Government unveils deer strategy to tackle woodland damage

Government unveils 10-year deer strategy as damage spreads

As deer damage spreads across one in three English woodlands, the Government has concluded that current management is failing. Its response is a 10-year Deer Impacts Policy Statement, published by Defra on 20 February, which sets out to reverse the trend, promising streamlined night and close-season licensing, increased grant support and a drive to put more wild venison on the nation’s plates.

The policy’s most practical changes centre on licensing. Night shooting and close-season control of male deer will become easier to access, with Natural England tasked with cutting through the red tape while keeping welfare safeguards intact.

Further proposals would allow tenants and occupiers to shoot deer where the landowner is failing to do so sufficiently and damage is mounting. Forestry Commission deer officers will guide managers through the landscape-scale approach the Government believes is essential, and public procurement routes – schools, prisons and hospitals among them – will be explored to strengthen the wild venison market.

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Concerns over mandatory training by the back door

BASC welcomed the policy’s broad direction but drew a firm line over proposals to tie minimum competency requirements to the firearms licensing system. Martin Edwards, BASC’s head of deer and woodland management, said that such a measure “would amount to mandatory training by the back door and risk adding further delays and barriers at precisely the moment we need more people involved in deer management”. He also pointed to firearms licensing delays already running beyond 12 months in some areas as an obstacle the policy must address if it is to deliver enough boots on the ground.

The British Deer Society was broadly supportive but took issue with how the policy arrived. Chief executive David McAuley said publication “with no prior warning or discussion did not set an appropriate tone for successful collaboration”, and noted the document’s failure to acknowledge the important contribution of non-professional stalkers, who fund their involvement out of their own pockets, and the role of non-governmental organisations in training and public awareness.

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A plan, but at what cost?

The sharpest verdict came from ST contributor and East Anglia deer manager Chris Rogers, who questioned whether Defra had consulted widely enough before publishing. “It appears that the strategy was launched without making any attempt to take on board advice from industry organisations such as the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, which has published its own deer management strategy in response to the proposed Defra strategy in May 2024,” he commented.

Mr Rogers also raised concerns about the practical consequences of expanding night shooting. “I am concerned that there will be a large uptake by landowners and stalkers who see it as an easy alternative to putting the required time in during traditional stalking hours. There appears to be no additional interest from game dealers for the extra carcasses this may generate and, moreover, herd structure could be seriously harmed – leading to more damage from deer and a collapse of the male herd structure.”