The OP, who is!
Sika about to be declared an invasive species by the EU.
- Thread starter Fair Hill
- Start date
terrier1
Well-Known Member
In English please.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
My neighbour has some pics of muntjac on his trail cam, down Hawick way.Have there ever been any confirmed Muntjac sightings in Scotland? Would of thought the Borders would see some by now.
Apart from the occasional 'saw a dead one on the A9' post that pops up every 6 months on SD (much like the 'big cat' ones...)
Rafter
Well-Known Member
Grammar is important.
We should eat Dad - very different to we should eat, Dad.
Don't make a fatal mistake.
Also, Sika are great. Smart, noisy and tasty. Probably not for everyone, everywhere.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Making sika Bresaola as we speak, can’t wait to see the end result. We need more sika in Argyll now the reds are soon to be on the extinction list, send some over please!
Cootmeurer
Well-Known Member
So what happens if a sika threads his way in and out of the border with N Ireland? Vermin, game, vergame, gamin?But Ireland is and this thread is about Irish Sika
Rake Aboot
Well-Known Member
Not a surprise but disappointing all the same
Problem deer are a pest but deer as vermin doesn’t sit well with me
Much as I’ve said they are in the past
Problem deer are a pest but deer as vermin doesn’t sit well with me
Much as I’ve said they are in the past
sikamalc
Administrator
The FC have always regarded Sika an Invasive species, especially in Scotland. Try as they may, they have never succeeded in stopping the spread of Sika across the highlands. I have seen it over the past 30 plus years where I stalk, and have managed areas. They have never achieved stopping Sika, and its not going to happen in my opinion.
Shooting them at night, which happens in many cases, is all well and good, and produces a higher cull. However Sika soon learn, like many deer.
Shooting them at night, which happens in many cases, is all well and good, and produces a higher cull. However Sika soon learn, like many deer.
I have a recollection that NI forestry service wanted to declare Sika an invasive species AND have the right to go on to private property to cull them.
This was a few years ago. Can anybody else confirm this?
Given the discrepancies in the seasons between North and South there must be 'flexibility' in the border area as things stand.
And don't they just (soon learn) Malc
I had a night licence on the estate where I worked in the Borders. Never, ever shot one out of a big group, even shooting one out of three educated them. Stopped shooting at groups of three unless I could more or less guarantee the bunch. Incredibly secretive in blanket forestry, I remember the late Ronnie Rose telling me he had a huge stag that lived in a ten acre block and even he had only seen it twice, he had even tried to move it with zero results. My then wife was a natural Sika stalker, she could scream them in or whistle alarm them when it was to her advantage. Her best was 9 hinds.in a day in forestry which shamed the other keeper and me.
Nobody is really capable of stopping their spread, unless with poison.
I stalked in Argyll north of Kilmartin (if I remember correctly) in 99 and 2000 and there were plenty and hybrids too.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Fair QTY of hybrids even around Dalmally. @Heym SR20 took one freehand with the O/U double whilst on the trot through lovely oak woodland with me a couple years ago, show off! Lol!
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Regardless of what you call them or categorise them as, there are way too many Sika in many places.
We won’t get on top of the problem with recreational stalkers either, we‘re going to have to shift strategy very significantly.
Personally I’d concentrate on the hinds, longer seasons and shotgun drives would help, before anyone starts, sika hinds are no bigger than a roe buck and we know that roe can be humanely controlled with shotguns.
We also need to think seriously about what we do with the carcasses, extraction and processing is expensive, its often more cost effective to just let them lie.
Not very nice I know, but maybe necessary?
We won’t get on top of the problem with recreational stalkers either, we‘re going to have to shift strategy very significantly.
Personally I’d concentrate on the hinds, longer seasons and shotgun drives would help, before anyone starts, sika hinds are no bigger than a roe buck and we know that roe can be humanely controlled with shotguns.
We also need to think seriously about what we do with the carcasses, extraction and processing is expensive, its often more cost effective to just let them lie.
Not very nice I know, but maybe necessary?
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
sikamalc
Administrator
No disrespect intended, a good Sika hind is a bit bigger than a Roe buck. Shotguns would be the very last resort, and something I would not be party too in a million years.
Having hunted and tried to manage this species on three areas over the past 40 years, two in the highlands and one in Dorset, I can tell you that hunting/stalking in two different areas is akin to stalking two different animals.
Scotland they are more switched on, and more aggresive. They are to me far more in tune with their surroundings. Having said that, it may well be due to seeing more people in Dorset. Where I stalk in the highlands, if you break wind at one end of a forestry block, they will know you are there.
You would have more luck herding cats, than trying to drive Sika and making a difference to numbers in my opinion. The FC have been trying to eradicate Sika in Scotland for years. Never achieved it. And they never will now.
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
I actually love the little feckers.
Maybe ours are different but it takes a good hind to break 30Kg at the chiller .
One thing is certain, what we’re doing now isn’t working, time to try something different.
We used to drive them to the guns many many years ago, back when shotgun with 9 ball cartridges was all we had, labs and collies will easily handle them.
By many years ago I mean the early 70’s, ask your grandparents.
Last edited by a moderator:
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Lots of them, in Wicklow you don’t get many stags of 50K and most hinds are banging off 30K chiller weights.
On the other hand, I don’t get to handle many roe, but the few bucks I’ve have got a grip of seemed to be around the same size as a hind.
The only mature sika hinds I've seen up close have been tiny. Certainly no bigger than a good sized roe buck. The thing about sika is that, when alive, they have a certain presence that makes them appear larger than they really are.
Similar threads
