Good news?

IMO no, higher prices will force many out of deer stalking and down the chain to shooting vermin, which a lot are willing to pay for so they can keep up their shooting.
This inturn will force out those who provided free vermin control for landowners on a goodwill basis in return for permission to shoot.

Ian.

Yes, I have mixed feelings.

Great for those employed in the industry, not so good for the common man!
 
In the long run though, it'll probably be a case of some for everyone or none for anyone. All for just a few is probably not on the cards in the long run. So that makes it good news collectively, but not necessarily individually.
 
Yes, I have mixed feelings.

Great for those employed in the industry, not so good for the common man!

bambi, myself and my shooting buddy have been victims of this although not from deerstalkers but driven pheasant shooters.
We had negociated vermin shooting with a landowner on an livestock farm but two weeks later when we phoned the landowner to say we were coming to shoot, he informed us that he had sold the shooting to two guys for £600 exclusively, who knocked his door!!
To say we were pi$$ed off is an understatement, and he did not even have the decency to ring us and tell
us what he had done.

Ian.
 
bambi, myself and my shooting buddy have been victims of this although not from deerstalkers but driven pheasant shooters.
We had negociated vermin shooting with a landowner on an livestock farm but two weeks later when we phoned the landowner to say we were coming to shoot, he informed us that he had sold the shooting to two guys for £600 exclusively, who knocked his door!!
To say we were pi$$ed off is an understatement, and he did not even have the decency to ring us and tell
us what he had done.

Ian.

What did you actually negotiate with the landowner?
 
If people are queuing to pay for something, it will always available to them. If people are trying to get something for nothing, it will only be available to them so long as no better offer comes along. Isn't that usually the way of things?

They say the best things in life come free, but I'm pretty sure that the most valuable things in life rarely get given away for nothing... for long.
 
Well said Tamus,




I think people forget farmers are business people and money is not easy accumulated whilst working in agriculture. In my experience farmers will take any opportunity to receive payments for shooting its a no brainier. Its common sense to try and maximise any assist you may have.



If you live close to a city the chances are you are already paying for shooting and if not in time you will. Its a fact deer stalking is becoming more and more popular and people will pay for the opportunity to be involved in what most outsiders consider an elitist sport. Whether you think you can do a better job doesn’t really matter if money is involved.




Regards,
Glendine.
 
I think the days of free shooting are coming to an end, more and more people prepared to pay , Europeans prepared to pay good money for what we used to very often regard as free, rabbits, hares, pigeons, goose flighting.

I know of estates getting £ 10 a hare for a day on hill hares, 10 guns 100 hares for the day theres a £1000 for the estate, £50 per gun for a day 4 guns couple of hundred quid for the day walking up rabbits with a keeper
and a couple of spaniels.

Can't blame the landowners,farmers we just need to except thats the future, some will not be able to afford to pay for their shooting, others will decide not to, unfortunately they will disappear from the shooting world to be replaced by them that can and will pay.

And yes deer stalking seems to becoming more popular, which means cost of leases and day stalking will continue to rise.
 
I think the days of free shooting are coming to an end, more and more people prepared to pay , Europeans prepared to pay good money for what we used to very often regard as free, rabbits, hares, pigeons, goose flighting.

I know of estates getting £ 10 a hare for a day on hill hares, 10 guns 100 hares for the day theres a £1000 for the estate, £50 per gun for a day 4 guns couple of hundred quid for the day walking up rabbits with a keeper
and a couple of spaniels.

Can't blame the landowners,farmers we just need to except thats the future, some will not be able to afford to pay for their shooting, others will decide not to, unfortunately they will disappear from the shooting world to be replaced by them that can and will pay.

And yes deer stalking seems to becoming more popular, which means cost of leases and day stalking will continue to rise.


Very true indeed. I can still remember the days on brown and blue hare in Perthshire, the days keepers used to get the lads to do the Rabbits and Pigeons. Then the days on the Hinds. Great memories but unfortunately days well in the past. Cheap day can still be had for the working lads. Just need to look at the classifieds today to see that.


Nutty
 
Over the past year or two I have been amazed at how many people are taking up deer stalking, one only needs to look at the amount of new members joining this site, many of them novices. Thats not to say they are not welcome, because they are.

However the more people joining the ranks of stalking will inevitably lead to more pressure being put on land available to stalk on. This has and does lead to farmers and land owners asking for higher prices, although I still like to believe that they also require the job to be carried out in a safe, ethical and professional manner first, and then consider the price, but in these hard times who can blame them for trying to make ends meet.

Anyone who has free stalking these days is very lucky.
 
However the more people joining the ranks of stalking will inevitably lead to more pressure being put on land available to stalk on.

Not to mention more pressure being put on the deer. More people stalking = more people on small pockets of land shooting what ever they see because if they don't then their neighbours will. Same thing that is happening the Boar in this country.
 
Tamus,
vermin control has traditionally been a free service given to the landowner by the shooter, you cannot regard it as something for nothing, i give my time, my fuel and ammo costs free in return for permission to shoot on his land.
I am not interested in his game birds and i am not intetrested in his deer, i shoot fox's, rabbits, crows, pigeons and other agricultural pests because thats what i enjoy.
If the landowner says i can take the odd deer or game bird or two for a job well done then that is an added bonus.
Increasingly shooters are door knocking offering payment for vermin control, its only human nature that this payment is going to be excepted but on the other hand farmers also dont like spending hard earned money on a service they can get for free, no one wants to pay a pro pest controller X amount of pounds when there many offering to do it for nothing.

Ian.
 
Tamus,
vermin control has traditionally been a free service given to the landowner by the shooter, you cannot regard it as something for nothing, i give my time, my fuel and ammo costs free in return for permission to shoot on his land.
I am not interested in his game birds and i am not intetrested in his deer, i shoot fox's, rabbits, crows, pigeons and other agricultural pests because thats what i enjoy.
If the landowner says i can take the odd deer or game bird or two for a job well done then that is an added bonus.
Increasingly shooters are door knocking offering payment for vermin control, its only human nature that this payment is going to be excepted but on the other hand farmers also dont like spending hard earned money on a service they can get for free, no one wants to pay a pro pest controller X amount of pounds when there many offering to do it for nothing.

Ian.

Just so's you're not left having this fight in an empty room... :D

It was you that said
"let is come and shoot vermin on your land and we will do it for nothing".

Someone else offered more, the farmer quite reasonably took the better offer... that's all.

We could debate all night about whether or not it was impolite of him not to tell you but quite frankly, I've had many people shoot on my land over the years. I sure as heck don't ask their permission about who else I am going to allow. I have on a couple of occasions told shooters not to come back though... and to date... no money has been involved. If I got a good enough offer, I'd even stop shooting on my own land... that's just the way it is.
 
Tamus,
vermin control has traditionally been a free service given to the landowner by the shooter, you cannot regard it as something for nothing, i give my time, my fuel and ammo costs free in return for permission to shoot on his land.
I am not interested in his game birds and i am not intetrested in his deer, i shoot fox's, rabbits, crows, pigeons and other agricultural pests because thats what i enjoy.
If the landowner says i can take the odd deer or game bird or two for a job well done then that is an added bonus.
Increasingly shooters are door knocking offering payment for vermin control, its only human nature that this payment is going to be excepted but on the other hand farmers also dont like spending hard earned money on a service they can get for free, no one wants to pay a pro pest controller X amount of pounds when there many offering to do it for nothing.

Ian.

Been at this a long time nearly 50 years never came across a farmer willing to pay for pest control, why because there was always someone prepared to do it for nothing or better still pay them for the privalge of doing it, the only vermin control I have ever been payed for was fox control and that was doing dens with terriers not going about with a rifle.

Even at that it was a club hill farmers all payed so much in which covered paying a fox hunter to go round the dens on their ground.

Rabbits and pigeons not a chance in fact as a thirteen year old kid snaring rabbits for pocket money, while a lot of farmers would let you on, I can remember a couple who wanted a share of my catch, their reasoning as they had fed the rabbits they were entitled to some return.


Mind you I was well known in the area and they knew I was pretty good at it, in fact at that time I could
sometimes make about as much in a week for couple hours before and after school, as said farmers were paying their workers .
 
Tamus,
You got me wrong regarding the landowner telling me about having sold the shooting and in no way did i say that he was seeking my permission to allow other shooters on his land, thats absurd.
What annoyed me is that he agreed to let us shoot and then sold the exclusive shooting to another couple right from under our noses without letting us know
Now of course he has every right to do this and who am i to say otherwise, however it would have been courteous to tell us he had sold the shooting to another party and that our permission had been withdrawn rather then waiting for us to cantact him or even turn up to shoot, which could have been very embarrising.

Ian.
 
Free vermin shooting in return for the right to shoot vermin on his land, in other words, "let is come and shoot vermin on your land and we will do it for nothing".

Ian.
Unfortunately you get nothing in life for 'free' and the market dictates the price! IMHO things will get worse with 'lead free' bullets and DSC Level 1 being introduced in 2014 by FC and SNH respectively increasing costs for all. I think we stalkers need to unite and dwfwnbd our rights and sport which is increasingly coming under attack.
 
I should say I also found that many farmers were prepared to let you on to trap or snare as they saw you as doing
them a service, however when ever a gun was mentioned they saw it as doing you a service and what was in it for them.

And when you come to think on it they were probably right.
 
Back
Top