Farmer Focus: We need to reduce the deer population
John Pawsey © Phil Weedon I’m getting slightly obsessed with deer.
Not the cuddly ones like Bambi or the team that celestially tow Father Christmas’ gift-laden sleigh across our December skies – no, I’m increasingly preoccupied with the ones that have eaten a third of the agroforestry trees we planted during Covid.
See also: How farmers can tackle the booming deer population
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A host of others decided to unwrap the guards like sweet papers from the 6km of hedging plants we planted over the winter to get at the tender shoots.
And that’s just the new stuff. Our ancient woodland has no understorey due to gazing, and it’s coppiced stems have been peeled like bananas.
Apparently, to maintain ecological balance, “experts” suggest that approximately 750,000 deer need to be culled annually to stabilise the population.
With the numbers at record levels and considering the damage they are doing, we actually need to do more than “stabilise the population” – we need to dramatically reduce it.
I have to admit that I have not taken the problem seriously until now.
As many people do, I have accepted the services of a local sharpshooter whom I know and trust, but have never assessed our local population and, therefore, not set any informed targets of numbers needed to be culled.
I’ve happily accepted the occasional joint of venison, but never asked about the needs of my trusted stalker.
There hasn’t been a relationship in place to effectively deal with the situation.
I’ve also acted in isolation of my local farmers.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but deer don’t have their own land boundary ownership maps. They trespass horribly.
It doesn’t matter how hard your neighbour tries to control their population, if you are not doing the same they will still have a problem. And their problem is you.
Deer control is one of the many responsibilities of land ownership. The doe-eyed menace no longer pulls this farmer’s heart strings, but his trigger finger.
