why is it hard too get out stalking or get into a stalking syndicate

[swaro79]

I remember many years ago seeing a lot of pigeons on a laid wheat field, followed the land back to a farm house knocked on the door and said I have seen a lot of pigeons on your wheat field I can go tomorrow if you like.
Yes ok but don't leave your empty cartridges around! Shot 60 took a picture, then got to shoot the foxes then the deer but it took 3 years to get the deer...

fair play!its hard to get in there but just wish stalkers pest control etc were just willing to help out the people with certs etc to get foot in door thats all! as what goes around comes around !people don't forget?

 

[Rake Aboot]

I remember many years ago seeing a lot of pigeons on a laid wheat field, followed the land back to a farm house knocked on the door and said I have seen a lot of pigeons on your wheat field I can go tomorrow if you like.
Yes ok but don't leave your empty cartridges around! Shot 60 took a picture, then got to shoot the foxes then the deer but it took 3 years to get the deer...
farmers like it when you shoot a lot of pigeonsView attachment 363551

I’ve asked on farms blue with pigeons if I could shoot them and been asked what I’d pay
I laughed in their face

Had one ask how much I’d pay to shoot rabbits. I nearly ****ed myself laughing which upset him a bit

 

[swaro79]

I’ve asked on farms blue with pigeons if I could shoot them and been asked what I’d pay
I laughed in their face

Had one ask how much I’d pay to shoot rabbits. I nearly ****ed myself laughing which upset him a bit

thats shocking yes people are in for only money but only starting a conversation to maybe help others including myself

 

[Selous]

Most people these days gain experience by going on paid stalks. This does have advantages as the pro stalker often has good numbers of deer and is used to taking out novices so can often give a good educational experience. Then look at DSC1 and on to a syndicate membership. After that it should get easier as you hopefully have a track record.

 

[Hazlett]

Taking the wider view, we need lots of young, enthusiastic, energetic, can-do people getting into deer management. It would be interesting to do an age demographic survey on here.

In my area, which is mainly fallow, there are plenty of stalkers knocking 70+, probably through the culture they were brought into stalking with (before the numbers were so huge), who shoot mainly bucks. And because they're getting on a bit and on their own, they don't shoot on bits of land where it's heavy going to get a carcass out. So they're creating pockets of land on their permissions where the fallow can hang out and the numbers go upupup.

We need to do more to get younger people involved, who have the enthusiasm and concern for the environment, so that they can get stuck into the does and can haul them out of wet ground, steep slopes etc.


But they have to be grafters, there's no room for dreamers who just want to do a bit of stalking.

 

[sikamalc]

I doubt your going to get anyone willing to give up their time for your mates.

Unfortunately if you can't do that yourself, then they will struggle.

Your obviously already 'out there' so see what you can do your end first. As you say it's about getting your foot in the door. Yours is already in there.

18th May AM. I am taking a complete novice out for his first deer, FREE of charge. Like many others I have helped over the years. Helping people onto the stalking ladder has been, and is being undertaken by many on this site.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

Stalkers tend to be very reticent with their land and who they let on it, some with very good reason. The estate where I'm employed, for the last 19 seasons, gave me the stalking to do with as I wish. The boss goes 2/3 times a year,more interested in pheasants and the red on the Scottish estate.
Some of my beaters have rifles,as a thank you for their help during the pheasant season I invite them to help me out with the deer. On a cautionary note, I had a chap come picking up one season who I invited as I knew he had a rifle. Straight away he was talking about setting up cull plans, high seat positioning and numbers to achieved needless to say, he's picking up elsewhere now. He assumed he being given the run of the place, maybe just him but I've met a few like over the years.
Good friend of mine invited a friend of his to help him. Fortnight later bumped into him dragging a deer out of a wood. Same again, just assumed he was given the run of the place because of a friendly invitation.
People who've taken a long time to acquire their shooting aren't going to share with someone who hasn't. I can get a dozen people up to help me with anything involving firearms, try getting the same people to help you carry wheat or water barrels. You need to earn shooting, forget about the gun and make yourself useful is my advice, whether that's beating or just generally being helpful around the estate. Rewards follow for those that do,those that don't or are unreliable in any way will always be looking.

 

[Pete6.5]

People just expect to just walk into deer stalking and whine that it's everyone else's fault if they can't. People should make a effort to get to know people and not make the first contact with people be asking for something. My misses thinks it's strange that it doesn't seem to matter where we go and I know people. Even if I don't know anyone I will chat to anyone. After you are well known in a area then you can ask for a favor. My rule of thumb is if the land owner knows your name and would walk over to you in life and want to talk then you have made enough of a effort first.

 

[nun_hunter]

Land held by those who don't shoot enough.

This I think is the biggest hurdle to new stalkers. It's not a problem if someone has permission and only wants to shoot a few deer or less a year, if it's a hobby then you can do what you like. When it's an issue is people getting overly protective about something that's not even theirs! They're just a guest being allowed out on someone else's land and yet treat it like their own and even though there are plenty of deer to allow other stalkers to access the land they keep it to themselves.

 

[ColinBr]

18th May AM. I am taking a complete novice out for his first deer, FREE of charge. Like many others I have helped over the years. Helping people onto the stalking ladder has been, and is being undertaken by many on this site.

Like I said in a previous post on this thread, I have taken someone under my wing over the last year.

My point was, if he wasn't willing to do the same he shouldn't expect others to spend their time doing so.

 

[David Barker]

yes I can see people paying big money to get land to stalk@!but do you not think!would love someone beside me to learn what I know etc,.

Well if your that good why don't you start by answering questions i just gave a site member a 600 acre farm he asked and he got but i did ask him questions and he answered honestly. From your posts i would not pass anything on to you.

 

[sikamalc]

Moaning about older stalkers retaining ground is a bit insulting. Many have had years to try and achieve their passion in stalking and find ground. The subject of finding ground is so variable, that its impossible to just point the finger at one reason.
Most older stalkers, such as myself have had a lifetime of getting to know people and being offered or paying for the ground. There are only two places I have that I stalk that I do not pay for. Many have land they pay nothing for. Operating a business as I have done for many years does not come cheap, and I have other stalkers who are close friends who share some of the ground to help out with clients or control the deer.

Nothing happens overnight with finding land to stalk on, unless again you are lucky. If your that keen, you need to put yourself out there, like I did to start. Its taken me most of my working life to achieve what I have and done. There is still land to be had, if you put your time and energy into it.

 

[Camdig]

It takes years to build relationships with land owners with trust being a major factor, some strangers turning up wanting the cream straight off the cuff is never going to end well.
Am fortunate enough not to pay for my stalking and have good honest relationships with the land owners, do you think am going to take strangers out to give them experience and potentially jeopardise the relationship with owners that took years to build,
Only takes an unexperienced trigger happy goon to destroy all.

 

[sauer]

i wont take anyone out now on my own ground.... been bitten with folk then wanting to go behind your back and try to get said bit of ground for themselves....

if someone wants me to go out with them ( me no rifle) yup quite happy to but are they then happy for me to be there ? shoe on other foot...although I'm not going to try gazump or steal a permission from them

land owners wanting vermin or deer reduced but wanting you to pay them for priviledge

stalkers wanting to be paid for providing a service for said "privilege" 2x sides to same coin but folk see it differently

folk are protective of their bit ..... some folk with certificates shouldn't be in charge of a lawn mower never mind a rifle ... so folk do not want to be associated with them


other folk are just nasty bar stewards and want everything to themselves

now syndicates.... if your into a goo done then your lucky ..... some have members who go out and do not let other members know and try to rape the place but rules say your to let othe members know when your out & if you get anything , but dont


its no easy

Paul

 

[David Barker]

thats shocking yes people are in for only money but only starting a conversation to maybe help others including myself

Were are you from SWARO it says Scotland but that's a big place.

 

[KimE]

Try northern Sweden then I moved to my house I had an offer to join a moosehunting team the first day. In my area young hunters from the local town/villages can start of a fee of 0,1£/year. The normal fee are 100£ for roe and other small game, 100£ for moose. For grouse and other smallgame hunting/shooting you can buy a day lease for ~30£ the areas to buy a day lease are between 2000-15000ha. We do also have the scandinavian alps where you can buy a day lease on government land in an area as big as Scotland. I do take out new hunters to learn how to hunt.

 

[AndrewT059]

would really love experienced stalkers on here with land etc to give help to the struggling upcoming stalkers! bet there's a few people on here! struggling to get out.

And then have your ground pinch from you because they’ve gone in behind your back and offer the land owner a bigger lump of cash? I’ve had that happen before. No thanks.

And there is still ground out there that’s not being stalked, only had a message from a farm lady yesterday asking if I could control the deer on her little farm. Lots off polite door knocking is the way forward

 

[VSS]

I wonder how the average homeowner on here would react if I, a rather scruffy-looking bearded bloke, turned up unannounced at your house and asked to do something like have a bbq in the garden, or camp overnight because I had nowhere else to camp? Understandably, you'd probably tell me to sling my hook. You might even call the police.

Have a think about the situation from a landowner's perspective.
Recreational stalkers need landowners far more than landowners need recreational stalkers.
I can assure you, as a landowner myself, that getting a FAC is as easy as falling off a log if you own a chunk of ground. Why should I take the risk of allowing someone else to shoot on my land? If something needs shooting I can just shoot it myself.

There are three main reasons (and many other lesser ones) why someone might be granted permission to shoot:
1) We like you.
2) We have a pest problem, and would like someone to sort it out because we haven't got time to do it ourselves. We might even pay you for doing it.
3) You're offering us large sums of money for the privilege.

Of those three, number 1 is the only one that's really important.
Out of the other two, number 2 is far more important than number 3. Most landowners would rather pay someone to do a proper job.

If someone I don't know turns up at my farm asking for permission to shoot, the answer will be a polite no. If they're wearing obvious shooting togs or, heaven forbid, cammo, it'll be a less polite no.
But if a local youngster comes and asks me, who probably went to the same school as my kids did but 10 years later, and who's parents live in the village and who I see from time to time even if I don't know them particularly well, then the answer will most likely be yes, and what's more he (or she) will get plenty of help from me, and if they do well I'll be recommending them to other landowners in the area too.

In that respect, I'm probably no different to the majority of landowners and established stalking leaseholders: Always happy to help a youngster get a foot on the ladder, but somewhat more wary of random enquirers.

And I'm far more likely to grant access by invitation than as a result of someone asking.

 

[User00047]

Try northern Sweden then I moved to my house I had an offer to join a moosehunting team the first day. In my area young hunters from the local town/villages can start of a fee of 0,1£/year. The normal fee are 100£ for roe and other small game, 100£ for moose. For grouse and other smallgame hunting/shooting you can buy a day lease for ~30£ the areas to buy a day lease are between 2000-15000ha. We do also have the scandinavian alps where you can buy a day lease on government land in an area as big as Scotland. I do take out new hunters to learn how to hunt.

I think the human population density is slightly lower in Northern Sweden than in most of the UK.

 

[Rake Aboot]

I’ve actually just taken on more stalking and the conditions actually only included a list of people I couldn’t bring with me

True story. Simply folk they didn’t trust .