Goldilocks Ha's

[Wmjas]

If a hypothetical wealthy relative died and left you a chunk of ground for you to enjoy your deerstalking on for the rest of your life, how much would you be happy to see in the hypothetical will without worrying about it becoming a chore?

I ask this in terms of personal stalking and not control. i.e. how much do you think you'd need or want in order to provide enough food or sport or enjoyment for you in terms of deer and not vermin/game?

Obviously we'd all want 50k acres with an indoor pool and 1000yrd range but in terms of a little parcel to stalk on by yourself what's your ideal number?

 

[VSS]

That's a tricky one.
As you say, the temptation is to think big.
However, there's a lot of pleasure to be had in a small woodland with a high muntjac population, particularly if it gets you away from the daily grind.
Location would be key. It's all very well dreaming of vast expanses in the Highlands, but I'd settle for a couple of hundred acres in Suffolk or Norfolk, all in one block with no footpaths running through, predominantly woodland but interspersed with some pasture or small arable areas, and with some kind of wetland feature on part of the land as well.

 

[bottletopbill]

What ever you need but if to much land rent out some shooting days and keep under your control.
Earn a extra income lucky person

 

[Nickb]

As said above it depends on location. Better to have a small area in a high density area than a large area in a low density area.
Also much prefer to have arable land with woodland and hedgerows than boring blanket forestry plantations.
A bonus definitely is to have multiple species on the ground too.

 

[Wmjas]

That's a tricky one.
As you say, the temptation is to think big.
However, there's a lot of pleasure to be had in a small woodland with a high muntjac population, particularly if it gets you away from the daily grind.

I was asked this recently by a non stalking person who was being inquisitive and it’s been rattling around in my head ever since.

I settled on 100ha of mixed farmland for roe, couple in the pot every month and easy to keep on top of population wise…I figured you could probably trade a day here or there if you ever got bored.

 

[Goingback]

1000 deer stood on an acre or 1 deer on 10,000 acres...........
Population density, habitat, your ideal surroundings, mix of species.......... the list and variables are neverending

 

[Donkey Basher]

1000 acres of mixed arable & deciduous woodland with fallow, roe & muntjac

 

[Pedro]

Frankly, although the question restricts things to deer, I'd also like there to be potential for game, a pond or three for duck and a good population of other wild animals and birds to view. Over all, a varied landscape including woods (but yes, not so much of the vast swathes of evergreens), small coppices, some meadows, some arable land and, seeing as this is my dream I'm talking about, a nice country house with maybe four bedrooms, a boot room and out buildings to accommodate any vehicles, agricultural or road based I might want and workshops, a big larder and...and...

So how many acres? I've seen places with around 100 acres that fill pretty much all those requirements to some degree. But given no availability and cost issues, maybe a lot more than that.

But of course there comes a size where you have to employ people. A stalker maybe because there's too many for you to keep on top of (something you might be able to handle in the short time, but age slows us all down). A gamekeeper and maybe an assistant too. Then there'll be the farming side of things. Do you let that or keep it in house and employ for that too?

One of the things I enjoy about field sports is that it is an escape. Yes, it brings with it responsibilities but they are manageable. But how big can your estate get so gives you too much in the way of responsibilities and therefore stress and becomes the thing you were wanting to get away from in the first place? That, I don't know and of course it'll be different for everybody. But I suspect if I landed one of those grotesquely big Euro Millions wins, I would push things to see where that boundary was.

 

[tozzybum]

I stalk 100acres recreationally, it provides muntys ,rabbits and foxes.
It's large enough for my needs and several others have access.
But it's my escape and decompression place ,more land would be nice but isn't necessarily needed.

 

[Utectok]

Il take 3000 acres of red stalking with some sika in woodland 3 miles of salmon river and a decent head of grouse and a couple of trout lochs. Greedy me never

 

[User00056]

I'd want around 600 acres of mixed deciduous woods, well-managed forestry, and arable land with decent set-aside margins, and a range of elevation. And I'd just take my chances with that

 

[opticron1]

What a conundrum.....
A couple of hundred acres of mixed ground would be good - and good neighbours on the surrounding ground would be good as well.
I always remember a tale of someone who bought their own fishery, but eventually stopped fishing it - they were happy to have friends and guests to fish it, but they wouldn't catch their own fish...
It would be great to have your own bit of ground, but it would be nicer to invite folk onto it and get the chance to shoot on other land by invitation in return.....win - win!

 

[Dorsettaff]

500-600 acres in Dorset.... a bit of heath, block of woodland , a valley and some arable fields.....sika, roe, fallow and munty would keep me happy

 

[finnbear270]

A land grab in Essex / Kent, airlifted over here.

 

[JockStalk]

Up to ten minutes from home…..

 

[VSS]

Up to ten minutes from home…..

I like your style!

Presumably that would be 10 minutes in all directions?

 

[Tyla]

I'd like a couple hundred acres of muntjac stalking on my doorstep. Ideally mixed woodland and scrubby grazing. I love munty stalking and don't have any. The population density combined with the ease of extraction makes the whole thing relatively stress free for me compared to the grind of fallow. Few ponds wouldn't go amiss either

 

[VSS]

I'd like a couple hundred acres of muntjac stalking on my doorstep. Ideally mixed woodland and scrubby grazing. I love munty stalking and don't have any. The population density combined with the ease of extraction makes the whole thing relatively stress free for me compared to the grind of fallow. Few ponds wouldn't go amiss either

Sounds ideal

 

[Mountain Bug]

During my twenties I lived in the tenant house on a 420 acre farm that I had shared sporting rights to. About half and half high and low ground, 1/4 mile of river frontage including a seasonal oxbow, 200 acres arable (half high/half low), a small pond, and a mix of hard and soft wood timber.
Mushrooms and turkey in the spring; fishing in summer; whitetails, ducks, geese, quail, pheasant and dove in the fall and winter.
I should mention the neighbor (a PETA member) with 1000 acres next door as a refuge.
The house I lived in was sh*t and the farmer's yields were terrible due to occasional flooding and deer pressure, so owning the property might be more trouble than expected and there was also plenty of poaching which caused constant aggravation.

Was an absolute paradise though. If my rich relative could also leave me enough money to build a decent house, free me from having to work, and afford to manage it properly, I would likely never be seen or heard from again.


Scott

 

[Cootmeurer]

In my mind the size and terrain would determine the management and therefore how much I could handle.
I enjoy growing things as much as shooting things, so with any significant amount of arable ground I would probably be on a tractor nearly very day.

That said, neighbors could make or break the enjoyment. I enjoy peace and quiet, and some neighbors are anything but.

Back to the original question - in my mind 120 acres of a nice mix of ground with a small lake/large pond would probably be plenty to manage, hunt, fish and farm. More than that and the demanding things would probably start to take away the enjoyment.