Syndicates

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hendrix's rifle

hendrix's rifle

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Can anyone shed some light on these syndicates popping up of recent charging thousands of pounds to only allow you to keep a couple carcasses a year?

One seen recently over 2k a year and allowed to keep 2 carcasses and then buy from the estate after that? Would anyone in their right mind put the graft in to meet a cull target whilst paying for the privilege to actually keep the deer you shoot?
 
hendrix's rifle said:
Can anyone shed some light on these syndicates popping up of recent charging thousands of pounds to only allow you to keep a couple carcasses a year?

One seen recently over 2k a year and allowed to keep 2 carcasses and then buy from the estate after that? Would anyone in their right mind put the graft in to meet a cull target whilst paying for the privilege to actually keep the deer you shoot?
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Lets face it, how many deer can you actually eat in a year? I get 2 reds butchered for me once a year and that lasts us. Some people dont have the facilities or space or friends to store many carcasses, so they will be more than happy to get as much stalking as they want, without having to deal with the carcasses. Horses for courses.
 
homer said:
Lets face it, how many deer can you actually eat in a year? I get 2 reds butchered for me once a year and that lasts us. Some people dont have the facilities or space or friends to store many carcasses, so they will be more than happy to get as much stalking as they want, without having to deal with the carcasses. Horses for courses.
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I did probably 50 last year... I need to count up for the actual number but thats a mix of red and roe. I eat a lot of venison, I also give a lot of venison away to friends + family. I've usually got orders before they're even on the deck 😂

I understand parts of it but to pay through the nose for stalking anyway and then pay through the nose for extra carcasses on top? All your graft is lining someone's pocket whilst you're doing the dirty work and hitting their cull target.
 
hendrix's rifle said:
I did probably 50 last year... I need to count up for the actual number but thats a mix of red and roe. I eat a lot of venison, I also give a lot of venison away to friends + family. I've usually got orders before they're even on the deck 😂

I understand parts of it but to pay through the nose for stalking anyway and then pay through the nose for extra carcasses on top? All your graft is lining someone's pocket whilst you're doing the dirty work and hitting their cull target.
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Ground can be hard to come by, especially ground with deer on, so there will always be plenty of people willing to pay. I know someone that was paying £600 a year and never saw a deer in 3 years! So if offered a place for £1800 with a cull of 100, he would jump at the chance of it. Lots of people looking for syndicates nowadays, which drives up the price. Just look how many members A1 have, and its @#%^!
 
homer said:
Ground can be hard to come by, especially ground with deer on, so there will always be plenty of people willing to pay. I know someone that was paying £600 a year and never saw a deer in 3 years! So if offered a place for £1800 with a cull of 100, he would jump at the chance of it. Lots of people looking for syndicates nowadays, which drives up the price. Just look how many members A1 have, and its @#%^!
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Ive nothing against paying for land whatsoever, its more of the limit on deer allowed to keep which is my gripe
 
Based on anecdotal evidence, I’d say that the majority of syndicate members can’t or don’t want to deal with too many carcasses. They’ve not joined a syndicate to fill freezers or give venison to friends & family but just so they can enjoy a pastime of their choice. In that respect their £1800 syndicate fee is no different to an £1800 sub for a golf club. It enables them to go stalking when they want & they probably don’t worry too much about shooting deer or not.

Myself, I wouldn’t even entertain paying £1800 for a years syndicate membership. But then I’m lucky enough to have free stalking & a free supply of venison as a recognition of the hard work & effort it takes to try & manage the local deer population & for my personal investment in rifle, optics, vehicle & time to do that for the landowner.

Many years ago the old gamekeeper who started me off on my deer stalking journey explained to me that there are two types of deer shooters in his experience. “Gentlemen stalkers who sit up a highseat in the hope of shooting a deer now & then; and, murdering bastards like me who go out in all weather all year round culling deer.” - I’ve paraphrased a bit but you get the idea. At the end of the day, each to their own.
 
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A few years back when I had access to good roe/muntjac stalking I paid the quoted sum to join a syndicate to get experience of woodland stalking and fallow. As it wasn't too far from here, I was a weekly stalker but there were many coming from much farther afield less frequently. Then there were the ones who turned up maybe 3 or so times a year if that - they were in it for the F646 to maintain their FACs. Those that have money............ :coat:

Second year fees went up and I thought long and hard, but rejoined. Third year it went up again and they dropped "membership" to exclude roe (unless you paid more) so overall, higher cost for 25% less stalking; I bailed. Thankfully, 2 fallow permissions came my way but for those struggling to get any stalking, the sums quoted above are not unreasonable to me when set against golf club membership, fishing syndicates, etc, and the ability to get out pursuing your hobby and enjoying the health benefits being out in the countryside (both physical and mental) it brings.
 
hendrix's rifle said:
I did probably 50 last year... I need to count up for the actual number but thats a mix of red and roe. I eat a lot of venison, I also give a lot of venison away to friends + family. I've usually got orders before they're even on the deck 😂

I understand parts of it but to pay through the nose for stalking anyway and then pay through the nose for extra carcasses on top? All your graft is lining someone's pocket whilst you're doing the dirty work and hitting their cull target.
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The forestry consultants in some areas exhort the paying tenant to shoot as many as possible, while pocketing the funds meant to be allocated for deer management…
 
wytonpjs said:
A few years back when I had access to good roe/muntjac stalking I paid the quoted sum to join a syndicate to get experience of woodland stalking and fallow. As it wasn't too far from here, I was a weekly stalker but there were many coming from much farther afield less frequently. Then there were the ones who turned up maybe 3 or so times a year if that - they were in it for the F646 to maintain their FACs. Those that have money............ :coat:

Second year fees went up and I thought long and hard, but rejoined. Third year it went up again and they dropped "membership" to exclude roe (unless you paid more) so overall, higher cost for 25% less stalking; I bailed. Thankfully, 2 fallow permissions came my way but for those struggling to get any stalking, the sums quoted above are not unreasonable to me when set against golf club membership, fishing syndicates, etc, and the ability to get out pursuing your hobby and enjoying the health benefits being out in the countryside (both physical and mental) it brings.
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Again, it isn't so much the fee for the syndicate itself, its then the added 'two deer a year to be kept by the stalker'.

If someone wants to pay it, good on them and I wish them well but I'm certainly not doing the graft for someone else to take everything from it! If you're going out to shoot deer (which is my full intention when stalking) and then having to deal with 6 on the deck for someone else's pocket? Its at that point it should be paid work by whatever company it is because thats a long days work!

Even if it was leisure stalking without a cull figure, it would suit a one for the pot all day long. But theres a cull figure to hit... you're paying to be a professional pest controller which makes absolutely 0 sense to me
 
I pay £150 a quarter for access to a small deer syndicate near the South Scotland borders, and am limited to two bucks but unlimited on all other species minus pheasant and we have a voluntary bag limit on hare as well.
The main reason I am not too bothered about the bag limit on bucks is because I want a stable population, and living down south I only get a handful of chances a year to actually go stalking and get a deer. So its never been an issue.
 
hendrix's rifle said:
Again, it isn't so much the fee for the syndicate itself, its then the added 'two deer a year to be kept by the stalker'.

If someone wants to pay it, good on them and I wish them well but I'm certainly not doing the graft for someone else to take everything from it! If you're going out to shoot deer (which is my full intention when stalking) and then having to deal with 6 on the deck for someone else's pocket? Its at that point it should be paid work by whatever company it is because thats a long days work!

Even if it was leisure stalking without a cull figure, it would suit a one for the pot all day long. But theres a cull figure to hit... you're paying to be a professional pest controller which makes absolutely 0 sense to me
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Apologies, I failed to say that was the deal with that syndicate too! All the deer shot went to Deerbox and they wanted numbers!
 
The syndicate I'm unofficially of apart of has full carcass retention, ability too sell too game dealers, quad and trailer access, and an onsite small larder not too mention enough ground too harbour a few groups if need so with no shortage of deer

the only real caveat Is dont shoot bucks you dont need, there not crazy about venison and most of them want the bucks so why shoot a little 1 1/2 spiker for example, but Its an unwritten rule and fine If you have a use for it tbf, just dont shoot it too shoot it.

I think most people paying those prices are really just In it too keep there firearm certificate TBH I bet some of ours are as half are serious about the deer, and half out of the other half probably haven't shot a deer in the last 3 years mostly in it for the horrendous pheasant shoot (not run by us)

I wouldn't be surprised if some of them have chosen us, for the sake of having there firearm certificate open down in England too I wouldnt be surprised about that at all.
 
hendrix's rifle said:
Mate, I'll be blunt here, if you didn't enjoy killing, you wouldn't be shooting. Don't kid yourself.

I do, I enjoy shooting deer. It doesn't mean I have any less respect for whatever has been shot
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A: not your mate.
B: I don't enjoy "killing", but it's a small part of a greater whole.
Obviously landowners or tenants see the market for people paying money to stalk deer. The price reflects demand.
 
That's a weird one and I without a doubt have strong views on that, I do agree with hendrix.

People that dont like killing animals, dont, they dont own firearms and instead partake In more "normal" every-day hobbies or work, even If a stalker dislikes actually outright killing deer and instead enjoys other parts of it your still killing deer for your own satisfaction regardless even If its for a reason a very very very large amount of the population couldn't fathom doing something like that and would bawl there eyes out before the trigger is even pulled.

We might not like taking a life, but we still willingly chose too gain our firearms, locate deer, and shoot them no one In there right mind will do that If they at least dont have a little bit of enjoyment about it.
 
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