how much area will a red deer need a year to survive??

mrkipling

Well-Known Member
me again,can anybody tell me please how much area a red deer needs a year to live either on the hill,moor or forest in Scotland and how far roughly it will travel to get it?oh forgot to ask is this how they work out how many to cull?many thanks again!!
 
Mr Kipling asks exceedingly nice questions!

But you phrase the question in two ways; to survive or to live. Does anybody want just to survive or would you rather live?

Deer nutrition is a complicated subject and I know virtually nothing about Scottish conditions and shall be interested to hear what is said by those who do. Having said that I always assumed that deer would naturally do best when given optimum conditions; shelter and food being obvious.
Lack of disturbance and stable social structure being others.
To me it seems that it must be impossible to get good food at all times of the year on the harsher ground and it's reflected in the deer you see.

Personally I do like to see any animal able to express its genetic potential and I know that highland deer are capable of much more in a better environment. Sorry, I am not answering your question am I; I don't think there will be a magic formula.
 
In the light f you other question it is difficult to accertain what you are after. Hill deer are by and large self regulating. Too many, hinds do not reach body mass to reproduce limiting births. As explained at best practice event at Blair Atholl I attended deer will not reproduce if feeding is insufficient to reach an optimum weight thus the numbers do not increase. Cull suffient Hinds. they reproduce so numbers do remain relitively constant. Woodland deer are usually territorial so you cull from the best feeding someone moves in from the outskirts. The red deer culling you refered to is agricultural culling where deer are usually shot rather than culled because of crop damage. The priority is to reduce numbers in a situation where the crop value outweighs the beuty of the herd. A hill stalker will stalk a herd of hinds (or stags). He will then select the beast he thinks will improve the herd by its removal. He will instruct the rifle which hind is the target, deer culled. Agricultural removal n the other hand rarely represents such a clinical scenario. Safe shot, deer down is the norm. When that shot goes off the chances are the rest deer is three farms away on someone elses pemission. Thats why I liked that article where the big stag was left to be enjoyed in his full majesty. The site member who left it knew chances are it will go a couple of field away an someone else may take the shot but at least he gave it a chance. Take all the big ones out you end up with scrub stock. Lowland deer rarely go hungry they have plenty to eat. However the farmers and foresters do not like that scenario, Jim
 
Off topic: Hinds need to reach a body weight of 60-65 kgs to breed. Under hill conditions after raising a calf the one year next season they can be yeld as not had time to regain body mass.
morena
 
I live in an area once renowned as a royal hunting forest, parts of this forest still remain alongside the modern spruce stuff, in this forest area is a medieaval roadway with the name "Yeld lane" might this alude to Yelds congregating in an area known to have better feeding, Morena?
 
Very interesting,shows how in tune people were in their environment. No bloody PhD s in environmental studies in those days !!!!!!!!!!!
morena
 
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