Deer Culling | Short Wildlife Documentary 

Thank you for the comment, really appreciate it!

Thanks for your comment! We are really glad you like it.

@@TheBiomeProject is it ok to share it on social media to a few deer management groups I'm in please

@@STUTIEB yes of course! Thanks

@@TheBiomeProject getting good honest feed back from stalkers and managers so your on the correct track .thank you lads

Agree it’s a brilliant channel lots of info and interesting as well 🔥any animal / wildlife freak wil love this channel I stumbled across this channel thank you 🇬🇧

Fantastic, glad you enjoyed it!

@@Falconer710 Glad you find our content interesting! Do recommend us to any other natural history lovers you know! Lots of exciting podcasts and content to come!

Glad you enjoyed!

You are doing a really great job! I suggest to add a small visual presentation in video-podcasts about rewilding an animal, it will help the user to follow (sometimes I can't even picture myself the animal you are talking about 😁). Also, do you know about the Rewilding Europe initiative?

Currently, the beef and dairy industry dominates the British meat market. It can produce cheap meat on a massive scale; not just locally, but importing from abroad as well. As a result, the beef and dairy industry is able to both flood the market with their products and ensure that they can always provide extremely cheap food. Comparatively, the market for venison is small; relatively few restaurants serve it, it's not particularly obvious or abundant in supermarkets, and people at home don't have much of an appetite. Couple this with a low number of people hunting deer to supply this market (both due to lack of demand and low public support for hunting) and venison becomes more expensive than beef. However, we strongly feel that a larger market for venison would be beneficial to both the public and biodiversity. It would mean any culled deer would not be wasted, but instead create a low-carbon alternative to beef. The meat would have the added benefit of being wild, free-ranging and organic!

@@TheBiomeProject I'm not convinced by that at all.. to get beef you need land on which to keep cows. breed the cows, feed the cows, keep the cows healthy... to get venison, you just go out with a shotgun..

Also game dealers are overstocked with venison due to farmed stuff both from the uk and nz

@@rcr76 surely that means logically, it should be much cheaper..

@@bombercountyblues yes I agree

Very helpful information - thank you for informing us!

I get your point but that would cause more problems than benefits

@@georgehailstone4399 well not really lynx will cull deer and decrease lamb predation

We agree, a cull is an unpleasant thing to support, and the reintroduction of carnivores would provide a much more palatable option (ethically speaking - some people have very strong, and valid, concerns). We'd love to know what our viewers feel about the two main shortfalls of lynx reintroduction; namely that, in the interest of lynx welfare, there are very few places that can be deemed suitable for their reintroduction, and the fact that lynx would likely only select for roe deer (and other forest species), not overabundant red deer. These two shortfalls are something to be wrestled with as we discuss reintroduction and culling! What are your thoughts?

@@TheBiomeProject yes with the predation of reds wolves would have a lot of cons but could work and lynx would hunt muntjac two since they’re invasive that would be unfortunate but necessary

I think the most voices for predators being re introduced are from the areas where they won’t be .whats wrong with hunting them .

We agree, building a market for wild, free range organic venison would be an excellent idea, and an efficient use of the meat! We felt the reality of culling might be "unpleasant" purely because it would involve the killing of a native animal species. Good point about the squirrel - we'll certainly take that point on board for next time! Thanks for your support!

@@TheBiomeProject I've only seen a few of your videos so far but you are doing good work! It seems you take a fair science led approach to most topics. Even though I'm pro hunting/culling deer, I would love to see native predators like lynx brought back.

Thanks Elliot, good suggestion. Thanks for your support.

@@TheBiomeProject I had no idea I'd posted more or less the same comment twice, not sure how that happened...

Thank you, glad you enjoyed the video! We really strive to put forth a balanced and nuanced discussion of often rather polarised topics so it's good to hear positive feedback! Interesting to hear your thoughts on deer contraception; certainly it would be a complex program to implement, although as mentioned in Fairfax Virginia it has been successful in reducing White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) numbers by 28% over 5 years, so there is precedent that shows it works in mid-sized ungulates. A method of implementation would be identifying areas of high deer density, and laying out feeders which are specially designed to only allow deer to access them; the feed within would contain contraceptives. The argument that "man would be playing god" is less viable perhaps; after all, humanity has been manipulating and directing natural processes for thousands of years, be it selectively breeding wolves to create first early dogs and then the myriad modern dog species today, to artificially breeding carrots to be orange (wild carrots are either white or pale yellow), to breeding only the largest tomatoes (wild ones are tiny); the same goes for wild strawberries, which are tiny compared to their domestic cousins. Ever since the spread of agriculture humanity has been shaping the natural world into a more comfortable one; here contraceptives would, in contrast, be a relatively minor addition to the long list of anthropogenic influences on the environment, certainly paling in comparison to the industrial revolution, or even the introduction of non-native deer species. With regards to predators, we strongly agree that in certain areas they could be a part of the solution. Lynx in particular, throughout Europe, show very low selection for agricultural areas, being forest specialists who hunt from dense cover, so that species would prove unlikely to trouble agricultural areas. Wolves however, are both much wider ranging and can range into agricultural areas. However, the studies coming out of Germany do contain caveats; most wolf predation on livestock occurs when livestock grazing practises encroach on protected land, or in forests; British livestock grazing (especially with regards to sheep) tends to be hill farming, which is much more easily monitored. We do agree however, that wolves possess a greater threat to livestock than lynx, and therefore any reintroduction should be initially limited to protected areas with no livestock, and strong predation stipends or other compensatory measures be put into place! Very interesting to hear your views on culling as a method - we agree, it could certainly provide a much more sustainable source of high quality, low carbon meat than the beef industry. We've not seen any research suggesting that a "vegetarian world" would not be sustainable; of course vegetarianism is not feasible everywhere, but the vast majority of the research suggests that a shift to a largely plant based diet among western democracies, and a large reduction in meat and dairy in our diets, would have strong positive environmental impacts. Thanks for discussing with us - that's the goal of this project!

No method of killing an animal in humane, if it makes you feel better than tell yourself that but it is incorrect. Also you’ve failed to mention how a meat eating world is more sustainable than vegetarian world? How is this a fact? It isn’t.

@@KLM1111 it’s very simple really. Human beings exist in a wild world. We for thousands of years at least have existed among and with wildlife, foraging and hunting for food and being the food of other predators. You could call it the circle of life. Over time we have developed and learned to consume and to take over which is know as human encroachment. This is where wild land is taken and converted to be used by humans either for building or agriculture. Many species of wildlife have suffered by this as they have no value in relation to the new use of the land. In the Uk we are fortunate enough to have a countryside but the reality is this is not a wilderness. It’s a land created and shaped by man for agricultural and land purposes. Wild animals such as deer have learned to exist in these areas as do many animals but this is in a man made environment not as nature/God intended. Therefore we are custodians / responsible for ensuring a balance. Left untouched the deer populations would explode damaging other wildlife and also compromising your food. I’m sorry to tell you that the reality is not a vegetarian world as this is not sustainable and also involves waste. A sustainable world is one that allows humans, animals and wildlife to co-exist while harvesting the surplus which in turn reduces the carbon footprint of our actions and also creates a diverse and naturally occurring environment. The world was created and we are part of it, there is life and death all around and it’s is naturally occurring. It is much better to utilise and embrace rather than ignore and pretend it doesn’t fit with unsustainable ideals. There is also the fact that humans with very old blood groups cannot sustain themselves on vegetable proteins alone and need to eat meat. I know such people that were vegan and after becoming extremely ill had no choice but to once again consume a very small but regular quantity of meat protein. For these people wild deer meat is an ethical choice as it’s a naturally occurring animal that was harvested ethically and humanely. Remember “humane” is a man made word, it doesn’t exist with animals who will readily start feeding on another animal while still alive. We make a decision when harvesting to prevent suffering.

There are plenty of studies demonstrating that across their range Lynx are Roe Deer specialists, so it seems pretty likely that they'd specialise on Roe in Britain if they were brought back. However, the case for Red deer is weaker given their size and habitat preferences (in Britain at least). Could you elaborate further on what you mean by tagged wolves?

@@TheBiomeProject I live in Norway (from Wales) the Lynx here rarely if ever go near Roe Deer they’ll hunt Hare and smaller prey. The problem is, Roe deer habitat in the U.K. are in areas close to human habitation it’s the huge Red Deer herds that are the problem that do live in the last wilderness areas of the U.K. (in large numbers). Here wolves travel thousands of miles from Russia across to Sweden and Finland and into Norway and back. In the U.K. I say tagged simply to locate the packs in order to keep the pack within the areas like the Cairngorms for example. They’ll rarely if ever attack humans or Lynx but more to keep them away from large roads and other such potentially fatal areas for the wolves. They’d clean up the red deer herds in no time and attack the weak and old this strengthening the herd. The other problem with large herds of deer is the massive outbreak of Ticks

​@@TheBiomeProjecttagged wolves are fitted with GPS collars allowing a pack to be tracked and livestock owners can monitor packs if they pose a threat