Average shooter prices

Some people are in this for a hobby and to others it s a business........this being said, the bigger they the more they are worth......it is no different than any other business........you got to have the product that the clients want...........this is a subject that should probably be discussed in members only forum .......just my opinion

The hunting market is a business - it has ups and downs. The whole country is on a down swing so of course the deer business is going to feel it. When the economy turns around so will everything else. Once gov't gets out of the way and business can thrive ALL business will pick up.



Still there is an ad here on the forums for 300" shooter bucks - someone IS looking for them.

I agree with wild river, its hard for the deer business to thrive when everything else isn't ...

It's not just about the economy, although the economy weighs in heavy because when money gets tight, recreation, ie hunting, is one of the first things to leave the list of ''must dos''. It's also about too many deer, which also weighs in BIG time.

Mark, Before you come down on the new "Deer Farmer Seminar" maybe you should attend one! I did and it wasn't a "hey come here sucker give me your money seminar"! It was full of marketing ideas based around the deer business and pop up business from deer farming as well as the benefits of the " Business" as a whole! Give Kevin Grace a call for some details about what went on.....Instead of assuming you know what was involved at the event. The economy is bad enough and we are all suffering from it but we should all be more informed on Alot of issues that face our business and our livlihoods. And focus more on how to help keep ours moving forward in times like these and we should all realize the breeder needs the stocker ranches to succeed now more than ever.......... if they fail......... this WHOLE subject will be a mute point! Just my 2 cents

And a very good two cents it was..Things need to change and it has to start at the top!

"Once gov't gets out of the way and business can thrive ALL business will pick up."



Do you really think the gubbermint is goin to get out of the way? It has gotten more in the way for the last 100 years and will only continue to get worse. That is the nature of a government.



Good luck to us all!

Whitetail Sanctuary said:

Mark, Before you come down on the new "Deer Farmer Seminar" maybe you should attend one! I did and it wasn't a "hey come here sucker give me your money seminar"! It was full of marketing ideas based around the deer business and pop up business from deer farming as well as the benefits of the " Business" as a whole! Give Kevin Grace a call for some details about what went on.....Instead of assuming you know what was involved at the event. The economy is bad enough and we are all suffering from it but we should all be more informed on Alot of issues that face our business and our livlihoods. And focus more on how to help keep ours moving forward in times like these and we should all realize the breeder needs the stocker ranches to succeed now more than ever.......... if they fail......... this WHOLE subject will be a mute point! Just my 2 cents

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Wayne, before you come down on 'me' you should get some facts straight and maybe re-read my post. First - You said ''hey come here sucker give me your money seminar'' - I didn't!! My point was VERY clear...If someone thinks that more deer farmers raising more deer is a good idea right now given the current problems within the deer industry - I simply don't agree - adamantly do not agree!!! No, I did not attend the seminar Wayne, but let's review some FACTS stated within the advertisement of that seminar, of which are listed in the ''Events and Activities'' forum, posted on 6-01-2011 at 9:40am, thread entitled ''Beginner Deer Farmer Seminar'' They are as follows, and I will type these sentences contained in the ad exactly how they were printed in the post - no extra caps, quotation marks, etc: ''This is truly for the ''Beginner'' deer farmer! If you have a friend or an aquaintance that is the least bit intrigued by the idea of raising deer...This IS the seminar to attend!'' and ''THIS SEMINAR IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC and we ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO COME!!!!!'' Yeah right Wayne, silly ole misconstrued me for ''assuming'' or thinking that the seminar had the idea/target in mind of starting new people in the business of raising more deer. If they discussed marketing ideas, benefits thereof, info on various other issues, etc. at the seminar - GREAT- that's all good!! But those weren't the components of the seminar I was addressing either, was it Wayne?!!! To sum: If you Wayne or anyone out there thinks the answer now is to incorporate more people to raise more deer, guess we are going to have to agree to disagree - adamantly!!!!! Gonna keep ''my 2 cents'' from here on in - might need it!

I'm not sure why everyone seems to to think the deer farming industry is going to pot. I personally have had more success selling bred does and etc the past spring and summer than ever before. Right now I have a few people that called wanting to by does off the farm. To those of you that are having problems selling your animals are you doing your part by visiting other deer farms, going to auctions to meet people etc? Do you have awebsite for your farm? I think the deer industry has a very bright future once we learn how to properly manage and promote our farm. It may not be so in all parts of the country but here in Ohio we have no problem selling our shooter bucks or does.

Mark you are blessed for sure and that is awesome from you but let me give you a little insight from a new farmer of two years that has dropped over 30 grand in this deer world we all love. Keep in mind that over twenty of that went to auction services.I have bought deer at auction and after i talk to the seller they say they listed the wrong deer.I have bought from auctions that have died before they were picked up and ate the down payment.I have bought doe fawns from some of the biggest names in this buisness that have a 75% success rate of fawns being bred(and this is live bred) only to pickup a 100lbs plus fawn to find out in the spring that she did'nt breed.I have bought deer at auction that were to be bred to one of the top deer in the industry only to get a phone call to hear that the straw blew up.So i guess you could say i have just about had it all happen in the two year period. So i try to put deer in or their offspring in auction that mind you came off the top farms just last year only to get a phone call that the deer did'nt make the cut.So i supported 3 auctions and a handfull of awesome farms only to find out my deer are not good enough.I realize they cant take them all and i have no problem with that but i cant wait to see a catalog and see the deer in it because if deer that are 5 generations deep and proven are gettin shot down its gunna be one heck of a sale.On the bright side i did get some great young bucks out of this mess so who knows.NY has a law that tells you how many deer you can have on your farm so if we dont sell deer we eat some high dollar venison.I think if every state adopted that law then you would see deer sell for what they are worth and it would be good for all farmers. The good news is it sounds like shooters are still needed so there is a bright side but like one of the other posts above that says they shoot all the doe fawns is not a good thing and is not in my future and i hope nobody's future.

Hey, Mike you just need to try a little harder. Those top of the line deer you bought must not be top of the line any more. Sounds to me like you need to spend a little more money.

LOL Virgil...Just amazes me how fast a deer can lose its value in one year..Last year it was worth 4 grand and this year well not so much. I thought it was bad what i lost when i took a new truck off the lot every year but this is crazy!!

Remember Mark, The number of farmers has zero impact on the number of deer. They still reproduce the same each year regardless of how many farmers they are distributed to.

WOW! Mark.............Ya busted me .................Mark you are so right.............Mark......I should have read all the positive in your post............Mark......I should just go running that I think the sky is falling.........Mark......My whole point is not to single you or anyone else out! Are thier serious problems facinig our industry? Yes

Are there to many deer being bred ? I just think that we as breeders need to breed the best QAUILITY deer that we can and educate farmers of the dangers of not doing so. Are new deerfarmers needed ? In my opion YES......BUT new deerfarmers who are Better informed deerfarmers,Better business minded deerfarmers,Better at choosing what to buy and why! Better informed on the needs of our industry and the importance of belonging to State and National orginizations and how to be a "positive" influence on our communities and our local youth and the groups they belong to...Boy Scouts,Girl Scouts,FFA and even bringing older members of our communities(older hunters who no longer can get out in the woods but still enjoy the thrill of seeing a Big Buck) out to see first hand what we are all about! Thats what I'm doing in my area and I want anyone who wants to be a deerfarmer to be able to choose to do it if he or she chooses to do so and to be even better informed on the business than most are and not be blinded by false hope or empty offers of big money. I'm with Mark Mast we are able to move our stockers and our offspring. I wish nothing but the best for this Industry and those in it!

Whitetail Sanctuary said:

WOW! Mark.............Ya busted me .................Mark you are so right.............Mark......I should have read all the positive in your post............Mark......I should just go running that I think the sky is falling.........Mark......My whole point is not to single you or anyone else out! Are thier serious problems facinig our industry? Yes

Are there to many deer being bred ? I just think that we as breeders need to breed the best QAUILITY deer that we can and educate farmers of the dangers of not doing so. Are new deerfarmers needed ? In my opion YES......BUT new deerfarmers who are Better informed deerfarmers,Better business minded deerfarmers,Better at choosing what to buy and why! Better informed on the needs of our industry and the importance of belonging to State and National orginizations and how to be a "positive" influence on our communities and our local youth and the groups they belong to...Boy Scouts,Girl Scouts,FFA and even bringing older members of our communities(older hunters who no longer can get out in the woods but still enjoy the thrill of seeing a Big Buck) out to see first hand what we are all about! Thats what I'm doing in my area and I want anyone who wants to be a deerfarmer to be able to choose to do it if he or she chooses to do so and to be even better informed on the business than most are and not be blinded by false hope or empty offers of big money. I'm with Mark Mast we are able to move our stockers and our offspring. I wish nothing but the best for this Industry and those in it!

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I'm with ya Wayne, well said...... You know I was holding some deer back to submit into the Top 30 in Jan and believe it or not I have someone wanting to purchase them now, if he does I am sold out untill the next fawning season, is the market down, it sure is, but so is everything else, we just keep plugging away and hope and pray for guidence to make the right decisions

I agree 100% with both of you Wayne and Rick. Like any other industry we do have a few serious issues that should be addressed sooner rather than later but overall the future for deer farmers looks very bright. I am not saying that it will ever be like it was 5 years ago but what other livestock could you raise that consumes as little feed as a whitetail and that can be sold for $1000 or more when 6 months old. I don't think there is any other livestock even comparable. There is still room for more deer farmers. Most of the people I know of got their bucks sold last year with the guys that held onto them to the end receiving premium prices for them. I can honestly say I have seen more demand for shooter bucks this summer than ever before.

"Remember Mark, The number of farmers has zero impact on the number of deer. They still reproduce the same each year regardless of how many farmers they are distributed to. "



Right........ that makes no sense. If I don't sell my excess does, I butcher them...ie..they are not making more fawns. Only if they are going to other deer farmers are they producing fawns.

If you apply your rational to cattle..pigs...chickens..any livestock...it means the number will increase even without new farmers....???? That's not how things work in the real world I am afraid.

alabowhunter said:

Remember Mark, The number of farmers has zero impact on the number of deer. They still reproduce the same each year regardless of how many farmers they are distributed to.

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Once a deer farmer has established his safe number of does according to room and their size of business desired, then one of 2 things happen to his does: 1- they are slaughtered for butcher or 2- they are sold to other deer farmers that haven't reached their established numbers or to ''new deer farmers'' attaining the same. So I also do not agree with the ''zero impact'' you speak of, but I do thank you for your lack of sarcasm in expressing your opinion. And I'm not trying to be sarcastic here when I say in agreement with Fars that quite simply...Butchered does= no more bucks and Sold does= more bucks.

I wasn't considering butchering does an option. If that's the case, use sexed semen instead.

Whitetail Sanctuary said:

WOW! Mark.............Ya busted me .................Mark you are so right.............Mark......I should have read all the positive in your post............Mark......I should just go running that I think the sky is falling.........Mark......My whole point is not to single you or anyone else out! Are thier serious problems facinig our industry? Yes

Are there to many deer being bred ? I just think that we as breeders need to breed the best QAUILITY deer that we can and educate farmers of the dangers of not doing so. Are new deerfarmers needed ? In my opion YES......BUT new deerfarmers who are Better informed deerfarmers,Better business minded deerfarmers,Better at choosing what to buy and why! Better informed on the needs of our industry and the importance of belonging to State and National orginizations and how to be a "positive" influence on our communities and our local youth and the groups they belong to...Boy Scouts,Girl Scouts,FFA and even bringing older members of our communities(older hunters who no longer can get out in the woods but still enjoy the thrill of seeing a Big Buck) out to see first hand what we are all about! Thats what I'm doing in my area and I want anyone who wants to be a deerfarmer to be able to choose to do it if he or she chooses to do so and to be even better informed on the business than most are and not be blinded by false hope or empty offers of big money. I'm with Mark Mast we are able to move our stockers and our offspring. I wish nothing but the best for this Industry and those in it!

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Wayne - Why the condescending sarcasm?? You 'did' in fact single me out, and accuse me of a wrong ''assumption'' concerning the seminar. I merely defended my position by using some of the very/exact verbiage in the ad to validate and substantiate my ''assumption''. Am I to believe that the age old principle in business of ''supply and demand'' does not apply to the deer industry?...that it will not, could not, or has not already negatively affected the current health and stamina of the deer industry?? I believe one's main target in the promotion of the business at this time should be towards the hunter. The HUNTER is the most important component to all of us in the deer industry. Without the hunter, we are ALL done and all the 500 inch deer on the planet aren't worth squat! To promote and encourage, at this time, new deer farmers into the business is like ''pushing the cart ahead of the horse''. The real work/attention, first and foremost, needs to be on the ''demand'' right now before we worry about building a delicate(to time) and perishable inventory. Deer are not an inventory that can be stored or shelved in some warehouse awaiting the demand to catch up. It is this ideology of Kevin Costner's ''Build it and they will come'' that has gotten people to prematurely enter into the business only to soon close the doors. Wayne, although positive exposure to people in our communities such as to the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, FFA, as well as the elderly is a great idea, I doubt very much that it will address or fix the main and more immediate/serious problems facing us now, i.e. the grain price, the economy, and the over saturation of deer. Preserve owners offering discounted hunts, group rates, and incredible deals for parent/sibling hunts is an idea that would certainly help in an immediate fashion as well as long term. Anything one can do to coax/convince new blood into the fence to hunt would be paramount!! I believe Wayne what your and my diagreement boils down to is our different objectives. You're position is that of a breeder...mine is that of a deer stocker, but different objectives do not change some of these facts. I never said and I do not say now that I don't believe there is/could be a future in the deer business. What I did say from the onset was this '' Recruiting new deer farmers 'AT THIS JUNCTURE', given the current circumstances, is not a good idea and I fail to see the wisdom thereof FOR the vast majority! Wayne, I know your reference to Chicken Little's - ''I should just go running that I think the sky is falling'' was not meant to be prophetic, but in many ways was. The sky IS going to ''fall'' someday. The Bible tells us that no one knows the day or the hour of the 'end as we know it' except and only the Father, yet we will know the season. And it doesn't take a Biblical Scholar to know we are definitely in ''that season''!!! I sincerely hope Wayne, that when that day comes that you are not running, that you are standing there with me with open arms welcoming what we see descending from Heaven!!! Hang in there all...the BEST is yet to come!!!