Venison prices, what does the future hold?

[Tyla 3,179]

I was chatting to my game dealer today and he says he will not be buying any carcasses this season unless something dramatic changes. From what I hear this is likely to be across the board with dealers either not buying or paying a pittance. A combination of brexit and corona lockdown seems to have hit the industry hard.

It will be interesting to see what affect this has on the deer populations, whether estates and private individuals will keep up with their cull numbers and what they will do with the carcasses.

What are your thoughts?

[Daniel cain 42,788]

Friends and family, Dog food.... 

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

Mine are given away or used as dog food at present.

[Tyla 3,179]

1 hour ago, Daniel cain said:

Friends and family, Dog food.... 

Some estates are culling 100s of deer a season just to maintain numbers. Without the venison money will they maintain the staff and facilities to continue I wonder?

I'm nowhere near those numbers but it does or did form a part of my income. 

Joe, your mate doesn't need to skin it for a game dealer, he would, in theory need a hunter number to sell it though 

[sussex 5,776]

Prices this year were through the floor , next year I see as even worse .Like anything it’s supply and demand and from talking to my dealer there has been a huge oversupply in the last couple of years . The market for venison has been growing on average 10% a year since 2016 , plans were put in place to increase the amount of imported farmed venison to meet this demand , and I don’t think that demand has dropped significantly just because of Covid 19 ..

Where I see a difference is in the amount of home produced wild venison , my dealer was inundated with carcasses .What,  all of a sudden causes that abundance ? has everyone just got lucky ?  , have the deer just been careless ?  ...my thoughts are that technology has been there downfall .Ive stalked deer for forty years , the last fifteen in a semi professional way , I was out normally four or five days a week culling fallow on a couple of estates in Sussex were the numbers were huge ..During that time I’ve taken out dozens of people , from professional stalkers to people who had never shot a deer so have a fairly good idea of people’s abilities .I now find myself talking to people that on past experience would be lucky (especially on there perms) to get one deer in three outings are now disappointed if they don’t get one or more per outing , the game changer to my mind is thermal ..

Whilst I’ve not gone down that route , mainly because I’m to old and ready to hang up my riffle ,I’ve seen the difference it can make .A pal of mine brought one out and the edge it gives the stalker is massive , places that you can stand and glass for ever with the finest optics money can buy and see nothing , yet flick over them with the thermal and you can see them clear as day  from two hundred or more metres away ...that’s a massive edge .All of a sudden you are making plans to stalk in on them  not only knowing they are there but know you can spot any others close by that you may welll have bumped and  that would have alerted them ..they are a massive advantage , I would be totally confident that had I used one over the last year I would have added at least another forty animals to my cull number ..Will the money you get for a carcass affect the numbers being shot ? Time will tell , but on my two places the fallow have to be kept in check so some provision will be needed to get rid of the venison wether it’s at rock bottom money to a dealer , given away or dog meat , maybe the import market will close and free up the wild demand , it then throws up the question of  costs and who picks the tab up .Fuel , transport , equipment ammo , coldroom etc etc all costs money .. 

 

The rights and wrongs or the sporting aspect of them I leave up to people’s desire or need to cull or kill .As a tool for the professional it’s a huge bit of kit , as an aid for the sporting stalker it’s a a huge bit of kit , as for the deer it’s a game changer .

 

 

[sussex 5,776]

5 hours ago, Daniel cain said:

Friends and family, Dog food.... 

The odd one or two DC no problem , it’s a different story when you have ten or more a week , you need cold storage especially in the warmer months , people of our oik don’t have a problem with a whole carcass , we can skin and butcher an animal to a sufficient level and pack it away .As most of the people I know who would want a whole animal are fairly apt at getting there own it leaves you with the ones that only want some if it’s cut up , vacuum packed and ready for the freezer .it then also leaves you with the bits that no one wants ( skin and bones)to get rid of , and that’s after you have had to hang the animal , skin it , butcher it and bag it , and if your not to careful deliver the bloody thing as well ..

On a small scale it works ok , any amount of animals it’s a whole different job , not to mention expensive and time consuming .

[Born Hunter 17,622]

Well if some of these deer managers in the Midlands that can't manage want to let me get stuck in they just have to click the PM button. 

[Tyla 3,179]

2 hours ago, Born Hunter said:

Well if some of these deer managers in the Midlands that can't manage want to let me get stuck in they just have to click the PM button. 

Getting them shot is the easy bit. The challenge for me is going to be finding an ethical and, ideally, financially viable way of using the carcasses

[leegreen 2,098]

17 hours ago, Tyla said:

I was chatting to my game dealer today and he says he will not be buying any carcasses this season unless something dramatic changes. From what I hear this is likely to be across the board with dealers either not buying or paying a pittance. A combination of brexit and corona lockdown seems to have hit the industry hard.

It will be interesting to see what affect this has on the deer populations, whether estates and private individuals will keep up with their cull numbers and what they will do with the carcasses.

What are your thoughts?

I'll take head shot Roe if you too many.

[Born Hunter 17,622]

26 minutes ago, Tyla said:

Getting them shot is the easy bit. The challenge for me is going to be finding an ethical and, ideally, financially viable way of using the carcasses

I don't just shoot them and leave them mate. I know it's small fry but I reckon I could personally consume over 20 deer a year, before I start giving them away. My point is all I ever hear is stalking rights being stitched up by a select few. It's by far the hardest field sport to crack and yet the country is hoofing with deer.

[Tyla 3,179]

15 minutes ago, Born Hunter said:

I don't just shoot them and leave them mate. I know it's small fry but I reckon I could personally consume over 20 deer a year, before I start giving them away. My point is all I ever hear is stalking rights being stitched up by a select few. It's by far the hardest field sport to crack and yet the country is hoofing with deer.

I wasnt suggesting you did. The question is what happens when you have to shoot many times more than you can consume. I also work less during the season to free up time so I can keep up with my cull. The meat money doesn't cover it but it certainly helps. 

You could call it stitched up or you could call it managed in a way the land owner wants. Having lots of stalkers on one estate shooting a few each for the freezer sounds great but its a logistical nightmare.

[leegreen 2,098]

19 minutes ago, Born Hunter said:

I reckon I could personally consume over 20 deer a year, before I start giving them away

You must eat it every day?

[Born Hunter 17,622]

2 minutes ago, Tyla said:

I wasnt suggesting you did. The question is what happens when you have to shoot many times more than you can consume. I also work less during the season to free up time so I can keep up with my cull. The meat money doesn't cover it but it certainly helps. 

You could call it stitched up or you could call it managed in a way the land owner wants. Having lots of stalkers on one estate shooting a few each for the freezer sounds great but its a logistical nightmare.

Yeah I get that. I just think that there's a solution to this 'problem' if the old guard would be willing to let their control go. And I do think that is the main issue here, a bunch of players that are established figures who guard their assets and landowners who go down the path of least resistance. It's basic capitalism really. Let me just make one thing clear, I'm absolutely not saying it's wrong! I'm green with envy! LOL. I just can't get on board with the idea that there's not a solution when there's lads that want to get stuck in and lads that have too much to get stuck in to, ya know. I know I know you're all gonna tell me how cowboys will f**k the job. hmm I'm sure if we really wanted to we could do better...

I mean, yeah it's a shit one for chaps like yourselves who've done alright under the old way where the carcasses had decent value.

16 minutes ago, leegreen said:

You must eat it every day?

I would if I could. When the deer had money the estate that I do a bit on would send them to the dealer and I'd take the odd one, that was the informal deal and I was/am incredibly grateful. Now they don't the estate is just happy if the dealer takes them and I'll take whatever I can. I'd take every animal I shot gladly and I'll shoot half a dozen at a time. It's no great hardship to process them and getting shitty and beat up is what's enjoyable about hunting bigger stuff. Right?

[Tyla 3,179]

1 hour ago, Born Hunter said:

Yeah I get that. I just think that there's a solution to this 'problem' if the old guard would be willing to let their control go. And I do think that is the main issue here, a bunch of players that are established figures who guard their assets and landowners who go down the path of least resistance. It's basic capitalism really. Let me just make one thing clear, I'm absolutely not saying it's wrong! I'm green with envy! LOL. I just can't get on board with the idea that there's not a solution when there's lads that want to get stuck in and lads that have too much to get stuck in to, ya know. I know I know you're all gonna tell me how cowboys will f**k the job. hmm I'm sure if we really wanted to we could do better...

I mean, yeah it's a shit one for chaps like yourselves who've done alright under the old way where the carcasses had decent value.

I would if I could. When the deer had money the estate that I do a bit on would send them to the dealer and I'd take the odd one, that was the informal deal and I was/am incredibly grateful. Now they don't the estate is just happy if the dealer takes them and I'll take whatever I can. I'd take every animal I shot gladly and I'll shoot half a dozen at a time. It's no great hardship to process them and getting shitty and beat up is what's enjoyable about hunting bigger stuff. Right?

The problem is that the 'old guard' are actually the land owners rather than the stalkers. They own the land and they don't want everybody on it. I've spent years working towards getting my stalking partner accepted onto the estae I manage. There are plenty of times they don't even want me there. If they could manage the deer without having anyone on at all they certainly would.

[Born Hunter 17,622]

9 minutes ago, Tyla said:

The problem is that the 'old guard' are actually the land owners rather than the stalkers. They own the land and they don't want everybody on it. I've spent years working towards getting my stalking partner accepted onto the estae I manage. There are plenty of times they don't even want me there. If they could manage the deer without having anyone on at all they certainly would.

My comments were general cultural ones, mate, I'm not suggesting that it applies to you or anyone specific. I know how hard permission can be to come by, I'm sick of hearing about 'the old boy who does the deer' on the few scraps of land that hold any round here. The problem you've highlighted is one that the whole community seems to be going through. The only people flourishing seem to be the ones who have removed the middle man and supply the public directly, taking advantage of this wave of folks who are looking for local producers caused by the CV pandemic. Almost across the board small scale food businesses have exploded.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Born Hunter