One door closes another opens

Mixed feelings today some sad some happy
Due to one of the estates I lease being sold I'm off later to take my high seats down all 15 of um ! Still not sure if I will retain the stalking with the new owners but you never know . I have had several good years there so I can't really grumble but its always sad when things you get used to change . The other bad news I just had was a call from a gamekeeper in Wiltshire whome I buy good roebucks from , he has a number of very good areas where he looks after and manages the roe very well and most of these areas produce medals every year , on one of these areas he had at least 4 good bucks one of which was going to be took this season and the other 3 left till next year.Well he was on the ground last week looking at this buck when it went through the hedge into the adjoining field which is still part of the same farm , a few seconds later there was a shot and the buck is no more ! On investigation low and behold there is a very well known celebrity chef in the gateway !!!! It later transpired the chef has now rented the ground off the farmer and three of the four bucks are now gone . Needless to say my gamekeeper friend is gutted that this has happened .
Well on life goes and I have just found out we now have the lease on another very good estate that we have been working on for the last three years so maybe the 15 seats will be standing on a new home by the end of the week
​Regards Andy

 

[crouch valley]

Good luck mate. As they say as one door closes another opens normally for the better.

 

[vizslamad]

Is this the one that uses Knorr Stock Pots I wonder. Some chef if he resorts to using and advertising that crap. Looks like he is a greedy and unthoughtful stalker as well.Hope your new venture works out well.
John

 

[WAYNE DAVIES]

Hi Andy
I've lost a bit of ground the last few years, I always say to myself "Ahhh well nothings forever" or "sh*t happens"
Its always a bugger especially when you have nurtured the population.

Luckily I've also picked up some more so I'll still be busy.

Good luck with the new estate and maybe the old one??

Wayne

 

[6pointer]

Been there Andy many times and i am sure i will be there again.Still life gose on and you learn who in life to trust and who not to.

 

[straightbetweentheeyes]

There will always be tits like him with bucket loads of cash that can trample over us everyday folk... When I first got my FAC I managed to get a small farm of 130 acres with a few roe on it plus foxes and rabbits, and I had it whipped from under my feet by someone who had been on there once to shoot foxes several years before and hadn't been there since until he found out I had permission.. This chap Also happens to be a mate with around 3000 acres of his own stalking, I did not know when I knocked the farmers door that he had ever been there let alone thought he had sole permission! It thought to myself oh well not worth falling out over and left it at that.. On the plus side I picked up another small farm of 270 acres with roe on yesterday only 20mins from my house.. Hopefully a few more in the area to follow...
Good luck with the new estate, as said above it may all be for the better?

​regards, Jez

 

[crouch valley]

Im afraid there is always some c**k with more cash out there rather than doing the leg work them selfs they buy there way in. Good luck with the new ground

 

[User00003]

property changes hands, fact of life. OP, you have a good attitude to it.

it's been stated a million times, if you want any control or the feeling you have any 'rights' over any land, save up for it and buy it yourself.

if a celebrity chef is a stalker and rents a ground that seems to have a good few deer/heads on it, so what if he shoots them? is he supposed to drive around to the neighbouring farms and ask the locals if they have been protecting them or knock on the neighbours door and ask "are there any deer you don't want me to shoot if they come over the boundary".. WTF, get real! LOL.

people have different objectives in this sport, some manage deer to protect trees and crops, some manage them to grown a healthy population with heads and numbers to generate good income from clients, and some use them as leisurely sport to just shoot trophies. none are right and none are wrong.

money has nothing to do with it, you can't say someone with more money has not 'done the legwork', they've potentially worked a lot bloody harder than some others, just earn their money. if stalkers want to protect their permissions from other stalker or people with more money, they need to be adding VALUE of greater benefits to the landowners,,,,or buy their own land, or stop complaining!

 

[cwd]

Cheers for the comments everyone
I am very fortunate to have some good areas and some I even get contracted to cull the deer on ,but some places you just have fond memories of and when you lose them it still hurts , but like I said in the post title one door shuts another opens and this is a fact of life and life will go on
​Regards Andy

 

[Holland&Holland]

Sorry to hear that.

In the Netherlands you can only rent a hunting permission for 6 or 12 years. So during that period nobody can "steal" it from you. In Germany its is 9 to 12 i think. They do this so you can really manage the permission in stead of shooting everything for a year and then leave it. Off course when the lease ends you can make a deal and rent it again. Most of the time when the relationship with the owner is good you will get it again. It is a good protection for the hunter and wildlife.

 

[wildfowler.250]

Don't suppose the chef's initials are M.P.W?

 

[Gazza]

IMO this is a valuable lesson to be learned here. There are many people willing to pay big money for deer stalking especially where good quality deer are involved. If you value your stalking, the effort you have put into nurturing the deer on the ground and the standard of deer you have produced, for each piece of ground this applies, you must enter into a proper contract with the land owner. Does not stop somebody muscling in at the end of the contract but at very least you know exactly where you stand and what you may have to do to continue on the ground. If you rely on anything less you are wide open to a big wallet.

 

[Archer]

IMO this is a valuable lesson to be learned here. There are many people willing to pay big money for deer stalking especially where good quality deer are involved. If you value your stalking, the effort you have put into nurturing the deer on the ground and the standard of deer you have produced, for each piece of ground this applies, you must enter into a proper contract with the land owner. Does not stop somebody muscling in at the end of the contract but at very least you know exactly where you stand and what you may have to do to continue on the ground. If you rely on anything less you are wide open to a big wallet.

To this I would add,

Understand exactly what the land owner wants/expects of you. - eg He wants the numbers quickly and drastically reduced but you are looking to manage the deer and have a long term permission, - work out a plan that satisfies both and get it in writing, or it can end in lost land

 

[wildfowler.250]

IMO this is a valuable lesson to be learned here. There are many people willing to pay big money for deer stalking especially where good quality deer are involved. If you value your stalking, the effort you have put into nurturing the deer on the ground and the standard of deer you have produced, for each piece of ground this applies, you must enter into a proper contract with the land owner. Does not stop somebody muscling in at the end of the contract but at very least you know exactly where you stand and what you may have to do to continue on the ground. If you rely on anything less you are wide open to a big wallet.

How would you get that written up legally? Surely a self-written, signed piece of paper doesn't stand for much? It's better than nothing though.

 

[Gazza]

How would you get that written up legally? Surely a self-written, signed piece of paper doesn't stand for much? It's better than nothing though.

In a very basic form it does not have to be much. A self written document (pretty sure there are some templates to be had on internet) in which the land owner (or the person who owns the rights, and by this I do not mean a gamekeeper unless he actually owns the shooting/stalking rights) gives or sells the sole rights of the shooting and/or stalking to you for whatever period of time is agreed. Conditions/terms can then be agreed and written in to allow/exclude what you can or cannot shoot, whether the owner wishes to reserve a rifle or any other condition which either party would wish. ( I have one which requests that I hand over a haunch of venison each year to the owner. Traditional and historic but part of the agreement). Signed/agreed and dated by both parties in the presence of a witness and you have a legally binding contract. If I was the land owner I would ensure that there was a clause to enable me to terminate the agreement in the event of you breaching the terms but other than that you would own the stalking rights and nobody else could buy or be given them.

 

[Brithunter]

I am very surprised that no one has mentioned safety. It fairly obvious said chef did not know the keeper was there.

 

[seprim]

I am very surprised that no one has mentioned safety. It fairly obvious said chef did not know the keeper was there.

Good point Brithunter
Sorry about your loss - chin up though you might end up with something bigger or better

​Andrew

 

[Jimbo 30 06]

Hi Andy

sorry to here the news mate i hope it's not the ground that you took me out on as, that was fantastic ground. As for the chef there are many like him with loads of spondulies i think it's him that shot the record "Perruque" and paid a hansome sum to do so. Good luck with the new ground.

Jimbo

 

[1995rs]

I am very surprised that no one has mentioned safety. It fairly obvious said chef did not know the keeper was there.

Safety? Where did it say the keeper was in the way of the shot? I read it as thought the keeper was watching the buck that went through the hedge onto farm land , and was subsequently shot my someone else. Can you point out where the unsafe shot was?

 

[VSS]

Safety? Where did it say the keeper was in the way of the shot? I read it as thought the keeper was watching the buck that went through the hedge onto farm land , and was subsequently shot my someone else. Can you point out where the unsafe shot was?

Unsafe in so far as there was two folk out on the same piece of land at the same time, at least one of whom fired a shot, and neither knew that anyone else was there.

(At least, that's the way I read it, but might be wrong).