Deer numbers in the uk

irishgun

Well-Known Member
What part of the uk has the most deer living in it ,numbers/species .exculding scotland .
would there be much hill stalking in the uk .excluding scotland .
 
This is a very difficult question to answer and I doubt if anyone actually knows and I guess we're talking wild deer and not park situations.

There are several areas of England where there are at least five species present but it would need fallow or reds to be included to get the numbers up. There is one estate in Sussex where fallow predominate but there are also shootable numbers of roe, you would see muntjac on most visits, there are a couple of sika hinds running with the fallow and the odd sika stag comes in for the rut plus there is the odd red in the general area. I've seen all bar a red in one morning's stalk there and the professional stalker had a client out one day when I was also there, he was stalking a fallow buck, whistled to stop the intended target and a roebuck and sika stag both stood up.

In East Anglia, there are five of the six UK species present (no sika as far as I know) but what the density is and whether all five occur in the same location I don't know, there aren't too many fallow so densities may not be that high.

There are five of the species in the New Forest (no CWD) and given that there is a very large density of fallow, plus red, sika, roe, and muntjac my guess is that the area with the most deer of different species would be somewhere in the New Forest or immediate environs.

Other candidates would the somewhere in the Marches or Cotswolds where there can be very high fallow densities plus some good roe and muntjac numbers and I know an area where there are also some reds and sika. Areas of Dorset will have roe, fallow, sika and some muntjac, some parts of Devon have high densities of reds, especially if there is a LACS sanctuary in the area, and there will often be roe as well, in Devon the sika and fallow are not normally close to the reds. A lot depends on the level of culling going on in any particular area.

There is hill stalking for reds in the Lake District.
 
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I'm fairly sure the highest concentrations of deer per km2 will now be where muntjac are in there strongholds in southern areas. Small deer eat less so more can hang on in greater numbers to relative sized habitat largely unnoticed. Muntjac are known to increase their numbers rapidly with does able to reproduce every 7 months so baring in mind official estimates at 150k a few years back and an increase per year of 8-12% they will be britains most common deer very soon across a lot less of a range than roe.
 
What part of the uk has the most deer living in it ,numbers/species .exculding scotland .
would there be much hill stalking in the uk .excluding scotland .

Why are you excluding Scotland?:(:cry: we let them take the wall down after all which may have been a mistake...:lol:

'With an estimated 300,000 red deer in Scotland, you are never too far away from a population. Hotspots include Galloway Forest Park, Rum and Jura, Perthshire and the Northwest Highlands'. From Wildlife Scotland web site. I think it has been claimed this is underestimated. I'm sure I read somewhere as well that there is an estimated 10% cull on this every year but I do not know what the breakdown of sex and ages is. Perhaps better informed on here can shed a light.

You can go back to discussing the English population now.:D
 
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i love scotland ,i have stalked and shot some competitions there . i have stalked the south of england for roe and fallow on farm land ,not my cup of tea .bloody boring .
 
What part of the uk has the most deer living in it ,numbers/species .exculding scotland .
would there be much hill stalking in the uk .excluding scotland .

The best hill stalking in the areas you mention would in my opinion be the hills of the Northern Lake District.
I have stalked many of those mountains since 1961 when I shot my first Red stag there. [ a tineless switch.]
Following open heart surgery with complications in 2003 I retired from the hill. [I had to be zapped with the jumper leads twice.]
At 70 years of age it was becoming hard work with some areas inacessable by wheeled transport and only brute force the method of extraction.
Mark you, I always tried to zap something for a more convenient down-hill drag.
Last years count showed nearly 1000 beasts with a sex ratio of approx 1 Stag to every 3 Hinds, calves not being included in that ratio.
HWH.

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