Government announces long-awaited deer strategy and new night shooting licence

After an almost 4-year wait, the government has published its new deer strategy for England which follows the consultation it held on deer management in 2022. Along with its strategy, it has created a new licence for the night shooting of deer. This comes as the government attempts to address the booming deer population in Britain and control its impacts on farming, woodland ecology and biodiversity.

The government has broken down its strategy into six areas:

• Managing wild deer impacts sustainably

  • Defra to maintain and seek to improve (where required) grant support in woodland and agri-environmental schemes for deer management.
  • All public land to be covered by deer management plans/strategies within 10 years, where practical and necessary.
  • Defra will seek to enable tenants, owners and occupiers to have the legal right to shoot deer under certain circumstances.
  • Defra will seek to oblige landowners to carry out appropriate deer management where inaction is causing demonstrable negative impacts.
  • Defra to promote landscape-scale deer management collaboration.
  • Defra will work with Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council to consider amended firearms licensing law to encourage police forces to consider requiring those applying for grant of rifles for deer stalking to show a minimum level of competence.
    
    

    The Countryside Alliance position is that requiring a minimum level of competence in relation to deer management in legislation should remain outside the scope of this deer management strategy as any move to implement it through firearms licensing legislation or guidance would set a difficult precedent. Firearms legislation and the licensing system address public safety, not animal welfare or wildlife management. Many police forces already unofficially require applicants to have passed Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 before grant of a deer calibre rifle.

• Regulating management of deer impacts

  • Natural England (NE) has issued a new class licence to kill deer at night by shooting (CL55), which makes it easier to conduct night shooting by changing the scheme for individual licensing into a registration based class licence. Full details and eligibility criteria of CL55 can be read here.
  • FC will seek to ensure all woodland management plans include a deer management statement.
  • NE will also consider making licensing the shooting of male deer during the close season more accessible.
    
    

• Wild venison

  • Defra will work to promote wild venison in many sectors, including public procurement. Part of this effort will be to financially support venison collection and procession infrastructure.
  • Minimising the spread and impacts of non-native deer
  • Defra will develop more effect control of non-native species e.g. muntjac through legislative reviews.
  • Defra will commission risk assessments for both sika and Chinese water deer.
    
    

• Reducing human-deer conflict

  • FC will consider development of infrastructure etc. in conjunction with National Highways to mitigate against road traffic collisions involving deer.
  • The UK Health Security Agency will increase public awareness of Lyme disease prevention, and will undertake surveillance of tick-bone diseases in the UK.
    
    

• Developing and improving the evidence base

  • FC and Defra to encourage land owner returns of deer management activity to be continued as part of agri-environment schemes
  • FC mandatory monitoring introduction continued in environmental land management schemes
  • FC supported research into national study of the economic, natural capital and carbon impacts of wild deer.

The government’s full policy statement can be read here.