A Joint Approach to Deer Management

Deer mean different things to different people. If you're a hill walker they are magnificent, majestic animals, freely roaming the hills. If you're a hunter they are still magnificent and majestic, but they're also your quarry. If you're a restauranteur or a diner, venison is the most succulent of meat; the food of kings and peasants. However if you are a farmer and large numbers of deer are eating grass or damaging crops they are a threat to your livelihood. If you're a Forester and deer destroy your saplings or prevent the planting of broadleaves, they are a real problem. If you're a motorist who needs to drive through the Wicklow Uplands late at night or in the early morning, they are a hazard. These are just some of the many interests to be considered when managing deer.

 

The Wicklow Deer Management Group (WDMG) has been in existence for over a decade now and is made up of representatives of farmers, private foresters, Coillte, hunters and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).The purpose of the group is to promote through consensus the sustainable management of deer in the Wicklow hills. There is agreement among members that deer numbers in the area are too high and need to be reduced to a more manageable level. In 2010 the group, with grant aid from the Heritage Council, commissioned a report on deer management in Wicklow and last year initiated a deer management plan for the Ballinastoe area - again with Heritage Council assistance.

 

The ‘Ballinastoe Project’ is the first of its type ever undertaken in this country. Throughout the last decade the group has lobbied intensively on deer management issues, with moderate success. However there were two significant developments recently. A governmental inter-agency deer policy committee, consisting of representatives of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Heritage Arts and the Gaeltacht, Coillte and the NPWS began a consultation process which resulted in the publication of a draft discussion document on deer management. The document, while far from perfect, represents a radical change in thinking at official level on deer management.The thrust of the document is that deer cannot be managed by a single landowner, or hunters or even the state on its own; they can only be controlled effectively if all the interested parties work together.

 

A key proposal is the creation of deer management units (DMUs), which would essentially be very similar to the ‘Ballinastoe Project’. The second initiative is that following a number of meetings between the WDMG and Minister Deenihan, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has decided to carry out a long overdue review of the Open Seasons Order for deer. Both developments are significant and welcome.

 

Author: Declan O’Neill, Chairman, Wicklow Deer Management Group