Hunting in Scotland and England 
Jobs ,Employment , Working in Field Sports, Shooting, Deer Stalking 

  I receive around 30 to 40 e mails each year from people asking for work or contacts for work in the Fieldsports Industry. This page tries to outline the possibilities and opportunities available out there. Please do not contact Countrysports about jobs - we are too busy running our own business!  (but of course, comments and useful suggestions about this page are welcome). Most of this information is biased to the Scottish scene. 

Gamekeeper: Wages are in the following ranges and the upper figures are fairly rare but do exist on some estates in the UK. Lower figures are more usual and apply where a house may be supplied and is also dependant on dogs, feed for dogs and vehicles may be supplied.
Under-keeper      £8,000-£12,000. Head keeper   £12,000-£16,000   Single-handed keeper   £10,000-£14,000
It's a grand life, but the hours are long and you may not always be out of doors - I don't envy any keeper who has to bit and wing tag or clip a few thousand pheasant poults ! 
Some resources are available on the internet:  http://www.basc.org.uk/content/gamekeepingcareer and also  http://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk  - they run a database for job seekers, contact details are on the web site.
Jobs are often advertised in the weekly Shooting Times magazine. The BASC site also has a job vacancies page at http://www.basc.org.uk/content/vacancies

Deerstalker: A person employed solely as a deer stalker is most likely to be working on a Scottish Estate where there are substantial numbers of red deer. This is not always the easiest job if you have a young family because many of the locations are extremely remote. Many deerstalkers have to be prepared nowadays to work as part time shepherds and may also have to carry out other estate work such a odd jobs and maintenance on the estate properties. Forget about the romantic  notion of chasing stags on sun dappled hills - the stag season is very short. Just remember that it's a whole new ball game living anywhere North of the Central belt during January, February, March and April. The North Highland College is one of the few establishments which offer training  for Highland keepers. Details can be found on  the web site www.uhi.ac.uk or by calling 0845 272 3600

Sporting Agent: It's unlikely any agency will be able to offer employment but of course you can always start your own business in this field. Just remember, that every year in the UK , around half a dozen 'agencies' start up and every year, around half a dozen go bust. It's a tough and competitive business and you really have to know your product - this means you need to be an expert on most of the sport you sell. You must have first class organisational abilities with an attention to detail . Anyone who arranges combinations of shooting or stalking along with accommodation or transport must by law be bonded. Oh, and by the way.... if you fancy this business because you expect to get plenty of free or cheap shooting and / or stalking days - then forget it! Such opportunities are very rare and folk like myself pay for our sport just like everyone else. Any decent agent will have little time during the shooting season if he is doing his job properly because he is too busy looking after clients! .   

Tour guide/translator: Most overseas visitors who come shooting or stalking in the UK speak enough English to get by and seldom need the services of a translator. Tour guides get most of their work with general tour groups who visit historic and cultural sites in the UK. The Scottish Tour Guides Association has a useful site and a page about 'how to become a tour guide' - go to http://stga.co.uk/ 

Loader: Working as a loader is temporary and just on an occasional basis when you are loading and looking after a shooter on a driven bird day. Wages for the day range from £40 to £60 per day plus tips. Some people combine this with acting as a courier / driver for the shooting guest on a self employed basis. 

Beater: Beaters are in great demand in many areas during the driven bird season. Grouse beating suits the fitter person and may give work for as long as 6 to 8 weeks during the season. Many large estates advertise for students who are fit and enjoy being out of doors in all weathers. Estates which run driven pheasant days also look for reliable beaters and often give preference to beaters with dogs. Most people 'work' as beaters for the pleasure and it's really a paying hobby. Expect £10 -£15 per day with lunch and maybe a beer thrown in. If you have dogs, you may be paid £5 - £10 per day extra.     

Picker Up: Most of the work is temporary and on a daily basis. You must of course, have retrieving  dogs and most people would not qualify for this role unless they were running definitely two and possibly a team of 3 or 4 experienced dogs. During the pheasant season, you may be paid £15 to £30 per day with lunch included.    

Self employed gamekeeper / stalker: Running your own business as a full time keeper and / or stalker holds out the most promise for someone with good business sense, organisational abilities (you must be able to organise yourself in the first instance!) and the ability to look after sporting clients. As a sporting agent, I work with many people who rent their grounds and work as keepers and they use agents such as myself to market and sell the sport. I am constantly on the lookout for more people who run such enterprises where I can send my clients. If you have a good area of low ground shooting, then combining pigeon shooting with Roe stalking and walked up / driven winter shooting should give you enough work through the year. You would need to have a single area or various farms to total a minimum of 5,000 acres (with extra areas for pigeon shooting) to put the business on a viable footing.  
 

The CJS web site does exactly what shows on the  logo!!    They carry adverts for a wide range of jobs - anything which is countryside related and well worth a visit. Click on their logo to visit the site.