Paying farmers

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Blacklab said:
In my area deer stalking opportunities are few and far between . I'm in negotiations with a farmer who wants me to pay for shooting his deer . I'm not against paying but just wondered what fees any of you pay per deer . He recons there are roe and fallow in the vicinity.
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I think it depends on the relationship and skill level and resultant situation. If you are a semi-pro who does it right, doesnt sub-let or take guests or take the **** then i think you will get on fine. Maybe a nominal rent, a few beautifully prepared carcases for the freezer each then split game dealer revenues or meat depending on yield.

Sorry to sound boring but in the eyes of a farmer/land owner, hassel/cowboys and someone trying to impose commercial gains just isnt worth the bother. Turn it on its head and put yourself in the landowners shoes, if he suffers damage and seriously needs a cull and its decent land, he could take his pick of people to do it via 3 phone calls and or go to an agent (and take the cash and meat).

if this is your hobby then so what if you throw a few quid at it. Sounds like a decent opportunity, go get it and good luck.

Ignore the people who dont own land and sit there saying "i would never pay for it" - what a load of rubbish. If their Landlords read their ungrateful/over confident opinions on here they would quiclkly pull their socks up.......
 
willyroe said:
I think it depends on the relationship and skill level and resultant situation. If you are a semi-pro who does it right, doesnt sub-let or take guests or take the **** then i think you will get on fine. Maybe a nominal rent, a few beautifully prepared carcases for the freezer each then split game dealer revenues or meat depending on yield.

Sorry to sound boring but in the eyes of a farmer/land owner, hassel/cowboys and someone trying to impose commercial gains just isnt worth the bother. Turn it on its head and put yourself in the landowners shoes, if he suffers damage and seriously needs a cull and its decent land, he could take his pick of people to do it via 3 phone calls and or go to an agent (and take the cash and meat).

if this is your hobby then so what if you throw a few quid at it. Sounds like a decent opportunity, go get it and good luck.

Ignore the people who dont own land and sit there saying "i would never pay for it" - what a load of rubbish. If their Landlords read their ungrateful/over confident opinions on here they would quiclkly pull their socks up.......
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I can see where you are coming from, but I will repeat 'I will never pay for it' and that is because it is a win-win-win situation if you play your cards right.

1. The farmer with crop damage or the woodland owner who is looking fro woodland grant funding (for which you need natural regeneration) wants to reduce the amount of deer.
2. As an (amateur) stalker I get access to farms and estates to pursue my hobbies/sport, the challenge of the cull target, and the thrill of the hunt.
3. As a keen cook I get some of the finest produce possible to process, eat and give away to friends and family.
4. The farmer/landowner gets a fair share of the venison, another pair of trusted eyes on the land, and this relationship often quickly develops into a friendship.

On that basis I cannot possible see myself ever paying a rent or lease for land to hunt deer on.
 
Erik Hamburger said:
I can see where you are coming from, but I will repeat 'I will never pay for it' and that is because it is a win-win-win situation if you play your cards right.

1. The farmer with crop damage or the woodland owner who is looking fro woodland grant funding (for which you need natural regeneration) wants to reduce the amount of deer.
2. As an (amateur) stalker I get access to farms and estates to pursue my hobbies/sport, the challenge of the cull target, and the thrill of the hunt.
3. As a keen cook I get some of the finest produce possible to process, eat and give away to friends and family.
4. The farmer/landowner gets a fair share of the venison, another pair of trusted eyes on the land, and this relationship often quickly develops into a friendship.

On that basis I cannot possible see myself ever paying a rent or lease for land to hunt deer on.
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And that seems like a fine example of doing it right. There are plenty of stalkers who do it this way. Both parties win!
 
roebuck223 said:
I know of someone who pays 10.5k for shooting near our ground, he is that useless the owner has told the keeper to control them. And by all accounts the keeper has been kept busy as there was that many. Poor management!!!!
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Yoda said:
I pay 50 per acre per year. And I can assure you all it won't be long before that will be the only way to shoot!
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So a 1000 acre parcel is £50 k a year?? I used to lease 2,500 acres not far from Somerset for less than 5k a year.
 
Yoda said:
You are very lucky not to pay for stalking but it will change and you will have to give up, trust me.
But you pay to shoot those winged vermin in Scotland when they should be paying you to shoot them. There are hundreds and thousands of them and they taste like tihs
You see what I mean ?
I payed to shoot geese and it was very expensive and not that good.
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5-6 of us go up to Dumfries every year have 3 nights in a hotel we have 3 Duck flights 2 goose flights over decoys and 2 days walked up 2013 bag 27 pinks 22 pheasant 6 malard 6teal 6 snipe 5 woodcock 2 hares and a fox.2014 bag 7 geese 37 duck teal wigeon and mallard 2 snipe 6 woodcock 10 pheasant. 3 nights away with the lads a few beers and some good craic £ 450 a head I think that is reasonable. We all take our dogs with us and have a good laugh what would £450 buy stalking wise.All the farmers whose land I shoot on are friends now, one, a chicken farm I control foxes and rats on too, was offered money for the stalking and told the guy no thanks.I have no pressure of any cull figures, I shoot what I want, when I want. If I lose some of it it will not be the end of the world I only shoot to fill my freezer or friends freezers I do not sell anything to game dealers and I shoot more foxes than deer and probably enjoy it more too.I am in the USA at the moment to shoot raccoon and coyotes and guess what I am not paying for that either.Good hunting y'all
 
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Blacklab said:
In my area deer stalking opportunities are few and far between . I'm in negotiations with a farmer who wants me to pay for shooting his deer . I'm not against paying but just wondered what fees any of you pay per deer . He recons there are roe and fallow in the vicinity.
Click to expand...

Our local weekly mag/paper (Wealden times) now carries at least 2 adverts every week for "gentlemen stalkers" willing to pay whatever to shoot deer in Kent/Sussex, luckily I have built up a good relationship with several landowners whereby I do their vermin control in exchange for the run of their land but it's only a matter of time before the wad of cash enters the equation and years of goodwill go out of the door.

regards WB
 
Mark 00 said:
I agree entirely with Rake Aboot the only problem is if you don't pay you can pretty much guarantee there'll a que of guys willing to do so. If you get to keep the venison then it's got to be worth a few quid.
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Yep - it can be tough - umming and arrghing about offering a farmer something myself.
 
Well after some advise from your more experienced selves I offered said farmer £45 per shot deer and he hasn't replied at all . As all my venison is for personal and friends consumption i don't want to pay any more than that . I'm happy to pay for guided stalking as I know people have to earn a living . But do you think that's a far offer or not
 
Was talking to someone from BASC today who reckons that maybe 20k people have passed the DSC1. I think someone on this thread has said they shoot ten farms and two estates. I think these two statistics are all you need to know about where things will go. Its been said before but supply and demand is what we are talking about here. Inevitable.
 
Depending on what you shoot mate. We get between £70 - £120 for Fallow obviously depending on size. Roe is obviously less than that. I always try and ask the land owner what they want. I have one landowner who shares the venison 50 / 50, another who has the odd bit of venison now and then and another who just wants the deer reducing and allows me the venison as payment for the work I do for him.
I think you need to decide what the land is worth to you! if you don't have to travel far, you don't have to pay an "outing" fee, shot fee or trophy fee. if you can go when ever you like and carry out something you enjoy then what is that worth?
land to shoot on is like rocking horse s#*t, if you can come to an agreement that you are happy with then go for it.
 
I love to know how you guys get land to shoot over. I've tried loads of farms just asking to be able to shoot var in in exchange for services done around their. Always told to go away and that's putting it mildly. Some answers I get would make a trooper blush
 
Just like finding a girl to sleep with. Ask enough and one will say yes, offer financial incentive and one will say yes quicker, but be prepared to have a lot say no.
 
God it's all doom and gloom isn't it?
There is land out there, sometimes you are just lucky, i was told by a stalker close to me 'i have all the farms up this valley that you don't have' i had no reason to disbelieve him, and wasn't bothered because i was happy with my lot. Then the adjacent farm let livestock on my friends farm, i got them back over, repaired the fence and saw the farmer, who quickly informed me that said stalker was kicked off his farm 10 years ago and nobody had been on it since!
And get this, i gave up a farm 15 years ago ( for reasons i'm not going into) then the farmer rang me out of the blue last week, he had a young buck with his ewes (yes deer hate sheep don't they!) and was treating them like his herd of deer, please shoot the deer please came the request, no problem, job done, but i can't believe not one person had approached this farmer in all that time.
BTW, i am going to start again before anyone asks!

Cheers
Richard
 
pay enough to get the stalking andkeep it if it is scarce around there but ask about prices for guided stalks near you fro price comparison and it should be way less than that ES
 
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