Andrew Buchan - Ben Alder Estate

Anyone with their heart set on becoming a gamekeeper has to be good with more than guns and game. The role is more than a job, it’s a vocation, a lifestyle - and one that requires the best training.

Top tips for a career in game and wildlife

Andrew says that any would-be gamekeeper has to be inquisitive, keen, polite - and memorable. Gamekeeping is a small world and word-of-mouth recommendations and written references are crucial to getting a job.

 

Andrew Buchan is only 19 but he has already secured the post of Under Keeper on the private Ben Alder Estate at Dalwhinnie. He spent a year gaining invaluable work experience before joining North Highland College to take a National Certificate and Higher National Certificate.

At every opportunity he worked hard to gain more than academic qualifications. Andrew made sure he got himself noticed and lined up a set of good contacts and references, which are so important in such a specialised sector.

Andrew believes that the style of learning and the content of the courses at North Highland College are good for students and the industry. During his two years’ study, he spent the vast majority of his time on the Atholl Estates while he first took his National Certificate in Gamekeeping, then spent alternate fortnights in college and on the estate for the HNC in Gamekeeping and Wildlife Management.

His extensive hands-on experience and classroom learning stood him in good stead when he left college and was approached to join the team at Ben Alder.

“I’ve always been around beating and shooting because my father did part time keeping. But we lived in Roslin and there aren’t many deer there so I had to move to college and to get a job,” Andrew explains.

“If you want to get into game keeping you have to keen and dedicated. You have to be prepared for the paperwork and the practical stuff. It’s not nine-to-five, it’s hard physical work and you have to want the lifestyle.”

Andrew completed his Level 1 in Deer Management at college and was able to do the Level 2 qualification at Atholl Estates, but he would also like the college course to include chainsaw training, though he appreciates that is a costly option.

“If you want to be a gamekeeper you need get your gun licences and your driving licence, and I think driving should be first. I was lucky enough to get work experience while I was at school and a year’s experience before college at the Bavelaw Estate, where he gamekeeper David Graham let me help with beating and burning. He was a great help and gave me a reference for college,” says Andrew.

“Kevin Grant, the keeper at Blair Athol, and Ronnie Hepburn, the head keeper at Atholl Estates, taught me a lot more. I’ve been really fortunate with all the people who have taught me, they have been patient and supportive.”

Andrew says that any would-be gamekeeper has to be inquisitive, keen, polite - and memorable. Gamekeeping is a small world and word-of-mouth recommendations and written references are crucial to getting a job.

“Up here there’s a good circle of gamekeepers. You’ve always got work on your own estate, but you can always go and help on others too, so you’re always learning and meeting people,” he explains.

Some youngsters leave college after their National Certificate, but Andrew believes the HNC is important and will gain even more standing in years to come as estates require more fully qualified staff.

“For the HNC you need to put in the hours and concentrate all the way through, but you’re really chuffed when you’ve done it. That’s been one of the highlights for me - that and shooting my first stag at Atholl and getting this job!”

He is convinced that his training has made him more aware of legislation and best practice which he can now apply at Ben Alder, where Andrew is working with on bird shoots and deer stalking.

“I enjoy it all, but mostly the grouse and deer. There is the option to go back to university to do management courses, but that would be more to be a Factor (manager) than a gamekeeper. For now I’m looking forward to my chainsaw training later this year.”