennels in mid Wales & boy could he work. He would take on anything (pre ban ) & also tractor tyres & rottweilers. Anything he got hold of came off worse. And he never backed down. Use to love working him & so did he. Trouble was it was constant battle who was top dog at home too. He launched at my old man once as he was cooking & got battered with saucepan lid. He put me in A&E needing stitches in my eyebrow. My dad was ready to put 32g #5 in him after that but I begged him not to. He ended up living to be 16 & mellowed in old age. I say mellowed, he was blind and deaf by then! 

[Longshanx 833]

Watched Jack's Game the other night with ferrets, the 2 blokes were like 2 contestants off bullseye, there dogs were brill. 

A mate of mine had a Jack Russell it was feckin nuts, would go for anything that moved, ended killed itself by smashing through the front door window and cut itself to ribbons. It would sit at the top of the stairs waiting for the postie, then one day hit the glass pane a bit to hard and went straight through.

Bet the postie was well pleased as the little c@#t had his fingers one time.