The Deer Initiative - Ignorance or Clever Pension Funding

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SeanStalk

Active Member
Having the rights to shoot over a large amount of ground that holds good deer numbers, I was recently asked by one of the land owners did I know who had been buzzing the land in a bright red helicopter in the valley and on the tops ? My answer was yes It's the deer initiative !!!

How did I know this you may ask ?? The Welsh regional officer plastered it all over Facebook !! the landowner wasn't happy as it had spooked his livestock and they had been buzzing around for a few days

So with this I have attempted to contact the officer & TDI directly by telephone and email to ask the reasons why and what right does he have to do this ?? but guess what .......... no replies !! next port of call National resource Wales, they can't divulge any information as to whether they are involved with this either !!

Now don't get me wrong we are all in favour of surveys been carried out, but who are these surveys benefiting ?? we the stalker can't access the information gathered, unless we become a stakeholder in TDI !!! ££££££££££'s

Who are the Stakeholders ?? who's funding it ?? the whole setup is more secretive than the Free Mason's & MI6 put together !!!! but more to the point who's been passed the information and maps after the surveys, to go and knock on doors offering payment to stalk then selling it on !!!

I questioned BASC the other weekend at Rhug regarding this and they were very quiet and called a rep over who then told me he couldn't say anymore regarding the surveys and impact deer are having in the area !!!

SO I'm now awaiting the landowners to tell me they have sold the rights or want mega money from me to carry on shooting after 16 years of pest control on this land with birds of prey, guns, ferrets, if the DI decide they've seen enough. I've even offered my services to help with on the ground info from other areas I have access to but still no replies.


I'm guaranteed at least 3 of my permissions to reject any offer that may come through their letter boxes, as I've now got the shooting rights including the stalking rights in writing for 3 years as they don't want any Tom, Dick and Harry on their land nor payment from anyone else as I still carry the work during the dark of night.

So if anyone has any info on the DI or better contact details than their website I'd really like to get in touch with them

The whole set up smacks of topping fat cat pensions up by charging us stalkers to do what we love,
 
I'm no great fan or supporter of the D.I. Sean but I think that either somebody has been feeding you a whole load of guff about the D.I. and how it works, or else you have read some of the misinformation that has been written on this site in the past about the organisation. I would say that you appear to have jumped to one or two conclusions and consequently you seem to have formed some very strong views about the D.I. that are not entirely based on fact and differ from reality in several ways.

No doubt Peter Watson of the D. I. will turn up sooner or later to put his side of the story and attempt to put your mind at ease.
 
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"You have read some of the misinformation that has been written on this site." This prompted me to have a look. Four or five posts, apparently, the oldest of which is 2008 and the most recent around 2014 - so it's not as if big brother is beating us to death with stuff! I'll google Peter Watson of the DI and see if we need to take to our shelters.
I'm wondering if the DI and SNH - so many initials - are in cahoots?
 
Certainly Peter Watson now wears two hats as a director of the DI and a member of council with BASC.

David.
 
Well I did Google Peter Watson and the DI. I suggest you do the same. Old material. Old vision statements. Maybe they are beyond caring?
Lets hear it from the horses (or deers) mouth.
 
A friend of mine bought a farm in Devon and before I could get down there to have a look round, he told me there were Deer 'all over the place' he was visited by a local guy.
He was told that as he had some very old trees on his farm it was his duty by law to protect them from Deer damage and he was willing to carry out Deer control to prevent this.
He said he wouldn't charge but would remove any carcasses and may bring in a friend to help.
I was later told it was a member, or friend of a member, of the DI and that it was common practice to visit new landowners to advise on Deer control.
I did not follow this up as the distance would have meant I could not visit regularly but had no reason to disbelieve this practice takes place.
 
Kalahari said:
Certainly Peter Watson now wears two hats as a director of the DI and a member of council with BASC.

David.
Click to expand...

Yes I know David, I think that there is probably some sort of conflict of interest here also considering that Peter Watson was the BASC deer officer before he moved on to the D.I.
 
Firstly I'd say that you are being rather paranoid and making some rather sweeping and unfair accusations without real grounds or evidence?
You have also answered your own question to some extent. You claim to have a large amount of ground with a good amount of deer that you've managed for 16 years? Unless you are a deer farmer, I'd say that you have arguably managed that ground badly. The DI normally get invited to areas where there are too many deer and they are causing excessive impact on a landscape level. Local stalkers have undoubtedly lost ground over the years, but usually because they have been freezer filling deer stalkers or trophy hunters and not effective managers of deer.
Too many deer in an area will always attract interest from outside.
MS
 
As MS says don't over think it the DI are more inclined to help you out rather than upset an existing stalker, try emailing through there website Graham Rimmington your area stoke on Trent or Steve Griffiths I'm sure someone will get back to you and put your mind at ease hope you get sorted. Regards SDM
 
I am happy to answer any questions on what we are up to. Some of this thread is accurate. Firstly i was the first BASC Deer Officer back in the 90's and have been with the DI in various roles ever since. I am shortly due to step down as Exec Director and as part of my transition i did stand for BASC Council and have been elected. As I have said before on this forum i am happy to talk to anybody on this forum with either hat on jusyt phone me at the DI head office, or pm me on here and i will get back to you. DI does carry out a number of population surveys in project areas, the most recent helicopter survey was a daylight TI survey in the Elwy Valley in N Wales. The aim was twofold, to trial TI in daylight from a helicopter and secondly to try and identify the range of the fallow herd for some scientific research we hope to do later in the year. The trial lasted 3 hours and was in the main successful, the altitutude flown was in accordance with the regulations and shouldn't have caused alarm for stock, it certainly didn't spook the deer.The results will be fed back to the next Elwy Valley DMG meeting. I would encourage anybody that has stalking in that area to speak to Steve Griffiths for more detail, but as i said above if you are having problems getting in touch pm me and i will call you. I was at Rhug on the BASC/DI stand on the Saturday and Steve was there on the Sunday so I am sorry you weren't pointed in the right direction.
 
After 5 emails, more than a dozen telephone calls to the DI and not getting any responses or the calls been answered or called back it makes it terribly difficult to put my mind at ease. ! I will await a response from them if any response is forthcoming.

SDM said:
As MS says don't over think it the DI are more inclined to help you out rather than upset an existing stalker, try emailing through there website Graham Rimmington your area stoke on Trent or Steve Griffiths I'm sure someone will get back to you and put your mind at ease hope you get sorted. Regards SDM
Click to expand...
 
Sorry,but why are you waiting for a response from them,when the DI director has said you can phone or pm him ?
SeanStalk said:
After 5 emails, more than a dozen telephone calls to the DI and not getting any responses or the calls been answered or called back it makes it terribly difficult to put my mind at ease. ! I will await a response from them if any response is forthcoming.
Click to expand...
 
8x57 said:
I'm no great fan or supporter of the D.I. Sean but I think that either somebody has been feeding you a whole load of guff about the D.I. and how it works, or else you have read some of the misinformation that has been written on this site in the past about the organisation. I would say that you appear to have jumped to one or two conclusions and consequently you seem to have formed some very strong views about the D.I. that are not entirely based on fact and differ from reality in several ways.

No doubt Peter Watson of the D. I. will turn up sooner or later to put his side of the story and attempt to put your mind at ease.
Click to expand...

You'd need your head tested if you believed him
 
WHY ??

I run a business and always return calls and emails every minute of the day, i find it very frustrating when people can't or won't reply. It's called been courteous even if it's a No thanks not interested, so to me getting a reply from the DI would be a step forward on their behalf,

A lot of posts on on this thread have said they are ok and here to help us ! Let's see if I get a reply by email or phone call obviously the Director is now aware so I will await his response or Steve Griffiths response.
 
devon deer stalker said:
Just out of interest, DMG's, who sets them up?

And once this information is collated and supplied to the 'DMG' what is done with it?
Click to expand...

Devon Deer Stalker, there are no 'rules' about who can and who can't set up a DMG. I set one up in 2011/12, the North-Cotswolds DMG, and have had a lot of help from the DI, the Police, The Cotswolds Conservation Board, a manufacturer of optics (Zeiss) and Plantlife.
I have also had to deal with a lot of objections and opposition and criticism from a few established stalkers, (that is another story for another day) but on the whole it has been an interesting time and created some great opportunities, relationships with landowners and syndicates forming within the DMG - and that continues today.
The (North) Cotswolds DMG is no more, mainly as a result of a lack of volunteers for any tasks that didn't involve pulling a trigger.
So nothing will stop you from setting one up: Pick a name, find a few like-minded stalkers and/or landowners, and off you go! I can give you a few pointers as to what worked and what didn't, mistakes made, and how to 'regulate' or 'manage' such a DMG to become successful - PM me if you wish.
Good luck.
 
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