FOR centuries, poaching was an illicit way for poor people living in rural areas to supplement their meagre diet.

Many people still think of poachers as relatively harmless individuals who kill an occasional rabbit to give their hard-up family a tasty treat.

Loveable rogues such as Claude Greengrass in the TV series Heartbeat have reinforced the romantic “one for the pot” image. But Heartbeat is set in the 1960s and bears little resemblance to modern-day reality.

Today’s poachers are often terrifying figures in masks and combat gear. They carry rifles and crossbows and make huge profits by selling meat on the black market. Gamekeepers patrolling isolated areas know they are likely to come face to face with menacing groups intent on killing stock – often in barbaric ways.

Peter Stagg, 62, is head keeper on the 7,000-acre Beaulieu Estate in the New Forest.

He said: “Poaching is not the romantic crime it’s always perceived to be, mainly through TV programmes such as Emmerdale and Heartbeat. In reality it’s a cruel and sometimes callous crime perpetuated by individuals who have no regard for the wildlife and game birds that they’re illegally taking, often by inhumane methods, for financial gain.”

Mr Stagg and thousands of fellow gamekeepers across the country are bracing themselves for what police describe as the peak poaching period.

Hare coursing begins once crops have been harvested and the animals are easier to spot. Game birds are plentiful at the start of the shooting season and deer are a prime target in the run-up to Christmas, when the demand for black market meat is at its highest.

Poachers stand to make hundreds of pounds a night by selling stolen game to shops, hotels and restaurants.

One gamekeeper, who asked not to be named, was involved in a violent confrontation on a large country estate near Southampton. He was patrolling the woods in the middle of the afternoon when he stumbled across three men stealing pheasants.

“Someone hit me on the back of the head, I went down and the boot went in,” he said.

“I ended up with two cracked ribs but it was the shooting season and there was no time for hospital or anything like that. I was just put on light duties.”

Another incident took place near Lymington last year, when a gamekeeper was attacked by three men he found loading pheasants into their car.

Unlike their predecessors, people working on rural estates are equipped with mobile phones and shortwave radios that enable them to summon help in an emergency.

One gamekeeper said: “You’re constantly aware that you may come into contact with someone who’s up to no good.

“You have to react to the situation otherwise word will go around, but you must inform someone else that there’s a problem and get assistance. Luckily our communications systems are better than they used to be.

“Some of the guys going out on patrol take an Alsatian, which is a great deterrent.”

The British Deer Society has accused police of failing to take poaching seriously, despite the theft of up to 50,000 animals a year.

But police in the New Forest have launched the Country Watch scheme, which is targeting poachers as part of a campaign to reduce all rural crime.

One of the officers involved in the initiative is Sergeant Louise Hubble.

She said: “Poaching can no longer be portrayed as the romantic image of one man and his dog taking a rabbit or a pheasant home for the pot.

“Modern-day poachers tend to work in organised gangs, often causing damage with 4x4s, and have a number of dogs and weapons – including firearms.

“They have scant regard for the countryside and no regard for the wildlife they injure or the land that they destroy.”

Poachers striving to remain as silent as possible tend to use under-powered rifles and crossbows, which often fail to kill the animal outright. However, they rarely bother to pursue an injured beast and put it out of its misery.

“Incidents in the Forest have involved deer being injured with cross-bolts and left to die a slow and agonising death,” added Sgt Hubble.

The National Wildlife Crime Unit is also making poaching a priority.

A spokesman said: “Modern poachers are professional, organised criminals who travel round the county and are often involved in other types of crime. Deer are killed by dogs in a barbaric manner and the poachers have no interest in the condition of the meat they sell on the black market, often to pubs or hotels.”

One gamekeeper said: “In the bad old days police tended to regard poaching as fairly insignificant. Now it’s being given the seriousness it deserves.”