The management of wild deer in Scotland: Deer Working Group report

Part One - Wild Deer In Scotland

Introduction

1 The basic character of a country’s system for the management of wild deer tends to be influenced by three main factors in the first instance. Two of these involve aspects of the country’s property law. These are the legal status or ‘ownership’ of the deer and the distribution or ‘ownership’ of deer hunting rights. The third main factor is the extent and character of the statutory framework which regulates how and when deer hunting rights can be exercised and which may also include a range of other measures.

2 Section 1 below considers these three factors in Scotland’s system of deer management as part of setting the context for the rest of the Report. Section 2 then reviews the information available on the national distributions, populations and annual culls of each of Scotland’s four species of wild deer. The third and final Section in this Part of the Report examines both the statutory functions of the public authority responsible for implementing Scotland’s deer legislation and the range of public interests covered by that legislation.