Shoot more Deer !

[VSS]

You won’t be voting conservative at the next election then

I don't think I'll be voting anything.

No it doesn’t I’m afraid, if I have a larder full of deer and i need to keep killing, come and empty it by all means!

If I ever come and empty your larder (which is not beyond the realms of possibility) then I'll pay you properly for anything that's of a high enough quality

 

[big ears]

I don't think I'll be voting anything.

My opinion is we have to honour those who fought for our democracy by always voting.

 

[HonestJohn]

Someone needs to set up a decent venison biltong business to supply commercially

 

[south-nofolk-stalker]

I don't think I'll be voting anything.

If I ever come and empty your larder (which is not beyond the realms of possibility) then I'll pay you properly for anything that's of a high enough quality

that’s a door I would like to keep open

 

[VSS]

My opinion is we have to honour those who fought for our democracy by always voting.

Will if I do it won't be Conservative, Labour or LibDem.
But I'm afraid I don't share your feeling of obligation.

 

[Dan Newcombe]

some of us have been killing but unfortunately there are too many who talk a good talk

Absolutely - but more than enough people haven’t. Just have to look on here and similar ‘we are letting number build up’ is a common theme.

What I mean is that ‘we’ as a collective.
How many people who stalk do you know who actually kill more than 50 deer a year or even more than 20. One for the freezer is what’s got us into this predicament

 

[big ears]

Absolutely - but more than enough people haven’t. Just have to look on here and similar ‘we are letting number build up’ is a common theme.

What I mean is that ‘we’ as a collective.
How many people who stalk do you know who actually kill more than 50 deer a year or even more than 20. One for the freezer is what’s got us into this predicament

Agree 100%.

“I stop culling in February “ another common line.

We should shoot all in season deer right to the end of the season. Simples.

BE

 

[Tim.243]

I don't think I'll be voting anything.

If I ever come and empty your larder (which is not beyond the realms of possibility) then I'll pay you properly for anything that's of a high enough quality

I can see the menu board at the Dragon & Daffodil
Locally sourced venison
Chefs Special this week
CWD & Muntjac bookings being taken.

 

[Grand Slam]

Supply and demand. Increase demand and the need for supply increases.

For that to happen, wild venison needs to stop being marketed and sold as a premium product at a premium price, to be eaten on ‘special occasions’.

Your average family aren’t eating meat at £20+/kg regularly, especially when they don’t know what to do with it, will probably overcook it so it tastes awful. They might try it once, but will carry on walking to the £4 whole chicken aisle next time.

Dealers should get it made into highly accessible products like burgers and sausages, price them in line with pork/beef equivalents and watch them fly. Whenever I’ve fed venison burgers/sausages to friends most have loved them and, those who dont know, ask where I get them from. They are often disappointed with the answer as they don’t have the knowledge, time, access or interest in stalking. Then further disappointed that I and people like me cannot ‘sell’ them to them. I cannot justify the cost or time to jump through the ridiculous numbers of hoops to become a food business (that’s a whole other issue!).

If it doesn’t make business sense for dealers to process and sell burgers and sausages at volume, then they should be centrally subsidised if they are serious about controlling deer numbers. We’ve been doing it with farmers for long enough!

Very few hoops to jump through in order to become registered as a food business. When I started out, I was doing this from my kitchen and using a pull up bar in the garden to hang them from. As long as you are operating in a clean environment (Which I assume most kitchens are), and you have a hazard action plan (lots on here have templates that can be sent), then there isnt much more too it.

I get that not everyone has the time / space / facilities to do this but there is almost always a workaround for it.

ATB

 

[Morkai]

Bit of a devils advocate comment for the purpose of hearing opinions.

Im sure none of us want to waste a very good product, but many talk about too many deer being detrimental to the countryside and how they must be controlled.

Should these stalkers that are purely shooting to control numbers put aside their morals (and their pockets) on wasted meat and just shoot them for the sake of the environment and incinerate or dispose of them in some fashion and not worry about the outlets.

Foxes are shot and disposed of without a second thought.

 

[nun_hunter]

@dunwater has bravely said what a lot were thinking, which is this has happened over the last 30 years or so and therefore those stalkers who have been around that long are complicit in the current state.

However, it's east to blame stalkers when in reality very few have any control over how many deer are shot as that comes down to the landowner. For every landowner who wants the population reduced I bet there are three times as many who don't have an issue with deer numbers or damage or just don't like shooting.

As the UK is privately owned and in small chunks as larger estates and farms get split up every generation there will never be an widespread effective or joined up thinking.

 

[nun_hunter]

One for the freezer is what’s got us into this predicament

Only because the stalkers who have that mentality and a permission don't want to share. There are more than enough stalkers who want a couple of deer a year for their freezer that dont have anywhere to shoot. I know it's a different set up but in America most hunters only kill one or two deer a year yet their overall quotas are met because they share access to public land. We're just not very good at sharing here.

 

[Morkai]

It can be quite difficult to get permissions, dead mans shoes or just that one person has aquired thousands of acres for themselves.

I wonder what it will be like when the older boys drop off or give up shooting.

A massive gap in land being controlled and another boom in numbers whilst the landowners and estates try to catch up.

I might be biased, but there does need to be a bit more torch passing and under the wing mentoring happening.

In any other industry it's called succession planning.

 

[shakey jake]

we need a change of law, to allow land owners to seek damages against people who harbour deer but dont control them.

 

[devon deer stalker]

Is that the one where stalkers are expected to donate carcases for free, but the participating game dealer retains the haunches and loins?

Is that a fact, or just a guess?
It wouldn't bother me if they did, they still have overheads.
I donated a whole fallow doe to a homeless charity last November, well, not quite whole, I kept the loins!
But they welcomed the diced venison.

 

[VSS]

Is that a fact, or just a guess?

Fact.
And yes, it is The Country Food Trust.

 

[devon deer stalker]

Fact.
And yes, it is The Country Food Trust.

I never knew they did that, but as I say I don't have any issue with that, they cover their costs, those in need get fed, and deer get culled, sounds ok to me.
But, I wouldn't do it myself on a regular basis, I have to cover my costs, and that wouldn't.
So I think I will stick to what I do.

 

[VSS]

I can see the menu board at the Dragon & Daffodil
Locally sourced venison
Chefs Special this week
CWD & Muntjac bookings being taken.

Well, two days ago I was selling Welsh lambs of mine in Colchester market that have spent half their lives grazing in Suffolk, so I reckon getting muntjac onto a Welsh menu didn't ought to present too much of a challenge!

 

[Morkai]

@devon deer stalker I think lads that attended the advertised stalk in Hereford this March got the perms costs covered...from what Bill said, 5 blokes, £100 a pop, not a shot fired.

No deer on the land plus income....winner.

 

[David Barker]

Very easy to blame the deer managers that have thousands of acres to manage and use it for client stalking. If it was not for a lot of them no one would enter in to the deer management arena.Many on here have taken new starts out time and time again leading to competent deer managers who have went on to gain the necessary qualifications to manage there own deer or join syndicates, Were i live there were very few deer in the late seventy's and then they planted 1000s of acres of trees.They had a policy no deer shooting on the trees and a ranger visited the area 4 times a year. The lands were then put out to the highest bidder this led to money rich stalkers taking on the ground and they visited it normally April for a week and august for a week. Population went through the roof. Deer spread to local authority grounds and parks and they still to this day have a no shoot policy.The blame lays firmly at the governments door in Scotland. Now we the tax payer are paying over 20,000.000 a year to government to fix there problem (Familiar). Now they try and blame rec deer managers for not shooting enough sorry i am not buying it.