Ground rent

Coal

Member
Ive been offered the stalking lease on a friends hill farm. 25 stags and 15 hinds plus any calves every year. He does want some money but doesnt know how much its worth.

So my thoughts are:

£1/acre
£ per head shot
Small payment and they keep the venison
Big payment and I keep the venison

They dont want it to be commercially shot (ie taking out guests) and Ive known him for a long time so he trusts me

What is everyones thoughts?
 
Whatever you do, don't let money issues damage your friendship, seen it happen many times. He wants some income, you want some stalking, I would suggest that you offer him a 50:50 split on the venison proceeds that way, he gets a return, you have an additional motivation to go out and you share the good times and bad in terms of venison price fluctuation. By doing it 50:50 rather than 75:25 or something like that, you will both feel equal in the enterprise and not resent the other persons cut. Sounds like you have a great opportunity, make the most of it. JC
 
I agree with JC. He has the land, you have the work (and pleasure), and you both share the return. See how it goes and do what you need to keep him happy. Generally speaking he will be able to find stalkers more easily than you will find ground.

Should you later find that you can't make the cull you can probably take out a friend/guest on a non commercial basis to complete the cull. That is a only a potential future issue and therefore may not occur. Don't complicate the issue at present by bringing up problems which may not arise. If the situation does arise then he has your past record to look back on and it can be discussed with him and agreed to at that time but make sure that he is totally happy with the arrangement.

Enjoy the new ground

Bob
 
How big is the area and most of what JC says makes sense many a good friendship has gone the way of it because of cash.

The venison is worth about £5000 at to days prices and if you get your cull that is a tidy price for stalking not many make money on there shooting. So for me i would suggest to him the price split and take his wife and family out for a meal and talk about what they really want.

Well done sounds like a good job if it works for you both. ;)
 
Let him make up the price that way you'll not offend him and you'll remain friends ,because he's calling the shots .

Not how many acres or how much the venison is worth ,this will only put a grey area in your friendship .

That your making cash out of selling the venison this shouldn't make any difference if he's telling you what he wants for the ground .

One factor in the whole game is the deer belong to know one untill there dead who's to say the population is going to be in the area every time you go out ,and that the ground is not just a transit ground for the deer to get to better feeding , else where ,he knows his own ground let him price it .

How did money come into it in the first place if you are such good friends ?
 
Forget the post by `widows son` and do the 50/50 as suggested by others.
It is a system which worked well for me since 1961 when I got my first stalking rifle.
Keep him in the loop and let him know where the carcases are going and produce the dealers receipts when you give him his cut at the end of the season.
Being open and up front will stand you in good stead, the first Red stalking I had in 1961 was on that basis and when the ground was sold to the National Trust I was allowed to continue as previously for 26 more years until I retired from mountain duty following open-heart surgery.
During those 26 years I was allocated more and more ground.

HWH
 
It was me who asked him what he would want as a rent as i have never taken anything for nothing and firendship is based on an equal share!

therefore i am going to speak to him tonight (as I usually speak to him every other day) and suggest the 50:50 split or i shoot he keeps the venison as to be honest im not wanting to do it for the money more the enjoyment/privalege to be out keying up my skills at finding and in some situations culling a trully wild and beautiful British animal!
 
Thank you HWH. I hopefully can follow on to achieve the success you have obviously achieved over the past 26 years.

Are you doing any stalking at all now?
 
Sound decision !
Ground like that is worth a small fortune today !
Good luck !!

I have just spotted your last post as I was pre-viewing this.
I retired from the Lake District mountains in `03 after 42 years of it but still have my Roe stalking a few miles from here [23rd year in hand.], also I have still been going over to Ireland each year for the Sika etc.
Unfortunately DVLA screwed up my life on my 76th birthday and made me a pedestrian so it is not handy to get to the estate on my electric scooter.
I took my understudy in partnership prior to this so when he gets time away from thousands of pheasant chicks and poults we will blot a few more.

HWH.
 
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