Nature agency culls Highland estate deer after landowner failure

Pay peanuts get monkeys.

Please enlighten me on 'government rates' for deer culling and I'll send them an invoice for all the arrears due.
I was rather under the impression that if the cullers were sent in the estate had to pay the rate set, it was non-negotiable so it may well be an inflated rate. (No government ever charges less than it can get away with)

David.
 
One wonders how the Department of Natural Resources manages in the US?

In 2020-21 deer hunters there culled 6.3 million white-tailed deer alone. I doubt every one of those hunters had an Argocat, yet somehow they seem to manage. :-|
How many hunters in the states though. 2.4 million just in Texas
 
Will cost you more than few days.stalking.
Who is paying a fortune stags yes but stags are not the problem hinds
are the key to.populstion culling hinds is the answer .
Hind stalking is not expensive .
Be careful.what you wish for the system you are advocating would be a disaster for Scotland not just in Estate revenue but in Rural communities
I agree with what you say, but I am confused in the fact you quoted my post.
 
How many hunters in the states though. 2.4 million just in Texas
Not as many as you think, most are in the pub, or sitting watching coronation street, dreaming about stalking etc. The reality of doing it is very different to the dream. The Hunters in the States pay more to shoot one Elk Bull then you would for a week here, yet they do it by the million, here its excuses on cost, distance etc.
 
Plenty opportunities to come stalk already no need for any change.
Tell me the logistics how would you get your
deer off on last estate I was on it was 17 miles from one end of the Glen to the other
not everyone can afford an Argocat
Shoot the hind with a lead free bullet (so you can leave bits behind without upsetting the RSPB) and then pack the meat out on foot like a real hunter😜

Not everyone wants to shoot deer to sell to a game dealer and earn some tax free cash.

Either deer are an asset to be managed effectively and charge people and provide a service or they're a pest in which case you should be paying to have them controlled but you can't do both well.
 
How many hunters do you think there might be in the UK if hunting on public land was not just allowed, but positively encouraged?
Not that many more than now. As Frank said in his post most of the stalkers would rather spend time talking about it than actually stalking
 
Not as many as you think, most are in the pub, or sitting watching coronation street, dreaming about stalking etc. The reality of doing it is very different to the dream. The Hunters in the States pay more to shoot one Elk Bull then you would for a week here, yet they do it by the million, here its excuses on cost, distance etc.
In the US it's the dream to be hunting under your own steam in somewhere wild and free. You can choose (within seasons) when to go and where to go and for how long. Over here it's with a guide on your shoulder telling you what to do and where to go, what to shoot etc.

Unless you're lucky and have free reign on someone else's land that is.
 
Shoot the hind with a lead free bullet (so you can leave bits behind without upsetting the RSPB) and then pack the meat out on foot like a real hunter😜

Not everyone wants to shoot deer to sell to a game dealer and earn some tax free cash.

Either deer are an asset to be managed effectively and charge people and provide a service
That's exactly what we have been doing,
Highland estates don't make a profit on deer stalking at best the revenue from clients offsets the costs and provides some stalking for owners family and friends.
 
It seems a lot of people are under the impression that Highland ( and indeed other ) estate owners make a fortune out of the estates they own. The reality is their wealth, if indeed they have wealth, will come from some other source, not some walked up grouse days and clients shooting deer.
 
It seems a lot of people are under the impression that Highland ( and indeed other ) estate owners make a fortune out of the estates they own. The reality is their wealth, if indeed they have wealth, will come from some other source, not some walked up grouse days and clients shooting deer.
As has been said, a lot of sporting estates barely cover the cost of themselves.

If it wasn't for people owning them with exuberant wealth they would be sold off into nature Scots portfolio as country parks to attract mountain bikers and bird watchers and all the deer eradicated.
 
A bit presumptuous no ?

I take it only "qualified professional" stalkers are up to the job ?


Actually I'll edit that, what aload of crap ! plenty recreational stalkers are bloody good at stalking.
Better than most professionals in many cases i bet, in terms of stalking skills acquired over decades
 
As has been said, a lot of sporting estates barely cover the cost of themselves.

If it wasn't for people owning them with exuberant wealth they would be sold off into nature Scots portfolio as country parks to attract mountain bikers and bird watchers and all the deer eradicated.
At best, to be wastelands of dogs*t and crisp packets, devoid of wildlife other than crows and seagulls.
 
As has been said, a lot of sporting estates barely cover the cost of themselves.

If it wasn't for people owning them with exuberant wealth they would be sold off into nature Scots portfolio as country parks to attract mountain bikers and bird watchers and all the deer eradicated.

Isn’t the failure to see “all the deer eradicated” the genesis of this thread?
 
I wouldn't have said so, failed cull targets repeatedly isn't eradication.


And believe me , there would be mission success IF the estate was going to be a country park.

Yes, I was being somewhat flippant.

To continue in that vein, however, the repeated failure to meet cull targets by some wealthy estate owners, who employ professional stalkers, is neither a good advert for wealthy estate owners nor for the professional stalkers. Seeing the contempt in which both are held by the SNP, one can't help but think that wealthy estate owners are hastening their own demise, and that of the professional stalkers will quickly follow. It is all rather depressing.

Which begs the question; if professional stalkers can't control the numbers, and amateur stalkers are as useless as some here seem to suggest, what destiny awaits the deer population in Scotland? Presumably NatureScot's stalkers will be kept very busy in the coming years.

Loch Choire was just over the march from Ben Armine, which we visited for over 20 years. Loch Choire is a glorious spot, though without a lodge since it burnt down some years ago. With the current problems at Loch Choire being at least partly down to an absentee landlord it is perhaps a shame that the Duke of Sutherland no longer owns 1.4 million acres as he did back in the late 1870's.

That kind of land ownership, at least if it involves the old gentry - and particularly English old gentry - is now viewed as something akin to colonialism. However reading about the latest tranche of new landowners doesn't exactly instill great confidence either.

 
Why is it that people in deer stalking can't grasp that professional deer stalkers are more efficient than the average deer stalker? You would never question that a chippy hanging doors would be far better and faster or a bricky laying bricks be far more efficient than a DIYer. It's just a result of having all the equipment and experience.
 
Will cost you more than few days.stalking.
Who is paying a fortune stags yes but stags are not the problem hinds
are the key to.populstion culling hinds is the answer .
Hind stalking is not expensive .
Be careful.what you wish for the system you are advocating would be a disaster for Scotland not just in Estate revenue but in Rural communities
So if females are the problem Bogtrotter why are we putting 50% effort and cost in to male deer. Do you think your statement might be incorrect or are you saying that FLS and Nature .scot are incompetent in there policy for managing deer.
 
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