Velvet glove approach

Jon Snowdon addresses sustainable culling and how this affects woodland management

- Jon Snowdon

There are always a number of bucks that are still in velvet at the start of the roebuck season on 1 April. This more often than not starts a debate within the deer management community as to whether shooting a roebuck still in velvet is the ‘done thing’. There are some pretty trenchant views about this out there.

In Scotland, there is also the debate about increasing the length of the season for male deer. Some people have suggested that male deer should not have a close season at all. Personally, I cannot fathom the reason for the differing seasons between Scotland, compared to England and Wales. There is a good reason for the female close season, however, and that is on welfare grounds.

I would hope that no one would be happy to shoot females when they have newly born young by their sides, which are reliant on them for survival.

Open season