Lads shot a few deer.
- Thread starter John Gryphon
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John Gryphon
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the experts are the blokes that hunt them as well as the blokes that farm with wild deer on property.
I wonder how many more 1000`s are shot by harvesters.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Vic is 15. Then you may have more but certain criteria must be adhered too,alarmed premises and rigid storage of a higher standard etc.
In Victoria there is no formal upper limit quantifying how many firearms a LFO can have. The "15" is the arbitrary number which triggers more formal hoops for the 15 plus LFO applicant needs to jump through.
In the post Bondi 2026 review of Victoria firearms laws by former police commissioner Ken Lay he recommended capping LFO gun ownership at 4 firearms for hunters but allowing up to 10 for target shooters and primary producers. Fortunately for us no matter the reason why Premier Allan rejected this component of the review and she let the status quo stand as is.
In the post Bondi 2026 review of Victoria firearms laws by former police commissioner Ken Lay he recommended capping LFO gun ownership at 4 firearms for hunters but allowing up to 10 for target shooters and primary producers. Fortunately for us no matter the reason why Premier Allan rejected this component of the review and she let the status quo stand as is.
Only 11 outings per hunter, and only one deer per two outings? So only about 5 deer per hunter per year? That's not a lot.
On a per hunter per year basis I should say that's no different from what UK recreational stalkers are doing. In fact, we're probably doing more days per hunter, on average, and more deer per hunter, on average. It's just that you have a lot more hunters.
On a per hunter per year basis I should say that's no different from what UK recreational stalkers are doing. In fact, we're probably doing more days per hunter, on average, and more deer per hunter, on average. It's just that you have a lot more hunters.
maximus otter
Well-Known Member
Victoria: 51,347 licensed hunters
UK estimates of deer stalker numbers:
Parliament: “Over 100,000.”
Royal United Services Institute: “An assessed 553,000 people in the UK shoot either professional or recreationally, with a quarter of these deer stalkers (138,250).”
Farming is Critical to UK National Security
The UK believes in a whole-of-society approach to national security. Agriculture has both a traditional and a novel role to play in protecting the country.
www.rusi.org
BASC says 42,000 “actively involved in deer stalking.”
maximus otter
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Ah, that's interesting. I just made an assumption. Turns out I was wrong. Should have checked my facts first!Victoria: 51,347 licensed hunters
UK estimates of deer stalker numbers:
Parliament: “Over 100,000.”
Royal United Services Institute: “An assessed 553,000 people in the UK shoot either professional or recreationally, with a quarter of these deer stalkers (138,250).”
Farming is Critical to UK National Security
The UK believes in a whole-of-society approach to national security. Agriculture has both a traditional and a novel role to play in protecting the country.
BASC says 42,000 “actively involved in deer stalking.”
maximus otter
So many other countries have a much stronger modern hunting culture than we do, yet we quietly get on with the job of killing deer in numbers that many overseas hunters can only dream of.
dartmoordog
Well-Known Member
Not compared to the U.K. they aren’t! Not big numbers at all.
Around 350,000 deer are culled in the U.K. yearly, over double that of Victoria, and it is having absolutely no impact on the Deer population at all. Population of UK Deer is estimated at 2 million, but ask anyone involved in agriculture or staking etc, and they will tell you it’s more than that. A local provider of Venison, in a good week, will shoot and process 50 deer a week, he obviously has a lot of stalking, but the numbers he sees is staggering.
We have seen an explosion since the 80s, and simply cannot get the numbers down, in my area, Devon, the biggest difference is the huge increase in Red Deer numbers, that’s on top of the ridiculous number of Fallow…….Crazy! I don’t stalk anymore, just simply lost the passion and have shot enough over the years, probably age induced! But if you want Venison, just go shoot a Deer on your permissions…..You have to be a decent stalker of course!
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Yes understood clearly. Something to ponder it does take a bloody lot of the smaller species to make up the difference which is that 118,000 sambar (they say) are probably the equivalent lol.
Sambar hinds around 230kgs/500 lbs and stags 300kgs/ 650 lbs. It will take (i dont know) how many Muntjac ( a dozen?) and Roe ? to make one Sambar hind.
The culling and meat harvesting are not included in the Vic survey..Its been a while since last time I spoke to GH he said "we shot 2.7 tonnes the other night"
But at the weights you quote, that's not that many animals - probably on a par with our "professionals"
My typical muntjac are around 10kg on average, ie double what you suggest to a Sambar hind. Most of my roe are circa 20kg too so double again.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
i take it that you are saying 20 odd muntjac make up a sambar hind ,are they really that small?
dartmoordog
Well-Known Member
Yes, they are very small, but just like your Sambar, they are not native. The difference being, they are classed as vermin, we don’t want them, they are, however, the finest eating Venison I have ever tasted, including Sambar…….So perhaps we do want them!
I thought your figures are to do with numbers, not size!
Yup
Last picture is a good illustration of carcass size - muntjac second in on the right and small fallow on the left.
Yup
Last picture is a good illustration of carcass size - muntjac second in on the right and small fallow on the left.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Thanks Tim for the pics. I saw some captive ones in Ireland (yes I did) but they were furtive and hiding in the shrubbery,anyway I didn't realise that were that small..bloody look like big hares alongside the dog lol.Yup
Yup
View attachment 477018View attachment 477019View attachment 477022
View attachment 477020View attachment 477021
Stag below has half his arse cut off in the pic,just one back leg would make that hanging rail of yours groan Tim lol.
It's Peter, John not one of the (many) Tim's
Frankly, I've seen bigger hares recently too than most of the young females I've been shooting!Using my wife's excellent database that I've been using since 2018, for the 89 muntjac I've shot, the average carcass larder weights were: Females 8kg and Male 9kg.
Frankly I would rather shoot 5 munties then one of those monster Sambar stags unless I had a good winch and a 4X4 that I could get within 5 feetIt's Peter, John not one of the (many) Tim's
Using my wife's excellent database that I've been using since 2018, for the 89 muntjac I've shot, the average carcass larder weights were: Females 8kg and Male 9kg.
Big fallow bucks are bad enough
