An elegant balance

Finely honed skills, a flexible approach and awareness of ecology are the keys to a successful deer management plan, says Megan Rowland

- Megan Rowland

Home means different things to different people. Sealskin and reindeer meat, a cosy fireplace, your own bed, a glass of wine, the inside of a car; “Sweet tea, pecan pie, and home-made wine,” as the Zac Brown Band sang in Chicken Fried.

Family, food, warmth, comfort, safety, companionship, peace.

For a red deer hind and her family, home is all these things too. It’s a dry bed of heather, bilberry bushes, willow scrub, forests, open hills and wooded glades, peat bogs and mountainsides. It’s being surrounded by her kin; aunts, cousins and calves.

While stags roam widely, especially during the rut, hinds tend to ‘heft’ to an area. Choosing it as their home and learning every inch of it, they know their patch better than any living being.

For me, it’s what makes hind stalking one of our most appealing offerings. Much like doe stalking, it’s underrated as a way to test skill and hillcraft. By their very nature, females have a higher perception of risk and are that much more aware of their surroundings.

Add to that a deer’s almost telepathic connection to their herd and you have a challenging task.

We have to cull a set number of deer each year to manage their impacts, but hind season is a time of conflicted emotions for me. On the one hand satisfaction at a job well done, being completely utilitarian it is good to see hinds and calves cleanly despatched, well handled and entered into the food chain.

Guilty pang

On the other hand, I feel an incredible guilty pang after shots are fired, watching the remaining herd members looking around, wondering what has happened.