Deer stalking syndicates - what you need to know

Having a piece of land where you have total autonomy over the deer management is many peoples idea of heaven. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Even if unwritten, there will be an expectation that you will visit a minimum number of times a year, cull a certain number of deer and invest in highseats if required. This can place a lot of pressure on someone and very quickly turn a relaxed recreational activity into what might feel like a part time job.

So, what other solutions are there? Well, you can pay to be taken out by a professional hunting guide, but this can become expensive pretty quickly. You also don’t get the chance to become invested in a particular place or population of deer. The other alternative is to join a deer stalking syndicate.

What is a deer stalking syndicate?

Deer stalking syndicates come in all shapes and sizes, some being more formal than others. The idea behind a deer stalking syndicate is that a group of ‘members’ cover the costs involved in managing the deer on a particular piece of land and in exchange are permitted to carry out the deer stalking.

The costs usually involve the rent paid to the landowner (if applicable), the cost of maintaining fixed equipment (such as highseats, tracks and chillers) and other miscellaneous costs such as insurance. Some syndicates will allow members to keep carcasses for their own use, others will retain the carcasses and use the sale proceeds to offset some of the costs.

Why join a deer stalking syndicate?

There is an almost infinite list of variables when it comes to syndicates, so it may be easier to explain some of the advantages of a deer stalking syndicate using a real life example, and where better to start than with Bob Glynn’s ‘Shooting SH’ syndicate.

Having been established for over 20 years the Shooting SH syndicate is one of the oldest and largest syndicates operating in the UK, which is an important consideration for any prospective member. The syndicate operates across 300,000 acres of land throughout the UK, not just in one particular geographical region.

Members pay a fixed membership fee of £750 per annum and in exchange are granted free reign to stalk across the 300,000 acres, subject to making a booking prior to their outing. Bookings are all done via phone, email, text or the new Shooting SH website. 

The new Shooting SH members app has your membership card built in, so no matter where you are, your card is on your phone, meaning you can show the landowner or police if required. 

The app reminds you when your membership is about to expire, with a payment link so you can easily renew. 

Deer stalking opportunities in the UK

Shooting SH lists more than 210,000 acres of hunting ground across the UK from Lands end to John O Groats conveniently in county order so you can see what shooting is available close by.  

Leased ground includes a map of the ground, so you know the boundary, where to park, high seat and access locations. Land lists are marked with icons, so members know what they can shoot.

If a member struggles to find a suitable block of land close enough to them they can book an outing with a local hunting guide and claim back 80-100% of the costs from the syndicate if they submit a ‘refund request’. According to the syndicate this guarantees any prospective member that they will be able to find accessible stalking, regardless of where they are in the country.

It also gives the members the opportunity to travel around the UK and visit new stalking areas should they so wish. I must admit this isn’t something I’ve ever seen offered by a syndicate before, so is very unique to Shooting SH.

To make the syndicate accessible for everyone the membership fee can be paid in a lump sum, or via Direct Debit or Standing Order. The overall fee also starts to decrease by £50 a year each year that a member renews their membership as a loyalty discount, which is pretty impressive. No other fees are charged to members, including trophy fees or fees to purchase carcasses.

Additional benefits

If that wasn’t enough, when a member signs up to the deer stalking syndicate they are invited to attend up to eight driven shooting days each year for absolutely no additional cost! Other opportunities are available to members, such as overseas driven wild boar excursions, at discounted rates. Mentoring programmes, DSC1 and DSC2 courses are run internally for the members too, which highlights some of the additional social and training benefits you can gain from these type of opportunities. 

Furthermore, Bob is keen to emphasise that new and inexperienced members aren't left to get on with things without guidance. "We make sure that new members and inexperienced stalkers are guided by more experienced members before being able to do a solo stalk on the syndicates grounds," he says. 

The Shooting SH syndicate is able to operate at such a competitive price due to its sheer scale – currently the syndicate has 305 members, which it is looking to increase to 350. This ensures that the holding company receives enough membership fees to cover all outgoings and never have to ask members to put their hands in their pockets for unforeseen expenditure.

Joining a deer stalking syndicate

To become a member any applicant must fill out a membership form, agree to the syndicate rules and regulations, provide a copy of their insurance and submit the details of two referees. This is great to see as many syndicates will allow anyone to join without carrying out any checks, which can be quite disconcerting for other members.

Some syndicates have minimum training requirements, both for new and existing members, so new members are expected to be DSC1 qualified and pass a shooting test, and existing members are expected to take a ‘refresher’ shooting test once a year. The Shooting SH syndicate doesn’t operate this policy, which makes it very accessible and low hassle. 

By stalkers, for stalkers

Bob is a deer stalker himself, so all of the ‘hunting areas’ leased by the syndicate have been surveyed to ensure they are suitable for stalking. Bob and his team will then draft a management plan for each particular piece of land that is used by the members as a guide in terms of what to cull. "To ensure that the syndicate works, it is important that the rules and regulations are strictly enforced.. Within the syndicate there is a strong culture of self-reporting if there is ever any kind of issue," Bob comments.

The geographical spread of the syndicate means every single one of the UK deer species can be hunted, not something many syndicates can claim! In addition to Bob there is another part time employee running the syndicate and three committee members, so members should always be able to speak to someone in the office.

Community and camaraderie

To my mind one of the distinct benefits a syndicate offers over solo stalking is the social side. Members of the Shooting SH syndicate are all added to a members WhatsApp group and invited to the members AGM and clay shoot. If members want to stalk together on syndicate properties this is also allowed. Newsletters are relased onto the members app to keep you up to date with land acquisitions and various shooting syndicate events coming up such as courses run in-house for Deer stalking, Butchery, Fly fishing and more... 

Not convinced yet? Well, you should be! Syndicates like the Shooting SH one open up a raft of opportunities for members that they perhaps wouldn’t be able to access directly. They also remove a huge amount of the administration and responsibility from the members and place it with the syndicate itself, which I think is a huge positive, especially for those of us that are time poor or want an easy life.

Stalking syndicates - the pitfalls

In all seriousness, there are some potential pitfalls to syndicates. The most common I’ve encountered or heard of are:

• Syndicates exaggerating the area of land they hold; 
• Syndicates overstating populations or previous cull records; 
• Syndicates folding without giving members any notice; 
• Syndicates not being clear about hidden charges and fees; 
• Syndicates over persecuting ‘trophy’ animals, resulting in an abundance of Does, but very few Bucks / Stags.

Whilst these are very real potential problems they can be mitigated with some prior investigation or homework on the syndicate. Before joining a syndicate I would always advise that potential members try to meet the organiser in person, or speak over the phone, to try and get a full understanding of how everything works. If everything feels a bit too loose, unclear or disorganised then I’d walk away.

Sadly, many people will sign up to any old syndicate as a way of satisfying their local constabulary that they have a need to own a firearm, which is a real waste of money when they are some good syndicates out there that could perform the same function and give you access to good stalking opportunities at the same time.

Having been a member of syndicates myself in the past, I think they are an enormously useful tool for our industry, providing they are run and policed correctly. So, if you are considering joining a syndicate then I’d encourage you to give it a go! If you don’t have one in mind then go check out the Shooting SH one – I’m sure they won’t have space for new members for long!