Interesting stalking article

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 toad 20 Feb 2018

I don’t really know enough about deer management to make an informed comment, but this is worth 10 minutes and a cup of coffee

a “long read” article

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/20/deer-cull-dilemma-scottish-hig...

 Doug 20 Feb 2018
In reply to toad:

Fairly well written, some points could be expanded but then it would be 'a very long read', would be interested to see the full article in Granta. The only point I might have added was that many keepers refuse to believe the science, although that's maybe less an issue now that 20 years ago.

And good to see Creag Meagaidh used as an example rather  than Abernethy

 Billhook 22 Feb 2018
In reply to toad:

All deer have increased since I was a teenager.  

 

One of the problems  for Scotland is that Red Deer are generally woodland animals but in Scotland they are largely restricted to areas of poor hill land, one of the results being they prevent the regeneration of natural forest - as the article mentions.  But the estates do not want the deer gone completely -after all they don't sell the stalking cheaply!

And then we';ve got the 'bunny huggers' who don't like anything being shot/killed or culled for any reason.

One thing did occur to  me when I looked at the hundreds of deer coming in off the mountain in snow is that if they replaced the Red Deer with Caribou/Reindeer, I assume they'd be quite happy to live on the Scottish mountains and they could still be shot/income for estates.

Removed User 22 Feb 2018
In reply to toad:

It's a nice article.

As a teenager in the seventies I remember deer being a rare sight and very nervous animals. Now they're a much commoner sight and many estates feed deer in the winter. I've seen a tractor dump a bale of fodder by the roadside and the stags coming down the hill from a couple of hundred yards away where they had been waiting for their lunch. I've also had deer come up to my car when I stopped in a passing place by Loch Arkaig when I held out my hand as if I had food in it. They behaved more like cows than the timid animals I recall from my youth.

Regarding the balance between numbers and conservation I wouldn't like to comment. We accept a large degree of damage to the flora and fauna on a beef farm, is a shooting estate that different?

 

Moley 22 Feb 2018
In reply to toad:

I enjoyed reading that, it highlights the conflicts and opposing views to deer management and conservation in a non biased way. 

 subtle 23 Feb 2018
In reply to Billhook:

> One thing did occur to  me when I looked at the hundreds of deer coming in off the mountain in snow is that if they replaced the Red Deer with Caribou/Reindeer, I assume they'd be quite happy to live on the Scottish mountains and they could still be shot/income for estates.

Reindeer do live, semi-wild, in part of the Cairngorms 

http://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/

OP toad 23 Feb 2018
In reply to Billhook: I’ve got a feeling there are welfare issues with reindeer in the uk - maybe climate/ environmental factors? Might google around later

 


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