Breeding season deer shooting plan shelved

THE Scottish Government has shelved plans to allow deer to be shot during the breeding season after strong opposition from landowners and gamekeepers.

Proposals to scrap the closed season for bucks, which would have allowed the animals to be shot all year round, were opposed by about eight out of ten of respondents to a consultation.

A plan to reduce the amount of time that females were protected from hunters met with similarly strong opposition.

Now the Scottish Government, in a report ahead of a new Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill, said it will not press ahead with the proposals, which were aimed at increasing the control of deer in Scotland due to overpopulation concerns.

Gamekeepers and landowners warned that the changes would result in deer being treated like "vermin", with females shot when they were trying to look after their young.

A spokesman for the Association of Deer Management Groups said: "The closed seasons are important for welfare reasons."