would you work your dog if you weren't paid?

[pontbeck]

Like many on here I pickup on both commercial and diy shoots. I never look for or expect payment on the small syndicate shoots. However, if an enterprise is run on a commercial basis then I would expect to be paid.
Lets face facts on one large commercial shoot around me, where they can shoot anywhere between 200 to 1000 birds, the cost to the shoot for the pickers up amounts to less than 6 birds shot, not an out of the way sum.

Bill

[L80PJE]

I have sensed things have changed. I used to beat without a dog from 5-14 yrs old every weekend mostly around the south whilst my dad shot. I was always given a brace and some money (anything from a fiver to fifteen quid). I then had a spaniel from 14-20 yrs old; i was always paid and my regular place was £20-25 (beaters without dogs a fiver less). This was on a 200 bird day and the keeper was forever struggling for beaters.

Now 10 yrs later I have moved into surrey and without a dog its a nightmare trying to get any beating. the shoot down the road (100 birds) get 30 beaters turning up every week and they arent paid. I think this may be something to do with londan tawn folk findging it trendy / wanting the good life.

anyway, i got a dog in Jan and it wont be an issue for next season.

but back to your original question - yes i wouldnt mind not getting paid so long as I have a brace, a beer and not travelling very far.

[Hepe]

Yes i do and will, rather rare that you get paid here in Sweden i think. Or everyone else get kachink and no one told me? *gasp* Now, if i was expected to show up for like 4-5 days a week during the season at big shoots i probably might see it a bit different. As it is now i stay at rather local and not so big places. I can bring my youngsters/trial prospects to 'run on the side' to train when i got that. They provide me with training grounds. They also feed me well when I'm there working my dogs, have bubbly water and coffee ready and in general make me feel welcome and important. All those things more important to me than a small payment really.

Helene

[Bamburi]

@ L80PJE i am in Surrey too albeit on the Sussex border
pm me if you want some beating during the season , most of it will be in Hampshire around the basingstoke/winchester area also one near Guildford in Surrey but you will need to be built like a mountain goat for that one and its very limited for the amount of dog work that is needed but dogs are welcome

back to the topic , I would still go without hesitation as I absolutely love it , the few pounds we get paid does help toward fuel and on the ones we dont get fed on pays for lunch too but the money is just a perk to me , I doubt very much that they will stop paying the beaters on the three or four places I beat on as they all struggle to get beaters and also pickers up on some days believe it or not , so without the ones they do get there would be no shooting at all

[scot-ish]

nowadays, i do it for nothing, well not a financial gain. but in turn, i have 2000 acres of ground to train my dogs on all year round, aswell as 5 or 6 deer to shoot, and i have to "roughly" keep ontop of rabbit numbers, which means i have a little walked up rabbit day with a couple dogs every month or so, and i suppose once a week i jump in the landy and have a look for charlie, but there are very few about, i also make a few ponds through the year with the digger, one for training, some for the ducks, and help out with getting the pens ready.

suppose, im kinda like a PT unpaid keeper. but the situation suits me fine.

[Bamburi]

I had forgotten about that side of it Scottish I didnt see it as payment which in a way I suppose it is , the biggest gain from helping out is the same as yours with as much rough shooting as I like and unlimited access to all that land to do as I please with within reason of course

[shanagan]

I dont think any of us do it for the financial gain but a small remuneration does help !!! I drive about 50 miles round trip use my vehicle to transport myself and at least 3 dogs around the shoot getting it plastered in mud and scratches..on occasion taking others with their dogs too !!! (commercial shoot) for less than the price of one shot bird !! so the answer is No i wouldnt continue if i was nt paid even though it is only pocket money.. But on my own shoot its a different thing altogether !

[paul spaniel]

lol we dont get a penny over here,

[vicky payne]

I wouldn't put up with the pressure (occasionally abuse) to produce birds for guns on a commercial shoot for nothing. If the main aim of the shoot is money making then all those who put birds over guns and in the bag must be paid. I do work my dogs for lunch on a small syndicate shoot but here the focus and feel of the day is totally different. I wouldn't mind payment in kind; birds, training ground, pigeon shooting etc but it does take time and money to turn out two or three times a week with a versatile dog! I've seen some of 'my' shoots over populated with beaters and would be pickers up in October then down to a core of four of us trying to do both jobs by December.

[madrags]

I work on three shoots. Two pay, plus a brace of birds and food and drink (one gives us doughnuts and lardy cake at the end of the day!). The other doesn't pay, but we get a few drinks and a brace of birds and four beaters' days shooting. All are very local. I would probably beat for free if necessary, but wouldn't travel a long way to do so. I used to beat on a small syndicate shoot where many of the beaters were friends and family of the guns. Then more land was acquired, and the number of days were doubled with the extra days being sold days. The majority of beaters stopped beating on these days - we were not looked after and still not paid and the general feeling was that we were being taken advantage of. For me, the big decider is the craic - present or absent.