Venison or Cheap Pork...

[nun_hunter]

Interesting point. In many cases those offering the stalk want to charge additionally for the carcass, and it rather grates when you have paid a few hundred quid already to shoot the animal and then being asked for another - often above game dealer rates to the carcass.

A lot of recreational stalkers don’t have the facilities to take home a beast. Or feel that they don’t have. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility to skin out a carcass and then quarter. And in the Best Practice Guides, DSC1 and 2 type training there needs to be an appreciation of how to take the beast from field to table, not just field to dealer.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube of how to butcher any kind of animal but if you have no interest or ability to do so then why are they choosing to kill a deer Vs another form of shooting hobby? We're all happy to denounce the rich folk who go and shoot a load of pheasants and dont take a single bird home yet for a deer stalker it's ok?

If the price game dealers are offering keeps dropping then it won't be possible to afford to run a chiller to store deer and have them collected so possibly they'll have to give the carcass to the stalker or still charge them for disposal.

 

[Hambone]

I would like to see a return to smaller scale abattoirs and butchers but unless it becomes profitable it just is not going to happen. The video in the OP does not look good but how many hours of film did the makers trawl through to get the footage they wanted from these "hidden cameras" or is that routine for every batch of pigs?

 

[sauer]

red deer from an online butcher
Farmed red £74/kg

They used to advertise roe loin at over £100/kg!

Crazy prices !
Doing a sideline hunters exemption EHO approved is one thing but the jump up to AGHE is a whole other undertaking !

Paul

 

[Bo Diddley]

I would like to see a return to smaller scale abattoirs

I don't think that is feasible with the requirement of an on-site inspector/vet

 

[Hambone]

I don't think that is feasible with the requirement of an on-site inspector/vet

"I would like to see a return to smaller scale abattoirs and butchers but unless it becomes profitable it just is not going to happen."
The full sentence.

 

[Subsistence]

There are plenty of videos on YouTube of how to butcher any kind of animal but if you have no interest or ability to do so then why are they choosing to kill a deer Vs another form of shooting hobby? We're all happy to denounce the rich folk who go and shoot a load of pheasants and dont take a single bird home yet for a deer stalker it's ok?

If the price game dealers are offering keeps dropping then it won't be possible to afford to run a chiller to store deer and have them collected so possibly they'll have to give the carcass to the stalker or still charge them for disposal.

New to stalking, but absolutely in it for the meat. Went on my first paid stalk recently, unfortunately didn't manage to get a beast for the freezer, though I carefully chose my guide as one that allowed you to keep the carcass at no extra fee.

Learnt a fair bit and had a good day out as well.

Now knowing that I had missed out on the meat and the learning/experience of dealing with a carcass, I contacted a local stalker and bought a carcass off them. Watched a couple of videos and went at it. Do I have a load of kit, he'll no. Just a knife and a willing to have a go and learn from my mistakes.


Ended up with a good amount of meat for the freezer and a bit more knowledge and experience. We'll worth the £35 I paid for the carcass.



Subsistence.

 

[Woodenbeam]

I don't think that is feasible with the requirement of an on-site inspector/vet

On site vet shouldn’t be a requirement. Good stockman who are of a professional manner are all that should be required.

 

[Twodogs]

Just think how food banks could be supplied! That would change perspectives!
I offered prepped rabbit to one a few years ago.
But they won't take fresh meat
FFS...

There are very good reasons why Foodbank’s will not take fresh meat, logistics, H&S, costs etc.
They don’t take any fresh produce, well at least not the one Mrs TD manages.

 

[BenBhoy]

I don't think that is feasible with the requirement of an on-site inspector/vet

Not the case mate. They are few & far between sadly but all our lamb is killed in a small butchers which has a license. Only kill on Mondays & always a vet present. It can be done but it's a lot of red tape for them & they are constantly threatening they're going to stop as it hardly worth hassle.

 

[Bo Diddley]

Not the case mate. They are few & far between sadly but all our lamb is killed in a small butchers which has a license. Only kill on Mondays & always a vet present. It can be done but it's a lot of red tape for them & they are constantly threatening they're going to stop as it hardly worth hassle.

That's brilliant news then, I thought it would only be the big outfits that could manage to achieve this. Thanks for the info.

 

[shakey jake]

im amazed anyone eats store bought chicken, that stuff is awful. i looked after an egg unit that the eggs went on to be food chickens, the sheds stunk of ammonia, adult birds never saw the light of day. the chicks then get eaten at 5 weeks old!
from a science point of view its amazing getting from an egg to obese bird that quickly. it is maybe justifiable in a poverty stricken country, bit not to be turned into kfc.
the entire industry should be rethought, meat should be expensive.
i wont eat chicken, the idea seems wrong to me now

 

[nic531]

The whole meat industry in the western world is a joke.
Mr and Mrs average with their 2.4 kids only worry about the cost of their food..... (well not really or they would all be cooking rather than eating processed and preprepared junk shite in cellophane). They do not think past the fact that they have bought it, that it comes ready wrapped and they have no idea or care about the process it took to be placed on their plate.

I am not innocent, I do buy meat occasionally, usually I get the top of the range choice if available or from a local butcher preferred as and when the money allows. The lack of taste in the cheaper supermarket meat is absolutely appalling.

Mostly though I eat pheasant, venison, duck goose pigeon etc that I have either shot or been involved in the shooting of. (I beat and do the game cart on one shoot 40+ days per year). I have grown on my own pigs to slaughter but not for the last 7 years. I keep a flock of chickens for eggs.

I think that the shooting organisations should be pushing far more about the difference in quality between 'wild' food and the store garbage that is fed to the masses. If more wanted the wild food then there would be more uproar if the supply was disturbed.

All shooters should start emailing all of the bigger supermarkets asking them to start stocking UK venison and asking why the cost is so high when the going rate at source is so low & why they stock imported when we have a population problem of deer in this country..... why do they not stock fresher pheasant (Hung too long tastes like shite to me), why hardly any have pigeon or rabbit.

also ask your local MP why so much imported venison allowed when we have this issue which we then have to pay to sort!

 

[BenBhoy]

That's brilliant news then, I thought it would only be the big outfits that could manage to achieve this. Thanks for the info.

They even take private kills, so Mrs Jones who rears a cade lamb can get just that one professionally slaughtered & vac packed.

 

[Heym SR20]

"I would like to see a return to smaller scale abattoirs and butchers but unless it becomes profitable it just is not going to happen."
The full sentence.

A lot of the challenges with small abbattoirs is down to clipboard warriors have an intractable view on the regulations. Rather than taking the EU directives as guidance, we took these as hard lines and enshrined them in gold plated clip boards.

Local butchers abattoir where I grew up closed because the internal walls whilst fully cleanable, hygienic etc where about 5cm too low, thus the ceiling was 5cm too low, and the inspectors refused to pass it. Cost of raising ceiling etc was prohibitive so butcher, sold the site and its now a block of flats.

Throughout Europe there are lots of little butchers, food producers etc all doing very well. For example near Padderborn there is a gentleman who has a successful little enterprise for all local hunters. He has a larder and butchery at his house (garage and garden shed) and for about €100 he will take a large wild boar or deer and turn it into over ready vacuum packed joints. He also produce lots of sausage, bratwurst and hams, and sells these direct to consumers. It’s all done and signed off by local authorities. And he is just one of several.

I suspect in the UK the authorities would spit their dummies out and locals would complain about hunters dropping off boar at all times of night and day.