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Hi - I am Mark Gilchrist and I am going to talk to you today about getting permission.
About five or six years ago I only had one place to go shooting which actually I own.
So that doesn't really count. So what I have done over the years is I have picked up places
where I can go shooting and I now have about 45,000 acres to go shooting on. I have quadbikes,
keys to the farms. I can go in have my fun do whatever I want. I get four days pheasant
shooting a year as a thank you for what I have done from the farmers on the rabbits
and the pigeons. And what I am going to do is tell you guys exactly how to do this yourselves.
Well first things first. Picking up land isn't easy you have either got to earn it or you
have got to pay for it. Personally I am skint so I like to earn it. Don't believe the hipe.
Crowman and I are out at the moment getting small bags of pigeons so that we have got
permission to get the big bags in the summer. You see the big bags in the summer in the
magazines, but you don't see the small bags. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean
they don't happen. I promise you we are going and getting 10's and 20's at the moment. If
you are going to start approaching farmers you must learn to take rejection. If the farmer
says no take it like a man. What I suggest you do is say thank you very much, terribly
sorry I disturbed you and much like the days when chasing girls, here is my number if anything
changes please feel free to give me a call. Don't wink at a farmer he will think it odd.
Luckily for me I spent ten years chasing women so I have had plenty of opportunity to get
really accustomed to rejection and u nderstand what the word no means.
So stage two what is the farmer actually looking for. Well he wants you to be trustworthy,
reliable and polite. Not an unreasonable ask. The worst thing you can do is knock on the
door and say any chance of any shooting mate. Firstly you don't sound very polite, you are
probably not trustworthy and you don't sound very reliable because you are looking for
a one off chance. You are much better off to make the effort to find out his name. Preferably
or almost certainly surname. Don't call him Tom or Tim or Harry call him Mr Jones, Mr
Reynolds. Find out what the farmer wants shot. You going in and shooting a 100 pigeons on
the *** stubble is not helping the farmer. People have got this very odd idea that pigeon
shooting is helping farmers. Sometimes it is, a lot of the time it isn't. There are
lots of people who want to go out and shoot pigeons and there are lots of people who want
to go and shoot deer, but they shoot in such a way that it suits them and not the farmer.
You need to be going out in the winter an d making the small bags trying to keep them
off the *** and then you get the big bags on the *** stubble. Conversely if you are
deer stalking, some of the farmers I shoot for they want me to come in and shoot four
or five a year. Some of them want me to shoot as many as possible. Some of them want just
the bucks shot. Some of them want just the does shot. Find out what they want by asking
them and go and do it. Farms are multimillion pound installations. They are not going to
give you the keys to the farm until you really respect that. If you have got shooting somewhere
else tell the farmer you are introducing yourself to because it shows that you are trustworthy.
The other thing that you have to have at the fore front of your mind is that their crop
is their pride. It is like a bricklayers wall if you kick over their wall you are upsetting
their pride so bear that in mind all the time.
So tip number three don't lie. This is quite difficult for some people. If you cause a
problem on the farm say I am terribly sorry I have caused a problem, I left a gate open,
I have done this. If he says don't shoot any hares and you accidently shoot a hare, say
I am terribly sorry I shot a hare. If he says don't drive across that field because it will
make a mess and you go and do it ring him up and say specifically I am very sorry I
have done exactly what you told me not to do, I have driven across that field and I
am terribly sorry. Don't under any circumstances lie because then you are not held in a position
of trust, eventually you will probably lose the shooting on the farm you have got and
you won't find any new places to go. You have to be trustworthy.
So chapter four making a good impression. The first opportunity to go, say it is your
first night and say you are going rabbit shooting. Make sure that rifle is zero, make sure your
mate who is going to help you is up for an all nighter, when I say all night I mean until
the sun comes up. You want to go round and round and round that farm and you want to
make sure you get as many as you can. Don't go home early and you want to be there when
the sun comes up. So make sure you have got nothing else on on the other day. So when
that farmer comes into work at 8 o'clock that morning you are there gutting 100, 50, 70
or 200 rabbits and he will see a big pile of them and he will look you straight in the
eye and know you are the real deal and you are going to get on with it. Make a good first
impression.