Hillwalkers across Scotland are being warned they are likely to come across dead or dying deer due to this year’s harsh winter. The Deer Commission for Scotland says that thousands of deer may be at risk of starvation because the animals have been unable to graze due to the prolonged and deep snow cover and frozen ground.
Walkers are being urged to avoid disturbing herds of deer. The animals’ energy supplies are now so severely depleted that the act of running away from humans could leave them exhausted and vulnerable.
The deaths are likely to have a knock on effect on the stalking season which is a major contributor to the local economy in the more rural areas such as Sutherland where it is feared that a whole generation of deer may have been lost.
Whilst the red deer cull ended today, the roe deer cull is still under way and the Deer Commission for Scotland is urging landowners to prevent further suffering by continuing to shoot animals which are unlikely to survive until spring.
There has been a long running argument between sporting estates, land managers, and conservationists about deer numbers and whether deer populations are kept too high to ensure a good supply of stags for each season. The BBC reports that land managers are concerned that they will face accusations of mis-management and over population when hill walkers return to the hills and come across many more carcasses and dying deer than normal. Robert Balfour, the Chairman of the Association of Deer Management Groups, says it’s nature, not sporting estates, which is to blame.
“It is nature taking its course”, he told the BBC. “It’s nothing to do with management of the deer. Bear in mind that the stags have been doing what comes naturally to them at the back end of the year and they are frankly shattered. They haven’t got reserves of energy and the weather can take them very easily.”