Deerstalking4all can provide an advisory service to landowners on deer and woodland management. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Woodland management:

The management of large woodlands is vital to the biodiversity of the countryside throughout the UK. Well managed woodland brings with it a wealth of wildlife, whilst a poorly managed one will support very little life. Increasingly, more private individuals are purchasing woodlands for amenity reasons as well as more traditional uses such as timber production and sporting rights.

Deerstalking4all can help landowners with the management of their woodlands from the planning stage through to thinning and maintenance. Approved qualified contractors will be used for jobs requiring specialist machinery, ensuring that the work is carried out safely and to the satisfaction of the woodland owner.

Landowners should note that all grants for woodland management must be accompanied by a deer management plan, otherwise the grant will not be successful.

Management plans:

Managing populations of large animals is taken very seriously by many countries around the world. Examples being the USA, Canada and mainland Europe. In England the careful formulation of a detailed management plan is a relatively new concept. Deer are an important addition to the fauna of the British Isles, but without careful management deer are liable to cause conflict. This conflict may not just be with humans in the form of agricultural damage, road accidents and decreased timber returns, but also pressure on other creatures in our countryside. Deer have the potential to create large amounts of damage to vegetation and threatened habitats. Without structured control these problems can be magnified, however, if the control is not targeted this may even worsen the situation.

When creating a management plan for an area a number of questions need to be asked. What are the objectives and aims of the area? Is damage currently a problem at the moment? Is it likely to worsen in successive years if the situation is not addressed? What are the intentions for the deer population i.e. trophy management. What is the time frame to reach the goals?

Too many estates in England are managed on a shoot what you see basis. This leads to an imbalance in the sex ratio, and in the case of fallow, to few mature bucks. As a result of this, bucks who have not reached maturity often get more chances to cover does during the rut. If the deer manager has set himself a set of figures to follow as a guideline he will then know what needs achieving at each stage. Issues such as this should be alleviated resulting in a healthy deer population in relative equilibrium with the surrounding environment.

Deerstalking4all can formulate management plans for landowners, please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Census work:

The census is the vital starting point for any deer cull, as without it the deer manager has no idea of the targets he needs to achieve. A number of different methods are available to the wildlife manager. These can be broken into direct and indirect strategies. A direct strategy includes counting at night, thermal imaging or via deer movement days. Indirect methods include dung counting, vegetation sampling or woodland edge/deer path sampling.

Essentially all the aforementioned methods have their place, but some take more time to achieve than others, whilst others have a larger margin for error. Deerstalking4all can choose the best method to suit the habitat. We will then implement the survey and provide the client with a report on the findings and the best action to take.

Contract culling:

Good management of large game animals requires a certain amount of culling to ensure equilibrium with the environment. This applies in countries like the UK, where no natural predators exist to regulate populations. Culling is a sensitive subject requiring the practitioners to work safely and discretely. The best people to use for this purpose are skilled professionals.

Deerstalking4all can implement short or long term culls as the situation dictates across most of England. We will initially provide the client with a quotation, upon agreement a contract will be signed by both parties setting out the targets, aims, objectives and rates.