Is Venison going the same way as our game birds?

cookingfat

Well-Known Member
I am seeing the price of venison going down even more now, my local game dealer only giving 50p a lbs for fallow and only to regular customers!
We get nothing for our game birds now after being told we have to take better care of them and pass wild meat hygiene courses and have chillers to store them and some are even paying to have there game dealers take them!
With more people taking an interest in stalking then ever before we seem to be ending up with more deer at our game dealers now which is pushing the price down as well as venison coming in from all round the world, maybe this is why prices are going down?
Maybe it's the use of thermal spotters and scope making it easy and producing more deer at the dealers?
Anyway are we going to be giving our deer to the game dealers before long and end up the same as our game industry?
 
I am seeing the price of venison going down even more now, my local game dealer only giving 50p a lbs for fallow and only to regular customers!
We get nothing for our game birds now after being told we have to take better care of them and pass wild meat hygiene courses and have chillers to store them and some are even paying to have there game dealers take them!
With more people taking an interest in stalking then ever before we seem to be ending up with more deer at our game dealers now which is pushing the price down as well as venison coming in from all round the world, maybe this is why prices are going down?
Maybe it's the use of thermal spotters and scope making it easy and producing more deer at the dealers?
Anyway are we going to be giving our deer to the game dealers before long and end up the same as our game industry?
Correct in everything you say! I do think though we will see a lot of stalkers/shooters give up shooting and move onto the next big craze, leaving the true hunters and countrymen more land to manage
 
I am seeing the price of venison going down even more now, my local game dealer only giving 50p a lbs for fallow and only to regular customers! We get nothing for our game birds now after being told we have to take better care of them and pass wild meat hygiene courses and have chillers to store them and some are even paying to have there game dealers take them!
With more people taking an interest in stalking then ever before we seem to be ending up with more deer at our game dealers now which is pushing the price down as well as venison coming in from all round the world, maybe this is why prices are going down?
Maybe it's the use of thermal spotters and scope making it easy and producing more deer at the dealers?
Anyway are we going to be giving our deer to the game dealers before long and end up the same as our game industry?
Don’t worry about me cooking fat I shoot for myself and family and farmers only! But I am fortunate /unfortunate (depends how you look at it ) that it’s not what I rely on to feed my family and pay the bills ,I do hope
It picks up for the stalkers who’s livelihood depend on it.
 
I think the comments about handling shot feathered game are valid.

We've all been I'd guess on shoots where the game after each drive is "braced" and hung up.

We've some of us also been on other shoots where it has been handled very differently.

Chucked in a heap in the guns' or beaters' transport until lunch or until after the final drive.

These things are good and need to be treated as such.
 
Last edited:
I am seeing the price of venison going down even more now, my local game dealer only giving 50p a lbs for fallow and only to regular customers!
We get nothing for our game birds now after being told we have to take better care of them and pass wild meat hygiene courses and have chillers to store them and some are even paying to have there game dealers take them!
With more people taking an interest in stalking then ever before we seem to be ending up with more deer at our game dealers now which is pushing the price down as well as venison coming in from all round the world, maybe this is why prices are going down?
Maybe it's the use of thermal spotters and scope making it easy and producing more deer at the dealers?
Anyway are we going to be giving our deer to the game dealers before long and end up the same as our game industry?
Your local dealer is taking the mick offering 50p per lb. It makes my blood boil! My dealer would no better than to dare offer me such. There is a healthy demand for wild UK venison.
This issue seems to be a problem specific to Southern Counties. No problem around here, and I see a fellow from Halifax offering very good prices on the forum only this week.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the use of thermal, that's for sure.
The people who have paid the dealer to take carcasses are plain stupid! They shouldn't be pulling the trigger on deer if they haven't pre arranged where its going to end up and at what price they will get for it.
Who ever continues to sell deer carcasses to this shameless dealer is only fuelling the problem. The dealer is "having their cake and eating it too"! You should stand together and demand a better price or stop using them. They would soon be paying a fair price when the supply dries up. Every stalker should demand a fair price or walk away. Your creating your own problem in taking that insulting price and the dealer is just taking advantage. Come on pull yourselves together, Southeners unite and knock this problem on the head.
 
I only take a carcass to a dealer if I've had a big cull that the farmer requests, otherwise I butcher it up, vac pack it and distribute it between family and friends, along with the farmers cut of it. One farm in particular swaps venison for prime beef, no matter what I say and explaining its there land and the animal has come off it they just wont take no for an answer, how unfortunate :evil::evil:
 
I can indeed see it going the same way as game. Nothing to do with thermal but everything to do with the deer population going up. Too many trophy hunters buying up permissions and not managing the females on their permission and too many people shooting single animals when a proper reduction cull is required. Picking single animals out of herds sends them nocturnal and results in the population going up. Eventually people have to get on top of them and flood the market. We must do this better guys and girls and get the deer numbers down. Shooting lots of females is the only way! If you have more permission than you can manage properly then pass some on to those less fortunate. It doesn't even have to be a permanent arrangement. If you're asked to stalk another permission then decline but recommend someone else less fortunate.
 
I don’t shoot enough to need a dealer

But I converted garage to a larder so I could do what i get properly for me & family .

I’d easy do a carcass for local shooters with caveat I take half the meat

Keeps me in meat ... gives shooters an option .

Maybe we should be standing together ?


Paul
 
Last edited:
I can indeed see it going the same way as game. Nothing to do with thermal but everything to do with the deer population going up. Too many trophy hunters buying up permissions and not managing the females on their permission and too many people shooting single animals when a proper reduction cull is required. Picking single animals out of herds sends them nocturnal and results in the population going up. Eventually people have to get on top of them and flood the market. We must do this better guys and girls and get the deer numbers down. Shooting lots of females is the only way! If you have more permission than you can manage properly then pass some on to those less fortunate. It doesn't even have to be a permanent arrangement. If you're asked to stalk another permission then decline but recommend someone else less fortunate.
"

"Shooting lots of females is the only way! If you have more permission than you can manage properly then pass some on to those less fortunate. It doesn't even have to be a permanent arrangement. If you're asked to stalk another permission then decline but recommend someone else less fortunate."


I am in the "less fortunate" camp at the moment, been knocking on doors between Dundee, Perth, Forfar and Arbroath and it's still the same story of "a syndicate shoots here".

Does anyone on here shoot between Perth and Dundee as I see at least 4 to 5 every time driving along the A90. and was wondering if they need a hand. :) :)

Then there are the Roe in the other direction towards Arbroath at Drumsturdy just wandering around the place!!!!
 
Unless there is a big and sustained marketing campaign in the UK to get the unwashed public to realise what a great meat venison is then the demand will never fulfil the supply of wild venison available. In saying, that, the large outlets (supermarkets) wouldn't probably buy wild venison. I have friends whose first taste of venison has been supplied by me in their middle age.
I would never sell to a game dealer unless I was doing a very big cull - I have however shot 20 roe this calendar year on a permission and only sold two of them, the rest have gone through my freezer or shared with the farmer and some friends.
Re the comment about poor management of shot game, I have witnessed the same with shot deer that went straight to the game dealer....
 
Ask a Butcher would he rather sell 10lb of Beef fillet steak at £25.00 per lb or 100lb of Quality Beef mince or stewing steak at £2.00 per lb. Ask a Game Dealer the same question regarding equivalent Deer carcases cuts, the answer. There is no problem selling the choice cuts the more economical cuts (not cheap cuts) are the one's that make or break a Carcase to be viable, saleable and profitable. :old:
 
Just been told 60p a lb in Leic's area. They can go f themselves. Buying more freezers and fettling them for family and friends rather than give in.:mad:
60p it's not worth a deers life.but that's what they want you too think.trying too get you too pack the sport in....not a friggin chance
 
From conversations with others in the trade, it appears that there is a perfect storm of less UK venison being exported and a sudden influx of cheap New Zealand and Italian farmed venison. A lot of the venison sold in UK supermarkets is imported for less per pound than UK game dealer prices. The latest unconfirmed report I've had this week suggest that dealers such as Vickers, Rigby, etc have stopped buying carcasses this week???????????????????????
 
Back
Top