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Don
Interesting point.
With it becoming mandatory to be a deer stalker to possess expanding ammo, many more people have sought to obtain stalking - apparently on a purely 'must have expanding ammo' basis.
Many professional stalkers recognise these types and they don't get accepted a second time.
Consequently we have a lot of people with money looking to buy shooting rights. We call them Deer Shooters. Cash strapped land owners who are not really interested in animal welfare understably go for the highest bidder. This pushes prices up all over and squeezes out locals and many of those genuinely interested.
What then happens is that the shooters come up for a couple of days/ weeks in the year, shoot everything they can and depart. Once they stop seeing stuff, they buy another piece of ground.
With Roe deer for instance, unless the age range is carefully managed, an absence of mature bucks actually causes more juveniles to come in - which are the prime culprits in damaging trees.
Landowners are learning - but slowly.
Organisations like Forest Enterprise are putting in a points system for applicants for leases. They still charge high, but put a greater weight upon candidates proving they are Deer Managers first and foremost.
Unsurprisingly, the usual result of the sporting tenant appearing once in a blue moon and living hundreds of miles away is a free-for-all by the poachers.
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