Deer Breeders:
I have been reading different posts regarding the current status of the deer breeding industry, particularly the ability to sell animals to hunting preserves. I wish to offer some comments and hopefully further some constructive dialogue on this subject.
Everyone seems to be talking about their inability to sell animals to preserves. A couple of posts mentioned that the preserves are offering $750.00 for 150" class bucks. If that is the case then one must figure out what the problem is. Is it a bad economic market resulting in less hunters for the preserves which in turn forces them to reduce the prices of their hunts? Or, are the preserves selling the same amount of hunts at the same prices but taking advantage of a flooded market when it comes to the product they are selling? Is the market actually flooded? Are deer farmers undercutting eachother when it comes to selling shooters?
It doesn't appear to me that hunt prices are any cheaper than they ever were, so the question becomes whether or not the preserves are selling as many hunts as they were? If they are then that means that the market is flooded with too many deer (like someone said in a previous post, "if you don't sell for that price the preserve will find someone who must."). If they are not selling as many hunts then problem solved and we wait for the economy to turn around and hope that we can weather the storm. I am unsure if it is the latter however. The vast majority of people who could afford these hunts before the economy went bad could certainly afford them now. These hunts aren't cheap even for a deer in the 140"-150" range. I saw a post from a whitetail preserve in Wisconsin that sold a considerable amount of hunts in 2009 and they even indicated that they believed that it was their best year yet, despite the fact that they had a few cancellations due to the economy. When I calculated the number of hunts sold and the price for each hunt it totaled $480,000.00. They had their best year yet and still I keep reading about how hard it is to sell a deer. So what is the problem?
Has anyone really thought of the ramifications of natural breeding within hunting preserves on the deer farming industry? Preserves are buying higher scoring deer for less which means that they are getting better genetics (perhaps breeder quality in some instances) at shooter prices. Now, let us suppose that some of those deer are able to live breed with the doe that live in the preserve. Eventually, over time, because the preserves are stocking with breeder quality genetics, the preserves will end up becoming semi-self sufficient, which means that they won't need the deer farmer. At a very minimum, they are purchasing shooters with genetics that will be good enough to produce 150-200" deer. This can be achieved within a preserve with little or no care, just based upon the genetics and fact that they will have the ability to grow older. Add in some supplemental feeding and minerals etc and you have yourself a self sufficient hybrid deer breeding/preserve. It's that simple.
I don't know what other deer farmers produce on a steady basis but I would venture to say that they are producing "preserve quality deer" far more than they are "breeder quality deer". It's just a fact. If it were easy to breed 180+ inch deer on any given farm then everyone would be making it in the business. These "preserve quality deer" are the deer that cost the deer farmer the most to raise simply because there are more of them and it takes at least three years to get them to that size. If these quality genetics are naturally breeding within the confines of these preserves then deer farmers will be out of business sooner than they expect. There will simply be less of a demand for the majority of the deer that a deer farmer will produce. Not only because there are alot of deer farmers but also because the preserves are becoming semi self sufficient.
Selling "breeder quality" genetics for the price of shooters is a big mistake unless you have taken certain precautions. (I heard stories of preserves that have purchased quality deer at shooter prices and then started there own breeding program with those deer.)
You cannot prevent the preserves from investing in their own breeding program. However, if a deer they buy is going to have the ability to breed within or without the confines of the preserve then the preserves must be forced to pay top dollar for breeder quality genetics. What is a preserve quality buck that will potentially produce multiple preserve quality offspring worth? Even if that buck is only able to breed one year, that equals two more genetically superior deer that will remain and breed within that preserve.
So what is the solution? I am sure some deer farmers have contracts with a clause precluding "preserve quality deer" from being used as breeders, but does that really protect you? How many people know exactly what happens to their deer once they are loaded into the trailer to be sent off to a preserve? A contract is nothing more than a piece of paper and is not going to protect the deer farmer. Let's say a preserve breached that contract by breeding with the shooter, what then? You would have to have evidence of that, you would have to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit. That could end up costing thousands of dollars. Big preserves in a better financial position than the average deer farmer can weather the financial storm required to sustain litigation. And even then you may not win. So again, back to the question of what is the solution? Perhaps all "preserve quality deer" should be castrated? This may seem extreme but how else do you keep your genetics on your farm and not in the preserves and how do you prevent the preserve from using that deer to start building its own breeding stock? Especially when you are selling at preserve quality and not breeder quality prices.
There should also be a standardization of prices...deer farmers MUST stick together even through tough times. We are only hurting ourselves by underselling our neighbors.
Just some thoughts.
I have been reading different posts regarding the current status of the deer breeding industry, particularly the ability to sell animals to hunting preserves. I wish to offer some comments and hopefully further some constructive dialogue on this subject.
Everyone seems to be talking about their inability to sell animals to preserves. A couple of posts mentioned that the preserves are offering $750.00 for 150" class bucks. If that is the case then one must figure out what the problem is. Is it a bad economic market resulting in less hunters for the preserves which in turn forces them to reduce the prices of their hunts? Or, are the preserves selling the same amount of hunts at the same prices but taking advantage of a flooded market when it comes to the product they are selling? Is the market actually flooded? Are deer farmers undercutting eachother when it comes to selling shooters?
It doesn't appear to me that hunt prices are any cheaper than they ever were, so the question becomes whether or not the preserves are selling as many hunts as they were? If they are then that means that the market is flooded with too many deer (like someone said in a previous post, "if you don't sell for that price the preserve will find someone who must."). If they are not selling as many hunts then problem solved and we wait for the economy to turn around and hope that we can weather the storm. I am unsure if it is the latter however. The vast majority of people who could afford these hunts before the economy went bad could certainly afford them now. These hunts aren't cheap even for a deer in the 140"-150" range. I saw a post from a whitetail preserve in Wisconsin that sold a considerable amount of hunts in 2009 and they even indicated that they believed that it was their best year yet, despite the fact that they had a few cancellations due to the economy. When I calculated the number of hunts sold and the price for each hunt it totaled $480,000.00. They had their best year yet and still I keep reading about how hard it is to sell a deer. So what is the problem?
Has anyone really thought of the ramifications of natural breeding within hunting preserves on the deer farming industry? Preserves are buying higher scoring deer for less which means that they are getting better genetics (perhaps breeder quality in some instances) at shooter prices. Now, let us suppose that some of those deer are able to live breed with the doe that live in the preserve. Eventually, over time, because the preserves are stocking with breeder quality genetics, the preserves will end up becoming semi-self sufficient, which means that they won't need the deer farmer. At a very minimum, they are purchasing shooters with genetics that will be good enough to produce 150-200" deer. This can be achieved within a preserve with little or no care, just based upon the genetics and fact that they will have the ability to grow older. Add in some supplemental feeding and minerals etc and you have yourself a self sufficient hybrid deer breeding/preserve. It's that simple.
I don't know what other deer farmers produce on a steady basis but I would venture to say that they are producing "preserve quality deer" far more than they are "breeder quality deer". It's just a fact. If it were easy to breed 180+ inch deer on any given farm then everyone would be making it in the business. These "preserve quality deer" are the deer that cost the deer farmer the most to raise simply because there are more of them and it takes at least three years to get them to that size. If these quality genetics are naturally breeding within the confines of these preserves then deer farmers will be out of business sooner than they expect. There will simply be less of a demand for the majority of the deer that a deer farmer will produce. Not only because there are alot of deer farmers but also because the preserves are becoming semi self sufficient.
Selling "breeder quality" genetics for the price of shooters is a big mistake unless you have taken certain precautions. (I heard stories of preserves that have purchased quality deer at shooter prices and then started there own breeding program with those deer.)
You cannot prevent the preserves from investing in their own breeding program. However, if a deer they buy is going to have the ability to breed within or without the confines of the preserve then the preserves must be forced to pay top dollar for breeder quality genetics. What is a preserve quality buck that will potentially produce multiple preserve quality offspring worth? Even if that buck is only able to breed one year, that equals two more genetically superior deer that will remain and breed within that preserve.
So what is the solution? I am sure some deer farmers have contracts with a clause precluding "preserve quality deer" from being used as breeders, but does that really protect you? How many people know exactly what happens to their deer once they are loaded into the trailer to be sent off to a preserve? A contract is nothing more than a piece of paper and is not going to protect the deer farmer. Let's say a preserve breached that contract by breeding with the shooter, what then? You would have to have evidence of that, you would have to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit. That could end up costing thousands of dollars. Big preserves in a better financial position than the average deer farmer can weather the financial storm required to sustain litigation. And even then you may not win. So again, back to the question of what is the solution? Perhaps all "preserve quality deer" should be castrated? This may seem extreme but how else do you keep your genetics on your farm and not in the preserves and how do you prevent the preserve from using that deer to start building its own breeding stock? Especially when you are selling at preserve quality and not breeder quality prices.
There should also be a standardization of prices...deer farmers MUST stick together even through tough times. We are only hurting ourselves by underselling our neighbors.
Just some thoughts.
