Oakland Park: A New Era in Game Processing

Oakland Park, the first new game processing facility to open in forty years, will begin operations on August 01st, 2024. 

Oakland Park Team ready

'County Deer Stalking & Capreolus Club would like to extend their congratulations to the team behind Oakland Park for their courage and vision in bringing this ambitious project to life. The achievement is no small feat, and we wish the whole team the best of luck with their endeavours.

For those of our readers who are hearing about Oakland Park for the first time, this is the UK's first new game processing facilty in 40 years, located just off junction 13 of the M4 motorway and A34, near Newbury and spanning 1,100 square meters, the facilities sole purpose is to process venison and game birds, with the capacity to handle up to 40,000 carcasses annually and over 15,000 game birds per week during peak season. This development marks an exciting time for the industry, and everyone with a vested interest should take note.

Oakland Park view ready

Whilst visiting Oakland Park we gained an insight into the scale and ambition of the facility, particularly for deer stalkers. John Prince, one of the great minds behind Oakland Park and a deer stalker himself, understands the need for stalkers to have a place to drop off carcasses and to receive a fair price for them. Oakland Park's vision aims to addresses this need, with all meat processed in a state-of-the-art facility and efficiently distributed to retailers, similar to that of more mainstream meats.

The goal of Oakland Park is to supply large catering organisations with species-specific venison and game, allowing these organisations to advertise Oakland Park products in their catalogues to pubs and restaurants. This approach aims to make venison more popular and affordable for the general population, while ensuring that stalkers receive a fair price per kilogram for what they shoot.

This is a monumental development for the game processing industry, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact Oakland Park will have on the market and the wider community.

OaklandParkOpenDay

Oakland Park will be hosting an open day on July 20th, before the full launch on August 1st. 'County Deer Stalking' will be at the event and will be promoting the 'Proficient Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1' (PDS1) and 'Large Game Meat Hygiene Certificate.  

The facility will operate seven days a week, from 7am to 4pm Monday to Friday, and 7am to 10am on Saturdays and Sundays.

Please note: Oakland Park requests all hunters and shoots to register with them to arrange either delivery or collection. They aim to provide a fair price in relation to how your game is shot.

If you are intersted in Oakland Park, please get in contact with them or see further information below: 

To register as a customer please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

To register as a supplier/hunter please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Website: www.oaklandparks.co.uk 

Contact number: 01635884784 

Address: Old Kiln Farm, Oxford Road, Hermitage, RG18 9XX 

If you'd like to take up deer stalking and become a 'Trained Hunter' capable of submitting venison to 'Large Game Handling Establishments such as Oakland Park, a great place to start is by taking the Proficient Deer Stalker Certificate Level 1 (PDS1). You can find out more about the course here: deer-stalking-course

County Deer Stalking is the UK’s leading provider of Deer Stalker Training and Deer Stalking Outings and is open to all of those that are dedicated and committed to the betterment of species through the careful selection of sustainable, wild, free-ranging animals.

County Deer Stalking's Online Magazine is the UK’s premier website for Deer Stalking & Deer Management related information. It is also the UK’s first online magazine devoted entirely to Deer Stalkers, offering readers a wealth of information in the form of short films and regular articles & reviews written by professional stalkers and top industry professionals.

With heaps of information about all things deer stalking, County Deer Stalking is a one stop shop for all things deer stalking.

Deer stalking is a term used in the UK to refer to deer hunting through the stealthy pursuit of deer on foot. The intention is to kill for food and/or to manage a population. Deer are shot with a high powered rifle.

In other parts of the world the term deer hunting is preferred and broadly refers to the same practice. In the UK the term ‘hunting’ has historically referred to the practice of hunting with hounds and is therefore not attributed to the practice of stalking deer.

Deer have no natural predators in the UK and as such Deer numbers have increased dramatically. Apex predators have been absent from the UK for many years and so aside from selective deer culling through stalking and management, the only limitations to the continued population growth are starvation, disease and traffic collisions. The Deer Initiative estimates that there is a need to cull at least 500,000 deer per year to maintain a stable and healthy population.

At County Deer Stalking we maintain that without the careful management of deer through selective culling, deer damage to the UK countryside will continue to increase. Damage caused by deer can include serious damage to crops, trees and shrubs and result in the loss of many of the UKs native plants and species.

Uncontrolled deer can create a considerable headache for foresters, farmers and all those who make the countryside their business.  There is of course also the escalating problem of 'Deer Vehicle collisions,' something which can have very real and even fatal consequences. Whilst other forms of deer control may be explored, for example the use of fencing and other deterrents, this does not restrict the exponential population growth of what is essentially a prey species. At County Deer Stalking it is our belief that Deer numbers can only properly be controlled by selective and careful culling.

‘County Deer Stalking's Online Magazine allows readers to improve their understanding of deer management and also access deer stalking in all areas of the UK. This can be achieved by viewing the pages devoted to ‘Go Stalking’ found along the tool bar at the top of this page.  

 

 

 

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