cull plans/syndicates

roering

Well-Known Member
how many people who have stalking on commercial forestry ground actually have a cull plan, you might have cull figures,but do you have a cull plan or do you just take every buck or doe you see in season of course Alot of commercial ground has syndicates of 5 or 6 people on them, you see a nice buck would you shoot it or let it pass on its genes in the rut you dont shoot it,another member of the syndicate shoots it or its never seen again. If you have a short term lease of a coulpe of years or so is there much point in having a cull plan unless you have a long lease is there any point in cull plans because at hte end of the day some other syndicate could come in with a much higher price and end up getting the rewards of you and your syndicate , would just like the thoughts of others on this
 
It is important to have a cull plan and i am sure the overall cull set by the Forestry company will state a % of bucks and does stags and hinds. It is then up to you to decide what % of the bucks and dose will fall in to the three basic categories of young, middle age or Old.The problem i see is normally some can only get to the ground a few times a year and will shoot what they see not whats been set down for the best future of the ground and the deer.
 
for me i would shoot bucks on sight i dont think you can have a management plan whilst others around are doing whatever, as soon as a buck is taken another comes along in my opinion also early on in the buck season i find it easier to get on the ground before the young bucks start getting pushed off but on does i try to be more selective as its the mature does bringing the bucks in so if you shoot all the does your bucks dont stick around, all my own opinions so i am sure i will be set straight ,atb wayne
 
By the looks of some pictures on this site wayne I dont think many care about leaving the big lads
 
On commercial forestry the only thing the Company wants is no damage.

If you can balance zero damage with a sustained level of deer........

​Stan
 
but do you have a cull plan or do you just take every buck or doe you see in season


This in my opinion is the reason we have deer voids in some areas and huge populations in other.
The temptation to "get your money's worth" outweighs the need to manage a population to maximise its strength and diversity.
Add that to the expectation of "well if I don't shoot it some other bugger will"! and very few people I meet have the self control to leave a big buck another year

I personally have no interest in seeking trophies, but have seen first hand what a new syndicate can do to a 3,000 acre estate inside a month.
​decimated.
 
I manage a small patch and have taken a young buck and want to take 1 more. I sat and called a very promising yearling ino me on Friday and spent a while watching him. I left him as I want the old buck who may well now be about to, or have covered his offspring. I spend 75% of my outings watching and understanding, the rest result in culls - and most of them are controlling the muntjac.
 
I will expand on my first post ,you can shoot the correct animals by getting on the ground at certain times of the year to pretty much garauntee shooting animals, early on before the bucks start pushing each other around so before the young bucks get pushed off you have a chance at those you can also get to see which are the more mature bucks keeping to areas and same with the does. I dont believe every single buck has potential to become a medal head even if left to die from old age. other factors come into this like mineral rich feeding grounds and such like. the ground we left this year whoever takes the lease will see plenty of deer as the ground was a magnet for them it drew deer in as it had good shelter but also very nice feeding areas inside the forest so they didnt have to venture far to feed ,the cull target was met but it could have had far more deer taken without damaging the population. some ground just pulls deer in and others doesnt do so well. what i didnt understand from this piece of ground was the roe seemed to love it but the reds only travelled through never stopping long but to me looked perfect for them so would be interested to know why some ground holds reds but for some ground they pass by,atb wayne
 
I operate the same cull plan on my grounds every year, no females get shot, stags and bucks yes, females no. On my largest piece of ground it is enclosed with a lot of replanting so the stags are in season all year round and I get a night licence as well. Hard on the gentlemen of the species, maybe, numbers decimated no the figures are roughly the same each year. As an aside there never seems to be a noticeable extra amount of hinds/does. This of course would not suit the FC, but it suits my landowner and me and until such time as damage is noticeably unacceptable it will stay the same.

There is one exception to the rule, I have a piece of ground with an elderly roebuck on, he is on the protected list and unless some young buck does for him he will see out his days unmolested.

John
 
to be honest , i agree totaly with mereside, if a shot presents itself shoot it , i have a totaly different attitiude on my own private estates, but on a forrestry block your there to protect the tree crops aswell as your own stalking desire , and to be honest the ground on which i stalk in forrestry you would be very fortunate to see let alone shoot a medal class .the cull spread on completion is also an acceptable range of old and young . dont worry too much about the siutabilaty , get your numbers and make a good start early !
 
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