Why so many ?

[Demetrius]

There's no cost comparison between a packaged steak and the venison equivalent..........no one had to feed and rear the deer.
Someone simply shot it, gutted it, possibly skinned it, and handed it over to the game dealer.
Shot wild rabbits, skinned and gutted, are £15 a pair here.

D

 

[Demetrius]

Who's Jeremy Corby?

D

 

[kevtherev]

One thing I think is contributing to more deer is the reduction in livestock on farm and the reduction in farming in general.
Lots of new woodland planting been undertaken so more habitat for them.
Lots more in this area compared to 50yrs ago.
SFI instead of cropping providing more cover and less disturbance.

 

[Cranborne]

One thing I think is contributing to more deer is the reduction in livestock on farm and the reduction in farming in general.
Lots of new woodland planting been undertaken so more habitat for them.
Lots more in this area compared to 50yrs ago.
SFI instead of cropping providing more cover and less disturbance.

I agree. A lot of roe kids used to be killed when grass was being mowed for hay or silage. The reduction in livestock has meant more land is used for arable; the crops are typically harvested later, and provide greater protection from predators in the early months of a roe's life

 

[Tim.243]

Who's Jeremy Corby?

D

Corby's = Jeremy Corbyn

Or Citizen Smith

 

[Bo Diddley]

Bo Diddley said: "Prices for a carcass at the game dealer makes it not very financially rewarding...." Really??

Not if you've seen the prices charged for venison generally in supermarkets, and some of the "boutique" farm shops and market stalls down here near the south coast...someone is being rewarded financially forsure.

D.

Not the stalker taking a carcass into the dealers isn't.
If you can process and sell, that's a slightly better prospect, but that involves much red tape and not inconsiderable costs. Look at the threads on this site about it all.
Put it this way, 35 years ago, I could knock over a few Roe and run them into the game dealer in the next village and get £35 for a good sized beast, a days wages for at the time a chippy was also £30 - £35, and anyone could take deer into the dealers, you didn't need DSC1 & DSC2 bollocks, nobody died eating it either... fast forward to 2025 and you still get £30 on average for a Roe but a chippies wages are about £200 - £250 a day in Norfolk.
Supermarkets screw everyone over that supplies them, it's a David & Goliath situation.
A small section of society can always afford boutique prices for average goods... again look at some old Harry Enfield sketches on Youtube, he had the situation summed up years ago.

 

[Tim.243]

One thing I think is contributing to more deer is the reduction in livestock on farm and the reduction in farming in general.
Lots of new woodland planting been undertaken so more habitat for them.
Lots more in this area compared to 50yrs ago.
SFI instead of cropping providing more cover and less disturbance.

Yes but you can't eat trees or wild bird mix, and if you want to import it you need have trade to pay for it.


In the UK, milling wheat primarily produces flour, which is used in a wide range of food products. Flour is a versatile ingredient used in bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, cakes, biscuits, and many other foods. Approximately 85% of the flour consumed in the UK is milled from homegrown wheat.

Barley makes animal feed or beer

Rape has lots of uses.

 

[mudman]

Cash

 

[kevtherev]

Yes but you can't eat trees or wild bird mix, and if you want to import it you need have trade to pay for it.


In the UK, milling wheat primarily produces flour, which is used in a wide range of food products. Flour is a versatile ingredient used in bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, cakes, biscuits, and many other foods. Approximately 85% of the flour consumed in the UK is milled from homegrown wheat.

Barley makes animal feed or beer

Rape has lots of uses.

Definitely can’t eat trees I agree.
Very aware of crops and their uses I’ve ploughed and sown hundreds of acres of cereals and grass.
Deer don’t tend to like grazing where sheep and cattle are (in high stocking densities)
The deer on one of our farms don’t tend to graze where the suckler cows graze only tending to pass through and graze silage and hay ground in the evenings.
Same on all the estate farms I do work on the deer tend to favour the fields with no stock on.

 

[kevtherev]

 

[Tim.243]

Definitely can’t eat trees I agree.
Very aware of crops and their uses I’ve ploughed and sown hundreds of acres of cereals and grass.
Deer don’t tend to like grazing where sheep and cattle are (in high stocking densities)
The deer on one of our farms don’t tend to graze where the suckler cows graze only tending to pass through and graze silage and hay ground in the evenings.
Same on all the estate farms I do work on the deer tend to favour the fields with no stock on.

Also agree 100% Yes deer don't like sheep fields from what I have seen, but here were have pockets of cattle also sheep but the tractors and machinery they pull out number the livestock.
In WW2 the War Agg Dept made people pull up every scrap of ground to feed the nation! These days plant trees and wild bird mix lol
I grew up playing on farms these days fix and make parts for the ground I run around making grenades from wheat stubble throwing them and each other lol


Verdstat tines grafted on Simba


I have a lot of time for this man PX Farms

 

[bottletopbill]

Jagdmatch head them down the A21 to paddock wood area i don't mind.

 

[bottletopbill]

Now i know deer do not like sheep fields that explains why i have only seen roe once in fifteen years.

 

[ABL]

View attachment 421414
These appeared on a small bit of ground I shoot on 29th April. Not seen before and I am out a lot. All yearlings. I actually think now there are two main issues, night shooting moving deer around more ( I do not disagree with night shooting but Natural England should be taken to task in relation to to their approach) and probably more pertinent is the amount of house building having a significant impact on the land are that the deer had inhabited.
On the other hand a farm that was cereal production has changed to sheep grazing and the number of fallow seen and shot has declined although this may be due to other stalkers. I have been shooting deer for around 30 years in the Weald the numbers have steadily increased over that time.

What’s Natural England doing on night shooting?

 

[Chris Richardson]

in response to the OP i shoot some large acreages taking a lot of deer every year , youd think that would reduce numbers wouldnt you? sadly not as theres several neighbours who do zero deer management or theres an " old boy 2 who comes once every 6 months to take one " ( always an old boy isnt it ?) bets you can do in these situations is cull as much as you can as you have no influence on neighbouring land as long as deer have these safe havens its an ongoing battle

 

[Donkey Basher]

I've been shooting a while now and have experience of shooting for pot and pest control, but one thing I don't understand yet is why do some shoot so many deer?

I appreciate the conservation and control reason, also the commercial aspect, perhaps even the meat aspect, but is it that land owners are seeking total eradication ? Some folk talk of going out 4 or 5 times a week.

I might hit the bunnies on my permission every other week for a couple of hours but I get to double figures and think that's probably enough. Same with pheasant shooting - I'll take a few brace but stop after that. Only exception are rats and greys. Not saying that's right or wrong just how I do it.

I'm not trying to be smart or criticise, I'm just keep to know more!

I don’t wish to appear rude but as you live in West Sussex I am more than a little surprised that you’re asking the question.

Back in the 90s/00s I was part of a management team that looked after the deer numbers on around 7000 acres on the south side of the downs. We were mainly shooting roe with a few fallow thrown in, probably at a ratio of 1 fallow for every 5 roe or thereabouts. Roll on five years & the numbers were around 1:1, a few years later we were shooting 5 fallow for every roe & then stopped shooting roe because numbers had dropped & fallow numbers had increased. Then along came muntjac too. I don’t stalk that estate now as I’ve got ground a lot more local to me but my friends still manage it - they’re now on a night licence as fallow numbers have continued to grow.

We have a lot of fallow where I am now & in the later part of the doe season, & more annoyingly once it’s finished, it’s common to see 100+ fallow, mostly does, in herds out in the arable fields. This despite a very concerted effort to try & keep their numbers down. Assume that 80 of the 100 are does & 80% will be pregnant, in May that means another 64 newborn fallow. Assume 50:50 male to female & a 20% mortality rate for the newborns & come the rut you have a breeding herd that is 32.5% bigger than it was when you originally saw that herd of 100. In other words you’ve got to get out & shoot 26 does just to keep the numbers the same as they were the previous year.

As for Muntjac, they breed continually & no matter how hard we hit them their numbers don’t seem to reduce!

Personally I don’t shoot large numbers of roe, we have a healthy population & I focus on taking out a mix of mature does plus yearlings in February/March & a few yearling bucks in April.

Hope that helps to answer your question

 

[bottletopbill]

Why blame a old boy i am 68 and out 2 or 3 times per week but F A on my permission but i still go out.
Been trying to get perm in west Sussex as my son in law lives there but so many anti land owners

 

[Chris Richardson]

Why blame a old boy i am 68 and out 2 or 3 times per week but F A on my permission but i still go out.
Been trying to get perm in west Sussex as my son in law lives there but so many anti land owners

just speaking as i find bill i know for a fact a large block of land bordering a block of my own isnt stalked more than once every couple of months , absolutely bouncing with muntjac the old boy who goes on there just wants to take one for the freezer once every couple of months , does nothing to stop increasing deer numbers ,

 

[kevtherev]

Also there are a number of land owners who will not allow shooting of any kind be it fox or deer.
They know where they are safe.

 

[nun_hunter]

just speaking as i find bill i know for a fact a large block of land bordering a block of my own isnt stalked more than once every couple of months , absolutely bouncing with muntjac the old boy who goes on there just wants to take one for the freezer once every couple of months , does nothing to stop increasing deer numbers ,

When you live in the UK and an "Englishman's home is his castle" means all land is pretty much private and so people can do with it as they please means you'll never get joined up environmental management like you do in the countries founded by those who left the UK.