So how often do you do it???

[TringSaint]

Just looking at my cull records and over the past few years I have typically shot in the region of 35 deer per winter season. I don’t stalk much in the rest of the year as it’s mainly cwd on my perms, but during the winter cull (1/11-31/3) I go out around 17-20 times.

I haven’t recorded a blank stalk for over 10 years on my land so my kill to stalk ratios are pretty good for a hobby / recreational stalker, but I was keen to see how that aligns with others on here who are also doing this as a hobby as opposed to it being a job.

I could possibly up my trip frequency from 1:week average to 1:4 days, but I’m not sure it would increase my cull by much as I can only shoot what presents!!

Thoughts?

 

[Nickb]

Just looking at my cull records and over the past few years I have typically shot in the region of 35 deer per winter season. I don’t stalk much in the rest of the year as it’s mainly cwd on my perms, but during the winter cull (1/11-31/3) I go out around 17-20 times.

I haven’t recorded a blank stalk for over 10 years

That's because shooting CWD is like shooting fish in a barrel

 

[75]

I haven’t recorded a blank stalk for over 10 years on my land

Do you have a deer park??

CWD is the one UK species I've not shot. It's going to remain that way based on this statement

 

[TringSaint]

That's because shooting CWD is like shooting fish in a barrel

When I had fallow and roe on land I shot over my kill ratios were about the same as for cwd, albeit I wouldn’t usually shoot more than one fallow at a time.

But my post wasn’t about kill ratios, more about how frequently others go out.

I feel like I am out stalking pretty regularly (I even lost about 4 weeks this winter through aggravating an old back injury) but I have no idea whether my stalking frequency is high, low or somewhere in between.

 

[TringSaint]

Do you have a deer park??

CWD is the one UK species I've not shot. It's going to remain that way based on this statement

No, I shoot over 1500 acres but I also know my land really well and I know how the deer move about.
None of this sitting in a high seat malarkey, waiting for them to amble by!!!

 

[Sandy25]

I manage a largish estate, with large populations of fallow and muntjac, with some roe. We are only culling fallow and muntjac at the moment and trying to let the roe numbers increase naturally.

Do a mix of stalking and high seats, but more of the former by a long way

Out 4/5 times a week, and always see deer, but average 1 kill: 4/5 stalks.
Have tried going out more often each week, but still average 4:1 no matter what we try.
As I said, we always see animals, but often they don’t present a shot or cover is too thick, or they are out of season!

 

[TringSaint]

I manage a largish estate, with large populations of fallow and muntjac, with some roe. We are only culling fallow and muntjac at the moment and trying to let the roe numbers increase naturally.

Do a mix of stalking and high seats, but more of the former by a long way

Out 4/5 times a week, and always see deer, but average 1 kill: 4/5 stalks.
Have tried going out more often each week, but still average 4:1 no matter what we try.
As I said, we always see animals, but often they don’t present a shot or cover is too thick, or they are out of season!

That’s what I am thinking - increasing the number of stalks won’t necessarily increase my cull because of the amount of disturbance each time you go out and the deer becoming wary of your movements.

 

[Sandy25]

That’s what I am thinking - increasing the number of stalks won’t necessarily increase my cull because of the amount of disturbance each time you go out and the deer becoming wary of your movements.

Yeah completely agree.

Was out pretty much every day over Christmas for three and a half weeks straight to try to get the numbers. Didn’t really make much difference, and still averaged around 5 stalks per animal shot.

Have dropped down to three outings per week now, and have been just as successful

 

[75]

When I had fallow and roe on land I shot over my kill ratios were about the same as for cwd, albeit I wouldn’t usually shoot more than one fallow at a time.

My earlier tongue in cheek comment on CWD aside, I find it quite astounding that for 10 years over a mix of species you've never gone out and not shot a deer.

But my post wasn’t about kill ratios, more about how frequently others go out.

My instinct is that now it's been raised, the thread will head off in that direction. However, I'll refrain and try and keep us on track. 3 or 4 times a week for main bit of the red season - less frequent earlier and later in the season.

 

[Sandy25]

@TringSaint sorry for hijacking your thread

Out three times a week minimum, normally more when organising cull days with other stalkers

 

[TringSaint]

My earlier tongue in cheek comment on CWD aside, I find it quite astounding that for 10 years over a mix of species you've never gone out and not shot a deer.



My instinct is that now it's been raised, the thread will head off in that direction. However, I'll refrain and try and keep us on track. 3 or 4 times a week for main bit of the red season - less frequent earlier and later in the season.

I am very lucky that my shooting grounds are well fed with deer from surrounding areas where there is no shooting going on. So the wider populations are pretty big which means that my perms are well stocked each year.

So it’s a mix of that and knowing my grounds really well that helps me keep my kill ratios up, but I can completely understand why the ratio drops if you are shooting in large woodlands or on the hills.

I have a mix of cwd, roe and muntjac so I can pick and choose my quarry but given that these are arable or mixed farms once the crop is up then there is not much shooting to be had.

What I do try to do is to mix the trips across the farms and even shoot the land in sections, so I never visit one section more than once /month, unless there are a lot there. That way they don’t get too used to seeing me and their suspicions are kept to a minimum.

I should add that I have had blanks in that time but that’s when I’m not on my land, so when I have paid for stalking.

 

[TringSaint]

@TringSaint sorry for hijacking your thread

Out three times a week minimum, normally more when organising cull days with other stalkers

Not at all!!

 

[Bowland blades]

Just looking at my cull records and over the past few years I have typically shot in the region of 35 deer per winter season. I don’t stalk much in the rest of the year as it’s mainly cwd on my perms, but during the winter cull (1/11-31/3) I go out around 17-20 times.

I haven’t recorded a blank stalk for over 10 years on my land so my kill to stalk ratios are pretty good for a hobby / recreational stalker, but I was keen to see how that aligns with others on here who are also doing this as a hobby as opposed to it being a job.

I could possibly up my trip frequency from 1:week average to 1:4 days, but I’m not sure it would increase my cull by much as I can only shoot what presents!!

Thoughts?

No blank on deer for ten years 170-200 stalks ? That land or its surounded by land that is not managed at all pehaps ? it is clearly not managed nearly enough enough over your boundaries to avoid a blank on the numbers of outings you state ! You might be a great stalker but we prove our skill as a stalker when its hard not easy .
You asked for thoughts those are mine , its way under managed !
Go shoot on land that is culled hard on it and surrounding it also, talk to the very best full time guys - I assure you they do blank !
No disrespect but the proving is when things are hard not easy

 

[TringSaint]

No blank on deer for ten years 170-200 stalks ? That land or its surounded by land that is not managed at all pehaps ? it is clearly not managed nearly enough enough over your boundaries to avoid a blank on the numbers of outings you state ! You might be a great stalker but we prove our skill as a stalker when its hard not easy .
You asked for thoughts those are mine , its way under managed !
Go shoot on land that is culled hard on it and surrounding it also, talk to the very best full time guys - I assure you they do blank !
No disrespect but the proving is when things are hard not easy

Thanks for the critique on my stalking, but that wasn’t the point of the thread.
The question is how often do you go out. Would you like to answer that question?

With regards the surrounding land, the answer is yes, it isn’t managed at all afaik, so being territorial deer they spread out. If you think that makes me a poor stalker because I don’t have to trek for miles to see a glimpse of a deer disappearing over the next hill then so be it. But telling me I should go and stalk in barren land is potty - why on earth would I do that?

If you had the choice of being able to go out onto land and had a very good chance of killing more than one deer per visit, are you telling me you would pass it up in preference to land with a 1:5 kill ratio?? I get it that shooting cwd and munties aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but that’s what I have around here - when live gives you lemons, you make lemonade!!

As for how hard I cull, I cull to the point where I am counting deer on the land that are sufficiently low in terms of deer per acre that the farmers are ok with. The cull is agreed and I hit it every year without fail. You might argue that I should exterminate everything I see but that isn’t what the landowners want.

Anyhow, back to the question - how often do you go stalking??

 

[Mike1979]

I get out as often as humanly possible....but there arent many deer where I live so I do a bit in Devon with a friend. In some ways its a good job there arent many deer as I would be out all the time as I love stalking

As a slightly anecdotal comment I would imagine Im somewhere in the region of 3 (ish) stalks per animal. I just love being out so even if I have a blank outing but still see deer Im chuffed.

 

[wytonpjs]

Typically 2-3 times a week but it can be more. I was out 4 times in the last week and blanked on all. In those, I did have an opportunity on a muntjac doe at less than 80m but she wouldn't stand still and I had a nice sorrel buck in the cross hairs at 60m that I've been after for a while but his harem's eyes clocked me as I set up the rifle on a broken down wall and they were off. After that, they didn't come back the following 2 nights but last night, they were back on the trail cam. That's deer stalking!

 

[Jh1986]

I'm married with two young kids, so once a year on my birthday.

Oh, sorry. Deer stalking.

I'm recreational so I am out one to two, rarely but occasionally 3 times a week in the season, unless I am stocked full of venison in which case there might be a couple of weeks where I take break.

How many times I'm successful can vary greatly. In the winter months, the fallow seem easier to stalk in The woodlands. As the season was coming to a close, I couldn't get a fallow to stand still long enough. The Roe are happy to stand but lately always seems to be the wrong sex.

My permission is pretty much all woodland which does make the success rates pretty hard, when every footstep is accompanied by crunch of leaves

 

[RCS Deer Management]

From the first of November to 31st of march 140ish days in the feild which averages 28 days a month. Over summer months 3- 5 days a week.

 

[TringSaint]

I get out as often as humanly possible....but there arent many deer where I live so I do a bit in Devon with a friend. In some ways its a good job there arent many deer as I would be out all the time as I love stalking

As a slightly anecdotal comment I would imagine Im somewhere in the region of 3 (ish) stalks per animal. I just love being out so even if I have a blank outing but still see deer Im chuffed.

I have to balance my shooting with job and family so once every 4-4 days is my max.

As for the usual kill ratio of 3:1, yes this is what I have heard as being the average. I guess if you have land that holds multiple species then your chance of getting something is significantly increased - if I was to target only one species then my ratio would likely drop to the norm as I don’t always see all the species on each stalk.

The last bank I had on land I had permission to shoot over was on fallow and my kill ratio there was 3:1, but it was also an hour’s drive so a bit of a pain if you got repeated blanks - joys of stalking herding species over territorial ones I guess!!

 

[Blaser243]

4-5 times a week during the main winter culling season. Much less from April onwards, but still a couple of times most weeks until June/July when I give up until the roe rut and fallow bucks come back in.