I have seen an article on the Internet about BBC Countryfile drawing complaints following a piece about trainee gamekeepers last Sunday. Seems to mostly be aimed at the shooting of deer correctly and then there butchery for sale.
As I am aware there are reported to be more deer in this country now than there are estimated to have been in 1066 yet the countryside habitats they live in have changed completely. The species ratio of deer has also changed completely with increasing populations of non native Muntjac and Sika. The impact is that a lot of woodlands in particular as well as gardens are being over browsed by deer. If you want to see this go to a wood that isn't deer fenced that you know had a herby/weedy understorey beneath the trees and shrubs, drop to your knees and look under the trees and shrubs, are there still grasses lush and thick together with other herby plants. Most likely the answer will be no. Does that wood still have large populations of bluebells and other spring plants or are they being browsed off by deer in particular Muntjac. If you see a gap from the ground to at least 600 mm above ground level you can almost say its deer browsing.
We are losing bluebells and other plants, we are losing nightingale and other ground nesting birds. What do we want to see? and what are we prepared to do about it? We need people who know how to control deer properly and not untrained people using inappropriate guns or even dogs.
Then there is the butchery angle. To my mind if deer are going to be controlled then its only right that the carcasses are sold to cover the cost of culling at least.
Please feel free to disagree but that's my thoughts and I know that quietly for the most part a lot of conservationists share the same view.
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