Would any of you be kind enough to help me out with hints, tips or contacts on how to find private stalking / deer management oppertunities in the UK? I'm a highly qualified and experienced deer manager in Southern England but have always been reluctant to approach landowners so would be greatful for any help.

UK reloader,

There are a few different ways, but by far the best is the "friend of a friend" route. If you're from down South you might be lucky enough to live in deer country (i am in North Wales, bugger all deer here!)and its just a case of networking...usually once you pick up one bit of ground, others follow if you have a decent reputation.

Another way is just doing blind cold calling. A few years back I used the Net and the small ads in Shooting Times to get telephones numbers of keepers and estates and just cold called. After a couple of weeks of rejections, I dropped lucky and got about 1500 acres of roe stalking..

Our present stalking stemmed from buying a days roe dow stalking in a BASC auction and the guy donating it happening to have some room in his syndicate.

One thing I would advise is getting your self a Sporting/ stalking CV prepared along with a couple of references. This looks professional and provides landowners with something tangiable to keep you in mind.

Finally there is another way which seems to becomming far too common. You can get friendly with someone and get the low down on their stalking. You then stab them in the back by either waving fistfulls of cash at the landowner, or by spreading dirty rumours about the incumbent stalker or a combination/variation of these.. My syndicate has been a victem of this by two people who were members at the time...and I always thought that people who participated in country sports tended to be more honourable than your average person

regards,

Pete

You have to go face to face

Best time is late after you've finished in the evening.

Make sure you're dressed as you would be for stalking. They'll be wanting to see you know about rifle security and weapon handling so don't leave your rifle in the car take it to the door step with you.

Insurance is for those who have accidents - show them insurance and they'll think you're going to have an accident.

Make sure you agree access procedures. I generaly like my landowners to call me if they are going to venture on to their land.

I've discovered that I am an intensely paranoid and jealous individual when it comes to this subject

Have you just moved? - I'm presuming you must have had land to become a highly experienced deer manager. Should you live many miles away from me I may become more rational.

[ 10-02-2003, 15:46: Message edited by: 1894 ]