If they opened up the seasons would you ………

[Taff]

The people doing the shooting might not mind.

The general public and the people making the legislation certainly will.

We have no season here and the public get on with it.

 

[devon deer stalker]

Take it to the end of April, better to have them 'in' than out and shot early, if you understand what I mean
(Can't believe I'm typing this at 0413 hrs,,,,football!)

 

[Leec6.5]

So far this poll tells me deer are going to continue to me a major problem, not only l RTA’s but but also agriculture also it proves the point that in this day and age stalkers are not willing do do the job that’s needed to be done!

Quite sad really, that an animal we apparently love and respect has to suffer and in my opinion, 5 years of hard merciless graft could put things back on an even keel to the point where their life is better and our lives will be better because the pressure will not be upon us to bust a gut therefore we can go back and enjoy our stalking again, because at the moment I certainly don’t enjoy my stalking

Maybe it is time for contractors to come in and mercilessly wipe the slate clean,!

 

[HonestJohn]

If it's brown it's down .

One of the most distasteful sayings in my mind. Anyone heard saying such would never be invited to shoot my lands.

One more added to the ignore list sorry, that one is brown, and up

 

[Leec6.5]

If it's brown it's down .

There was a time many years ago when I didn’t care, when killing deer was all I wanted to do, then I treated it as a job.

Now I’m the polar opposite, i do what i have to do nothing more nothing less

 

[Chris Richardson]

I do think extending the doe / hind season to the end of April would be a good idea , don’t get me wrong in areas where there isn’t a huge deer problem you could just voluntarily stop whenever you like but I think it would be good especially in southern areas with big fallow populations

 

[Leec6.5]

Then with big numbers You have the supply and demand problem, big numbers into the dealers will flood the market and lower the price, then they won’t get shot.

Double edged sword, personally I don’t care about the money, never have.

It pays for food and beer at the pub through the winter!

 

[Leec6.5]

Let’s get this straight Lee, you are completely against shooting a deer at night within season, and yet you are all for shooting a female with dependent young? I’m sorry but that’s a bizarre moral stance you have taken.

That’s because shooting deer at night will make **** all difference, all it will do is push them into places where they cannot be shot!

There is enough places down here in the south where you could hide 1000 fallow quite easily, and that’s the only the tip of the iceberg.

Where I shoot fallow there is a 30 acre wood which is not shot, my bit surrounds it, not uncommon to say 50 to 100 fallow in or around that wood, they know where their safe

 

[Leec6.5]

The people doing the shooting might not mind.

The general public and the people making the legislation certainly will.

I don’t disagree

 

[Leec6.5]

How many are you ahooting in the winter cull season?

15-20 years ago 300, 10 years ago 200+ and a full time job now, now over 100 cwd /red/roe and still a full time job

But now I only have 500 acres, I gave 2500 acres away to friends.

 

[25 Sharps]

Let’s cut the men from the boys, if the powers that be did away with the close season would you?

Like I said in a previous post, no one seem to care about the humble muntjac!

Yes or no?

Happens on roe all the time

 

[shakey jake]

The unethical point got rasied and im still strugling to see how its unethical to kill pregnant deer. Ive got sone hens and a cockerel, is eating their eggs unethical?

 

[hendrix's rifle]

The unethical point got rasied and im still strugling to see how its unethical to kill pregnant deer. Ive got sone hens and a cockerel, is eating their eggs unethical?

Don't know how your cockerel is laying eggs but I wouldn't eat them

 

[shakey jake]

Don't know how your cockerel is laying eggs but I wouldn't eat them

Very creamy yoke, not alot of shell. Weird on toast but needs must

 

[TringSaint]

15-20 years ago 300, 10 years ago 200+ and a full time job now, now over 100 cwd /red/roe and still a full time job

But now I only have 500 acres, I gave 2500 acres away to friends.

The problem that I have historically found when hammering cwd in one area is that you create a vacuum territory and all you end up doing is shooting deer that are coming onto that territory and it never ends.

Instead, what I do now is to cull to a sensible level and then leave them alone and the pressure of existing deer keeps the newcomers to a sensible amount.

Consequently, I have gone from shooting 30 a year off one farm to shooting 15 and the total deer numbers have not risen - they manage their own territories and that keeps the numbers stable.

 

[Mungo]

We have no season here and the public get on with it.

You have a public that’s much less hostile to shooting things in general. And ALL your deer are invasive and well known to be extremely damaging.

There’s no point comparing NZ with UK public attitudes - they’re profoundly different and we have to work with what we have.

Shooting in general is not popular here, and we have to be careful not to be seen to be advocating for things that are easy to be characterised as unnecessarily and avoidably cruel.

 

[RCS Deer Management]

That’s because shooting deer at night will make **** all difference, all it will do is push them into places where they cannot be shot!

There is enough places down here in the south where you could hide 1000 fallow quite easily, and that’s the only the tip of the iceberg.

Where I shoot fallow there is a 30 acre wood which is not shot, my bit surrounds it, not uncommon to say 50 to 100 fallow in or around that wood, they know where their safe

Complete rubbish. You obviously haven’t been around night shooting and are making presumptions rather than basing your statements on experience. There are people on this forum who have worked on night licenses for decades now, night shooting isn’t new, it’s a well proven practice. You can argue about whether or not it’s sporting but you cannot argue about whether it’s more effective at reducing numbers than day stalking,

 

[Chris Richardson]

Very creamy yoke, not alot of shell. Weird on toast but needs must

I can swap for bull milk if you want some variety?

 

[Mike1979]

Lee ...I think you summed it up well in another post where you pointed out that its only certain areas with a major issue with deer numbers (South Lincs and Dorset I think were mentioned). This is one of the issues and the others are also mentioned - ability to offload the deer, access to land, pressure = deer go nocturnal so do you go CL55 etc etc.

Ultimately there are no easy answers and its so area specific. Given the amount of disagreement you see on here is it any wonder its not possible to come up with some sort of collaborative approach?

Appreciate I havent shot 1,000s of deer so my opinion probably doesnt count for sh1t

 

[devon deer stalker]

Complete rubbish. You obviously haven’t been around night shooting and are making presumptions rather than basing your statements on experience. There are people on this forum who have worked on night licenses for decades now, night shooting isn’t new, it’s a well proven practice. You can argue about whether or not it’s sporting but you cannot argue about whether it’s more effective at reducing numbers than day stalking,

In my experience of night shooting I would say its only marginally more effective than day stalking, they still run off in all directions, deer will be deer no matter what time of the day.
It certainly isn't the answer to the current over population problem, it's just an another tool in the box.

My most successful outing last season was on the last evening on the hinds, we shot the lead hind, followed by 5 others, it was a 'WTF have we just done' moment, but far easier dealing with them then than in the dark, it was only dimpsy by the time we finished, the foxes fed well that evening, most were pregnant.