Shooting roe does out of season ?

[weejohn]

I got a call from the farmer saying there were 3 roe inside his deer fence and could i go and remove them.

I set off tonight and shot the buck but was wondering if someone could clarify the exceptions

for shooting out of season deer.

I have done a google search and it appears i can and the deer have been doing a lot of grazing inside.

 

[DL.]

Last year I assisted with night shooting, which was granted along side an out of season licence from SNH. I believe the authorisation came to finish quite a bit before the end of May though.

 

There are owner/occupier exemptions, depending upon the size of the ground, level of forestry growth, it could be possible for you to ensure that there are no dependant young orphaned.

 

Also consider, roe can squeeze through very small spaces in deer fencing, and are amazing at jumping obstacles, so this may not be a one off, and you could have an ongoing job to do.

 

It may be worthwhile applying for a place on the SNH fit and competent register, this can be done with either a recent DSC2 or two references from established deer stalkers.

 

Good luck, I hope tree damage isn't an issue now that the buck is out of the picture. Come the rut, if the does are still inside, you could find a couple more bucks in there!!

[weejohn]

The following day i checked right through the plantation and there was no sign of the doe so she

must of made her way out somewhere.

There was 2 other does walking round the fence looking like they were trying to find a way in.

[DL.]

The following day i checked right through the plantation and there was no sign of the doe so she

must of made her way out somewhere.

There was 2 other does walking round the fence looking like they were trying to find a way in.

 

They were probably trying to find a slightly higher spot on the perimeter. I wouldn't like to guess what age/class those does were in, but it stands to reason if they were heavily pregnant, they would be less nimble than normal. Then after dropping their fawns they may not want a 2m fence separating them from their young.

(I saw a heavily pregnant doe just under a week ago)

 

It does seem though, a deer fence convinces them to stay inside the plantation if there's plenty of feeding inside.

 

One other point is to watch out for leg injuries on any beasts you remove, often they've landed badly in the past, and these have since healed up.