Deer Stalking

muppet

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Dorset

• Jun 20, 2016

• #1

I'm looking for a bit of advice as to how it normally works as I know nothing about stalking and I feel that the income is not what it should be.

So the situation here is this; farm (Dorset) is made up of 1,500 acres - mostly arable, with 300 acres broadleaf woodland and PP. Good population of roe and sika, including some trophy stags. Currently have a guy who comes out and the arangement is quite casual. He does some culling and also takes clients. In terms of money, we get paid for carcasses (spreadsheet emailed through, but not settled up yet).

Should I be getting an annual(?) fee for the stalking rights, killing fee etc, or does the above sound about right?

Thank you!!

 

Nick.

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Kenilworth

• Jun 20, 2016

• #2

There's definitely money to be made. If he's charging clients I'd have said it's only right for you to be making money too.
Bear in mind he could be charging around the £100 an outing.
A sign of good management is if the 'heads' are improving.

 

Pieces_of_Eight

Member

• Jun 20, 2016

• #3

Dorset is always well up the list for Roebuck medals.

http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/features/english-and-welsh-roe-heads-review-2014-42467

An agent would tell you what the stalking is worth, but that value depends on the culling being consistently carried out to a high standard over a long period of time.

I'm not sure what acreage of lowland would justify a professional stalker on an employed basis.

Do you know the five year average of culls & medal trophies?

 

joe soapy

Member

Location

devon

• Jun 20, 2016

• #4

Hmm, some of the stalking tyro's will want you to pay you for keeping the deer under control.
First off inspect their FAC, then see their insurance and only on premises when notified.
Money, rough guide, 10% of value of their transport per year

 

Farmer Bill

Member

Location

Dorset

• Jun 20, 2016

• #5

I think you should be charging more.
I was offered £3 an acre, we are arable with a little woodland, only roe nothing special

 

Brisel

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Midlands

• Jun 20, 2016

• #6

Do you want income or someone to do pest control? We have a professional stalker here with an annual quota but that needs to be increased as he is only taking the trophy animals, not keeping the numbers of roe down. Unfortunately, his deal was done with a handshake with a long dead owner so we're having troubles getting him to actually do something about the numbers which are increasing every year. The local main road seems to be the most effective control method at the moment

 

U

uztrac

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

fakenham-norfolk

• Jun 20, 2016

• #7

Please do it correctly,contact The British Deer Society they will give you all the guidance & advice necessary to make it a profitable enterprise for your estate.

 

joe soapy

Member

Location

devon

• Jun 20, 2016

• #8

Only do a deal with a cast iron getout clause.
Here we insist on vehicle being parked in designated area so we know who is about

 

Vizslaman

Member

Location

Hampshire

• Jun 20, 2016

• #9

As previously stated The BDS will give advice.
On the open market you could easily get £3.50 + per acre.
Back when deer stalking was not so popular I worked on a 50/50 split with the estate 1 carcass for the estate which was either butchered and returned to the house or delivered to the nominated game dealer, then 1 carcass for me.

 

Barleycorn

Member

BASE UK Member

Location

Hampshire

• Jun 20, 2016

• #10

Give this chap a ring, very professional outfit, and not that far away.
http://www.jelendeer.com

 

Vizslaman

Member

Location

Hampshire

• Jun 20, 2016

• #11

@Brisel the answer to controlling deer numbers is the annual doe cull, though for a professional stalker that does not bring in the same revenue as taking out a paying guest to get a nice trophy.
But he should still be able to get enough clients willing to pay for the chance to assist with a doe cull.

 

MrNoo

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Cirencester

• Jun 20, 2016

• #12

Have a chap here, lets me know whenever he plans on going out and where, another pair of eyes about the place. I dont charge him (we dont have a huge population, mainly Roes and Fallow) keeps the numbers in check and looks after the dominant males until they get too old by which time he has a replacement to follow on in their footsteps.
All I ask is occasionally for the saddle as like venison from time to time. But like I said he doesn't shoot vast numbers but I dont mind him knocking the Fallow about when they come on our patch as they do an immense amount of damage.

 

I

Irish Bob

Member

• Jun 20, 2016

• #13

BDS or Jan Andrews.

You want an effective management policy and a fair payment in return. You don't want someone who is taking all of the medal heads just to make money.

 

I

Irish Bob

Member

• Jun 20, 2016

• #14

http://www.deerdata.co.uk

 

Longlowdog

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Aberdeenshire

• Jun 20, 2016

• #15

There is money in stalking ground. There are a great number of folk paying by the acre for recreational stalking. I know of guys paying £600 a year to be part of an 8 man syndicate on 400 acre of conifers.... Professional stalkers tend to be land and bone collectors. It gives them bragging rights at deer management meetings and the cream commands big trophy fees (Royal and bigger red stags £100 per point). It certainly does not mean they have the land owners best interests at heart. It's common to knock recreational stalkers as noddies or newbs but someone fresh from B.D.S training course is more than likely to throw themselves into the genuine management of the deer population. They are probably more reticent about taking borderline safe shots as well.Further more you can talk to them about what you'd like rather than them trying to tell you they know better than you and 'leave it to me I do this over 30k acres'....
As an aside... I've been involved in deer management for 25 years and my wife and I have a nice little laugh when stalkers knock our door looking for stalking ground and we pretend we don't know about it. Some of the bulldip we've heard is priceless, best was 'if you're worried about the noise we can use a really quiet calibre like .22 rimfire, you'll never know we're here'.

 

muppet

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Dorset

• Jun 21, 2016

• #16

Thank you for all of the comments, especially for the Pms. Not had a chance to read through them yet as was involved in an rta yesterday (all ok). I'll do a proper reply tomorrow, but didn't want everyone to think I was just ignoring them! Ta

 

S

sidjon

Member

Location

EXMOOR

• Jun 22, 2016

• #17

We can't give ours away ,currently 130ish reds in and around 15 roe any takers. ....

 

J

jellybean

Member

Location

N.Devon

• Jun 22, 2016

• #18

sidjon said:

We can't give ours away ,currently 130ish reds in and around 15 roe any takers. ....

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I can make a decent living from 130 reds! Unfortunately there is a huge difference in price between farmed venison and wild.

 

Brisel

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Midlands

• Jun 22, 2016

• #19

muppet said:

Thank you for all of the comments, especially for the Pms. Not had a chance to read through them yet as was involved in an rta yesterday (all ok). I'll do a proper reply tomorrow, but didn't want everyone to think I was just ignoring them! Ta

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Hope you're all ok & the only hassle is the insurance claim.

 

Jerry

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

Devon

• Jun 22, 2016

• #20

sidjon said:

We can't give ours away ,currently 130ish reds in and around 15 roe any takers. ....

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Which bit of Exmoor, I might be interested with a friend.