jamross65
Well-Known Member
Last Thursday we shot a young 8 point sika stag and a hind calf from this year (general licence), and left them in the chill. There were several pheasants also in the chill, which is large with the deer are at one side and the birds the other.
The stag weighed 90lbs and the calf about 30lbs.
The game-dealer who takes the pheasants from the estate decides to take the deer as well, despite not being asked to. I don't use him for deer as he pays poor money and all mine go to the one dealer elsewhere, after being tagged etc. These two are not tagged as they are meant to be going straight to a friend who wanted them.
I go to put a beast in last night to discover the two from Thursday missing and find out through the keeper that the dealer lifted them on Friday and left payment, but claimed and wrote up that one had its saddle damaged. No it wasn't, at least not the ones I left there....
So, this morning I phone this game-dealer to have it out with him. He says to me that he has picked up a few deer from the estate over the last few months and found them to be badly shot and in the future he will skin them when back at his larder and decide on the payment after inspection! I said to him that I would save him the bother and that he should not have picked up any of my deer from the estate in the first place and that the ones he is claiming are from me that are damaged are not mine. This is not making much sense to me as the keeper shoots the odd one or two and I have seen them hanging and they have not been badly shot. I then went on to ask him why they were picked up in the first place and his excuse is to blame the van driver as he 'can't get the staff....'.
I ask him if the staff are capable of reading the weights on a set of scales because clearly according to the paperwork left at the larder subsequently indicate that a 4-5 month old calf weighs 49lbs and a young 8 point stag weighs 70lbs???? In other words not the deer I shot! His reply was that the van driver must have got them mixed up back at the shop!!!!!! I ask him to explain and he tells me it's difficult to keep tabs on where all the deer come from as they are all thrown into a van and get mixed up!!!! I asked if he was serious...... he was.
So I say, 'just let me get this right, you have no idea what ground the deer you have in your shop are actually coming from?' He replies, 'No, I do know, they come from several estates in the area', and he begins to rattle off their names. I ask how then does he clarify specifically which estate a particular carcass comes from, when the ones he lifted from my chill were not tagged and written up (as all mine who go to a dealer are), as they were not going into the food chain but to a private individual? Silence...
I then told him that clearly he is giving me payment for deer that were not even mine confirmed by the weights themselves and the damage he suggested one has, therefore what happens with the trace-ability of the beasts never mind accountability when something goes wrong and the health inspectors turn up to see me when the bad venison has not come from my estate? It was suggested at that point I should call back tomorrow and speak with the boss....
I know for a fact this is not unique with some game-dealers and can remember many years ago one we used occasionally opening up the side of a large van and telling me to just throw them in, on top of about another 15 lying there from who knows where!
This in fact makes a mockery of the hunter hygiene side of things in stalking, and worries me somewhat when we are doing our bit yet could still be faced with trying to explain they have the wrong man when something goes wrong. All I have in my favour for this incident is a roll of tags that are clearly used but not having placed one on the carcasses he claims to get from me he in turn could not produce one as proof it's mine, and a friend who was out helping that night who can back up what deer were shot and their weights.
Do the game dealers who do things properly keep tags as proof for where they uplift deer from should they need to explain something in the future, or are their entries in a book sufficient? It has made me realise just how flawed the system actually is and even when we do our bit we could still find ourselves trying to prove we in fact have nothing to do with a particular carcass...
The stag weighed 90lbs and the calf about 30lbs.
The game-dealer who takes the pheasants from the estate decides to take the deer as well, despite not being asked to. I don't use him for deer as he pays poor money and all mine go to the one dealer elsewhere, after being tagged etc. These two are not tagged as they are meant to be going straight to a friend who wanted them.
I go to put a beast in last night to discover the two from Thursday missing and find out through the keeper that the dealer lifted them on Friday and left payment, but claimed and wrote up that one had its saddle damaged. No it wasn't, at least not the ones I left there....
So, this morning I phone this game-dealer to have it out with him. He says to me that he has picked up a few deer from the estate over the last few months and found them to be badly shot and in the future he will skin them when back at his larder and decide on the payment after inspection! I said to him that I would save him the bother and that he should not have picked up any of my deer from the estate in the first place and that the ones he is claiming are from me that are damaged are not mine. This is not making much sense to me as the keeper shoots the odd one or two and I have seen them hanging and they have not been badly shot. I then went on to ask him why they were picked up in the first place and his excuse is to blame the van driver as he 'can't get the staff....'.
I ask him if the staff are capable of reading the weights on a set of scales because clearly according to the paperwork left at the larder subsequently indicate that a 4-5 month old calf weighs 49lbs and a young 8 point stag weighs 70lbs???? In other words not the deer I shot! His reply was that the van driver must have got them mixed up back at the shop!!!!!! I ask him to explain and he tells me it's difficult to keep tabs on where all the deer come from as they are all thrown into a van and get mixed up!!!! I asked if he was serious...... he was.
So I say, 'just let me get this right, you have no idea what ground the deer you have in your shop are actually coming from?' He replies, 'No, I do know, they come from several estates in the area', and he begins to rattle off their names. I ask how then does he clarify specifically which estate a particular carcass comes from, when the ones he lifted from my chill were not tagged and written up (as all mine who go to a dealer are), as they were not going into the food chain but to a private individual? Silence...
I then told him that clearly he is giving me payment for deer that were not even mine confirmed by the weights themselves and the damage he suggested one has, therefore what happens with the trace-ability of the beasts never mind accountability when something goes wrong and the health inspectors turn up to see me when the bad venison has not come from my estate? It was suggested at that point I should call back tomorrow and speak with the boss....
I know for a fact this is not unique with some game-dealers and can remember many years ago one we used occasionally opening up the side of a large van and telling me to just throw them in, on top of about another 15 lying there from who knows where!
This in fact makes a mockery of the hunter hygiene side of things in stalking, and worries me somewhat when we are doing our bit yet could still be faced with trying to explain they have the wrong man when something goes wrong. All I have in my favour for this incident is a roll of tags that are clearly used but not having placed one on the carcasses he claims to get from me he in turn could not produce one as proof it's mine, and a friend who was out helping that night who can back up what deer were shot and their weights.
Do the game dealers who do things properly keep tags as proof for where they uplift deer from should they need to explain something in the future, or are their entries in a book sufficient? It has made me realise just how flawed the system actually is and even when we do our bit we could still find ourselves trying to prove we in fact have nothing to do with a particular carcass...