Stag and buck close season to be removed, making deer culls easier
The culling of deer will be made easier following amendments to legislation last week, writes Jamie Wills.
The new rules removed the close season for shooting male deer and proposed allowing the use of specialist sights for night shooting.
Also included in the two separate pieces of legislation laid before the Scottish Parliament was a proposed change to minimum bullet weights to make non-lead ammunition more accessible and ease the production of venison.
Changes to the close seasons will start from October 21. Whilst shooting female deer will remain barred from February 16 to October 20 for fallow, red, sika and red sika hybrid deer, and from April 1 to October 20 for roe deer, the stalking of male deer will be permitted year round.
Draft firearms legislation was also introduced to permit a ‘light-intensifying, heat-sensitive or other special sighting device for night shooting’, and to amend the weight of expanding bullets from 100 grammes to 80 grammes.
This draft legislation has not yet been made a statutory instrument. The changes to legislation were welcomed by The National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which is responsible for controlling Glencoe deer numbers.
A NTS spokesperson said: “In Glencoe, the move from a short traditional stalking season for stags to year-round management activity will help us reduce the pressure that high levels of herbivore grazing has on the glen’s vegetation and soils.
“A smaller, more healthy and sustainable deer population will increase opportunities for natural habitat regeneration here – a vital tool in combating biodiversity loss and the climate crisis.”
The sentiments were echoed by Stòras Uibhist, the community group responsible for controlling deer numbers in South Uist. South Uist made headlines in March when a proposal to eradicate all deer from the island was defeated.
Darren Taylor, chief executive of Stòras Uibhist, said: “We welcome any changes to legislation that will help stalkers, landowners and deer management groups to keep numbers under control.
“We also support the move to make the use of lead-free ammunition more accessible and effective. We are passionate about getting venison into the food chain: it is an incredibly healthy and sustainable food source. All of the culled South Uist beasts are processed and use is made of the venison and we would encourage all deer management groups to do the same.”
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, meanwhile, has stated it supports the changes to sights and bullet weights, but opposes the removal of a close season.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association has said it is against the removal of the stag close season.
The legislative changes laid before the parliament are based on the recommendations of a 2020 report published by the Deer Working Group, which was established in 2017.
The new pieces of legislation are formerly known as The Deer (Close Seasons) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2023 and The Deer (Firearms etc.) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2023. These, and the Deer Working Group report, are all available on the Scottish Government website.