Why is no one talking numbers?

[slider]

Currently sitting in my caravan looking over a field at 6 roe, saw a group of 12 earlier and another of 4.
This is in a rural area but only a mile or so from a fairly affluent village. There are signs on the paths saying "we love our deer, please keep your dogs on a lead"
Although the first instance front of the caravan site appears abandoned/set aside everything else in the area is cropped.
Spoke, discreetly, to so of the locals who say its impossible to keep a decent garden but their neighbours are totally against cull8ng.
Typifies the situation in Central Scotland

 

[Hayduke]

The 2,000,000 number is made up BS.

I don’t buy the: kill ‘em all if it’s red it’s dead if it’s brown it’s down.

There are areas with too many deer, but equally as BDS surveys show we have areas without our native deer too - will the rewilders be reintroducing them, unlikely because SNH, NE and Defra only consider deer as vermin.

Over much of the UK deer populations are well managed.

 

[Dave_45]

A mate in kintyre has roe and sika in his garden

plenty of damage done

 

[slider]

Over much of the UK deer populations are well managed.

Over "some" on the UK deer are well managed. I agree the Reds are prosecuted in Scotland but Roe in the Central Belt are out of control, herds of 1000 fallow roaming parts of Southern England, Muntjac speading like rabbits.
No one size fits all

 

[Cyres]

Biggest issue for many recreational stalkers is the dire lack of game dealers and not having a chiller at home or to be shared. Culling deer is the easy bit. It's the time taken to turn it into food. Apart for a couple I shoot for myself others go to landowners when they want one. If they would take them in the skin or pay a butcher I would shoot more.
D

 

[dryan]

Big issue here is large sika herds in east of the country are often on land that’s tied up with shooting rights. Extraction is also an issue.

A lot of the ground here isn’t even suitable for quad extraction, it’s winch or drag

Secondly, game dealer rates and access to dispose of carcasses are so poor that I’m actually holding off shooting animals unless the landowner is anxious about numbers, and giving carcasses away when I do.

The level of forestry planted is also providing cover and animals are often now nearly nocturnal.

 

[bottletopbill]

Over "some" on the UK deer are well managed. I agree the Reds are prosecuted in Scotland but Roe in the Central Belt are out of control, herds of 1000 fallow roaming parts of Southern England, Muntjac speading like rabbits.
No one size fits all

Not for the lack of shooter's plenty of us so called part time stalkers would help bring down the number . Due to other commitments in our lives.

 

[goldypurple]

with the amount of stalkers in attendance at the stalking show, there shouldnt be a deer problem!

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

with the amount of stalkers in attendance at the stalking show, there shouldnt be a deer problem!

There are 3 types of stalker-

1- Those that get on with it quietly with no fuss.

2- Those who try and do their best with what they have got.

3- Those who go to shows wearing realtree making a lot of noise about stalking talking , but in reality would themselves if you put them I front of 6 dead reds and told them to get on with it.

 

[bottletopbill]

There are 3 types of stalker-

1- Those that get on with it quietly with no fuss.

2- Those who try and do their best with what they have got.

3- Those who go to shows wearing realtree making a lot of noise about stalking talking , but in reality would themselves if you put them I front of 6 dead reds and told them to get on with it.

Think i fall in no2 as no deer on my perm despite trying to encourage them .
So paid stalk or the occasional invite from SD members

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Think i fall in no2 as no deer on my perm despite trying to encourage them .
So paid stalk or the occasional invite from SD members

Exactly your do g the best you can with what you. Have got!

 

[Bo Diddley]

but in reality would themselves if you put them I front of 6 dead reds and told them to get on with it.

6 Munties, and my back is aching .
Only ever shot three reds once, and called in the back-up for help... I made sure they were close to the track as well

How's the carping going? Well I hope, the water is warming up.

 

[Uillie]

Interesting debate. Scotland is probably ahead of the rest in terms of Deer management groups which actually talk about numbers and target culls etc.

Its all we seem to talk about in Scotland. Numbers.

 

[Mr. Gain]

put them in front of 6 dead reds and [tell] them to get on with it.

That would be a challenge for most, I think. Not everyone has reds, or even fallow, on their ground (or even ground of their own), and everything does get a bit different from roe up. It still seems a pity that one can't be considered a proper stalker by some unless habituated to emptying one's magazine into a herd of cervus elaphus and dealing with the consequences thereof.

 

[NullMac]

I get where you’re coming from but ive always said the problem is a lot of recreational stalkers aren’t up to the job / aren’t fussed

It’s worse. Many amateurs run zoos. They want good heads and as much sport as they get for the money so their incentive is not to batter hell out of deer

 

[rem284]

Its all we seem to talk about in Scotland. Numbers.

Numbers count or is it count numbers!!! Or whose's counting. One thing for sure, there's a lot of money spent on counting deer. Dung counts, helicopter counts, drone counts, population modelling and more.

Awk, I am just going to cull as many as I can. They never say stop, that's enough according to the population modelling. They just alter the figures and say mmm, you should really be culling more

 

[NullMac]

Interesting debate. Scotland is probably ahead of the rest in terms of Deer management groups which actually talk about numbers and target culls etc.

Well that’s true in the Highlands but there is a combination of a small (ish) number of landowners and let’s call it the political will to kill heaps of deer. Easy to set targets, assign responsibility and professionally manage.

Get out of there though and there is a mosaic of land owners, much smaller areas and different deer. That is a completely different issue. Deer everywhere and no coherent approach to large scale management.

 

[NullMac]

More people should give ground up they don’t need, and focus on the ones thy actually use

Isn’t that the truth. Too many stalkers collecting ground and not shooting deer.