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Anyone read, Rural, The Lives of the working class Countryside, a memoir by Rebecca Scott. Scott grew up in a family that served several estates, her father was a forester, game keep etc. Very interesting life and a counter point to the current assault on “county life” by the urban “antis.” The author returned later as an adult with her family to several of estates she roamed as a child. I kept thinking of the semi-documentary, The Shooting Party when she describes her charge as a beater among other day to day occupations. Well written.

I'll look that one up. The term Beater had me interested as many think the Guns (shooters) are from the aristocracy and the Beaters the Yokels. One shoot I used to go to working the dogs had among the Beating Team; A retired Detective Inspector, a Veterinary Surgeon, a Master of Engineering from Rolls Royce and a Professor of Mathematics. Lagopus.....

I have always enjoyed the company of the keepers and beaters.
They work proudly and extraordinarily hard year round to make the grounds they keep as productive and sustainable as possible.

Stan, it's pretty hard to effectively discourage someone who has the maturity level of a 6 year old. Or is it a 5 year old?

The beaters that I have had a chat with included an accountant who went to Eton College (that's the poshest school in GB), the retired bodyguard of a Prime Minister, a doctor, a gunsmith, two colonels plus a few tractor drivers. All interesting to talk to.

HB

A person still needs the permission of the Landowner or person holding the sporting rights but some foreshore shooting for wildfowl is still free. Most Farmer/Landowners are only too happy for someone to shoot the wood pigeons and rabbits for them. There is still rough shooting to be had for nothing from some obliging Farmer and with deer being in record proportions free deer stalking can be obtained; especially on Muntjac and with no bag limits and no seasons for pigeon, rabbits and Muntjac there is plenty of sport to be had. All other deer species that have seasons usually the doe season starts as the buck season finishes and vice versa. Geese are often looked upon as agricultural pests and I shall be on some free goose shooting from September 1st. We humble Yokels don't do too bad. Lagopus.....

Roundup (glyphosate) is a herbicide, not an insecticide. And, it only kills certain grasses and weeds, not all of them. Certainly not grasshoppers or people , ads by by unethical tv lawyers notwithstanding.

. When the weeds and grasses ceased to infest the corn, the grasshoppers simply went elsewhere. It's a tough thing to feed the world and have perfect gamebird habitat, at the same time.

It's going to be even tougher on wildlife habit, to pump "renewable" fuel into glorified go karts.

I’ve heard the old timers around here say the bushhog has done more to eradicate the bobwhite as anything. Farmer next to me would not allow any cutting before the end of June to allow the turkey poults and young quail to get off the nest.

There are weeds that have become Round-up resistant from natural selection.

I can't imagine a mature pheasant just sitting without flushing or running as either a corn picker or a combine ran over it. And while I have chopped up a few baby rabbits while brush-hogging, more mature animals or birds take off well before the tractor gets too near. But my Uncle did deftly swoop down and grab a ringneck pheasant by the neck as it sat tight on a cold rainy day when I was in my teens. A quick twist, and it was in his game pouch without firing a shot. According to my Dad, he also did that on several occasions with rabbits. He said the secret was to just keep walking without breaking stride when you saw one sitting, and quickly grab it without making eye contact. I never managed to do it before they flushed.

In Northern Pennsylvania, the native ringneck pheasant population crashed very quickly after the Game Commission decided to permit harvesting hens north of Interstate 80. Purely a stupid decision that they were too obstinate to admit was a serious mistake. Imagine trained wildlife biologists unable to figure out that killing off the mommy birds would drastically reduce the number of baby birds. That was a huge factor in my opinion, but clean farming techniques also reduced cover and the real nail in the coffin was the introduction of the Eastern coyote and protection of hawks. Native birds are all but extinct in most of the state now. A very small number of stocked birds survive to breed before predators get them. Attempts to replace ringnecks with Sichaun Pheasants, without correcting other factors, failed miserably too. We have also had a severe decline in ruffed grouse numbers, and nobody is using herbicides or combines in the grouse habitat. One expert here claims that predators actually increase game bird numbers. Here's a photo of a coyote attempting to protect a pheasant from freezing to death!