Lack of Notice

A) You are not alone in these problems. Your stalker may, or may not, come from a distance, but when he sets out long before dawn he has to make a plan relating to wind, weather and his experience. A pre-ordained plan is simply not practical. Obviously, he must collaborate closely with the keeper, avoiding shooting dates, and obtaining local and invaluable news from him and the estate office in order to make everything run as smoothly as possible. You cannot expect him to operate efficiently if he is hamstrung by the need to give notice.

Some stalkers try to cover inefficiency with flowery reports that tell one nothing. What you need to do is to agree a cull at the beginning of the “deer year” (usually 1 April) in terms of species, sex and basic age group (young, middle-aged or old). At the year’s end, the stalker can report the numbers culled against what was planned under the same headings, where the carcases went (house, gamedealer and so on) and then, on half a sheet of paper, add any further information he may think you require (such as damage reports).