Finding homes for shot birds

[The one 8,477]

Just read this month sporting gun there's a big article saying game dealers will take them if there free or else its 25 pence a bird to get rid of them 

[Jarvis 277]

I’ve seen they sell well at Melton but we afoot every other Tuesday and Tuesdays is when Melton’s fur and feather bit is on isn’t it? After the beater/ guns have what they want we are left with 120-150 so I may get myself a second hand drinks chiller put some racks in it and then in my own time breast some and pluck/ skin others and try sell them to butchers or privately to people.

[trigger2 3,144]

13 hours ago, tatsblisters said:

As anybody done a survey as such on why this is happening when in the early 90s you could get £4 a brace and I remember selling partridges to a game dealer nr mexbrough in s.yorks for £3 a brace in the late 80s

at a guess i would say the sheer amount of shoots that are about these days has flooded the market a little. 

[just-A-snap 1,269]

Good luck Jarvis

All the very best mate

[tatsblisters 9,634]

4 hours ago, trigger2 said:

at a guess i would say the sheer amount of shoots that are about these days has flooded the market a little. 

More than likely Trigger more shootdays so more birds produced though I find the younger generation I come across have never tasted game.

[Jarvis 277]

14 hours ago, tatsblisters said:

More than likely Trigger more shootdays so more birds produced though I find the younger generation I come across have never tasted game.

I’ve herd young guns say, “oh no I don’t want a brace I wouldn’t know what to do with them” made me very angry! Saying that though that was only the opinion of 1 gun out of 9

[Born Hunter 17,763]

How the industry and greater sport adapts to this problem will be a large factor in it's future survival!

If the consumer continues to demand big days with harvesting the meat of secondary or no concern then eventually it'll be banned. Regardless of it's contribution to GDP!

Last year a local estate put on two big days that broke the estate record. The biggest topped 2300 head! That's a sold day, not keepers day.... It's f***ing mad and unless we start self regulating and the consumer putting greater value of what they're harvesting the industry and possibly the sport will be history.

[socks 32,253]

On 04/11/2017 at 6:55 PM, jok said:

Neither have I Socks. They don't tell the whole truth though do they. Broaden your horizons. Jok.

Thanks but my horizons are plenty broad ... are you saying your Indian uses the birds you sell them to make curry with ... if not why else would they want them ......

[jok 3,254]

If I'm being totally honest, I don't know. Only thing I do know is that I take home is absolutely beautiful. Moving on. The keeper has just been in touch as has made a shit load of pheasant meat sausages which he wants me to pass round and get an opinion.  I'm hoping that he has mixed in some belly pork as from memory they were a tad dry. Jok.

[trigger2 3,144]

6 hours ago, Born Hunter said:

How the industry and greater sport adapts to this problem will be a large factor in it's future survival!

If the consumer continues to demand big days with harvesting the meat of secondary or no concern then eventually it'll be banned. Regardless of it's contribution to GDP!

Last year a local estate put on two big days that broke the estate record. The biggest topped 2300 head! That's a sold day, not keepers day.... It's f***ing mad and unless we start self regulating and the consumer putting greater value of what they're harvesting the industry and possibly the sport will be history.

thats the thing. if a shoot has to start putting birds in a hole in the ground then the jobs just about f****d imo. theres ove a 100,000 birds put down here on 2 shoots alone and there are many other smaller shoots in the area also. thats alot of birds to find homes for once they are shot. i am fully aware that there is only a small percentage actually shot but even so with the smaller shoots killing a few thousand each it soon adds up.  

 

2300 at roughly £40 ahead inc vat is alot of wonga.

[Rabid 1,936]

On 05/11/2017 at 10:04 AM, Jarvis said:

I’ve seen they sell well at Melton but we afoot every other Tuesday and Tuesdays is when Melton’s fur and feather bit is on isn’t it? After the beater/ guns have what they want we are left with 120-150 so I may get myself a second hand drinks chiller put some racks in it and then in my own time breast some and pluck/ skin others and try sell them to butchers or privately to people.

Yeah, every Tuesday and some saturdays, Melton is only really much good for the earlier part of the season as prices normally drop around xmas.

 

i have a big chiller here your more than welcome to store for a trip up if that's any good,

[Jarvis 277]

On 06/11/2017 at 11:22 PM, Rabid said:

Yeah, every Tuesday and some saturdays, Melton is only really much good for the earlier part of the season as prices normally drop around xmas.

 

i have a big chiller here your more than welcome to store for a trip up if that's any good,

Thanks very much for the offer Rob! Much appreciated, but I think I’ve got a home for them now ?

[Welsh_red 4,644]

Wasn't Ian Botham triyng to give shot birds to old people homes 

[Accip74 7,112]

On 6 Nov 2017 at 6:56 PM, trigger2 said:

thats the thing. if a shoot has to start putting birds in a hole in the ground then the jobs just about f****d imo. theres ove a 100,000 birds put down here on 2 shoots alone and there are many other smaller shoots in the area also. thats alot of birds to find homes for once they are shot. i am fully aware that there is only a small percentage actually shot but even so with the smaller shoots killing a few thousand each it soon adds up.  

 

2300 at roughly £40 ahead inc vat is alot of wonga.

It's been a real problem for years where I'm from mate. Shooting syndicates dominate the landscape. Growing demand for big days, but dwindling demand for the meat, what else are they going to do? 

My mates son has just begun his game keeping career on an estate just over the border in Suffolk. This isn't commercial, just for friends of the owner, but they have three keepers & weekly 3-400 bird days throughout the season. The estate owner is completely reliant on sending the birds over here to the continent. Brexit worries the guy. If this arrangement is effected he will close the shoot as he not going to bury 400 birds a week! That's just one decent size shoot, albeit not commercial.

I think attitudes towards eating game may be better as you get further north, but I think in the south it's very 'marmite'. A lot people I know just wouldn't eat it or know what to with it, which is a great shame, but you hear the same from people on here! It's just another meat over here in the supermarkets. It's really popular, but pricey! €11 for a whole pheasant & €22 for a saddle of hare in my local supermarket.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Accip74

[Born Hunter 17,763]

Another problem is that in some cases you literally can't give it away. Not because businesses don't want a free source of meat, but because once they have processed the bird they then have to pay something like 90p per carcass to have it disposed of legally! Obviously they could pluck the bird but that's only a limited market and there's labour cost considerations in that.

f***ing regulations! LOL

The consumer has to drive this or the politicians will and they'll do it ruthlessly! I'm not sure what the solution is without someone taking a hit. I considered maybe the shooting community should self impose a target for those involved in the day to take 50% of the bag to limit what goes to the dealer. We can't spin it to the public that the reason we go shooting is for ethical hunter gatherer shit when most of it goes to a f***ing dealer. It's a totally transparent fallacy! Sadly this would either reduce the size or quantity of days and probably put keepers out of work or it would just lead to guns wasting birds rather than industry. Solving feck all!

Not a problem I have to concern myself with directly on a small syndicate shoot, I eat loads of game and all is accounted for. But this is something that will affect the entire sporting community if it gets political.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Born Hunter