Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 - proposed amendments: consultation analysis

Scottish Land & Estates

Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 – amendments via secondary legislation

Response to call for views from Lorna Slater MSP, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.

14th June 2023

About Scottish Land & Estates

At Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) our work helps to ensure that rural Scotland thrives. We are a membership organisation for landowners, rural businesses, and rural professionals. We promote the wide range of benefits land-based businesses provide: tourist attractions, leisure facilities and landscapes enjoyed by the public, as well as housing, employment, tourism & enterprise and farming opportunities. We represent the interests of our members and wider rural Scotland to the UK and Scottish Governments to help ensure that policy and legislation reflects the unique requirements of rural Scotland and its communities.

Dear Minister

Thank you for your email of 17^th May requesting views on the three secondary legislation proposals in relation to deer.

We have many members with a strong interest in both upland/open range, (primarily red and sika) deer, but also many members in the lowland and peripheral areas where control of fallow and roe deer in woodland and often close to populated areas, is a priority.

The practical workability of these three proposals will vary for the different species in the different habitats, and we suggest that more nuance will be needed in how they are applied.

We also believe that the need to cull significantly higher deer numbers could lead to less focus on deer welfare. Red deer, in particular are one of Scotland’s most iconic species and reduction in their numbers should be done gradually. This careful approach is possible because Deer Management Groups and stalkers have close knowledge of the deer on the ground they manage and are able to adjust cull levels as required.

A different approach is justified in in woodland/lowland areas – an example being in Perthshire, where there are large herds of fallow deer which breed much faster (approx. 80% calving success pa. compared to approx. 50% for open hill red deer) and it is very difficult for land managers to contain their numbers.

Permit the use of light intensifying, heat sensitive or other special sighting devices to shoot deer at night (DWG recommendation 7)

SLE members can see the advantage of using technology which is increasing available and widely used for control of foxes and some other species. Their concern is mainly about safety because it can be difficult to identify targets with thermal imaging sights alone and there is a greater risk of unseen vegetation deflecting a bullet, ricochet and unsafe backdrop.

There are also concerns about welfare, for example difficulties in accurately identifying species, sex and age when using a heat sensitive sight. The NatureScot research (Report 311) notes that a higher level of expertise is needed to set up and use thermal imaging devices.

If such sights are to be legalised for night shooting, the safeguards built into the NatureScot authorisation process become even more important: subject to a Code of Practice, only for prevention of serious damage and when no other form of control would be effective, and only to be carried out by someone on the Fit and Competent Register. This gives a mechanism for controlling use of such sights and it would be important to further develop training and Best Practice protocols.

Amend the minimum bullet weight so as to make non-lead ammunition more accessible (DWG recommendation 4 )

SLE is conscious of the different views about the efficacy of non-lead ammunition for culling deer. However, it is necessary to move away from lead bullets for food safety reasons, and we expect bullet technology to continue developing. It is also important for the national deer cull to be able to continue using popular rifle calibres such as .243 where bullets over 100 grains are not available to buy or do not perform well ballistically.

We would support this regulatory change but would again point to the importance of developing training and Best Practice guidance around use of lighter non lead ammunition to ensure as few welfare problems as possible.

Remove close seasons for all male deer found in Scotland to lengthen the time during which wild male deer can be taken or killed across the year (DWG recommendation 8)

In the lowlands and periphery of the open hill, the numbers of roe, fallow and sika deer have increased considerably and are more difficult to control and this is where population reduction should now be targeted. Our members would generally accept that removal of the close season for males of these three species could help with culling and crop/tree protection with relatively little welfare implication.

A longer culling season would also help venison dealers and processors to smooth out the current supply bottleneck periods. We would suggest development of a venison marketing mechanism which would encourage early season stag culling for venison (July to Sept), for example a premium price which would balance out loss of stalking income in the rut.

The Minister has already flagged up the welfare considerations around changing the close seasons for female deer, but there are similar concerns with male red deer. We suggest that the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission should be consulted on the welfare issue set out below.

The current close season for red deer starting on the 21^st October is timed so that stags have a period of recuperation after the rut and to build up body weight again before the onset of winter. If they were to continue to be disturbed in the last two months of the year, there would be real issues of welfare and many would be less able to survive the winter. It is also a time of year when the venison market is already fully supplied and the quality of the meat from post-rut stags is poor, so there is little benefit from continuing to cull through the winter.

We also believe that the current system of out of seasons authorisation works well. It provides a valuable record of who is culling and where, and numbers taken. The need to be on the “Fit and Competent Register” also means that those doing the culling must have full knowledge of Best Practice in relation to welfare culling.

It is clear that shooting female deer is the solution to population control and culling male deer has less impact. However, stags can be easier to cull in the early winter and we are concerned that some may take the easy option of continuing to cull any deer they see and reduce effort to target more difficult hinds at the time of year when that is most effectively done.

In the uplands, where deer roam freely over boundaries of management units, a “free for all” policy for stag culling is likely to cause more tensions between neighbours with different management objectives. A coordinated policy for stag management over a large area is ideal, and removing the close season could make that more difficult.

We therefore recommend that the close season for male red deer is not removed and the current system of out of season authorisations is retained.