Ex-detective inspector, from Sheringham, turns deer hunter

David Ward of Norfolk Deer Management is a former police detective inspector who now has his own business, Norfolk Deer Management. He culls deer on people's land for them.Photo by Mark Bullimore (Image: Archant Norfolk)

The retired detective inspector now spends his days stalking and killing wild deer, which he sells to pubs and restaurants.

And, with a 400pc increase in demand for venison, Mr Ward, 54, is looking for more land to stalk, so that he can expand his Norfolk Deer Management business and offer a job to someone else.

'I could sell three times as much as I do,' said Mr Ward, of Sheringham, who supplies venison to outlets in Aylsham, Horstead and Blickling.

'The stumbling block is that there isn't enough land to shoot on.

Two young Red deer stags: PICTURE: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Norfolk-born, Mr Ward has enjoyed stalking and shooting since he was a boy and, once he left the police force, set about finding out the relevant laws, and what qualifications and permissions he would need to set up in business.

And so, while office workers are staring at a computer screen in their heated offices, Mr Ward, who has trained hunter status, is likely to be perched silently, on a 15ft-high chair, in the countryside waiting for deer to appear, having carried out a thorough reconnaissance of the area.

He kills up to 100 animals a year, charging landowners nothing, but taking the carcasses home with him.

And, as a registered food business, he is allowed to prepare the meat in an outbuilding at his Holway Road home, and then sell it.

He said: 'I love getting out there in all weathers.'

'I see it very much as a local business. Every deer I kill goes into the local food chain and helps local landowners. The meat makes money for local businesses, and they create jobs for local people.'

? Visit www.norfolkdeermanagement.co.uk