Deer shortages in East Clare ??

Builderfromhell

Have got a couple of permissions to shoot deer around Feakle in East Clare.

Just back from asking another farmer in an area i was told was full of deer. He said there are very few deer these days compared to years ago. He believes they are being wiped out by hunters coming over with refrigerated trucks.

So I am being told by some farmers that there are plenty of deer and they would be delighted to see their numbers reduced and then I am being told there is a shortage of deer.

I wonder what the truth is and what are numbers like in other parts of the country.

kieran1141

most farmers if they see 2 or 3 deer they say the place is full of them because they dont want them eating the grass, every year seems to be a little less or havin to move in a bit deeper to get them, a lot of guns out there now, ive never had a deer shot that i was watching but 3 times this year nearly sh*t myself, gave it a break in sept was to many guns out.

charlie10

i know a lad that does a bit of stalking down there and he reckons that lamping is rampant down them parts .(im only qouting before someone jumps down my throat)

deerhunter1

charlie10 wrote: »

i know a lad that does a bit of stalking down there and he reckons that lamping is rampant down them parts .(im only qouting before someone jumps down my throat)

yep your right, it is rampant around there:(

fear tuath

Quite true about the lamp,i saw one on the hill on saturday night about 2:30.I have shot here for 24 years and shot my 3 of 4 deer per season for last 11 years.This place is crawling with every reg jeeps that we taught the ploughing championships were on here last september.They have no respect for our boundries or Gun Club signs,farmers here are getting pissed off with all the activity and are asking questions like (how far can a bullet travel etc).
There are a few hinds and calves on my own land and i will be very hard on the first trespasser i see trying to make his few euro blood money off them.

Grizzly 45

Had a good start in Sept in this area,just has gone quiet as anything now. Havent noticed anyone else mucking about either.
Reckon its the same thing ,farmers will say the place is plauged with them and it turns out to be a few "tourists" passing through.:P

charlie10

well my buddy has lettings there and he said that he has met a jeep in the letting with dublin a reg and this lad wasnt there for photography reasons if you catch my drift! lamping really pisses off this lad it is a pet hate of his especially when fellas lamp around places where there are deer, he would chew the bollix off me if i lamped foxs within 5 miles of deer territory and thats no lie

Builderfromhell

Some farmers I have approached for permissions have told me their are loads of people up the hills shooting deer and the gardai are also annoyed and trying to catch them.
One farmer, animal lover, was a little irate that I had asked to shoot deer when, in his opinion, their are deer than previous years.

I pointed out that we intended to shoot only one or two a year and would actually help sustain deer population.
Any advice on how best to convince locals that deer management can be of benefit to all.

Tackleberrywho

Builderfromhell wrote: »

Some farmers I have approached for permissions have told me their are loads of people up the hills shooting deer and the gardai are also annoyed and trying to catch them.
One farmer, animal lover, was a little irate that I had asked to shoot deer when, in his opinion, their are deer than previous years.

I pointed out that we intended to shoot only one or two a year and would actually help sustain deer population.
Any advice on how best to convince locals that deer management can be of benefit to all.

Fill his Fridge full of Venison before you ask him for permission

crackcrack30

Ive seen myself where a few farmers got excited over deer numbers a couple of years ago, invited in the wrong crowd to sort them out:rolleyes:, now they lament not seeing any deer around anymore, But now cant get rid of the clowns they let into the area to sort them out.............pity.

Tackleberry.

I watched the traffic build up over the years up around Feakle, when it made into the shooters digest few year ago even more people hit the place, i used to shoot no where else only Feakle as there was a lot of deer knocking around but its been hammered year after year now, day and night, reckon i shot 2 up there last year.
I've a newer spot the last few year that no one else was realy shooting but last season i noticed the jeeps starting to roll slowly by...... and it begins again.
TOP TIP : If you happen to have a nice spot for a few deer, keep it to yourself and out of the digest and off boards it only invites lamping.

fear tuath

Builderfromhell wrote: »

Some farmers I have approached for permissions have told me their are loads of people up the hills shooting deer and the gardai are also annoyed and trying to catch them.
One farmer, animal lover, was a little irate that I had asked to shoot deer when, in his opinion, their are deer than previous years.

I pointed out that we intended to shoot only one or two a year and would actually help sustain deer population.
Any advice on how best to convince locals that deer management can be of benefit to all.

Live and work in the area and it helps if you are a farmer.

Grizzly 45

I'll say it again,and proably till I'm blue in the face.Technology is our friend here.If in the US F&G can set up a decoy deer on or near the roads,and wire it up with light and cameras,and it catches shots from roadside poachers,even in ballistic gelatin so you could even match the slugs to a suspects gun!.
WTF cant a bunch of us get togethe r with our local rangers and set up somthing like this with some cheap modern technology to gather some evidence to prosecute this SOBs?? Its not that much rocket science to put this together,loan it and pass it around.

As it looks like the PTB arent that really intrested unless it is to collar a "sure thing",we are on our own people in gathering evidence and patrolling our own turf.

Builderfromhell

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

I'll say it again,and proably till I'm blue in the face.Technology is our friend here.If in the US F&G can set up a decoy deer on or near the roads,and wire it up with light and cameras,and it catches shots from roadside poachers,even in ballistic gelatin so you could even match the slugs to a suspects gun!.
WTF cant a bunch of us get togethe r with our local rangers and set up somthing like this with some cheap modern technology to gather some evidence to prosecute this SOBs?? Its not that much rocket science to put this together,loan it and pass it around.

As it looks like the PTB arent that really intrested unless it is to collar a "sure thing",we are on our own people in gathering evidence and patrolling our own turf.

What's PTB ?

Grizzly 45

Powers That Be...IE Gardai,Dept of Justice,Nat parks and Wildlife service referred to as PTB in whatever post context.

widespread

The garda's don't care. Every garda in Ireland knows the local poachers and may even have a pint with them on a Saturday night. I live not far from the feakle area and the ranger threre is the same as all the others "useless".

As far as they're concerned they are civil servants and work 9-5 monday to friday (end of). Wouldn't catch many lads out lamping between them hours

The only way that the level of gun's is going to drop is if they stop issuing license's.

How many people here get letters from local farmers to get a gun license and how many more lads have got letters off the very same farmer. Farmer living over the road from me hands out about 20 letters a year with folio numbers. The man only has about 40 arce's. So where is the joined up thinking in that.

The only way all this is going to end is when some poor misfortune gets a belt of a bullet and then the gardai will come out and have an excuse to ban everything.

I have giving several reg numbers to the gardai and local ranger and the same lads are back again the week after.

Lads involved in this type of activity are very clever. they travel in packs usually about 3. one lad drives the jeep, one lad has the gun and the other lad is there to talk to anyone who approaches them while the lad with the gun goes off with the lad in the jeep, Seen it happen myself.

One of the reasons that so many lads are doing it is because they get away with it. Not because there is huge money involved. :mad:

sika1

widespread wrote: »

The garda's don't care. Every garda in Ireland knows the local poachers and may even have a pint with them on a Saturday night. I live not far from the feakle area and the ranger threre is the same as all the others "useless".

As far as they're concerned they are civil servants and work 9-5 monday to friday (end of). Wouldn't catch many lads out lamping between them hours

The only way that the level of gun's is going to drop is if they stop issuing license's.

How many people here get letters from local farmers to get a gun license and how many more lads have got letters off the very same farmer. Farmer living over the road from me hands out about 20 letters a year with folio numbers. The man only has about 40 arce's. So where is the joined up thinking in that.

The only way all this is going to end is when some poor misfortune gets a belt of a bullet and then the gardai will come out and have an excuse to ban everything.

I have giving several reg numbers to the gardai and local ranger and the same lads are back again the week after.

Lads involved in this type of activity are very clever. they travel in packs usually about 3. one lad drives the jeep, one lad has the gun and the other lad is there to talk to anyone who approaches them while the lad with the gun goes off with the lad in the jeep, Seen it happen myself.

One of the reasons that so many lads are doing it is because they get away with it. Not because there is huge money involved. :mad:

Well widespread I've news for you. The local sergeant in East Clare called a meeting of gun club members recently to lay down the law as he sees it regarding deer poaching in his area. Some of the wild life rangers with responsibility for this area were also in attendance. This Sergeant made it quite clear that the present free for all in this area will not be continuing and his immediate superiors are also in on the act. He intends to follow up any and all reports of lamping and any transgressions will be fully investigated. At last it looks like the image of the East Clare area looking like the wild west is about to be changed permanently

323

deerhunter1 wrote: »

yep your right, it is rampant around there:(

Rampant everywhere at the moment unfortunately

widespread wrote: »

Lads involved in this type of activity are very clever. they travel in packs usually about 3. one lad drives the jeep, one lad has the gun and the other lad is there to talk to anyone who approaches them while the lad with the gun goes off with the lad in the jeep, Seen it happen myself.

One of the reasons that so many lads are doing it is because they get away with it. Not because there is huge money involved. :mad:

Mostly agree, but some, although few, Garda do care. Last year, middle of the night, one Garda close to us went out to check a group, from - lets not step on toes so say the PALE area. Were lamping and taking a large tailor load of carcasses away every weekend. Lo and behold, the talker you mention was - Yep, another Garda. Than ended that. Supplementing his income, I suppose.
I think you might not be totally right about the money issue, a dozen or more red carcasses (easily equivalent weight of 30+ sika) at a time to a game butcher, starts to add up.

fear tuath

sika1 wrote: »

Well widespread I've news for you. The local sergeant in East Clare called a meeting of gun club members recently to lay down the law as he sees it regarding deer poaching in his area. Some of the wild life rangers with responsibility for this area were also in attendance. This Sergeant made it quite clear that the present free for all in this area will not be continuing and his immediate superiors are also in on the act. He intends to follow up any and all reports of lamping and any transgressions will be fully investigated. At last it looks like the image of the East Clare area looking like the wild west is about to be changed permanently

Where is this seargent stationed,

sika1

Scariff

Builderfromhell

Went up the hills at just before sundown.
Absolutely beautiful at this time of year but that's another story.
Hadn't been along this dirt track since the summer and it was a challenging drive then.
Start of track had deep trenches with plenty of mud and water making it very difficult to drive any further. I managed to get through after much difficulty. the rest of the track had plenty of deep pools of water.
No evidence of vehicle tracks al along track so unless they parked on the gravel section of road and walked , no one has been here for a long time.

Plenty of deer droppings so I am keeping location quiet.

If Scariff Gardai are keen to stop poaching then I would be happy to report any poaching I see in other areas. The rewards, in greater deer numbers, would make it worthwhile.

I myself would be happy to cull one or two deer a year only

sika1

Builderfromhell wrote: »

Went up the hills at just before sundown.
Absolutely beautiful at this time of year but that's another story.
Hadn't been along this dirt track since the summer and it was a challenging drive then.
Start of track had deep trenches with plenty of mud and water making it very difficult to drive any further. I managed to get through after much difficulty. the rest of the track had plenty of deep pools of water.
No evidence of vehicle tracks al along track so unless they parked on the gravel section of road and walked , no one has been here for a long time.

Plenty of deer droppings so I am keeping location quiet.

If Scariff Gardai are keen to stop poaching then I would be happy to report any poaching I see in other areas. The rewards, in greater deer numbers, would make it worthwhile.

I myself would be happy to cull one or two deer a year only

Reporting is the only way to go. The Sergeant stressed that each and every report would be vigorously followed up.

widespread

If they're that concerned why aren't they up there themselves. like buildersfromhell said he was there this evening and saw nobody, not even your sargent friend.

you report someone for poaching and it's your word against theirs, will never stand up.

if they were serious about it they would be out at night and looking for lads with jeeps full of carcasses.

smoke and mirrors, you'll see how far they'll go with your report.

Trust me I shoot around the tipp area and there are lads here with lease's that lamp deer at night < MOD SNIP>

Apologies if I sound a bit pi**ed off. I am so sick of poachers.

sika1

widespread wrote: »

If they're that concerned why aren't they up there themselves. like buildersfromhell said he was there this evening and saw nobody, not even your sargent friend.

you report someone for poaching and it's your word against theirs, will never stand up.

if they were serious about it they would be out at night and looking for lads with jeeps full of carcasses.

smoke and mirrors, you'll see how far they'll go with your report.

Trust me I shoot around the tipp area and there are lads here with lease's that lamp deer at night and have the permission of the ranger, told her they're lamping foxes and she has no problem with it.

she wouldn't be here to check them out at 2:30 in the morning.

Apologies if I sound a bit pi**ed off. I am so sick of poachers.

I wouldn't blame you for being pi**ed off. I feel the very same way myself. But at least it is a positive start and somebody in officialdom is taking an interest. All it needs is for one or two lamping crews to be caught, that will put the wind up the rest fairly quick

Builderfromhell

I am not a great supporter of the Gardai mostly because I only meet them when they are stopping folk for tax and insurance but scarce on the ground when a crime is reported but that's another story.

But in this case I cannot see how they could spend time and money patrolling remote mountainy roads. Even their best Toyota Landcruiser wouldn't have made it up some of the tracks I drive on and these tracks go on for miles.

Perhaps they could investigate game dealers and catch poachers that way.

For me, I feel that responsible deer hunters could disrupt poaching activities themselves for now. This could be done by taking reg. nos., photos, or just following these guys in remote areas so they don't start lamping and shooting.