2010 Shooter prices?

advertise! there are lots of ways to advertise yourself that cost you nothing but time. As far as a down market what more of an even playing feild do you want. A small guy can come in with less over head given hes producing decent shooters at 2 an 3 years of age and sell cheaper then a farm with 80 deer. Lower farm and operation costs lead to more and potential profit. Some of these big name farms spend thousands of dollars in advertising each year and you all want to know why they sell deer the way they do.Established? maybe! but they didnt get there over night like many businesses the put the word out, they beat there feet, they hit the pavement. If old customers dont want to give you what you want get new ones. A sucessful business doesnt have one client the have more then they can sustain. Market flooded? whats going to win no name genetics or proven blood lines? Ranches dont care about genetics! They do care about service. why should they buy from you and not the next deer farmer? Service? Quality? What? these are all questions you need to ask yourself right now! what do i need to do different today , tomorrow, this year to turn my numbers from red back to black.



its not the markets fault! Its our Fault for not adapting to such a down market. take advantage of these slow times to rethink your business stratagy. Heres to all of us being in business tomorrow! good luck, have fun, and lets hope for a better year to come!

the common price is on a preserve meaning logging and food.....

Matthew you have some very good points. I asy this as a compliment as out spoken as you are we need you on the Pa. board of directors.

I did not vote for change in our goverment elestions but I would in the deer industry

We don't buy shooters for our preserve but raise them all ourselves. A good point was made above though, ranches don't care about genetics. What counts is what the buck looks like and what the customers want. I've seen great genetics but not great antlers - to the point that the paper was more important than the deer. That trend is changing and the appearance is becoming more important. Since the true end market is the hunting ranch, that trend will continue. Not every ranch has a high demand for 300" bucks unless they are going to sell them cheap - so again, people need to raise what ranches are looking for. The real market is the hunting preserve and it will dictate what sells and what doesn't. Trying to raise a 500" buck is interesting - but what are you going to do with it??? How many are preserves going to buy?



Just some random thoughts on deer breeding in general.....

The poor economy is hitting more than just hunting preserves. Yukon moose hunts have dropped tremendously in price. One outfitter, I talked to booked zero hunts in 2010 where he normally books 15-25. In response to that moose hunts have dropped as much as 30-40% in price.

I personally feel if we as breeders talked up high fence hunting to our neighbors and co-workers half as much as we brag about our biggest yearlings to fellow deer farmers we would not be worried who is going to harvest that yearling two years later.

Wisdom said:

I personally feel if we as breeders talked up high fence hunting to our neighbors and co-workers half as much as we brag about our biggest yearlings to fellow deer farmers we would not be worried who is going to harvest that yearling two years later.

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ROCK ON Andy! This is the best thing you have ever said on here. I have preached about and shared stories about this very thing. But no one ever seems to give 2 s*^ts about that. Why is that?

Why wouldn't every hunting preserve market themselves to the max? We do many things to market our preserve and will continue to do whatever we find that works. We did the Keith Warren show this past fall so that will air come spring. Many other things as well.

When the average person would ask me what I do with my deer. I really didnt want to admit to them that they go to hunting preserves. So i would say that they are bought by other breeders to build ther herds or improve genetics.

I think that most people know what we do with them before they ask the question. I now will tell them that most of the bucks go to hunting preserves. This has opened up alot of opportunities to help them understand what a hunting preserve is about and hopefully they walk away with a more positive view of preserves.

I feel what i did in the past was a mistake and a missed opportunity. I hope that this will help other deer farmers that are doing the same thing and missing out on the chance to improve someones oppinion of hunting preserves.

ER Whitetails said:

When the average person would ask me what I do with my deer. I really didnt want to admit to them that they go to hunting preserves. So i would say that they are bought by other breeders to build ther herds or improve genetics.

I think that most people know what we do with them before they ask the question. I now will tell them that most of the bucks go to hunting preserves. This has opened up alot of opportunities to help them understand what a hunting preserve is about and hopefully they walk away with a more positive view of preserves.

I feel what i did in the past was a mistake and a missed opportunity. I hope that this will help other deer farmers that are doing the same thing and missing out on the chance to improve someones oppinion of hunting preserves.

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Perfect! You are spot on. I always tell folks the same thing.

"All of our females go to other deer farms who are looking for new bloodlines they don't have yet, or farms looking to improve the genetics they currently have and some go to brand new farms just starting out. Most of the bucks go to our hunting ranch. The special bucks that make breeder status will be kept and used by us or sold as breeders to other farms."

Then they sometimes ask about the hunting ranch. I then explain how we have one in partnership with another deer farmer. They ask the size and I tell them. They sometimes ask how many deer are in the hunting ranch and I tell them an estimated number based on trail camera photos since there is no way to know for sure.

I judge their facial expressions and go from there. If I think they aren't so sure about the whole idea I open up and keep going. I tell them the idea that it is like shooting fish in a barrel simply isn't true. I explain there are areas inside that are off limits except to retrieve a down animal. I explain we don't push or drive the deer around on the ranch, but instead it is by free movement. We use food plots, rutting bucks chasing does, and calling with grunt calls and antler rattling.

I explain land access is a major issue for many and so is time not to mention safety. And that those are just a couple of the reasons people of all walks of life come to our place. And so on and so on. I don't hide the fact that it isn't for everyone. In fact I say that to them. I also explain that freedom to choose is a great thing in this country.

More often than not they will seem to warm to the idea. Some don't and that is ok. In fact I tell them it is ok to not feel it is for them. As long as they understand others should be free to feel it is for them. And 99.99% will agree with that.

Good explanation Roger! Why don't people have a problem with fishing a farm pond? Somehow people have it in their mind that a deerhunt behind a fence is wrong, but they only feel that way why? Thats the part we need to work on.