Deer Cull in Somerset

[Deerhunter]

Landowners on the Quantock hills in Somerset have been invited to a one-day mass shoot of deer.

The cull has been organised by the Deer Management and Conservation Group who says it is necessary to protect crops and land being ravaged by the deer.

The target number of the cull is 300 deer across the season.

BBC NEWS | England | Somerset | Deer cull on Quantocks under way


At least the Anti's will be happy...

[naturelover]

poor deers they didnt ask to be born,thats all we hear now cull this and cull that,is that realy necassary i am against culling of any sort i dont know about you.

[vole-woman]

I went to a talk in the summer given by a deer expert, and he was saying it looked as though some culling was going to be necessary. He cited the impact the population boom was having on other species, eg dormice (because some species of deer were destroying trees) and for myself I do think that when a vulnerable species is threatened by a thriving one, some selective culling probably needs to take place.

The main thing, imo, is that it's done efficiently and humanely as possible.

[tufftie]

Originally Posted by naturelover

poor deers they didnt ask to be born,thats all we hear now cull this and cull that,is that realy nesasary i am against culling of any sort i dont know about you.

I'm with you on this one! I think if any species needs culling it us!

It's also known that culling has no effect on wildlife populations - they make up for it in their breeding patterns, as animals either compensate or over compensate to keep up their population densities (all to do with the birth death ratio etc.). While it may initially seem to have an effect come the next breeding season it wont have made so much of one. It's another issue I know but maybe relevent here - there is an open and closed season in hunting because of this - the idea is to maintain the population densities so there is always something to hunt. The idea of culling, inmost cases, is not to eliminate a species just to control their numbers, which is why in some areas and with some species culling takes place on a regular basis i.e deer in Richmond Park get culled annually.(Deerhunter if you want to take me up on this i'll do so on the hunting thread not this one as it's not fair)

[Deerhunter]

Originally Posted by tufftie

I'm with you on this one! I think if any species needs culling it us!

It's also known that culling has no effect on wildlife populations - they make up for it in their breeding patterns, as animals either compensate or over compensate to keep up their population densities (all to do with the birth death ratio etc.). While it may initially seem to have an effect come the next breeding season it wont have made so much of one. It's another issue I know but maybe relevent here - there is an open and closed season in hunting because of this - the idea is to maintain the population densities so there is always something to hunt. The idea of culling, inmost cases, is not to eliminate a species just to control their numbers, which is why in some areas and with some species culling takes place on a regular basis i.e deer in Richmond Park get culled annually.(Deerhunter if you want to take me up on this i'll do so on the hunting thread not this one as it's not fair)

Does culling work in Richmond Park ?

[Dogghound]

I like deer alot, infact i get up early at least three times a week to watch the local ones, but in some cases control is needed due to excessive populations that can overgraze areas and reduce biodiversity. No natural predators anymore. If it is done in a controlled manor then it can potentially benifit other wildlife. However 300 Deer is poor planning, little and often being better than a massive chunk.

[Deerhunter]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

I like deer alot, infact i get up early at least three times a week to watch the local ones, but in some cases control is needed due to excessive populations that can overgraze areas and reduce biodiversity. No natural predators anymore. If it is done in a controlled manor then it can potentially benifit other wildlife. However 300 Deer is poor planning, little and often being better than a massive chunk.

Trouble is, since hunting was banned there is no one managing the deer on the Quantocks and Exmoor. On the Quantocks the numbers are going up and on Exmoor they are going down.

[Dogghound]

Why are numbers going down on exmoor?

[Deerhunter]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Why are numbers going down on exmoor?

Farmers and poachers are shooting at them.

I saw one about three weeks ago trying to get out of one of my fields. Where normally it would have gone straight over it crashed in the middle as it was trailing its hind leg and could'nt take off properly. It looked like it had several wounds in its leg. Can't scientifically prove it ws gunshot of course.

Several other people have found an increasing number dead or nearly dead with rifle or shotgun wounds.

[Gaina]

Unfortunately humans created this situation by eradicating the deers' natural predators so long ago that culling is necessary in some areas.

The thing that made me really uncomfortable was that (if BBC West is reporting accurately) that landowners were being invited to take part in the cull.

If it has to be done, I would much rather it be done by stalkers with the correct knowledge and weapons to make a quick, humane kill than 'see how many we can knock off in one day' as this seemed to be (again, this could be badly editing reporting and not actually the case, but that's how it came across).

The next item was about re-introducing wolves and one farmer was absolutely against it because of the impact it would have on his livestock. A fair point, but I can't help thinking the wolves will have quite enough deer to munch through first before they start fancying a bit of lamb