Whitetail in the UK?

[Dunwaters]

First, I'm not recommending this, but I wonder why they aren't in the UK? I suspect, knowing how aggressive against our exotics, that they would be detrimental to your roe population. Also they are very similar to roe and might interbreed. That would be another can of worms. capt david

I have an old book, published round about 1900, Living animals of the world, it describes white tails in less than glowing term, sneaky, unsporting, unstalkable and poor venison. In contrast it goes into paens of joy over mule deer and wapiti. Maybe white tails weren't imported because they were seen as a poor sporting prospect and don't make good park deer.
I don't think there's any chance of roe / white tail cross breeding very different species.
Stay safe.

 

[captdavid]

it's always been my suspicion, that whitetail might be harder to stalk than roe. Think about it, for the last 30,000 years, since humans first came to America, deer became accustom to being hunted. There were no class restrictions on who could kill deer. Humans were to be feared! In contrast, For Probably at least the last 1500 years, only the privileged few, with the exception of Robin and other outlaws, were allowed to kill deer. Hence, deer are not, necessarily, afraid of humans. I'm just wondering, capt david

 

[Hunt-Inter]

Are you referring to an escaped feral population or those kept captive in a zoo?

Deer park

 

[User00047]

it's always been my suspicion, that whitetail might be harder to stalk than roe. Think about it, for the last 30,000 years, since humans first came to America, deer became accustom to being hunted. There were no class restrictions on who could kill deer. Humans were to be feared! In contrast, For Probably at least the last 1500 years, only the privileged few, with the exception of Robin and other outlaws, were allowed to kill deer. Hence, deer are not, necessarily, afraid of humans. I'm just wondering, capt david

Captain,
Of all the deer species in Britain, I would say that Roe are the most wild, or perhaps the least inclined to domestication, although Roe are not a difficult species to kill with the rifle. Even a fairly incompetent stalker can kill them with regularity because when disturbed they will often run a very short distance, then stop and look back at what disturbed them, often standing quite broadside.They are also naturally, very inquisitive animals.
If you try and stalk in very close to a group of roe without them cottoning on to what’s happening, that is more difficult. I personally don’t shoot them if they have rumbled me.
The notion that almost all deer in Britain have been safe from persecution for the last 1500 years couldn’t be further from the truth unfortunately. Roe were hunted so heavily that they all but disappeared from most of England during the 1800’s. It has only been in the last 20 years that Roe have really returned to the area in which I live.
Whitetail deer are quite similar to Roe in some of their habits but there are also many differences.
I’ve not hunted Whitetails yet but I’m hoping I get the chance one day as they are the classic North American big game animal.