Deer Management on the National Forest Estate Consultation

Overview

Deer Management on the National Forest Estate – Current Practice and Future Directions’

This consultation seeks your views on the current practices and future directions for deer management on the National Forest Estate (NFE), and your views on our contribution to the delivery of the national deer strategies.

This document lays out in broad terms the importance of deer on the NFE, our reasons for managing deer, our current deer management practices and future directions.  It also outlines the benefits and contributions of our work to the delivery of ‘Scotland’s Deer a National Approach’ and the ‘Code of Practice on Deer Management. 

This document outlines:- 

• the NFE and what it delivers for the nation.
• the importance of deer as a keystone species on the NFE
• the benefits and impacts of deer on our wider objectives.
• the distribution of deer across the NFE
• the context of our cull levels relative to the Scottish deer population and the Scottish national cull
• the importance of deer welfare and the health and safety of stalkers and the public
• our current deer management practices, principles and standards
• how our practices contribute to national strategies and initiatives
• the importance of evidence-based planning, implementation, monitoring and collaboration
• our future directions and aspirations for deer management on the NFE.

Why your views matter

The objective of this consultation is to get your views and general feedback on the content of the draft ‘Deer Management on the National Forest Estate – Current Practices and Future Directions’.

In addition we would be grateful for any specific comments you may have regarding the questions in the consultation.