Game prices

[Benthejockey]

Increase my figures to suit then. £40k processing fees and £45k profit. There's money to be made somewhere. I freely admit my prices are just back of a fag packet maths but with the right person steering the ship there should be no reason why it couldn't become a successful way to deal with large quantities of game.

 

Doing away with big bag days won't change the game market. Yes a few thousand less birds will be available for consumption but those birds are a by product. The money the carcasses raise is extra. The shoot would survive and continue to thrive shooting large bags because the money is already in the bank before the first gun let's a shot off.

The people that go for huge days and spend vast sums of money to go on prestigious days it's not really about shooting it's about the prestige and the day out. They could be shooting starlings as long as it ticked all the right social boxes. And that's not a criticism, if I had the time and money then why not spend a few grand and have a nice day out with your friends and be guaranteed lots of shooting and a good day?

In reality it is probably cheaper for the shoot to have a big pit and just dump the carcasses. They wouldn't have to worry about food hygiene or electricity for the chillers or diesel to take the carcasses to the game dealer. The game meat industry needs a marketing minded champion that will invest time and money in making what is to the majority of people an unknown commodity. And unless they adopt some sort of change to make game more appealing to Tom, **** and Harry then slowly but surely the industry will wither and die. And that would be a very sorry state to be in.

You only have to look at every day life - I've sat in Shrewsbury today and watched the world go by and it's a fast changing world. I was the odd one sat in town in my jeans and work jumper. It's trendy to have jeans that don't reach your ankles and wear shoes with no sock. Having your septum pierced like an old bull is very much in. And every other shop is vegan. If we don't stand up for ourselves as people that like to bath and eat meat then in 10 years we're going to be the weirdo outsiders. If every one else with some sort of axe to grind can shout and scream and make themselves heard why can't we? For god sake Jeremy Vine was having debate today about why a lesbian celebrity on strictly has to dance with a man rather than a woman because the LGBT community is up in arms about her having to dance with a man despite her not giving a flying **** about it! If they can make such a fuss about that then why do we as a community of like minded individuals that enjoy producing a very healthy and very tasty product allow ourselves to be hidden away as a dirty little secret or a hobby for the elite rather than championing our produce and doing something to bring it to a wider audience?

[scotslad]

Well said Ben, even in quite rural towns things are changing fast its no longer the norm for kids at school to have ferrets.

Its surprising the amount of meat eaters that can't eat meat that looks like an animal. Just bonkers

 

Shooters themselves need to get over the whole big bag thing, I could never afford or justify it but if someone else has more money than sense not my problem and atleast the money is coming into rural areas.

Plus with the big bags I generally get as many birds I want and usually have a chest freezer filled by season end, I think its great free meat!!

 

Some marketing genius I 'm could turn tis around quite easily as long as the price comes down

 

But even as shooters if we all try to introduce game to a few of ur mates/work collegues etc all helps introducing them to game and making it more mainstream

[ips]

Increase my figures to suit then. £40k processing fees and £45k profit. There's money to be made somewhere. I freely admit my prices are just back of a fag packet maths but with the right person steering the ship there should be no reason why it couldn't become a successful way to deal with large quantities of game.

 

Doing away with big bag days won't change the game market. Yes a few thousand less birds will be available for consumption but those birds are a by product. The money the carcasses raise is extra. The shoot would survive and continue to thrive shooting large bags because the money is already in the bank before the first gun let's a shot off.

The people that go for huge days and spend vast sums of money to go on prestigious days it's not really about shooting it's about the prestige and the day out. They could be shooting starlings as long as it ticked all the right social boxes. And that's not a criticism, if I had the time and money then why not spend a few grand and have a nice day out with your friends and be guaranteed lots of shooting and a good day?

In reality it is probably cheaper for the shoot to have a big pit and just dump the carcasses. They wouldn't have to worry about food hygiene or electricity for the chillers or diesel to take the carcasses to the game dealer. The game meat industry needs a marketing minded champion that will invest time and money in making what is to the majority of people an unknown commodity. And unless they adopt some sort of change to make game more appealing to Tom, **** and Harry then slowly but surely the industry will wither and die. And that would be a very sorry state to be in.

You only have to look at every day life - I've sat in Shrewsbury today and watched the world go by and it's a fast changing world. I was the odd one sat in town in my jeans and work jumper. It's trendy to have jeans that don't reach your ankles and wear shoes with no sock. Having your septum pierced like an old bull is very much in. And every other shop is vegan. If we don't stand up for ourselves as people that like to bath and eat meat then in 10 years we're going to be the weirdo outsiders. If every one else with some sort of axe to grind can shout and scream and make themselves heard why can't we? For god sake Jeremy Vine was having debate today about why a lesbian celebrity on strictly has to dance with a man rather than a woman because the LGBT community is up in arms about her having to dance with a man despite her not giving a flying **** about it! If they can make such a fuss about that then why do we as a community of like minded individuals that enjoy producing a very healthy and very tasty product allow ourselves to be hidden away as a dirty little secret or a hobby for the elite rather than championing our produce and doing something to bring it to a wider audience?

Well said that man 👍

[sako751sg]

Well said Ben, even in quite rural towns things are changing fast its no longer the norm for kids at school to have ferrets.

Its surprising the amount of meat eaters that can't eat meat that looks like an animal. Just bonkers

 

Shooters themselves need to get over the whole big bag thing, I could never afford or justify it but if someone else has more money than sense not my problem and atleast the money is coming into rural areas.

Plus with the big bags I generally get as many birds I want and usually have a chest freezer filled by season end, I think its great free meat!!

 

Some marketing genius I 'm could turn tis around quite easily as long as the price comes down

 

But even as shooters if we all try to introduce game to a few of ur mates/work collegues etc all helps introducing them to game and making it more mainstream

 

So,because someone can afford to shoot big bag days they have more money than sense??

 

The "more money than sense" quote is one of the most mis-used of them all.

[Penelope]

Those that have the money, generally have the 'sense' to make it in the first place.

 

 

So,because someone can afford to shoot big bag days they have more money than sense??

 

The "more money than sense" quote is one of the most mis-used of them all.

[Old farrier]

Well said Ben, even in quite rural towns things are changing fast its no longer the norm for kids at school to have ferrets.

Its surprising the amount of meat eaters that can't eat meat that looks like an animal. Just bonkers

 

Shooters themselves need to get over the whole big bag thing, I could never afford or justify it but if someone else has more money than sense not my problem and atleast the money is coming into rural areas.

Plus with the big bags I generally get as many birds I want and usually have a chest freezer filled by season end, I think its great free meat!!

 

Some marketing genius I 'm could turn tis around quite easily as long as the price comes down

 

But even as shooters if we all try to introduce game to a few of ur mates/work collegues etc all helps introducing them to game and making it more mainstream

Perhaps the more money than sense client on a big commercial shoot decides that he wants to spend his money on a rural economy

Employing

Keepers

Beaters

Picker ups

Dog men

Caterers

Contractors

Machinery salesman

Hardware suppliers

Game farms

Cartridge suppliers

Local hotels and pubs/reasturants

The list goes on

 

With the cost of a day it has to be viable the man with more money than sense

Has

Earned it by making a profit

 

Seems to me he's doing better than the game dealers and shoots in the sense department

 

There is no difference in the number of dead birds on one large day 500

To 5 small days of 100 each

 

All the best

Of

[mick miller]

I've heard of pheasants going the same way here, a pal who has a plucking business simply isn't going to even bother this year. No point, no market, nothing in it for him but cost.

[scotslad]

I think my more money than sense has been taken the wrong way, I don't have a problem with big bags and if u read the rest of my posts u would of seen that.

Simply shooting smaller bags is not the answer

 

More meaning I doubt no matter how much money I earned (or more likely won (lottery)) I still couldn't justify to my self spending thousands on a single days sport and like most others on here am more interested than a day out with mates/good company than pulling the trigger.

But I also don't have a problem if someone wants to pull the trigger either

[grahamch]

Those that have the money, generally have the 'sense' to make it in the first place.

 

For me its more of a question of morality and sporting ethics, shooting huge numbers is no better than target practice so you may ascwell shoot clays.

 

Most folk who are non shooters l speak to have no problems with shooting per se but do object to large bags of what they see as tame pheasants being shot by upper middle class oiks who have more money than sense and no sense of sporting etiquette.

 

If things go to licencing of shoots by the SNP then England is syure to follow.

 

High time common sense prevailed but it wont as money always talks!

[CharlieT]

For me its more of a question of morality and sporting ethics, shooting huge numbers is no better than target practice so you may ascwell shoot clays.

 

Most folk who are non shooters l speak to have no problems with shooting per se but do object to large bags of what they see as tame pheasants being shot by upper middle class oiks who have more money than sense and no sense of sporting etiquette.

 

If things go to licencing of shoots by the SNP then England is syure to follow.

 

High time common sense prevailed but it wont as money always talks!

Taking a 500 bird day as an example of a big day.

 

What, may I ask, is morally wrong and unethical with each gun shooting 8 birds per drive. It can hardly be described as target practice or clay shooting.

 

Green eyed monster springs to mind.

[scotslad]

Taking a 500 bird day as an example of a big day.

 

What, may I ask, is morally wrong and unethical with each gun shooting 8 birds per drive. It can hardly be described as target practice or clay shooting.

 

Green eyed monster springs to mind.

 

Well said Charlie.

 

Once we start going down the road of volantry bag limits or licencing shoots ur on very very dodgy ground

 

If u look at it the oppisate way, most would consider a 100 bird day acceptable, but with 10 guns/5 drives ur only 2 birds per drive if shared equally.

If u take that 100 bird day under normal conditions it would not be unusual for 1-2 guns to shoot very few birds. I've been on plenty of keepers days shooting a lot bigger bags and throu bad luck on pegs and selective shooting hardly fired a shell (but still had a cracking day)

I've been on an 80 brace day on grouse where 2-3 guns never/hardly got a shot off just the way the weather, pegs and where and birds flew, the other guns esp 3-4 had the day of their lives, its just the way it goes

 

 

Wit this whole bag size stuff we're only arguing with ourself's the anti's don't care how many u shoot, 1 is too many for them.

Wether or not u'd ever go on a larger day u still need to support it, divided we fall

[Benthejockey]

And herein lies the 3rd issue with trying to get joe public to eat game. If as a group of people who collectively use firearms to harvest meat we cannot agree what is and is not acceptable then how is the general public who see us all as either upper class snobs or out of control rednecks expected to see what we do as ethical, moral or sustainable? If you shoot 1 living creature or 501 we are all in the same boat. Rather than criticise each other we should actually be trying to work out how to increase the popularity of our chosen hobby and how to make the product of our hobby popular and available to the public. The general public does not differentiate between shooting a 100 bird day or a 500 bird day and why should we? The birds are reared to be shot. They aren't native and in the numbers they are reared they're positively invasive but because of the revenue they generate they're tolerated. Money makes the world go round and without the big days we would see the end of the little days.

[Guest stevo]

Hmmm when I first heard this from a game keeper mate the other day I thought he maybe exaggerating a tad seems not ,

Last Sunday I was at Orston when I bumped into and old friend of mine. He is a very well respected keeper and runs a couple of very top class shoots for yrs now. Anyway we got chatting about the coming season , I mentioned about game prices and he said when phoning around dealers about talking the birds and at what prices. He was told that they would not be paying for any pheasants ( one of his shoots puts down over 50k of pheasant , and god knows how many partridge )

Anyway as said they would not pay for the birds in fact they told him they would charge the estate £30 per load to come and collect them 😳

Edited September 11, 2017 by stevo

[figgy]

Any unused spoiled game should be used as fertilizer on the estates farms. Saw a program where an island due to poor soil had to use fish and other meat in trenches to provide the nutrients to grow crops.

 

Got to be better than burning them.

[marsh man]

This situation with selling shot game have been building up for a number of years now , the writing was on the wall when I took over a hundred Partridges to the Game dealers about 15 years ago , the keeper had been through the bag and discarded any damaged or unfit for sale , when I got there , which was 28 miles from our estate the dealer went through them again and rejected about a dozen as he had that many coming in he only wanted the best , well on the same day I had 30 odd fresh Pigeons which I took with me as I was using the estates van and it saved me sticking a small amount in the freezer .

 

Anyhow , after a chat he went in the office and brought out my receipt and the money , so after a journey that took nearly two hours plus the fuel for the van I ended up getting 5p more for the Pigeons ( 30p ) than I did for the Partridges (25p ) , this was bad enough but at least you could get rid of them , whereas last season they told everyone to help themselves as they no longer sell game .

[pigeon controller]

Talking to one of my game dealers he said that he would not pay for any game birds this year and just collect them for free. The shoot say they make the money from the guns. Looking on the amount of pigeons being shot on Book Of Face I can see the pigeon market dropping unless some one ships them abroad frozen.

[lakeside1000]

When in my twenties, some 50 years ago I used to sell all our game to the public direct or through the local cattle market, there was always a fair return on the birds, even rabbits and hares had a market, last year I dumped nearly 100 fresh rabbit as well as hares and ducks, in January our local game dealer was paying 10p for fresh duck and pheasant, nothing for partridge but 25p for frozen pigeon, so now I just shoot pigeon, whats the point of wasting cartridges , may as well let the wild populations grow for a while, as the world food supply runs out people will be glad of a bit of fresh meat.

I always looked forward to a nice brace of roast partridge, I thought it was far superior to pheasant, last season a local farm shop had some very battered looking partridge, supposedly oven ready but still showing a lot of feather quills and they were asking £7 each, fat chance.