game dealer prices!!

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That is quite true @jimbo1984, some game dealers do indeed seem to milk it quite mercilessly.

However, one has a very simple choice if not happy about the financial outlay involved in stalking and that is to give it up.

I know of very few other hobbies that "cover costs".
Very true , however if I pack in that could potentially leave my land being taken by one of the instant expert brigade on here .... the thought of them wandering around with a firearm under loose supervision doesn’t bear thinking about ....
 
Supply and demand. No one wants pheasants but we keep breeding and releasing for shooting. This will stop in future as the antis are on to it. Venison is and will always be a byproduct of deer management practices in wild populations. The fact we can eat it/sell it etc is a great advantage but not the first reason to cull an animal. It looks as if it’s all going the same way to much supply for very little demand. I know my game dealer I use will take pheasants before Xmas but will offer no money after Xmas he won’t have em at all as he has too many. Venison he will always purchase but only Pays £1per kg on muntjac and CWD and £2.20 a Kg for all other animals all year. He does impose a fat reduction on fallow bucks September and October there his rules.

I'm not so certain it's quite as simple as that, not when one Game processor in Scotland is importing 25,000 red deer carcasses from NZ to help meet UK demand?

Pheasants are a different matter, for sure, but it does not appear that there is no demand for venison, according to those who see the stats; 3000 + tonnes produced annually within the U.K., but our own domestic demand now exceeds this; farmed deer meat in Scotland accounts for 70 tonnes, and thus falls somewhat short of expectations, despite government encouragement (admittedly a different story too, as that ain't venison either!).

Incidentally, Germany's annual demand exceeds 100,000 tonnes, so until the barriers drop, there seems to be plenty demand for it. More to do with logistics and localised retail opportunities rather than simple S&D.
 
Muntjac is nice venison. I broke one up last weekend most now in the freezer.

a good size one has to be worth 15 or 20 gbp.
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Your right, They should be worth at least that,, In my opinion the best tasting venison, as ive said before in a previous post, create a market for them in your local area, There the perfect size for a family freezer, you can't buy them in any supermarket, i doubt many butchers stock them, has to be the most under rated meat
 
I would agree to a point with regards to venison. Game birds etc a different matter I concur. However if the demand for venison is at that height that you state and I have no reason to disbelieve you or the stats then why are the prices so low or limited. Possible explanation is the cost to prepare the carcasses (skin,butcher, pack etc) but not sure what other contributing factors there are. Certainly there are way more stalkers/deer shooters than say 10-15 years ago you only have to take a look at FAC numbers to glean that but saying that I appreciate some will be very occasional stalkers and some only rabbit and fox and target FAC holders but there are certainly more “deer shooters/stalkers out there” and that clearly increases the amount of animals presented to game dealers etc. I know my dealer down here when he collects from me he has a chilled sprinter van with at least 30-40 animals on board (I’m one of the last pick ups) and this he does 4-5 days a week. So no shortage of animals.
 
good morning,today i dropped off at the game dealers the following, one fallow 64 kilo clean chest shot,one 6 kilo muntjac chest shot clean,5 rabbits ,received £81.45 ffs.:eek: wont even cover the fuel cost for the day! i think its time i put my feet up and let some once else take over. no more out before dawn /home after dark/ out in all weathers .dont get me wrong i do love my stalking but the costs of just getting out there and then being ripped off by the game dealer is just too much.
I'm sure you will be contacting them first thing tomorrow, it will be interesting why you were paid so little.
I did get paid for a deer last year that I thought was cleanly shot, (I'm not saying yours wasn't) but I got penalised after the fact saying the saddle had been damaged, be to be fair it was the first one from the game dealer I use so I trust them, maybe a bit of lead fragmented, even so, with that taken into account it wouldn't have amounted to such a drastic reduction. as you have experienced.
Cheers
Richard
 
Was the fallow chest shot or shoulder shot? You should be getting £2.20 a kilo so I can only think that you have either blown up both shoulders or damaged the saddle( as devon has said). The munty would be worth 50p/kg. Munties are too much work for the venison produced. Shot damaged ones will be worth less obviously.
 
I did...twice then stopped...asked friends if they'd like a pheasant or two. They were delighted until the moment they realised they'd have to pluck it a draw it.

So, yes, I plucked and drew the first two times then stopped asking. If I do the work then I eat it!

In France last year at St Denis Market pheasant plucked and drawn were 13 Euro each. A country where good quality poultry is also expensive in supermarkets.
 
stalking has never been a hobby!

Maybe not to you Banus, but to an increasing proportion it is a hobby and won’t be anything but. There are those of us that look at 2,500 acres and think a decent size syndicate taking that many head of deer per year.

That’s how a lot view Stalking these days. Not arguing with you, just pointing out more people view stalking that way than 1 guy having 2500 acres and a paying hobby. Never considered stalking a paying hobby, more a money pit. That is perhaps why game dealers don’t pay much, they don’t have to...
 
It seems very odd that you are getting circa £1.20/kg if that was just for the fallow even ignoring the additional game in there even considering that there is very little value in a 6kg munty and 5 rabbits. I’m sure that 10 or more years ago we were getting £1/lb for fallow so £2.20/kg.

Having said that as previously mentioned, a friend of mine who hunted and boxed pigs in Australia used to say very few hobbies pay you anything back at all, we used to spend a lot more playing rugby!

If it is your profession then that’s different.
 
Your dealer is ****, simple as. Accept no less than £1.80 in peak supply season

Look elsewhere and maybe consider having another dealer pick up on their runs up and down the country.

There’s at least one or two ‘mobile’ dealers who sweep up these ****taking game dealers

It’s like high street shops, days are numbered!


There’s at least one or two ‘mobile’ dealers who sweep up these ****taking game dealers, ....Please let me know who these people are...our local dealer is saying there is massive over supply of Fallow and he might stop taking it or drop the price significantly. They are a monopoly in the area and there are NO alternatives so feeling very concerned for the future.....

Venison might go the way of pheasants.
 
Before supplying my current dealer ,I rang them to set up terms which I’ve found are negotiable with most of them .What they want is a regular supply of quality meat
If you are not happy with the payment ,phone them and ask why and if the answer dosnt suit you explain why and go elsewhere or with a lot more work for better reward ,supply direct to the trade .
Game dealers will always have the upper hand as long as we shoot first then need to find a buyer before it spoils .
Set the terms before you have a truck full of deer .
I remember being at the dealers when a lad rolled in with 9 roe does Christmas time and was paid 80p a pound for his trouble which he was happy with at the time until learning most others got £1.20 back then .He was a walk in first timer rather than ringing ahead and agreeing terms .
Game dealers are notoriously tight left to their own payment schemes so it pays to talk to them before hand
 
Before supplying my current dealer ,I rang them to set up terms which I’ve found are negotiable with most of them .What they want is a regular supply of quality meat
If you are not happy with the payment ,phone them and ask why and if the answer dosnt suit you explain why and go elsewhere or with a lot more work for better reward ,supply direct to the trade .
Game dealers will always have the upper hand as long as we shoot first then need to find a buyer before it spoils .
Set the terms before you have a truck full of deer .
I remember being at the dealers when a lad rolled in with 9 roe does Christmas time and was paid 80p a pound for his trouble which he was happy with at the time until learning most others got £1.20 back then .He was a walk in first timer rather than ringing ahead and agreeing terms .
Game dealers are notoriously tight left to their own payment schemes so it pays to talk to them before hand
And the ridiculous thing is my local butcher charges £27.50/kg for venison just to be made into sausages!.
Know a butcher in Edinburgh at £60/kg!
 
And the ridiculous thing is my local butcher charges £27.50/kg for venison just to be made into sausages!.
Know a butcher in Edinburgh at £60/kg!
There's a big difference between what's sold over the counter of a premises that's paying business rates and staff, properly butchered, labelled and packed, with all waste disposal paid for, and what you're offering the game dealer - a carcass in skin, an unseen level of damage (ie, waste), variable ages, variable body condition, etc etc. I know it's a bitter pill to swallow, but don't knock the end retailer for his mark up. He carries most of the costs. Also, he will have bought that carcass from a game dealer. Therefore, the disparity we should be concerned about is the difference between what the game dealer pays stalkers and what he charges butchers. That's where there's most scope for someone in the chain of supply to get ripped off.
 
I suffered from the same thing with prices and another that didn’t like to pay up

now I only let the Gamedealer have the fallow on a pre determined price ( 2.40 kg )with the weight on the ticket from my scales - all shot cleanly, gralloched and in the larder, I wouldn’t put a knocked about carcasses in, the Roe and Munties go home for friends and family.

I’d rather leave em in the field, if I couldn’t get a fair price until I found another dealer

its the only way that stops me getting a#se ache with the dealer when I think he’s taking the p#ss, considering all the work and effort that goes into it - a fair price is all that is needed

Having said that, Gamedealers are a bit thin on the ground in some areas, having a choice sometimes don’t appear
 
good afternoon gentle men,the revenue from my stalking helps my pension so when it drops my pension drops,as for those of you willing to take my ground,its 2500 acres of arable land with four wooded areas and i average 34 roe 60 fallow and 50 muntjac a year,these quota,s need to be met so out in all weathers also the rabbit numbers have to be kept down. i recently took on a young lad to start his stalking and may hand over to him,so this ground will not be available to other stalkers. stalking has never been a hobby!

So you are or were a professional deer stalker then?

If not it is just a hobby, the same as it is for 80-90% of the folk on here!
 
good morning,today i dropped off at the game dealers the following, one fallow 64 kilo clean chest shot,one 6 kilo muntjac chest shot clean,5 rabbits ,received £81.45 ffs.:eek: wont even cover the fuel cost for the day! i think its time i put my feet up and let some once else take over. no more out before dawn /home after dark/ out in all weathers .dont get me wrong i do love my stalking but the costs of just getting out there and then being ripped off by the game dealer is just too much.

Time for you to get a new game dealer me thinks. Its them that will loose out.

Ali
 
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