Deerstalking 2045 - what to expect?

[suburban bushwacker]

When I was 50 I bought a scope with a 25 year warranty - hopefully I'll still be stalking at 75
which is how I justified the cost.
What will the sport and probably more to the point, the profession of deer management look like in '45?

My assumptions;
The average age of stalkers is rising
The number of deer shot isn't nearly enough to slow let alone retard the numbers of deer
Rewilding will change the landscape and that will make extraction harder, and deer breeding more successful
Deer will become almost entirely nocturnal

Night vision / Thermal / Drone spotting and extraction will become the norm.

What else can we expect?

 

[Twodogs]

Most of our stalking being in an urban/semi-urban environment, there will be very little green space left.

 

[suburban bushwacker]

Most of our stalking being in an urban/semi-urban environment, there will be very little green space left.

could be good news for bowhunting ?

 

[artschool]

it will be carried out with two FPV drones one to shoot and the other to extract.

 

[ABL]

Most of our stalking being in an urban/semi-urban environment, there will be very little green space left.

There will be plenty of greenspace - probably much more than now, and also more woodland. What we do about munties in towns is more of a problem. And restrictions on guns and their use will only get higher. What the domestic market for venison looks like is more of a guess - my hunch is, despite the health and other benefits, people will be less comfortable with hunted meats; society is just going that way. Deer management more likely to be pushed towards chemical sterilisation from salt licks and other new technology (I’d fear). Yes, I’m a pessimist on these matters…

 

[Dave_45]

Scotland seem intent on inadvertently spreading sika habitat far and wide , yet batterinf red deer at every turn because they are easier to cull.

2045 may see very very sparse numbers of pure red deer if any at all in Scotland.

 

[63]

2045

The UK is warmer and potentially wetter, leading to more undergrowth along field margins and other unused areas, however agricultural land will be farmed more intensively due to greater insecurity in the global food supply, and to the preponderance of agri-business land ownership after inheritance laws effectively ended family farming. Muntjac will thrive, but be heavily culled, whereas the Fallow Herds of the 2020's are just a distant memory in the minds of the aging members of SD after they were culled out around 2030.

Non-Scottish Stalking has become increasingly commoditised, with commercial entities owning stalking rights to large areas and selling 'recreational' stalking and venison to make a profit.

There will be more structure and bureaucracy - compulsory training and qualifications for both firearms ownership and deerstalking, and it will be rare to refer to stalking as a 'recreational' activity, rather than as a necessary management activity.

Scottish Deer sporting estates will be almost wholly extinct following the banning of Grouse Shooting in 2034 and the constructive banning of sporting stalking via the introduction of too many registers of competence. Most of the Scottish annual cull will be contractorised, although some local recreational stalking will remain.

 

[SSN100]

Here is what ChatGPT reckons, seems everyone will go back to standard glass scopes! Not sure why the stag is flying.

 

[VSS]

Just to counter the pessimism:

- There will be rewarding career opportunities for young people in deer & wildlife management.
- Venison will be widely recognised for its health and ethical status.
- Venison will be on the menu in schools, colleges and hospitals.
- Grant funding will be available to collaborating groups of stalkers to buy chillers, larder equipment and to establish small food businesses.
- Grant funding will be available to collaborating groups of landowners to employ stalkers as deer managers, and to install infrastructure such as highseats.
- The growing ethnic market will see added value to "fifth quarter" cuts such as offal.
- Despite tightening firearms legislation, deer management will remain an absolute "good reason" for the possession of firearms.
- Increasing urban and peri-urban deer/human conflict will result in raised public awareness of the need to cull deer, and greater public acceptance of firearms usage by private individuals.
- Conservation projects, agri-environment schemes, tree planting and re-wilding will see deer populations more evenly distributed throughout the UK, resulting in increased opportunities for recreational stalkers.
- Reduced reliance on food imports coupled with a growing human population will mean that crop protection is more widely recognised as being essential, and recieve public support.

 

[SSN100]

Just to counter the pessimism:

- There will be rewarding career opportunities for young people in deer & wildlife management.
- Venison will be widely recognised for its health and ethical status.
- Venison will be on the menu in schools, colleges and hospitals.
- Grant funding will be available to collaborating groups of stalkers to buy chillers, larder equipment and to establish small food businesses.
- Grant funding will be available to collaborating groups of landowners to employ stalkers as deer managers, and to install infrastructure such as highseats.
- The growing ethnic market will see added value to "fifth quarter" cuts such as offal.
- Despite tightening firearms legislation, deer management will remain an absolute "good reason" for the possession of firearms.
- Increasing urban and peri-urban deer/human conflict will result in raised public awareness of the need to cull deer, and greater public acceptance of firearms usage by private individuals.
- Conservation projects, agri-environment schemes, tree planting and re-wilding will see deer populations more evenly distributed throughout the UK, resulting in increased opportunities for recreational stalkers.
- Reduced reliance on food imports coupled with a growing human population will mean that crop protection is more widely recognised as being essential, and recieve public support.

I like this version, but also with the flying deer.

 

[suburban bushwacker]

Scotland seem intent on inadvertently spreading sika habitat far and wide , yet batterinf red deer at every turn because they are easier to cull.

2045 may see very very sparse numbers of pure red deer if any at all in Scotland.

you’re definitely right i forgot to add the hybridisation to the original post.

 

[Mungo]

When I was 50 I bought a scope with a 25 year warranty - hopefully I'll still be stalking at 75
which is how I justified the cost.
What will the sport and probably more to the point, the profession of deer management look like in '45?

My assumptions;
The average age of stalkers is rising
The number of deer shot isn't nearly enough to slow let alone retard the numbers of deer
Rewilding will change the landscape and that will make extraction harder, and deer breeding more successful
Deer will become almost entirely nocturnal

Night vision / Thermal / Drone spotting and extraction will become the norm.

What else can we expect?

On private land, recreational stalking will be largely unchanged bar technological updates.

On public land and large scale forestry, I suspect there will be nothing remotely resembling stalking as we know it. If forced to guess, I’d say almost all serious population control will be conducted via contraceptives delivered by drones. Lethal control will be gone. Why bother when a device the size of a bumblebee can find and inject all the females on the ground in half a day? It’s quite likely that there will be live mapping of every deer, and an AI will be tasked to monitor this, making decisions about which will be allowed to breed to maintain a sustainable population.

 

[slider]

increased woodland cover, vegetation and failed rewilding projects will lead to an increase in deer numbers.
Full blood reds will be virtually extinct and replaced by nocturnal sika.
Stalking will be highly regulated and Scottish Government will have concluded that the only way to get on top of numbers is to pay stalkers to control deer at night.
levels of regulation will dictated that stalkers will need to work in groups of 3 plus one dedicated H&S advisor, thermal drone operator and one dog handler who requires to be licensed to hunt mammals with dogs.
Due to budgetary constraints the 2045 stalking scheme will be ended with no warning on 30th February.
Politicians will spend the rest of the year considering how to improve the situation and will devise and improved scheme for 2046, which will run out of budget on 12th Jan 2046

 

[Dave_45]

6.5 Creedmoor will be a distant memory….

Hornady outed as charlatans …


Sorry

Going on a tangent now

 

[63]

Just to counter the pessimism:

- There will be rewarding career opportunities for young people in deer & wildlife management.
- Venison will be widely recognised for its health and ethical status.
- Venison will be on the menu in schools, colleges and hospitals.
- Grant funding will be available to collaborating groups of stalkers to buy chillers, larder equipment and to establish small food businesses.
- Grant funding will be available to collaborating groups of landowners to employ stalkers as deer managers, and to install infrastructure such as highseats.
- The growing ethnic market will see added value to "fifth quarter" cuts such as offal.
- Despite tightening firearms legislation, deer management will remain an absolute "good reason" for the possession of firearms.
- Increasing urban and peri-urban deer/human conflict will result in raised public awareness of the need to cull deer, and greater public acceptance of firearms usage by private individuals.
- Conservation projects, agri-environment schemes, tree planting and re-wilding will see deer populations more evenly distributed throughout the UK, resulting in increased opportunities for recreational stalkers.
- Reduced reliance on food imports coupled with a growing human population will mean that crop protection is more widely recognised as being essential, and recieve public support.

@VSS I think that this is a bloody good vision for stalking and gives us all a whole bunch of tangible goals to work towards. @BDS - Charity Account and @Conor O'Gorman there is probably some good 'vision statement' fodder in there for both your organisations!

 

[Mungo]

Seriously - if anyone thinks large companies or governments are going to be paying people to shoot deer in 20 years time, they have a nasty shock coming.

I give the entire contracting industry 10 years, at most. If any lethal control still exists (which is extremely unlikely), it will be done by drones, with (maybe) a human watching them from a desk like a security guard watching CCTV feeds.

 

[Taff]

Have to agree, thermal drones used here already guiding in cullers via lazer gps technology.
As to shooting semi urban, no chance due to people complaining about noise

 

[HonestJohn]

Pointless post, humanity will have seized to exist at that point, either through AI turning against us having decided that being tasked to create plans for dealing with over populations of deer, that humanity was the real problem; and turning against us. Or, nuclear holocaust, or, a new viral outbreak. Deer will be back in control and laughing at us whilst nibbling on rose buds in the Holyrood gardens. My damned cat will likely still be alive, perhaps even the mother in law!!!

 

[Ratel]

No guns, just poison em.

 

[Crunchy Peanut Butter]

When I was 50 I bought a scope with a 25 year warranty - hopefully I'll still be stalking at 75
which is how I justified the cost.
What will the sport and probably more to the point, the profession of deer management look like in '45?

My assumptions;
The average age of stalkers is rising
The number of deer shot isn't nearly enough to slow let alone retard the numbers of deer
Rewilding will change the landscape and that will make extraction harder, and deer breeding more successful
Deer will become almost entirely nocturnal

Night vision / Thermal / Drone spotting and extraction will become the norm.

What else can we expect?

I do not fear for my ability to stalk although I expect it will be heavily legislated. My main concern will be related to the impact of climate change on the landscape we stalk in and the prevalence of disease. If/when CWD reaches these shores I fear for the wild venison market.