Dangerous boughs/trees on a shoot estate.

[dexta]

keepers don't like people in thier woods especially some forestry workers who see money for timber regardless of anyone else try to make a living. if a shoot is working fine they don't want to risk any change, you have to remember a keeper has got to work with what is left and is judged on his results, every thing is at risk for him his house, his job ,his way of life. lots off shoot owners have very short memorys and not only judge the keeper on his last season but his last drive. see if you can speak to the keeper and try and work out a plan to do some work each year between febuary and june so as its not going to change the woods to much to quickly. game shooting is expensive and brings a lot of money to an estate. all the best

[Stereo]

I used to beat and pick up on the Waddeton estate for Lord Clifford. Falling timber was the last of our worries. It was after lunch and 'refreshments' you had to be careful. I got shot twice in the same year. Luckily from a good distance but still have a scar on one finger. The other one I turned away and ducked and it knocked me clean over. Good old Barbour took most of the flak.

 

I think in the end they flattened the whole thing and planted connifers all over it.

[Dean Lofthouse]

Machinery damaging long established ground cover would be my worry.

 

Me and the gamekeeper work as a very close team and we have at least 3 work days a year when all the beaters and guns come in and graft, the last thing we want is machinery coming in and wrecking important habitat for both the wildlife and game

 

 

Sent from my iPhone cos it was

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Machinery damaging long established ground cover would be my worry.

 

Me and the gamekeeper work as a very close team and we have at least 3 work days a year when all the beaters and guns come in and graft, the last thing we want is machinery coming in and wrecking important habitat for both the wildlife and game

 

 

Sent from my iPhone cos it was

 

Im with you on this one dean, I think the O/P is going to regret this one.

[NI Tree]

Im with you on this one dean, I think the O/P is going to regret this one.

 

 

 

ps dean we do do the same as well

[Ben Ballard]

our keeper is keen for us to carry out the thinning/coppicing work he understands that its the only way to maintain good ground cover and diversity in the long run .and if your sensible with the timing and opperation of machenery in those areas its not a problem.

[blazer]

Im with you on this one dean, I think the O/P is going to regret this one.

 

Sorry to be a bit thick but what's an O/P:confused1:

 

From my original post I didn't see shooting woods with a talley on every tree, and Horse Chestnuts felled in case the beaters play conkers between drives (schools) most throw maize at each other going through cover crops:lol:

 

But this one is really dangerous, I had a walk around today and in one area there are at least 10 hangup & boughs about to come down, it's not on a footpath but people walk there.

 

like alot of none tree guys, the keeper + estate see it as 'don't touch' or don't know how to manage it to improve the shoot and maintain a level of safety. All the safety work can be done from a pickup or tools/winches brought in by Quad, I have cleared full sized oaks that had dropped across pens using a quad and trailer to save ground compression.

 

I put in over 50 vol days per year plus dogging in.

 

Some areas it would be a pity to touch, it's the best nature area for over 10 miles, but where is the balance between untouched nature and safety.

 

I assume in Victorian times there was still a level of woodland work being carried out along with a keeper being expected to know where every wild game bird nest was on the estate - it's that balance I want to find out:thumbup1:

 

The comments so far are most interesting - thanks

Edited March 14, 2012 by blazer