A Great Idea...

[sorensen]

I am really impressed with the knowledge and openness found on the Farming forum, so let me float my idea for a retirement hobby.

The idea is to get 50-100 rai of marginal/swampy forest land, fence it all in and then introduce some interesting wild life and use it for recreation and maybe hunting.

Cost of land: 10,000-25,000 baht/rai (Realistic?)

Fencing: 500,000 baht

House/Cabin: 500,000 baht

Wild life: Deer, wild pigs/boors/ rabbits (Any other animals that will do well in the wild in Thailand?)

Hunting: Is it at all possible to own/use a shotgun in Thailand?

Safety: Will the fence get breached and the animals stolen?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

[ozzydom]

I am really impressed with the knowledge and openness found on the Farming forum, so let me float my idea for a retirement hobby.

The idea is to get 50-100 rai of marginal/swampy forest land, fence it all in and then introduce some interesting wild life and use it for recreation and maybe hunting.

Cost of land: 10,000-25,000 baht/rai (Realistic?)

Fencing: 500,000 baht

House/Cabin: 500,000 baht

Wild life: Deer, wild pigs/boors/ rabbits (Any other animals that will do well in the wild in Thailand?)

Hunting: Is it at all possible to own/use a shotgun in Thailand?

Safety: Will the fence get breached and the animals stolen?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

My thoughts, forget it.

100 rai is only 400m x 400m, hardly game reserve size.

1600m of fencing capable of keeping wild animals such as mentioned in or out will run you more than 1/2 mill . and still wont keep out a hungry Thai.

No, under normal circumstances ex pats cannot own a shottie.

Hunting in Thailand is restricted to Thai nationals using a home-made muzzle loader.

[dave_boo]

I am really impressed with the knowledge and openness found on the Farming forum, so let me float my idea for a retirement hobby.

The idea is to get 50-100 rai of marginal/swampy forest land, fence it all in and then introduce some interesting wild life and use it for recreation and maybe hunting.

Cost of land: 10,000-25,000 baht/rai (Realistic?)

Fencing: 500,000 baht

House/Cabin: 500,000 baht

Wild life: Deer, wild pigs/boors/ rabbits (Any other animals that will do well in the wild in Thailand?)

Hunting: Is it at all possible to own/use a shotgun in Thailand?

Safety: Will the fence get breached and the animals stolen?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

My thoughts, forget it.

100 rai is only 400m x 400m, hardly game reserve size.

1600m of fencing capable of keeping wild animals such as mentioned in or out will run you more than 1/2 mill . and still wont keep out a hungry Thai.

No, under normal circumstances ex pats cannot own a shottie.

Hunting in Thailand is restricted to Thai nationals using a home-made muzzle loader.

And yet, at least in Nakhon Sawan, a Thai national can buy a box of 12 guage shotgun shells for a (at least from my perspective) price. So how restrictive is that "using a home-made muzzle loader"?

[sorensen]

I am really impressed with the knowledge and openness found on the Farming forum, so let me float my idea for a retirement hobby.

The idea is to get 50-100 rai of marginal/swampy forest land, fence it all in and then introduce some interesting wild life and use it for recreation and maybe hunting.

Cost of land: 10,000-25,000 baht/rai (Realistic?)

Fencing: 500,000 baht

House/Cabin: 500,000 baht

Wild life: Deer, wild pigs/boors/ rabbits (Any other animals that will do well in the wild in Thailand?)

Hunting: Is it at all possible to own/use a shotgun in Thailand?

Safety: Will the fence get breached and the animals stolen?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

My thoughts, forget it.

100 rai is only 400m x 400m, hardly game reserve size.

1600m of fencing capable of keeping wild animals such as mentioned in or out will run you more than 1/2 mill . and still wont keep out a hungry Thai.

No, under normal circumstances ex pats cannot own a shottie.

Hunting in Thailand is restricted to Thai nationals using a home-made muzzle loader.

Other option is to scale the idea back and just get 10 rai. Skip the hunting, but still fence it in a keep some interesting wild life. What animals will do well in a semi wild environment? Deers? Rabbits?

Robert

[slapout]

Deer require a 8 to 10 foot high fence to keep them in (woven or sometimes called hog wire). Not much good to keep ion hogs as they have a tendency to root under, unless you put a electric wire near ground. Rabbit fencing could be added to woven wire. As for raising these targets, a lot of feeding will be required if you have any numbers, which you will with pigs and rabbits and a lesser degree the deer. Shooting the larger mentioned animals require special shotgun slugs or buckshot (not sure its available to the public here) The size area you mentioned would not be considered sporting by anyone I know who hunts especially at feeding time. There are successful hunting ranches but the smaller ones are in the 1000's of acres in size. Never heard of a hunting lodge/ranch for rabbit but anything is possible in the world today.

[ozzydom]

I am really impressed with the knowledge and openness found on the Farming forum, so let me float my idea for a retirement hobby.

The idea is to get 50-100 rai of marginal/swampy forest land, fence it all in and then introduce some interesting wild life and use it for recreation and maybe hunting.

Cost of land: 10,000-25,000 baht/rai (Realistic?)

Fencing: 500,000 baht

House/Cabin: 500,000 baht

Wild life: Deer, wild pigs/boors/ rabbits (Any other animals that will do well in the wild in Thailand?)

Hunting: Is it at all possible to own/use a shotgun in Thailand?

Safety: Will the fence get breached and the animals stolen?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

My thoughts, forget it.

100 rai is only 400m x 400m, hardly game reserve size.

1600m of fencing capable of keeping wild animals such as mentioned in or out will run you more than 1/2 mill . and still wont keep out a hungry Thai.

No, under normal circumstances ex pats cannot own a shottie.

Hunting in Thailand is restricted to Thai nationals using a home-made muzzle loader.

And yet, at least in Nakhon Sawan, a Thai national can buy a box of 12 guage shotgun shells for a (at least from my perspective) price. So how restrictive is that "using a home-made muzzle loader"?

True Dave, lots of business men around here have pump guns for security purposes, from what my local BiB tells me it appears that the main requirement to get a permit to own a firearm is that you need to carry in excess of 100k to carry out your business.

Our local rubber buyer has a Winchester pump in his office and another in his truck when he goes to the regular rubber markets in the villages.

Imagine the result of using a 12g for the usual Isaan target which is perched sparrows.

[Maizefarmer]

It's all a dream ...... for me 20years ago, it was adream - but hard work and determination ..... ect ect ..... so I am reluctant to say impossible, but the practical issues folk have raised in reply should not be underestimated - not least of which is I personally don't think 100rai is anywhere near enough.

Something like 5000rai would be more practical if you wanted to sustain hunting - which at the moment, other than for smooth bore/black powder guns (which are popular amongst folk in the North East), getting a hunting permitt is very very difficult nowadays - even a shotgun permitt - which by the way it is possible for ex-pats to get (but that to is another story and quite frankly, things have more than likely moved on a lot since then ......).

So maybe not the hunting side of it - but the self-sustainability - yes, very much mroe realisable and practical.

[bina]

then introduce some interesting wild life and use it for recreation and maybe hunting.

i want to point out that u cannot just 'introduce wildlife' for recreation and hunting in most countries nowadays and probably even thailand...

for me to have kept my (our petting zoo) wild animals that were native to israel i had to get a special liscense 'for educational purposes'. for the exotics, depending on the CITES lists, we had to have permission to keep them based on many conditions.

howver, red deer (all males for instance) or spotted deer can be raised for hunting in 'western ' countries and are not yet on the list of species that take over wild life niches i.e. rabbits, certain turtles, certain types of parakeets (dont have latin names in front of me and dont know the english common names, only the hebrew ones)... why do i say 'all males' for certain deer? because here for instance, there are too many males in a herd, so many places will sellthem or place them (although for hunting not sure) for much cheaper then females... and an all male herd will not have the violence/aggressiveness that there will be if there are females available ...

and in many countries these deer are considered livestock and not 'exotics'. they need round pens or they get caught in corners and try to leap over. we had several suicides due to thieves coming at night, the deer got panicked, and in the morning we found half dead males, with horrible wounds due to their fright and flight running and crashing in to our squared pen (approved by the large zoo that gave us the males btw, but a very tragic bad mistake).

plus the cost of feed for keeping males in condition enough to get their horns/antlers (depending on the species) large enough to be worth 'hunting' for trophy; not sure about the meat. we didnt eat our males because stressed deer having to be 'euthenized' would have made tough meat. (in the end used meds to put them out of their misery so not eatable anyway.)

i am a carnivore and will eat hunted meat if it is meant to be food, but not sure i like the idea of sport hunting; in issaan anyhow most thai hunt to eat, but wont pay to hunt to eat and its very convenient to have fenced in meat on the hoof....

plus one pack of feral village dogs to get a herd running...

rabbits also need to be fed, plus diseases when they are in large colonies,

what about certain types of pheasants? they do go up in trees but there are breeds that are not on the endangered lists; they are fairly easy to raise (hatchery), tasty, expensive, beautiful...

bina

israel

edit:

marginal/swampy forest land,

-- marginal swampy may be marginal to you, but not to any local wildlife that might still be left besides mossquitoes... but fishing? paa deuk?

[phaethon]

Action plan:

1) Get yourself a good job working offshore.

2) Work hard, with overtime, for about 6 months.

3) Buy Laos.

[MrWiggle]

10 rai, securely fenced.

Introduce an 18 foot crocodile into this swampy land and go hunt it.

Only allowed to use bows and arrows though.

[Cuban]

If this is for your own hobby - consider taking up fishing.

If this is the basis of a business - who are your customers?

[sorensen]

If this is for your own hobby - consider taking up fishing.

If this is the basis of a business - who are your customers?

I just love nature and animals in general. The hunting part would be twice a year tops and purely private.

The dream is only to have 2-4 deers and some other excotic animals, like pheasants as suggested.

Banny Roosters are also on my list.

[sorensen]

Action plan:

1) Get yourself a good job working offshore. Check

2) Work hard, with overtime, for about 6 months. Check - Check - 6 years...

3) Buy Laos. Mai aw

[bina]

deer are herd animals and u would have to keep either all males, or a male and several females.... and some species of deer are very not nice to work with. our spotted deer males were real sweethearts with their caretaker; but not very nice to strangers and absolutely panic stricken with quick moving strangers which would cause them to race and crash in to their fencing (hence the round pen recommendation)...

the ratio is like one to five male/female....

and again, other exotics, depending if they are native to the country they may be permitted to be raised and hunted; or reversed, to keep non thai exotics.... same same.. especially if u love nature and animals in which case u would be i imagine a bit 'green' in your approach. i.e. ecologically minded.

to hunt down two or three deer doesnt seem sport. to catch a deer u raised for venison, well same goes for beef. no problem.

but in thailand probably no one enforces legalities like this either.

in australia there are professional deer farms/hunting for antlers as well as in the states, just google for 'farm deer'...

bina

israel

[sorensen]

Found the following from Malaysia on Google, so it can be done:

http://www.asiavalley.com/FloraFauna.htm

Sungkai Deer Farm

About 82 km from Ipoh and 40km from Teluk Intan at Sungkai is the Sungkai Deer Farm, where more than 100 deer roam freely on a breeding and conservation site. Established in 1978, this deer farm is the only one of its kind in the country.

Nearby are an exotic bird sanctuary and nature-walk paths. Visitors can camp overnight to observe the animals up close. It is open all year round from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

To get there, take the North-South expressway towards Ipoh. If you prefer, take the exit out of the expressway at Tanjung Malim and head towards Bidor. Pass through Trolak and head towards Sungkai. The turn off into the narrow road to the reserve is not obvious. Be on the look out for the Wildlife Department's sign 'Sungkai Sambar Deer and Pheasant Wildlife Conservation Centre'. The centre is about 15 km from Sungkai.

[ozzydom]

deer are herd animals and u would have to keep either all males, or a male and several females.... and some species of deer are very not nice to work with. our spotted deer males were real sweethearts with their caretaker; but not very nice to strangers and absolutely panic stricken with quick moving strangers which would cause them to race and crash in to their fencing (hence the round pen recommendation)...

the ratio is like one to five male/female....

and again, other exotics, depending if they are native to the country they may be permitted to be raised and hunted; or reversed, to keep non thai exotics.... same same.. especially if u love nature and animals in which case u would be i imagine a bit 'green' in your approach. i.e. ecologically minded.

to hunt down two or three deer doesnt seem sport. to catch a deer u raised for venison, well same goes for beef. no problem.

but in thailand probably no one enforces legalities like this either.

in australia there are professional deer farms/hunting for antlers as well as in the states, just google for 'farm deer'...

bina

israel

Most Australian states have wild deer populations on which there is a hunting season.

Farm deer are not "hunted " for their antlers , deer cast their antlers every year and grow new ones, antlers in velvet are quite valuable and are harvested while in velvet ,which is in the early growing season purely as a bi-product of the venison and stud breeding and tourism sides of the business.

Captive deer come under the same regulations as any livestock slaughtered for human consumption and are killed in human fashion ,which does not include shooting .

No self respecting hunter would shoot a captive deer as sport .

[ozzydom]

Found the following from Malaysia on Google, so it can be done:

http://www.asiavalley.com/FloraFauna.htm

Sungkai Deer Farm

About 82 km from Ipoh and 40km from Teluk Intan at Sungkai is the Sungkai Deer Farm, where more than 100 deer roam freely on a breeding and conservation site. Established in 1978, this deer farm is the only one of its kind in the country.

Nearby are an exotic bird sanctuary and nature-walk paths. Visitors can camp overnight to observe the animals up close. It is open all year round from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

To get there, take the North-South expressway towards Ipoh. If you prefer, take the exit out of the expressway at Tanjung Malim and head towards Bidor. Pass through Trolak and head towards Sungkai. The turn off into the narrow road to the reserve is not obvious. Be on the look out for the Wildlife Department's sign 'Sungkai Sambar Deer and Pheasant Wildlife Conservation Centre'. The centre is about 15 km from Sungkai.

But this deer farm is a breeding and conservation enterprise not a hunting reserve.

[wagner54]

Found the following from Malaysia on Google, so it can be done:

http://www.asiavalley.com/FloraFauna.htm

Sungkai Deer Farm

About 82 km from Ipoh and 40km from Teluk Intan at Sungkai is the Sungkai Deer Farm, where more than 100 deer roam freely on a breeding and conservation site. Established in 1978, this deer farm is the only one of its kind in the country.

Nearby are an exotic bird sanctuary and nature-walk paths. Visitors can camp overnight to observe the animals up close. It is open all year round from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

To get there, take the North-South expressway towards Ipoh. If you prefer, take the exit out of the expressway at Tanjung Malim and head towards Bidor. Pass through Trolak and head towards Sungkai. The turn off into the narrow road to the reserve is not obvious. Be on the look out for the Wildlife Department's sign 'Sungkai Sambar Deer and Pheasant Wildlife Conservation Centre'. The centre is about 15 km from Sungkai.

If you want to set up a breeding herd with supplemental feed 100 rai would do, but as someone else mentioned the cost of fencing high enough for deer (at least 8 foot) you are looking at least a half million baht, as for wild boar they don't root under fences as bad as domestic pigs so if you buried your fence 6 to 8 inches that should be fine. I kept a herd of wild boar around 10 sows and a couple of boars for several years and used a 48 inch high chain link fence buried about 6 inches deep and never had any problems. The problem is if you kept deer and boar in the same 100 rai the boar would surely eat any fawns that were born so you would never have any more deer then what you started with. As far as the hunting part 100 rai might be big enough for hunting rabbit or quail but for deer or boar it would be about as challenging as shooting them in a barn. If you wanted it as a park like setting have your deer and boar in different pastures you could probably set up something pretty nice.

There are several deer farms through out different areas in LOS with several different species available, so if you decide to go for it finding your animals would be no problem. Good luck and keep us posted

[sorensen]

Lots of commercial deer fence avaialble and based on the attached pricing it is actually possible to fence 25 rai (800 m fence) $6,000. Even with poles, gate and labour 500,000 baht should be enough.

The graduated fence is ideal for rabbits and small wild life.

Robert

http://www.academyfence.com/weldedwire/deerfence.aspx

Edited April 1, 2009 by sorensen

[wagner54]

Lots of commercial deer fence avaialble and based on the attached pricing it is actually possible to fence 25 rai (800 m fence) $6,000. Even with poles, gate and labour 500,000 baht should be enough.

The graduated fence is ideal for rabbits and small wild life.

Robert

http://www.academyfence.com/weldedwire/deerfence.aspx

This looks like good fencing with a fair price too. Have you found a place in LOS that sells it? Is it around the same price? The reason I'm asking is that I would also like to fence in several rai and raise some deer.

Roger

[David006]

Lots of commercial deer fence avaialble and based on the attached pricing it is actually possible to fence 25 rai (800 m fence) $6,000. Even with poles, gate and labour 500,000 baht should be enough.

The graduated fence is ideal for rabbits and small wild life.

Robert

http://www.academyfence.com/weldedwire/deerfence.aspx

This looks like good fencing with a fair price too. Have you found a place in LOS that sells it? Is it around the same price? The reason I'm asking is that I would also like to fence in several rai and raise some deer.

Roger

This thread is great entertainment "buy Laos" LOL....great info and imagination..from everyone keep it coming....

I would like to fence in our rubber farm to keep the "homemade shotgun" hunters out...... maybe...TIT

[Sel]

These guys do livestock imports in Thailand

http://www.hedleyjohn.com/