Training

About NGO

The objectives of the National Gamekeepers' Organisation include assisting gamekeepers and ensuring quality within the profession. Good training is an important route to achieving this.

The NGO works with a number of colleges which provide residential courses and apprenticeships for gamekeeping students and you can find out more about these and about becoming a gamekeeper via the NGO Educational Trust website.

Continual professional development is an important way for existing gamekeepers to keep up to date with current best practice, changing legal requirements and improved working techniques, so our associated company, NGO Training Limited, provides a range of highly-regarded short courses, mostly one day, to help keepers stay up to date and maintain excellent standards. Details of our current courses are found on this and the following pages.

NGO Training Ltd courses are run throughout England and Wales and the dates of upcoming courses can be found in the events section of this website.

If you would like to register your interest in an NGO training course, please contact the NGO at our head office.

The NGO offer the following courses:

LOADERS TRAINING BEST PRACTICE COURSE

This is an attendance course, it is designed for people who already load and covers the best practice whilst in the field as well as some firearms legislation. View the course details.

GAME MEAT HYGIENE COURSE

The Game Meat Hygiene Course is a well established National Gamekeepers Organisation course. This is a one day course that covers small and large game meat hygiene from field to larder. View the course details

DEER STALKING CERTIFICATE LEVEL 1

DSC1 is a four day course with tuition from NGO trainers and course manual supplied by the British Deer Society. The DSC1 is the entry level course into deer stalking and deer management and the National Gamekeepers Organisation delivers a quality training course that covers much more than is in the manual. View the course details.

WILD BOAR CERTIFICATE

This couse is delivered as a distance learning package where you are sent the training material on a USB drive. You will be able to learn at your own pace with support via email or WhatApp from NGO tutors. View the course details.

DOGS FOR DEER COURSE

This is a two part course, introduction and advanced. Course participants will be introduced to the various demands made on Deer dogs as well as how to start off training a pup. View the course details.

HEATHER BURNING BEST PRACTICE

The National Gamekeepers' Organisation heather burning best practice course is essential for all those involved in heather burning for grouse moor management. View the course details.

RAT CONTROL FOR GAMEKEEPERS

This is a one-day course that will allow gamekeepers to go on controlling rats using professional rodenticides after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) deadline of 31 July 2016.

Gamekeepers Welfare Trust STAG Course

The GWT STAG training course has been desgined by ex-royal marines to tackle those difficult issues. Everyone has issues from time to time which can casue stress and anxiety.

GREY SQUIRREL MANAGEMENT TRAINING

This course is for people involved in grey squirrel management whether for red squirrel conservation or for control to prevent further economic and environmental damage caused by this non-native invasive species. Accreditation will be given to participants who show proficiency in all aspects of grey squirrel management including the reasons for and methods of control.

What will be covered? • Red and Grey Squirrel Ecology • Reasons for controlling grey squirrels • Methods of Control • Law • Your Squirrel Management within the Big Picture • Safety and consideration for all involved • Records, Monitoring • Test of theory • Setting up Feeding Stations, Practical with assessment • Setting up Traps, Dispatch, Practical with assessment.

The course takes around 4 hours to complete and will be essential for those who are claiming the WS3 squirrel control grant.