A farewell to arms

It’s the end of an era for keeper David Carter, retiring after 47 years. Richard Negus went along to witness his last shoot

On 23 December 1972, perfectly penned articles by BB, Colin Willock, Peter Moxon and Arthur Oglesby grace the pages of the 4,672nd edition of Shooting Times.

AYA has taken out a full-page advertisement to promote its No 3 — yours for a mere £67.50. Turning to the classified section, Diss-based game dealer Frostgame “urgently requires” birds, offering to pay £1.40 per brace for pheasants and £2 for English partridge.

The situations vacant column boasts 21 job opportunities. One boxed advert (cost 8p per word) catches the eye. A head keeper is required by the Rt Hon Earl Compton for his 3,000-acre Castle Ashby shoot. The successful applicant will need to be “experienced in vermin control, wild partridges and pheasants” and be adept at “supervising modern pheasant rearing and overseeing one under keeper”.

Unbeknown to any aspiring keeper, the vacancy has already been filled. As is often the case in gamekeeping, the best candidate has been found through personal recommendation.

Family pedigree

The man recommended was David Carter. David started as head keeper at Castle Ashby in February 1973. With 13 years’ experience under his belt on the Copped Hall Estate near Epping and a further season in Shropshire, he was already an experienced gamekeeper.

His father, grandfather and great-grandfather had been keepers before him and doubtless that family pedigree helped to secure the role.

However, he had other attributes. He was an intelligent man — erudite and numerate; his National Service was spent in the Royal Army Pay Corps. He possessed a natural politeness and quiet confidence, a manner he used with everyone from the marquis to the village postman.

Final shoot