A while ago I put something on here offering a "novice day" for free to anyone who wanted to get into and in fact I held 4 or 5 days and all those days someone shot a deer, but 3 of the 4 days the guys were far kitted out better than me for being a Novice, turning up with high end rifles, scopes, binos etc, more money on product that I could ever afford and clearly able to pay if they needed to and a couple of them proclaimed they had shot stags in this place and that place so I stopped taking people out for nothing as the vast majority took the utter **** and then bad mouthed me behind my back so unfortunately I stopped taking people out with me for free unless I know them and trust them. I also had more than 1 instance where my free guest tried to or contacted landowners behind my back asking for shooting permission, embarrassingly for them they didnt realise how much work I actually put in for my landowners and the people I manage land for.
So there are elements on this forum that have spoiled it for the rest . I have also given stalking out for as little as £150 a day and people just complained or not willing to put the work in.
I also cannot take the point its about greed because I make nothing out of any of the stalking I do except my full ti.e work, which yes I shoot deer but, that is my job, your not going to deny me that surely as £30k a year is not a lot of money but obviously you think that people that shoot deer for a living should live on nothing.
One thing I have to say about all the comments I have seen over the years. Its ok for a mechanic to charge £85 per hour for labour then add 10% on each part price, its ok for a plumber to charge £92 per hour, its ok for an electrician to charge more than £100 per hour, but it is not ok for a deer stalker to charge for their time at less than £30 per hour ? Many people on this forum dont look at deer stalking as a real job, but, I have to pay the same taxes, pay for equipment and expenses and have to pay insurances etc and daily lease of ground. too . It is a real job with real cost and expense and then I have to pay the household bills with that money.
Please think about that all when you look at my adverts or others within this forum..
a lot of time for not a lot of money
