Keeping a cull on track

Stalking tends not to be a social occasion but when a deer herd is in need of thinning, a team can achieve more than a lone hunter, says Graham Downing.

- Graham Downing

Low-ground deerstalking, like wildfowling, is in most cases a solitary occupation. Most stalkers tend to be loners who take pleasure in their own company and their ability to use their hunting skills to put themselves within shooting distance of a wild and wary quarry.

There are, however, occasions when bringing a group of hunters together can make a real and positive difference, greatly improving the deer manager’s chances of achieving a substantial cull. After all, the lone hunter can only be in one place at one time. If he is where the deer are, all well and good, but if the deer are somewhere else then he records a blank outing. Insert a number of strategically placed hunters into the woods on successive mornings and evenings and suddenly you greatly multiply the chances of achieving success.

The team cull is a tried-and-tested tactic that can serve to increase substantially the number of carcases brought back to the larder over a period of two or three days. It has obvious advantages in places where a significant impact on deer numbers needs to be made within a limited timeframe. If, for example, the stalker’s access to the woods is restricted during the gameshooting season, as is often the case, there may be only a few short weeks after the beginning of February in which he has the ability to make his cull before close season kicks in and bud burst makes visibility increasingly difficult. A team cull in late winter can help to get the carcase count back on track.

Enjoyable and rewarding