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Cor, what a question! This is going to generate as much forum thread as "which is the best deer calibre" and "how long is a long range shot"!!!
When it comes to commercial stalking the easy answer to "what is a fair price" is "what the market will pay"
Joking aside, commercial stalking is no different to football games, concert tickets, world commodity prices, etc. The vendor is looking to cover costs and make a profit (sometimes reasonable, sometimes not) while the buyer is attaching a price to an experience, transitory or otherwise.
Also "the cheaper the better" can be countered by "pay cheap, pay twice"
Paying cheap only applies if the product you're getting is the same. If you went out all day having paid nothing and saw nothing, you'd get bored of it pretty quick. I'd rather pay a bit more knowing there was a chance of seeing something! So "cheaper is better" only applies if the two places you're comparing for stalking have similar deer counts, cull plans, shots/guest, etc. Even then, if the person guiding you is only interested in getting your sights lined up on a beast as quickly as possible, I wouldn't want that if it was free!
Like the definitions of "fair" and "ethical", what's cheap to one person is expensive to another.
Let me give you an example. I've been charged £200 per day for hill stalking when the only beasts we saw were disappearing over the march. The stalker obviously felt bad about things, and was reluctant to take the moneny, but I'd had a great day and, so far as no beasts, that's stalking. Given the experience, £200 still seemed pretty reasonable to me. Of course I could have negotiated a fee per beast, which would have been great for me but bad for the stalker as he would have received nothing. The point I'm making is that the perception of "what is fair" is down to the individual.
Where I stalk down south the costs for guests are £50 per outing, with a discount for people who come back regularly. Then there is a variable fee per beast by sex/species shot - basically £20 or £40 for does and bucks respectively. The cost per buck does go up if you want a trophy, but not to silly money. There is a high percentage of repeat guests, which I guess signifies something.
I mention "silly money" as I have seen places that charge per CIC point, which can get very expensive. I know your question was about roe does, but I have been quoted £600 for a gold medal cwd and significantly more than that for a gold medal roebuck (assuming you take 130 points as the lower limit for gold). Personally I don't care about trophies, I am more interested in managing deer, but there are people out there who want a wall-hanger whatever the cost. But I guess that's where the saying "a fool and his money are easily parted" came from, or is that just my perception
willie_gunn
