I worry for the deer in the future.
There seems to be more and more people entering the sport of deer stalking.
Stalking leases have become steadily more expensive and people wanted bang for their buck. On top of this stalking is often gained through knowing someone and is free. These two tallied together make for difficult conditions for deer. Add on to this that stalkers jealously guard the whereabouts of their ground and do not liase with their neighbours, compounds the problem even further. Then factor in the unrestricted nature of shooting sports, (inasmuch as you there are no bag limits) and we have a recipe for disaster.
Example
Neighbour A pays a lot for his ground and knows that neighbour B and C also shoot. He wants to see some sort of return on his money so shoots away, guessing what his cull figure should be, as he will not speak to either neighbours and therefore has no clue as to what they shoot.
Neighbour B gets his land for free. He shoots a few as the landowner likes to see them but doesn't want too many. He makes a few quid as he sells them to the gamedealer. He doesn't tell anybody about his land for fear it will get taken off of him by someone with money.
Neighbour C hates them and shoots them himself on sight. He also takes them to the gamedealer.
I forgot Neighbour D. He's a bunnyhugger
Neighbour A an C are shooting hell out of the deer population. Neighbour B kicks the bloke off his land as he thinks he's shot too many and the deer are reduced to a mess of nocturnal jumpy poacher fodder.
Neighbour D just sits in the corner and cries
Ask our Danish friends what shooting is like over there. It'll scare the hell out of you.
And yes the above is happening. Thankfully not to me.