WELSH SYNDICATE

rockingod

Well-Known Member
Hi Guys

Would anyone be interested in forming a stalking syndicate in south/west Wales. I thought maybe 8/10 guys sticking in a grand or so. Find a site (yes I know....that's the biggest problem !), add some additional stock to build up the herd to sustainable numbers and go from there.

Anyone out there tried it and willing to exchange info ?

Rockin
 
The current thinking on deer management is for the reduction in deer numbers not to expand them.

add some additional stock to build up the herd to sustainable numbers

Where are you going to get your stock from? You may have to be careful on the legal front here!

Why not rent an area that already has too many deer and try to reduce numbers to a sustainable (detest this word) level
 
I may be interested Rockin, finding a "k" might be an issue at the mo but not insurmountable.

Jingzy,

The issue in south west wales is that there are very few deer anywhere, I don't see how anyone could object to helping some native deer species re-establish. Some of mid-wales is pretty much identical to lots of scotland so get some Reds in, plenty of room for Roe on arable land too. The sheep population is far lower than in the past so that should make life easier for Roe too.
 
Good thinking rockingod,

I personally think that your idea is great. Many areas in wales are low on deer so ground rent would be small for sure. Introducing species providing you go red, fallow, roe is straight forward but would the area hold them :confused:

It would be cool to improve a low value area and if done right could be a really nice long term sporting investment but you would need a long term lease with security and a syndicate you can trust. Ideally a land owner who is interested in you long term objectives.

I had a farmer now friend I shoot charlies for who has 600 acres of dairy that was hedge only and a few old hardwood trees splashed about. He's a shooter and wanted to improve the sporting on his farm. I put forward ideas for setting aside areas 10 years ago for ground with hardwoods and he went for it in a big way. He now has about 30 acres of young mixed hardwoods which is made up of 6 plots that always has roe. We also have a small pheasant syndicate which is more of a social thing put it's cool.

I really hope you go for it and get the right people on board.

ps, he does get a bit tetchy about the roe in the plantations now though
 
stalking syndicate

a local farmer close to me tried this about 20 yrs ago every poacher in southwales were at them they didnt last very sorry to put a dampener on things
 
thats easy overcome shoot the dogs and prosecute the poachers they soon stop coming .

gadget
 
That is however the ultimate sanction, I used this twenty years ago when Longdoggers were walking up partridge on land I no longer have, I was lucky enough to have livestock protection/worrying to back me up 8)
 
I'm certainly up for it in principle although where we start is quite another thing. Most of the Beacons get hammered by poachers from the Valleys and, from what I hear, the North suffers in a similar manner with low life coming in with dogs and nets from 'elsewhere'. Anywhere down West would be an ideal starting point, so long as we could avoid the whining of the foreign tree huggers and hobbits. :mad:

Rocky bach, somebody would think you had something to celebrate with this sudden burst of enthusiasm. :lol:
 
jingzy said:
Where are you going to get your stock from? You may have to be careful on the legal front here!

A valid point although I don't think Rocky was alluding to population enhancement according to the Ifor Williams process. :D
 
I have a man that will supply you reds at 100 -110 each that's live. They are all pure reds so should have no issue putting them in a large enclosure. After that just make the enclosure larger then release make sure you have a cull plan in place and your off and running.
 
L.D.G said:
I have a man that will supply you reds at 100 -110 each that's live. They are all pure reds so should have no issue putting them in a large enclosure. After that just make the enclosure larger then release make sure you have a cull plan in place and your off and running.

This is interesting, if they are even average size then that is probably less than their venison value as head shot park deer? JC
 
Releasing deer can work. I know somebody that had a trio of Fallow semi tame in an enclosure. They are now living wild in the woods around his cottage (the only other fallow are about 30 miles away). I do not know whether they escaped or he let them out but I do know it is not illegal to release fallow. As an introduction experiment it has worked quite well except of the two does one is barren, and the other has only thrown buck fawns. So another couple of new does would help if the small population is to become established long term. The big buck still comes to the back door for an apple occasionally but the does are wild as. It has helped that the land has a full time keeper who likes to see them around.
 
I don't think it is illegal to release native species (we accept fallow as native) but it might be irresponsible in some circumstances. Reds will need large or at least substantial forestry blocks but roe will do just fine in good pheasant shooting country.

The problem with Wales is that is particularly full of low life scumbags who will poach any decent deer herd until it's not worth doing any more. We had roe starting to establish here in North Wales up to 2007 but a couple of years on they seem to have disappeared with either lampers or long doggers responsible maybe whilst out foxing or rabbiting.

There is a major poaching problem on the fallow in the Margam area and the Brecon Beacons reds are also being fairly hard hit. Apart from losing roe to lampers in North Wales we have a significant poaching problem with our local fallow being so near to Liverpool and Manchester.

I think this is a great idea in theory but is not going to work. If you ever get a herd large enough for half a dozen to get value for their £1k it is going to be poached, also unless the herd is enclosed there's no way you can bank on it staying on your ground, even part of the time.

There are some roe and muntjac down in the SW of Wales with fallow in the Tywi valley and apparently some reds around St. Clears. It would be a better plan to try and pick up some ground with some of these deer already on it hard though that might be.

Better still negotiate stalking rights for ten years on ground with no deer on it, it will cost you very little and the deer may arrive naturally.

I had this idea 30 years ago when there wasn't a roe within 60 miles of SE Wales where I lived. I figured that roe might eventually spread that far (muntjac never entered my mind) and I decided to approach landowners and sign up stalking rights for perhaps 20 years for as many of the small deciduous woods as I could. There were many all over that area and I reckoned they would laugh at me and be happy to take a few hundred quid for what they saw as nothing.

I never carried it through and now there are roe and muntjac (and wild boar) in some of those woods and will not be long before they are in most of that area.
 
jc your right and it is a quander but for the farm deer to be worth alot of cash they need to be grown on and that costs money so there will always be waist so that the maximum amount of correct animals can be kept on a small space. Not my idea of a great life for deer but hey that's how it goes and i use the deer for training the dogs.
 
syndicate

Sounds a great Idea, but in real terms could it be done with all the pressure from both locals & poachers?

They have looked in the past at re establishing a wild deer population on the Isle of Wight-however the local farmers would kick up hell if it ever happened, they have stacks of hares, foxes & rabbits but no deer other than a few tame ornimentle pets-so to speak.

Its a real shame as much like wales, there is some great ground.

We seem to get loads of stalkers from Wales comming over to Hampshire & Wiltshire in order to hunt with us.

Its the lack of deer over there thats the real shame & I would just worry about the expernal pressure should you kick the project off on finding some land-aside from the legal issues on release.

Best of luck with it though

Lee
 
WOW! Now that's what I call a response !

Loads of interest.....given me lots to think about......Tks guys !

It's going to take a while to work through the comments and formulate a well structured business plan but I WILL be back soon asking lots of other questions...keep posting comments though!

Once again tks guys !

Rockin
 
I love the idea but as many have said you would have a massive problem with poachers, I have a small piece of land close to margam park and the times I have been lamping and bumped into poachers is unreal. But I would be up for it if we could find a good location.

David
 
Hi Dollman,

If you are looking to put together a syndicate I would be interested in knowing more.

ATB
Les
 
As I would too...
I do have a BIG concern though and that's the poachers!!!
I'm a part-time gamekeeper with fallow on the ground and we've caught people of all walks from men with guns and dogs to kids with lurchers and the like. You'll never stop them! The only way is to use trail cams maybe but you'll need to find out if the pictures from them are admissable in a court of law!
I've just done my Dsc1 and would like to work to doing the level2 eventually, so, you could count me in as long as the structure is there??? A great idea though fella.
 
Back
Top