Feeding deer

[Lancaster]

Nonsense.


It's got nothing to do with "respecting quarry." Which indcidentally seems to be an easy way for lazy deer managers to hide the fact that they either can't be arsed or don't have the knowledge or skills to manage their deer properly. Or they are too blinkered by the desire to have lots of deer to play with every so often they can't see that they are having a massive impact on the land they are supposed to be managing.

If deer are dying from starvation you've made a pretty incredible **** up! How is that "respecting your quarry?" Utterly ridiculous!

If you are so desperate to "see deer" to the point you allow their numbers to build up to the point that they are starving put a bloody fence around them, create a deer park and be done with it!

feeding deer encourages an unnaturally high population. If the deer can't manage through the winter by themselves there are too many! You need to cull more - it's in their interest, and the interest of the land they are living in where they are being fed and the land surrounding for miles especially in the case of fallow.

Clearly in this case "we cull a lot" isn't enough. Shoot more deer, the ones that remain will have more food because they won't have totally stripped the woodlands, crops and hedgerows bare.

You admit we have a deer problem and then go on to say it's okay to have numbers so high they are starving and so you need to supplementary feed but "if it's brown it's down" as you put it, or actually... Just culling deer etc isn't okay? - Can you not see how utterly stupid that is?

The animal welfare went out the window when you failed to recognise that the population had risen to a level that was detrimental to it's own health, and then failed to cull enough deer to reduce that population so you had to feed them all together so that the problem can continue, and not only that they can all get together and share food in a small space and spread diseases between one another. Well done!!

Well thanks for that vitriolic personal attack, much appreciated.
Just to point out, it's not my land, not my deer and I'm not doing any feeding, so I'm not sure why everything is prefaced with "You"?
I've had 50 years at this game and one thing I have learned is to respect the landowners wishes, that's why I haven't paid for a days stalking in my life, those who ignore the landowners wishes tend to get thrown off.
The OP is abiding by what the Landowner wants and sounds to have a pretty good set up in place because of it.
I'm not too fussed about you're opinion, well actually I don't give a toss, at the end of the day you are just another armchair internet expert who bashes out tripe on a computer.

 

[1894]

The person who owns the land likes his deer and, due to stopping Pheasant shooting, there is no longer a supplemental food supply, so he is wanting to add additional feed to support the population.
It's his land, his choice, and the benefits of diversionary feeding of Haylage, Fodder Beet, Wheat etc may prevent damage to cash crops, it will help keep the herd healthy, and in turn the quality of harvested carcases should be better, and there is active deer management taking place to control numbers
To start calling folk idiots because they give a Sh1t about the animals that live on their land is crass, why let deer die from starvation when it has been caused by taking away an unnatural source of food and it can be avoided?
Yes we have a deer problem, this may be due to the fact that we have no apex predators, and a lot of land is stalked by people who shoot a very occasional deer for the freezer and don't put in the hard yards to manage the population, but that doesn't mean we have to all be hard hearted killers that don't give a toss about animal welfare in bad weather.
Disappointed by some responses on this thread, it stinks of "if it's Brown it's Down", or "If it's Red it's Dead".
If we don't respect our quarry then deer stalking for anyone other than paid professionals is doomed.

Leaving aside the name calling it may be that the landowner needs educating from the expert (you).
‘Baiting’ is illegal in a number of US states because of the increased risk of disease spreading.
The other thing to say is that wanting to shoot many more deer is not necessarily not respectful - quite the opposite. You might take the view that unless populations are brought into balance the matter will be taken out of our hands and things might become like Scotland ie a deer commission with powers to do whatever they want etc.
I agree the language is crap which doesn’t help. It’s one of the reasons I left for ages and shouldn’t have returned

 

[Free range rob]

Ha! Ironically I can shoot deer from my living room window.

Clearly not shooting enough then

 

[Lancaster]

Leaving aside the name calling it may be that the landowner needs educating from the expert (you).
‘Baiting’ is illegal in a number of US states because of the increased risk of disease spreading.
The other thing to say is that wanting to shoot many more deer is not necessarily not respectful - quite the opposite. You might take the view that unless populations are brought into balance the matter will be taken out of our hands and things might become like Scotland ie a deer commission with powers to do whatever they want etc.
I agree the language is crap which doesn’t help. It’s one of the reasons I left for ages and shouldn’t have returned

Again, not my land, nothing to do with me.
No issue with culling hard where it's needed and I've not stated it's not showing respect for the quarry, it is sometimes the only way to help them.
In this case it seems that the landowner and OP have a very good relationship, the arrangement is working well, and a small amount of diversionary/supplemental feed keeps everyone happy.
I can see absolutely no reason to go onto this piece of land and starting knocking over deer over in large numbers, they just need help to transition from having loads of free Pheasant grub when the weather is particularly inclement.

 

[StephenToast]

Clearly not shooting enough then

I can and I do when the opportunity arises. I'd happily shoot more, out of season and at night if I could legally.

 

[sikamalc]

Here we go.
No ones an idiot. I have from time to time put mineral blocks out.
It's up to the individual how they manage their ground and deer. None of anyone elses business.
So if your complaining about feeding deer, would you complain if you had paid to shoot Boar at a feeder, which most are in the UK.

 

[StephenToast]

Here we go.
No ones an idiot. I have from time to time put mineral blocks out.
It's up to the individual how they manage their ground and deer. None of anyone elses business.
So if your complaining about feeding deer, would you complain if you had paid to shoot Boar at a feeder, which most are in the UK.

Isn't this a discussion forum? Surely by asking the question you are asking for people's opinions.

I would never pay to shoot anything nor am I worried about shooting pigs so I suppose I would complain.

 

[sikamalc]

Isn't this a discussion forum? Surely by asking the question you are asking for people's opinions.

I would never pay to shoot anything nor am I worried about shooting pigs so I suppose I would complain.

Yes it is. But that does not mean people have to be rude or aggressive when responding.

 

[willowbank]

It is a discussion forum and Malc makes a good point. Fairly balanced reply... in my opinion

WB

 

[JTO]

I would never pay to shoot anything nor am I worried about shooting pigs so I suppose I would complain.

Would you pay someone else to get on top of your pest problems?

 

[StephenToast]

Would you pay someone else to get on top of your pest problems?

Yes.

 

[JTO]

Yes.

Good for you!