NPWS Extended Season for Deer

Czhornet

Season extended for all deer species as per the link below

https://www.npws.ie/legislation/irish-law/open-seasons-order

TheEngineer1

Not sure how I feel about this. I know people keep saying that a cull is needed but the idea of shooting more heavily pregnant females is very off-putting. Couple this with the males shedding antlers making ID harder, could potentially be a legal risk if you keep shooting after March?

thelurcher

They differentiate between 'male' and 'Antlerless' - so if they shed then you can't shoot them.

How would them being 'heavily' or 'lightly' pregnant be an issue? I don't get that.

This is badly needed and long overdue.

Rescueme0007

Well, as is typical in this jurisdiction, it has been left until the last moment to address the issue for 2024. I'm slightly surprised they extended the season for Stags and Bucks until the end of April.

Given the demand for an immediate impact on deer numbers one can see the logic.

Only time will tell if the concerns of TheEngineer1 are realised in practice.

I know that the changes will be welcomed by my landowners who are impacted by the increased number of deer on their properties.

zeissman

Deer are under serious pressure from poachers in donegal as it is so this will not help things .

Does this come into effect now or is it for the coming seasons ?

Rescueme0007

It has come into effect as soon as the Minister signed it.

kunekunesika

Similar here, not sure what I think of parts of it. Stags in August will be in velvet, not sure I want to shoot them?

Extending the stag season to April??? We rarely see them, and hit the hinds if you want to drop numbers.

It's one of the very few recommendations that government can act on, with no cost. And it keeps the farmers happy, so win win for government.

Only time will tell the outcome.

Hunter456

i spend the vast majority of my time culling deer and this cull is well and truly needed, but i'm the same as the next person i'm not sure about shooting heavily pregnant females but its not for faint hearted. the amount of prickets and sorrels i seen today while up on the hill was something else.

richiedel123

I think that's where the problems will come in. The males will get hammered again now because people won't want to shoot does. It doesn't solve the problem

zeissman

Be some craic telling the missus your going shooting all August bank holiday weekend.

Whalberg86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121835279#Comment_121835279

Unfortunately I think you're correct, the Males will be shot on sight for the entire season now. Females left alone come Feb.

Grizzly 45

Seeing that this was brought in to level the seasons across the Island more or less...Did anyone ask the NI how effective these season extensions were in reducing their numbers? Reports are up in NI they are still no better off in reducing the numbers.

What are we going to do with all these shot deer? They are going to be by now after Winter seriously thin and worn with little to no fat. So the meat quality will be very bad and no one is going to get top prices for these, as no GD worth their salt will be offering that sort of a carcass to their customers.

Dunno about you folks, but I only see the hinds start to move well after sundown in my part of the world. So if they want them culled too, we need NV/thermal to do this job as well. As this is a cull requirement, not sporting hunting, then this option has to be considered too.

Also,this is now where your personal ethics will come into play.Just because the season has been extended, doesn't mean you have to shoot every single day of it,and you sustainably want to hunt.Or do you just want to be a trigger man?

alex90

I've a hind in the fridge from kenmare and she's as fat as anything. I'll have no issue culling females for the rest of March, have to keep my landowners happy. Their grazing ground is getting hammered and the cattle have been indoors since October.

stef22

For those shooting on Coillte forestry, I guess Hams will allow to book?

Just checked and cannot book anything.

TheEngineer1

I think this could been handled a bit better by revising/ reformatting and loosening the requirements for the Section 42 licence. That way problem deer could be responded to and tackled quickly while still affording off season protection to the species as a whole.

As deer stalkers, we should be careful of getting wrapped up in all this anti-deer rhetoric. While farms and forestry must be protected, there must be a balance too.

What happens when sika get declared invasive and and are to be shot all year round? And possibly fallow too? As deer stalkers, will we oblige to support the corporate interests of Caoilte and farmers who want no deer on their lands? Once they're gone, our sport is gone.

Chiparus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121837800#Comment_121837800

I have given up on HAMS, dreadful system-

if I was senior management in Coilte - I would be asking serious questions.

Tikkat3xEire

It’s ridiculous that the season was reopened and extended till April for stags, it should have only been does till end of March and for two years at that , till a drop in the numbers was seen ,if numbers haven’t come down, extend it for another two years for does only. There’s plenty of stags shot through the season up to January . You’ll just have lads going out now only shooting stags and the problem will still exist. There won’t be a decent head left or gene pool to carry on in a short while.

This bullshit of management groups culling massive numbers out of coillte forestry is another sham , how many deer can be shot in a forestry before they just disperse out into neighbouring lands and move on. Moving the problem somewhere else. Imagine you have ground around a coillte forestry and these groups come in and move the deer onto your ground then tell the landowners they’re coming in to finish it off and you lose your hunting or what will be left of it .

if they made the coillte leases affordable for any hunter to get in a do a days shooting, not just fellas buying it up to bring in clients to shoot medal heads and the odd doe this wouldn’t be happening anyway. How many outfitters who buy up leases are in there January and February culling does ?

Whalberg86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121837800#Comment_121837800

Coilte hunting Permits ended on 29/02, hence why you can't book in HAMS, I'm no expert but I'd assume it's likely you can't hunt Coilte property legally until these permits are extended.

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121838426#Comment_121838426

Sorry but I don't really know anything about Deer shooting.

But can I just ask about the Coiltte lease. Is there a specific time that hunting /shooting can take place. I believe that signs with phone numbers are supposed to be erected when shooting is taking place.

The reason I ask is, I belong to a mountain bike club with the extended shooting season we want to try avoid a situation where we would be in the woods when there's people shooting. Over the old season the lads shooting would be there very early in the morning and usually gone around 11am/12 noon. We have heard conflicting information as to when they should be out by, aot of people were saying it was 11am, but one of the lads shooting said that was true.

Yesterday some of the lads went to head out for a spin around 4pm and there was a sign on the barrier. It wasn't huge issue as there is another place close by. However it may have been an issue if the lads were there before the signs went up, Also a lot of walkers use the woods too, and it's a good hour or more of a loop, so potentially there could be a few people in the area.

The sign that was erected didn't have any contact details or time due to re open on it.

Any insight welcome

Thanks

Whalberg86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121838809#Comment_121838809

Hi Ceepo,

The permit doesn't state times, and evening hunting is also allowed with prior approval from Coilte. As I understand it 11am is the time when, in theory, active hunting is supposed to stop, not a time by which hunters must be gone from the forest or signs taken down. As for phone numbers I imagine most don't put them on for GDPR and other reasons.

Personally if I turned up to hunt in the evening and saw mtn bikers or walkers in the forest then I would go else where, I'm sure most would do the same. Regardless we all have a duty of care to all other forest users at all times.

Cheers

Whalber86

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121841180#Comment_121841180

Thanks very much for the reply.

Were lucky enough to be able to use the woods and certainly don't want to make any enemy's. I understand you point re 11am and I also understand it can take some time to arrive back at the barrier. I also take the point about the phone number. Just when you see the sigh up and it's not filled out, it can leave people with more questions to ask, or more to give a out about. I forgot to mention in my first post, that I did think it was unusual that there shooting going on there as they're currently logging in the woods at the moment. Hard for the general public arriving at the barrier to know if theres an "out if hours" exception really. And as you can understand there many well be walkers or cyclists already in the woods the the hunter's arrive.

Thanks again for the clarification

Whalberg86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121841206#Comment_121841206

Depends on the size of the forest but hunting can be going on in concurrently with forestry operations. Coilte forests are broken into blocks and hunters need to notify Coilte 48hrs in advance which blocks they plan to hunt. If there's sufficient seperation between the blocks being hunted and felled then permission may be granted.

mayoireland

I just wondering about all the comments I agree to a certain degree. But how many of ye have farms .I running a sheep and cattle farm I have alway being careful of the deers I shoot but the last year I have seen from March on about 30 to 40 red deer coming into saved fields for sheep lambing .fences destroyed and fields ate .its just my opinion ,I'm going to kill every thing

MasonIan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121857638#Comment_121857638

If you'd like a hand to thin the numbers, I'll gladly travel across to you to help :)