Gamekeepers in the United Kingdom

{{Short description|Person who manages an area of countryside and ensures there is game or fish}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} thumb|Gamekeeper in the late 19th century In the United Kingdom, a '''gamekeeper''' (often abbreviated to '''keeper''') is a person who manages an area of countryside (e.g., areas of woodland, moorland, waterway, or farmland) to make sure that there is enough game for hunting, or fish for fishing, and acts as guide to those pursuing them.<ref>{{Cite web|title=GAMEKEEPER {{!}} meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gamekeeper|access-date=2020-11-09|website=dictionary.cambridge.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of GAMEKEEPER|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamekeeper|access-date=2020-11-09|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Gamekeeper definition and meaning {{!}} Collins English Dictionary|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/gamekeeper|access-date=2020-11-09|website=www.collinsdictionary.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of STALKER|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stalker|access-date=2020-11-09|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Deerstalker definition and meaning {{!}} Collins English Dictionary|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/deerstalker|access-date=2020-11-09|website=www.collinsdictionary.com|language=en}}</ref>

== Description == Typically, a gamekeeper is employed by a landowner or by a country estate, to prevent poaching, to rear and release game birds such as common pheasants and French partridge, eradicate pests, encourage and manage wild red grouse, and to control predators such as weasels, to manage habitats to suit game, and to monitor the health of the game.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-02-22|title=Gamekeeper|url=https://www.ucas.com/ucas/after-gcses/find-career-ideas/explore-jobs/job-profile/gamekeeper|access-date=2020-11-09|website=UCAS|language=en}}</ref> Today, some three thousand full-time gamekeepers are employed in the UK,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk/about-gamekeeping|title=About Gamekeeping|website=www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk|access-date=2019-02-07}}</ref> compared to as many as 25,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=English Landed Society in the Great War: Defending the Realm|last=Edward|first=Bujak|isbn=9781472592163|series=Bloomsbury Studies in Military History|date = 18 October 2018|location=London|pages=71|oclc=1049577685}}</ref> In addition, there are many people who spend their leisure time and money rearing game and maintaining habitats on their own small shoots.

There are several variations in gamekeeping: * Stalkers: keepers who specialise in the stealthy pursuit of deer, mainly in the uplands of Scotland. * Lowland keepers: rearing pheasant and partridge and managing lowland habitats. thumb|Gamekeeper (left) with a shooter on a driven grouse shoot in the Highlands, ca. 1922 * Upland keepers: managing moorland for grouse in upland areas. * Gillie/river keepers: keepers who manage rivers such as the River Spey for trout and salmon. [[File:Heather burning.jpg|thumb|Controlled burning of heather, one of the countryside management duties of gamekeepers]]

The most senior individual dealing with wildlife on a particular estate is often called the ''head keeper'' or ''head stalker''.

Gamekeepers and country sports enthusiasts hold that gamekeeping is an essential part of countryside conservation. Two-thirds of the UK rural landmass is managed for shooting. The shooting industry creates £1.6 billion. £250 million is spent on conservation as a result of shooting.<ref name="Shooting Politics">{{cite web|author=Shooting Politics|title=Shooting Politics, episode 1, 19th August 2009|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPup7nlQQ9s| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708172756/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPup7nlQQ9s| archive-date=2013-07-08 | url-status=dead|publisher=fieldsportschannel.tv|access-date=31 October 2012}}</ref>

==Training== Some colleges in the UK now offer courses in gamekeeping up to and including diploma level. Two of these include the Northern School of Game and Wildlife at Newton Rigg College, Cumbria<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamekeeping.org.uk/|title=Welcome to Gamekeeping.org!|last=webmaster|website=Gamekeeping.org.uk|access-date=14 December 2018|archive-date=22 April 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030422203948/http://www.gamekeeping.org.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Myerscough College, Lancashire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myerscough.ac.uk/news/olympic-dreams-of-sharp-shooter-lucy/|title=Olympic dreams of sharp shooter Lucy {{!}} Myerscough College|website=www.myerscough.ac.uk|access-date=2019-07-17}}</ref>

The Elmwood Campus of Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) in Cupar, Fife is Scotland's main gamekeeping college. The main campus for attaining both NC and HNC levels in gamekeepeing for south Scotland is borders college.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sruc.ac.uk/elmwood|title=Elmwood Campus – SRUC|last=SRUC|website=www.sruc.ac.uk}}</ref> Easton and Otley college: Easton Campus also provides a course on gamekeeping level 2 and 3.

==Scottish Gamekeepers Association== In 1997, as a result of months of adverse media criticism of gamekeepers, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) was formed with a goal of promoting the work of gamekeepers and developing training in the area of law and best practices in the field of game management. The SGA chairman is Alex Hogg, a gamekeeper from Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scottishgamekeepers.co.uk/|title=Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) – Scottish Gamekeepers|website=www.scottishgamekeepers.co.uk}}</ref>

== The National Gamekeepers' Organisation ==

In 1997 the National Gamekeepers' Organisation (NGO) was set up for the same reasons and in addition they felt that the main shooting association was not representing the keepers properly. The NGO now has some 15,000 members. The NGO run industry-based training for keepers and were the first organisation to react to EU legislation with regard to game meat hygiene, producing a course for experienced keepers and stalkers which had approval from the Food Standards Agency. The NGO continue to promote gamekeeping, stalking, shooting, and fishing. Its chairman is Lindsay Waddell, a gamekeeper from Co. Durham. The NGO also have dedicated moorland and deer branches.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk/about-national-gamekeepers-organisation/ngo-deer-branch|title=NGO website.}}</ref>

== Criticism == The League Against Cruel Sports estimates some 12,300 wild mammals and birds are killed on UK shooting estates every day and sees gamekeepers as playing a key role in the destruction of wildlife.<ref>[http://www.league.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=1594&ArticleID=1660 League Against Cruel Sports – Consequences of the Shoot] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722100605/http://www.league.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=1594&ArticleID=1660|date=22 July 2011}}</ref> On the other hand, the shooting industry says that gamekeepers are vital wildlife conservation workers in the countryside.<ref>[http://www.basc.org.uk/content/thegamekeeperprofessional BASC – The Gamekeeper: Professional Countryside Manager] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509045846/http://www.basc.org.uk/content/thegamekeeperprofessional|date=9 May 2007}}</ref> The National Gamekeeper's Organisation (NGO) claims that nine times as much of the British countryside is looked after by gamekeepers as is in nature reserves and National Parks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gamekeeperstrust.org.uk/|title=NGO Educational Trust – Nurturing Countryside Knowledge|website=www.gamekeeperstrust.org.uk}}</ref>

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has criticised the persecution of birds of prey on some shooting estates. 68% of those convicted of raptor persecution are gamekeepers. "We’ve seen evidence linking gamekeepers to bird of prey persecution, and moorlands empty of raptors imply that much more illegal killing goes on undetected".<ref>In praise of the wildlife crusaders. People have just about had enough of raptor persecution. Jenny Shelton. 9 Feb 2018 https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/investigations/posts/ed-hutchings-rspb-interview-license-driven-grouse-shooting- accessed 18.5.2020</ref>

==In fiction==

* Alec Scudder in ''Maurice'' by E. M. Forster * Mellors in ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' by D. H. Lawrence *Rubeus Hagrid in the ''Harry Potter'' series * Tom Redruth in ''Treasure Island'' by Robert Louis Stevenson * Phillip White in ''Lark Rise to Candleford'' * Several characters past and present in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'' e.g. Andrew Gach * Joseph in ''Hautot and His Son'' by Guy de Maupassant * William Crowder in ''The Boscombe Valley Mystery'' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *''The Gamekeeper'' by Barry Hines * Kincade in ''Skyfall'' * Golly Mackenzie in ''Monarch of the Glen'' * ''The Gamekeeper at Home'' by Richard Jefferies – 1878 * Robert Muldoon in ''Jurassic Park'' * Jocelyn Greedon in ''Doctors'' * Nield in ''Downton Abbey'' * Geoff Seacombe in ''The Gentlemen''

==References== {{reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==

*Norman Maclean: ''A Less Green and Pleasant Land: Our Threatened Wildlife''. Cambridge University Press, 2015, {{ISBN|9781107673236}}.

== External links ==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070509045846/http://www.basc.org.uk/content/thegamekeeperprofessional Gamekeeping as a career – BASC] *[http://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk National Gamekeeper's Organisation]

Category:Animal care occupations Category:Animal husbandry occupations Category:Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom Category:Sports occupations and roles