Deer returns

Mauser 308

Guys, I'm relativley new to the Deer stalking game. I was wondering what the average return was for a seasons stalking. I hear stories of some people with huge returns of 100/200 deer in a season. One guy I know from work told me pre Christmas his mate was on number 70 and was slaging me for having 7, talking to him the other day and his mate now has 45??? So I am guessing most of the stories I hear about huge numbers are boasts not fact. I have now 9 in my first season but that took aprox 35 or more trips. Dont think I will get any more as they have all dissapeared where I shoot in Laois/Offaly.

crackcrack30

Its not a competition..or a chore.. be truthful on ur returns

Everyones returns will depend on their outlook or reason for hunting E.G sport, culling (numbers, age ect), forestery/crop protection, table or sadly financial gain. Some shoot and leave which i find sickning.

I would never talk about deer numbers shot like pheasant ,duck or clays in that manner
I shoot what I can eat (& friends/family) 1-3 a year but thats just me....

tfox

9 in your first season is not bad at all !! Didnt kill anything my first year, did a lot of learing though

Personally I shoot less than 15 a year, for bout 15 outings, normally bag something. Only really shoot for meat for myself and friends, except the few farmer with reds that we control who gets the carcass value from the dealers. with game shooting aswell hard get time for everything

Would take a lot of what you hear with a BIG pinch of salt

Mauser 308

crackcrack30 wrote: »

Its not a competition..or a chore.. be truthful on ur returns

Everyones returns will depend on their outlook or reason for hunting E.G sport, culling (numbers, age ect), forestery/crop protection, table or sadly financial gain. Some shoot and leave which i find sickning.

I would never talk about deer numbers shot like pheasant ,duck or clays in that manner
I shoot what I can eat (& friends/family) 1-3 a year but thats just me....

Totaly agree, thats why I asked the question. I think a lot of the big numbers I hear about are boasts rather than fact.

Mauser 308

tfox wrote: »

9 in your first season is not bad at all !! Didnt kill anything my first year, did a lot of learing though

Personally I shoot less than 15 a year, for bout 15 outings, normally bag something. Only really shoot for meat for myself and friends, except the few farmer with reds that we control who gets the carcass value from the dealers. with game shooting aswell hard get time for everything

Would take a lot of what you hear with a BIG pinch of salt

Cheers T. One a trip, that is a great return, fair play. I assume its a let? Thinking of trying for one next year, are they hard to come by? I am not far from yourself in Westmeath so was thinking Slieve Blooms, which is where I shoot at present.

Traumadoc

4 this year, one last year,

CJhaughey

5 last year, 0 this year.

Mauser 308

Traumadoc wrote: »

4 this year, one last year,

CJhaughey wrote: »

5 last year, 0 this year.

How many trips out to get the return?

Cass

Big numbers are 2 things (IMO).

Lads spoofing and making the numbers up or lads that are shooting for profit.

The first one i would pay little attention to. A lad i know locally told me6 weeks ago he had 186 foxes shot. (i know its not deer, but the point is the same). I spoke to him 2 weeks ago and he had 316. Met him last night and its 502. :rolleyes: Walter Mitty.
The second one i can only assume is shooting for money. I cannot see any reason one or even two lads, need to shoot 100/150/200 deer a year unless its part of a large scale culling for the benefit of the population/area.

Myself and the 'ould lad have 17 this year. I've been out a few times, but he has been out more than me. In total i'd say about 45 trips for those 17. Last year was about 12 in 32 trips. Once i have enough i stop, irrespective of whats left in the season.

CJhaughey

Mauser 308 wrote: »

How many trips out to get the return?

I don't pay for my stalking, so I had no outlay.

Grizzly 45

Ezridax wrote: »

).

. In total i'd say about 45 trips for those 17. Last year was about 12 in 32 trips. Once i have enough i stop, irrespective of whats left in the season.

PLUS plus 1.Last sentence spoken like a true hunter!!!:D

Tackleberrywho

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

PLUS plus 1.Last sentence spoken like a true hunter!!!:D

I've only got the 1 this season.
To be fair I could have got more, but I can only afford a few hours a week to shoot due to work and college commitments.

In years I shot 6 or 8 deer I gave most of them away.

I'd only realistically be able to handle one deer at a time as I only have one fridge to hold them.

I went out on stalks where I knew they were few and far between, as that way if I got one it was a bonus.
I have one place where there always s deer, it's where I was on the first.

After I pop my cherry for the season I don't mind what I get after that.

Invariably also one sees loads of does in Sept Oct an vice versa in Jan Feb..

I still have a small amount of venison in the freezer anyway.

I also know I will get a section 42 in June-August 31 on a few grain fields.
And even then I may only shoot 1 or 2 to keep the farmer happy! <And by choice Males or calves only>

4gun

my tally to date is 12 which is more than my last couple of years combined, been out on average once a week and on three occasions have returned two a in the one session, most days on a stalk we (Poulo and I) have always seen Deer by they often tend to seen us first ;)would consider It a bad day if we didnt seen any,
On thing is I have seen more Sika on our Kerry permission that I have seen in the previous years and often you can almost walk on top of them before they run

fallowbuck

my own is 6 happy with it , deer stalking is more for the pleasure of been out and to have the health to do it and the beautifull surrounding, all these blokes with there 50, 60 70, there tripping..........

tfox

Mauser 308 wrote: »

Cheers T. One a trip, that is a great return, fair play. I assume its a let? Thinking of trying for one next year, are they hard to come by? I am not far from yourself in Westmeath so was thinking Slieve Blooms, which is where I shoot at present.

I have a let in Wicklow but lucky enough to have 1000 acres in Slieve blooms, various permission around meath, louth, westmeath and galway. What part westmeath you from ( PM if you like ) HAd a lease in Clonaslee last year, gave it up because was geting hammered by poachers :mad:

Tikka Jim

Mauser 308 wrote: »

Guys, I'm relativley new to the Deer stalking game. I was wondering what the average return was for a seasons stalking. I hear stories of some people with huge returns of 100/200 deer in a season. One guy I know from work told me pre Christmas his mate was on number 70 and was slaging me for having 7, talking to him the other day and his mate now has 45??? So I am guessing most of the stories I hear about huge numbers are boasts not fact. I have now 9 in my first season but that took aprox 35 or more trips. Dont think I will get any more as they have all dissapeared where I shoot in Laois/Offaly.

9 is great going for your first season. But the fact that your not seeing any deer could be down to your 35 trips. I moved from Wicklow to Offaly a few years ago so I only had 1 permissions near me, I counted 37 deer on two fields in early August. I was selective about what I shot but shot 3 in September, 2 in October in maybe 20 trips..anyway by November thay had moved off. :oI've learned if deer any being disturbed 3 times a week, they'll move off. 14 bucks were back on the land this year but only 5 does.

As regards numbers I'd say 15-20 would be the typical return of the lads I shoot with. But I do know 2 people who would shoot 75-100 every year and 1 guy who shoots 200+ (he shoots for 1 of the big private forestry companies).

Mauser 308

Tikka Jim wrote: »

9 is great going for your first season. But the fact that your not seeing any deer could be down to your 35 trips. I moved from Wicklow to Offaly a few years ago so I only had 1 permissions near me, I counted 37 deer on two fields in early August. I was selective about what I shot but shot 3 in September, 2 in October in maybe 20 trips..anyway by November thay had moved off. :oI've learned if deer any being disturbed 3 times a week, they'll move off. 14 bucks were back on the land this year but only 5 does.

As regards numbers I'd say 15-20 would be the typical return of the lads I shoot with. But I do know 2 people who would shoot 75-100 every year and 1 guy who shoots 200+ (he shoots for 1 of the big private forestry companies).

Yep think you are defo right re too many visits, I was very keen to learn and enjoyed each trip even when the deer sightings dried up. I will scale back a bit next year and I am also going to try to get some extra permissions to spred the trips around. Thanks for the feed back.

DR6.5

Page 11 of the link illustrates that the majority of lads shoot between 1-20 animals a year.

http://www.woodlandsofireland.com/DeerStrategy.pdf

Its a good read for anyone interested in deer stalking.


dr6.5

Mauser 308

CJhaughey wrote: »

I don't pay for my stalking, so I had no outlay.

No ment how many trips to get the number of deer u shot:)

Tackleberrywho

Mauser 308 wrote: »

No ment how many trips to get the number of deer u shot:)

Depends on luck a lot of teh time.

One year I got 4 deer out of 4 trips.
Following year 1 deer out of 24 trips.

I went out a few times this year with low returns.
Near are nomadic and can move off from an area if pickings are slim.

Sunny side of mountain/Frosty side etc.

I went into a field on teh 1st of sept, and within 45 minutes I was going back to get transport for teh pricket.

Other times you go from dawn to dusk and see feck all.

I shot a few grey crows while out stalking this year , and got similar satisfaction afterwards with a much easier clean up

Mauser 308

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Depends on luck a lot of teh time.
One year I got 4 deer out of 4 trips.
Following year 1 deer out of 24 trips.
I went out a few times this year with low returns.
Near are nomadic and can move off from an area if pickings are slim.
Sunny side of mountain/Frosty side etc.
I went into a field on teh 1st of sept, and within 45 minutes I was going back to get transport for teh pricket.
Other times you go from dawn to dusk and see feck all.
I shot a few grey crows while out stalking this year , and got similar satisfaction afterwards with a much easier clean up

Fair play, great answer, thanks Tack.:)

Tackleberrywho

I need some more venison, Tasty Organic meat

4gun

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

I need some more venison, Tasty Organic meat

stop fiddling around with you guns and blathering on you pc and get out and get some:p

there is a fine line between how many times you can go into an area to find the deer and when you start to disturb them, Change your route as often as possible, I certainly think that deer quickly learn when your about and will move off long before you even see them

Tackleberrywho

4gun wrote: »

stop fiddling around with you guns and blathering on you pc and get out and get some:p

there is a fine line between how many times you can go into an area to find the deer and when you start to disturb them, Change your route as often as possible, I certainly think that deer quickly learn when your about and will move off long before you even see them

Most of the blathering on the PC is when I am supposed to be working:p

Seriously
The permissions I have are huge, with not many deer on it.
It's the Bird hunters that cause more upset than me.

Farmers are my eyes and ears on the ground.
My best fields are near a town, and the deer seem to be completely nocturnal there

The rural remote lands are pot luck.If I bring the shotty after birds I see deer, go figure!