Topic: Not sure if this should be under "Pest forum"

[GrannieAnnie]

Last evening I went to a wildlife talk about local birds and the naturalist stated that our county has in some areas 200 deer/square mile.  The optimal number is only about 20 or 30 I believe I heard so deer have definitely reached "pest" proportions here.

[saddad]

Venison anyone?  :-X

[tonybloke]

there's loads of them end up as 'road-kill' around here. mostly muntjac.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Dunno what the problem is round your way, Grannie, but over here we exterminated their main predator, the wolf, and ended up with far too many in areas where they can still thrive, like the Scottish Highlands.

[Digeroo]

Can hear the muntjac from my lottie.  Just hope they don't get in and start eating things.

Meanwhile saw another road kill.  Sad sight.  Even worse when you see them injured but not dead.

[GrannieAnnie]

Wikipedia had to tell me what muntjak is. I see you let some immigrate from Asia and they loved your UK hospitality. Ours Whitetails have moved into the suburbs where shrubs are plentiful and no shooting. They certainly can ruin a car and kill people though.

[Digeroo]

We have several sorts around here:  Roe and red deer as well.  I came very close to a red deer stag on a back road one dark night, car behind me was not pleased about how suddenly I braked.  Never before realised just how big they are.  Had a full set of antlers - beautiful.  Was pleased not to have hit it or have the car behind ram me.

While three roe deer jumped across a road in front of me on the way to swimming a few weeks ago.  Don't know how the little munties came to be here.  Saw them one morning on the path to my lottie.  Amazed how small they were.  Seems they may have escaped from Woburn, I did know they had lost deer due to a lorry breaching the wall.  But it is 70 miles away so they have spread quite a way.

[Ho sey]

We have both Roe and Muntjack on our allotment (Cambridgeshire).  They can often be seen meandering but ever alert. There are several of us who have lost all of our sweetcorn to these little darlings.

[Robert_Brenchley]

While three roe deer jumped across a road in front of me on the way to swimming a few weeks ago.  Don't know how the little munties came to be here.  Saw them one morning on the path to my lottie.  Amazed how small they were.  Seems they may have escaped from Woburn, I did know they had lost deer due to a lorry breaching the wall.  But it is 70 miles away so they have spread quite a way.

I'm not sure quite when the escape was, but they were around when I was a kid. Several species have escaped from there over the years, including, if I remember right, grey squirrels, edible dormice and wallabies.

[Geoff H]

The problem with deer is lack of predators. We wiped out all their predators and the same has happened in much of the US. In the UK we only have two native deer, the roe and red deer. The fallow deer were introduced a long time ago, I think by possibly the Romans. More recently we have had a lot more species introduced. People had them on their private estates and they eventually got out. The muntjac is found all over the place. Lots of rich people were keeping them years ago and did not bother too much if a few got out.
I spent a week with the Forestry Commission in the South of my county. In the woodlands they had about 1,000 fallow deer. They were keen to maintain their deer population but I think they estimated they had to cull 30% each year to keep the popualtion stable. As they are herbivores deer will just breed to the point where their numbers destroy the ecosystem and then the population crashes as they starve to death. Nature provides predators to maintain a balance and prevent that happening.
Unfortunately mankind is a very poor replacement. Hunting is often done for trophies and does not kill the ones needed. Culling is very expensive and difficult and not cost effective. I know that the Forestry Commision is having a very difficult task controlling roe deer. Very inconveniently they are not keen to come out into the open where they can be shot.

[Robert_Brenchley]

We need to bring back the wolf.

[Unwashed]

Not all of the deer's predators have been wiped out.  Just ask my dogs.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I had sores for a couple of months once after being eaten alive by ticks during a weekend's hillwalking in Knoydart. The place was overrun by vast numbers of red deer. They don't kill the deer though. They're efficient parasites which leave the host undamaged so it's still there to provide the next meal.

[Geoff H]

I understand that the Forestry Commission would like to have the wolf back in Scotland because the growing deer population is costing them millions of pounds each year in damage to plantations. However it is unlikely as the farmers aren't too happy about the idea. Why chase deer when there is a field of white fluffy things that cannot run away?
The problem they have with culling deer is that they have to have a clear shot ie. the deer comes out into the open and I suppose once one has been shot the rest have run several miles away. And the most common native specie is the Roe which they can rarely get at, but a wold could.

[GrannieAnnie]

Here they drive them into a circle which is surrounded by hunters who blast away.
Gruesome business, but I suppose better than having the deer starve to death.
Despite this we are still over run by deer.