Should the Youth get into deer stalking ???

[Ruby Tuesday 2]

I’ve taken loads of youngsters out, I have found most of the ones I’ve taken are more interested in the kill than anything else so have enjoyed rabbiting etc more than stalking due to the higher number of shooting taking place .

 

[WalkedUp]

I was going to say, squirrels and rabbits with an air rifle are the ways into the sport. That’s where I started 27 years ago. Not from a shooting family, always had to go it alone. A long slow road. Now I’m always keen to give others a leg up. I have taken half a dozen of other people out this year to introduce them to the sport.

 

[David Barker]

The governments dont really want any one deer stalking.They have set out there stall and i believe are out pricing the new young chaps. The list of costs gose on and on and with the voluntary option of DSC it will again push the you towards the computer games. sad really .

 

[VSS]

The governments dont really want any one deer stalking.They have set out there stall and i believe are out pricing the new young chaps. The list of costs gose on and on and with the voluntary option of DSC it will again push the you towards the computer games. sad really .

I think stalking is probably the easiest and cheapest of fieldsports to get into, personally.

 

[Tim.243]

I think stalking is probably the easiest and cheapest of fieldsports to get into, personally.

A ferret and 20 nets or springer air gun are ££££££££ behind the new FAC cost then rifle and associated equipment to go out on your own
But to pinch 3 lines from the track by Queen is closer to the mark.

I want it all (yeah, yeah)
I want it all
I want it all, and I want it now.

 

[VSS]

A ferret and 20 nets or springer air gun are ££££££££ behind the new FAC cost then rifle and associated equipment to go out on your own

Sure, but I consider those things just to be normal parts of any well-balanced childhood. By the time someone reaches the point in life where they're wanting to "get into" fieldsports at a more committed level, and are considering the associated costs, they'll already have gone through the ferrets/airguns phase, one would hope.

 

[suburban bushwacker]

one would hope.

lovin' your optimism.

The ferreting and airguns phase is almost completely unavailable to kids who don't come from a field sports family. We need to be casting a much wider net if we want any hope the lifestyle will survive.

 

[Tim.243]

Sure, but I consider those things just to be normal parts of any well-balanced childhood. By the time someone reaches the point in life where they're wanting to "get into" fieldsports at a more committed level, and are considering the associated costs, they'll already have gone through the ferrets/airguns phase, one would hope.

Note the op of these threads asked "what is beating"

Post in thread 'Setting up Deer stalks'

Nov 5, 2025

From the stalkers of seen my budget is base rough between 100-200 pounds , I’m not going for bucks due to the fact A it’s expensive and B I still haven’t figured out how I’m gonna deal with the carcass

Stop complaining, take you time with the other good advice you have had which is get some beating (not bleating ) under you belt and find your way slowly.

• Tim.243

• 

below not a very well rounded answer

Post in thread 'Setting up Deer stalks'

Nov 5, 2025

Ok what is beating then ?

• Fireflytk

 

[VSS]

lovin' your optimism.

The ferreting and airguns phase is almost completely unavailable to kids who don't come from a field sports family. We need to be casting a much wider net if we want any hope the lifestyle will survive.

Well for a start, better drop the use of the term "fieldsports family" and the suggestion that you need to be born to it. That just creates an impression of elitism and exclusivity, and gives no encouragement to youngsters from different backgrounds.

I do agree with @Tim.243 in so far as to say there are too many people who want to bypass the traditional routes into countryside pursuits.

(Incidentally, I wasn't born into what you would call a "fieldsports family", but that didn’t stop me from having ferrets, airguns etc. But I concede that I was fortunate in so far as my parents moved out of London and bought a large rural property when I was still young enough to benefit from the freedom it gave me).

 

[Tim.243]

lovin' your optimism.

The ferreting and airguns phase is almost completely unavailable to kids who don't come from a field sports family. We need to be casting a much wider net if we want any hope the lifestyle will survive.

Quite but those skills build a good foundation just like learning any job or new hobby.
BSAC can't fill the young shots "wildfowling" courses as they cancelled my friends venue do to lack of interest. We shot it the last day with 14 bird mixed bag 1 goose teal widgeon mallard.

 

[David Barker]

I think stalking is probably the easiest and cheapest of fieldsports to get into, personally.

 

[David Barker]

I don't agree we have ferreting rough shooting fishing. When the NS team put forward that every one shooting deer must have at least level one the Basic cost of deer stalking to a new start will be 100,s. FAC £100 Doctors fee £150 lev One £350. That's before you start paying out for equipment I feel this is a real blockage to young chaps coming in to our field port and at a time were we have to many deer (Scottish government quote) Why would we be putting any financial barriers in place.

Before any one asks i have all my certs this is not about me its about the new entrants our sport is dyeing most are in there late 50s so sad really.

 

[WalkedUp]

I have a vested interest but would like under 21s to have their FAC / SGC costs fully subsidised, with a £50 daily fee for foreign guns to shoot in the UK with estate or their own rifle. It is an awful situation that international guns find it more accessible to shoot in the UK rather than our own boys and girls.

 

[25 Sharps]

I was going to say, squirrels and rabbits with an air rifle are the ways into the sport. That’s where I started 27 years ago. Not from a shooting family, always had to go it alone. A long slow road. Now I’m always keen to give others a leg up. I have taken half a dozen of other people out this year to introduce them to the sport.

Very similar to my story, started out with air rifles for rats and rabbits on a mate’s uncle’s farm. Coterminous application 2013, still for vermin, first deer ground landed about 3 years later. A 12 acre stables!

 

[25 Sharps]

Note the op of these threads asked "what is beating"

Post in thread 'Setting up Deer stalks'

Nov 5, 2025

From the stalkers of seen my budget is base rough between 100-200 pounds , I’m not going for bucks due to the fact A it’s expensive and B I still haven’t figured out how I’m gonna deal with the carcass

Stop complaining, take you time with the other good advice you have had which is get some beating (not bleating ) under you belt and find your way slowly.

• Tim.243

• 

below not a very well rounded answer

Post in thread 'Setting up Deer stalks'

Nov 5, 2025

Ok what is beating then ?

• Fireflytk

Why is it not a well rounded answer?

In recent years how many new stalkers have actually gained access to deer stalking from beating? There’s too much money involved in deer. The keepers will generally keep the stalking for themselves (or their mates) with carcass money going into their pocket, or that of the landowner.

Offering a service of staying on top of vermin and building trust that way is probably a more fruitful approach, but even then opportunities are thin in the ground. I know of 2 paid vermin syndicates locally!

The latter route isn’t helped by the fact the UK rabbit population has decreased by 80% so they are nowhere near the agricultural pest they were 20 years ago.

 

[VSS]

I don't agree we have ferreting rough shooting fishing. When the NS team put forward that every one shooting deer must have at least level one the Basic cost of deer stalking to a new start will be 100,s. FAC £100 Doctors fee £150 lev One £350. That's before you start paying out for equipment I feel this is a real blockage to young chaps coming in to our field port and at a time were we have to many deer (Scottish government quote) Why would we be putting any financial barriers in place.

Before any one asks i have all my certs this is not about me its about the new entrants our sport is dyeing most are in there late 50s so sad really.

It's not cost, or difficulty getting a FAC, that blocks young people from getting into stalking, it's a lack of mentors willing to take them out.
Any youngster could tag along with an experienced stalker, at no cost, if there was a stalker happy to introduce them to the sport. Even without a FAC or firearm they could get stuck in with everything else, learn how to gralloch, learn about deer management, learn about safe shooting, and just soak up the atmosphere of being out there in the wilds at daybreak in pursuit of an elusive quarry. They'd be hooked for life before ever taking a shot. And when they turned 17 they could use the stalker's rifle, under supervision, and perhaps take their first deer. Still at no cost to themselves.

But the truth of the matter is that experienced stalkers, on the whole, are not providing this opportunity.

Part of it is down to secrecy: Many stalkers hide what they do from their neighbours, so the little lad who lives three doors down and is desperately keen to get into shooting but doesn't know who to ask, never gets the opportunity.
Another part of it is jealousy: The reluctance to share access to a hard-won permission.

So it's definitely not cost that's the barrier. The barriers are imposed by existing stalkers.

 

[25 Sharps]

Case in point to my post above, a lad locally had the stalking on a large estate with a good resident fallow population (the estate also has a game shoot) for a nominal fee of £500/yr. Long story short, they employed a new estate manager, one of the first questions asked was ‘how much money are you making from your deer?’. The lad had to put a syndicate in place to meet the money they wanted and keep the stalking, 2 carcasses per shooter the rest go to the estate. Beating on their shoot would have provided zero opportunity for deer stalking.

Another mate lost a nice piece of fallow ground, that he’d had for years, someone moved in to the village and offered a rumoured £8k per year for the stalking.

 

[25 Sharps]

It's not cost, or difficulty getting a FAC, that blocks young people from getting into stalking, it's a lack of mentors willing to take them out.
Any youngster could tag along with an experienced stalker, at no cost, if there was a stalker happy to introduce them to the sport. Even without a FAC or firearm they could get stuck in with everything else, learn how to gralloch, learn about deer management, learn about safe shooting, and just soak up the atmosphere of being out there in the wilds at daybreak in pursuit of an elusive quarry. They'd be hooked for life before ever taking a shot. And when they turned 17 they could use the stalker's rifle, under supervision, and perhaps take their first deer. Still at no cost to themselves.

But the truth of the matter is that experienced stalkers, on the whole, are not providing this opportunity.

Part of it is down to secrecy: Many stalkers hide what they do from their neighbours, so the little lad who lives three doors down and is desperately keen to get into shooting but doesn't know who to ask, never gets the opportunity.
Another part of it is jealousy: The reluctance to share access to a hard-won permission.

So it's definitely not cost that's the barrier. The barriers are imposed by existing stalkers.

Or people jumping down their throat when they ask an honest question, acknowledging they know little on the subject.

 

[25 Sharps]

It's not cost, or difficulty getting a FAC, that blocks young people from getting into stalking, it's a lack of mentors willing to take them out.
Any youngster could tag along with an experienced stalker, at no cost, if there was a stalker happy to introduce them to the sport. Even without a FAC or firearm they could get stuck in with everything else, learn how to gralloch, learn about deer management, learn about safe shooting, and just soak up the atmosphere of being out there in the wilds at daybreak in pursuit of an elusive quarry. They'd be hooked for life before ever taking a shot. And when they turned 17 they could use the stalker's rifle, under supervision, and perhaps take their first deer. Still at no cost to themselves.

But the truth of the matter is that experienced stalkers, on the whole, are not providing this opportunity.

Part of it is down to secrecy: Many stalkers hide what they do from their neighbours, so the little lad who lives three doors down and is desperately keen to get into shooting but doesn't know who to ask, never gets the opportunity.
Another part of it is jealousy: The reluctance to share access to a hard-won permission.

So it's definitely not cost that's the barrier. The barriers are imposed by existing stalkers.

There aren’t really cost barriers, as long as you can travel. If you can drive you can go and cull roe does with an estate rifle for £100 or less.

You don’t have to have your own FAC and qualifications.

 

[Tim.243]

Why is it not a well rounded answer?

In recent years how many new stalkers have actually gained access to deer stalking from beating? There’s too much money involved in deer. The keepers will generally keep the stalking for themselves (or their mates) with carcass money going into their pocket, or that of the landowner.

Offering a service of staying on top of vermin and building trust that way is probably a more fruitful approach, but even then opportunities are thin in the ground. I know of 2 paid vermin syndicates locally!

The latter route isn’t helped by the fact the UK rabbit population has decreased by 80% so they are nowhere near the agricultural pest they were 20 years ago.

Can you put me back on your ignore list please then I can post my opinions as I see it from my perspective.
I have acquired more stalking from foxing and farm repairs (mobile welding) over many years, but I started off with a jill ferret and 10 nets at 11. However the OP will not be in that position (yet) so from being a regular face on a farm through beating is one way to make a start.