Deer Parks Sporting or not?

MJ75

Well-Known Member
Is it sporting to stalk deer in a deer park? I fully appreciate that these animals are there to be culled appropriately. But is there really much if any real satisfaction in stalking and shooting a trophy deer that is in effect, fenced in?

Which would give you the most satisfaction, a highland stag? Or an animal on a large deer park?

Regards
MJ
 
it's up to you to deside that yourself. Personally i have shot deer that were fenced in inside forestry were effectively they had no escape, this doesn't mean they were easy.

The rule of fair chase hunting prohibits shooting fenced nullifying the trophy- however if someone dumped a big stag on the hill after rearing it in a park, would you be any the wiser?

You must make this call yourself personally speaking it's not for me if you mean "sport"
 
I have no problem with anyone shooting deer inside the wire of a park or estate, the deer need to be culled and it really doesn't matter who pulls the trigger.

What I object to is over large trophies from parks being touted as representative of "wild" trophies and this includes big stags being let out on the hill to be shot by some gullible punter. To be clear if someone wants to pay the money to shoot the stag it's up to them, it's the misrepresentation of the trophy that bugs me.
 
Paul, The same has happened with the put and take trout fisheries around the country. They stocked huge fish that were grown in warm water and made a mockery of the British Records for Trout. I think there are seperate records for wild and reared now but it did make a mess of it all.
 
Andy L said:
Paul, The same has happened with the put and take trout fisheries around the country. They stocked huge fish that were grown in warm water and made a mockery of the British Records for Trout. I think there are seperate records for wild and reared now but it did make a mess of it all.

This is very true. However a farmed rainbow that manages to survive it's first winter and grows on, learns to feed naturally and becomes to a large extent "naturalised" is a worthy oponent for a fly angler. Does the same happen with farmed deer after release? Do they become more wild? Are farmed deer less afraid of people? Are newly released farmed deer easier to stalk? Can a direct comparison be made to the "stockie" rainbow trout?

MJ
 
Emm. Interesting!
The only thing that I can say about large farmed trout is that they begin losing weight and condition as soon as they are stocked. They cannot hold the body weight that has been artificially produced with the addition of heat and protein. An over wintered large farmed rainbow trout looks like a racing snake (very thin)!
 
actually a good comparisom, Rainbows are easy when 1st stocked after a while they get far more canny - however they behave very differentlt to wild trout. Wild trout take things they think are natural food when feeding rainbows mouth anything new in there environment to see if it might be food. This is because they got fed nothing but pellets for there formative time. This does not mean either wild or naturalised stocked are easier just different.
Park deer are somewhat similar, they soon learn that most people and cars are safe- however they know all about the guy in the black pickup who wears the green coat. Different learning experiances just like the trout!
 
Andy L said:
Paul, The same has happened with the put and take trout fisheries around the country. They stocked huge fish that were grown in warm water and made a mockery of the British Records for Trout. I think there are seperate records for wild and reared now but it did make a mess of it all.

At the risk of proplonging the "off topic" ramblings. Andy this is perfectly true. Most discerning anglers prefer a fish that has at least started to feed naturally. These days I fish for wild fish 95% of the time as I find newly stocked rainbows too easy. What really amuses me is that anglers who can catch eight recently stocked rainbows on lures think that they are good anglers.

I was a member of a syndicate that had a fertile and gin clear 2 acre fishery and we practiced 100% catch and release for two seasons. By the second season the pellet pig stockies had slimmed down, had all their fins including big tails, were discerning with flies and fought like stink. To catch them you usually needed size 14 flies and 3lb leader.

The syndicate eventually failed because, despite a change to taking the odd fish and trickle stocking new fish, of the 12 members only 3 of us could catch fish on most visits despite there being a 100 fish to the acre stocking level. Members went to fish somewhere less challenging.
 
Make me laugh when you see them selecting their lure according to what looks most like a pellet!!
 
I wonder if anyone can help me? I'm looking for a book, 'Fly fishing for beginers by JR Hartley'?
;)
Bugger off you 'piscitorial pests'! :lol: Its a deer stalking site! What next...bloody ferrets! :eek: :lol: Speaking of which has anyone got a small silver gill kit and if so, how much?
 
Oi!! I seem to remember someone having a conversation about the efficiency of a landrover on a thread about vacuum packers! :lol:
Pleased you had a good trip by the way!
 
:lol: Cheers Andy L, got a bite there I see! :lol:

Dickie I prefer a crystal tipped waggler on a 4lb line with bronze maggots for CWD and ledgering for muntjac! :lol:
 
Unless you use 6oz breakaway and 60lb shock leader a penel rig and 4/0 hooks you'll get snagged on the bottom
plus I haven't a clue what your on about.
crystal tipped waggler sounds like slag for some drugs to me.

Dickie
 
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