Deer Culling.

[Really Ancien]

500,000 deer must be culled to protect countryside from damage by herds - Telegraph
I like the idea that they have no predators, they have, it's man and they're coming to get you.

Damon.

[mike]

their main predator round here seems to be Landrover Discoveries. 

probably hear about 1 crash every couple of weeks at the moment, and neither the deer or the car fare particularly well out of it.   

[Really Ancien]

In Germany they have a problem with Wild Boar, if you own woodland you have to shoot them at a certain rate per hectare to try to control them, it sometimes leads to interesting scenarios.
Chaos and Destruction in German Town: Invasion of the Wild Boars - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Damon.

[cometworm]

In Scandinavia the problem is moose, rather than boar or deer, but it's the same thing. If you don't cull them they starve half to death before coming into towns and ending up as temporary hood ornaments. And hitting a moose at speed is quite likely to be fatal for both parties.

Deer taste great in any case, so culling seems a great idea.

[pcolbeck]

Mmm cheap venison.

[andygates]

Load up the freezer!

[Andrij]

Deer have been rather too successful in the Cleveland (Ohio) Metroparks so regular culling takes place.  The meat doesn't go to the marksmen and it doesn't get sold — it all goes to the local Foodbank to feed the homeless. 

[RJ]

Meanwhile in Scotland there's a strategy ...

A lot of overgrazing by red deer in Scotland over the years has been down to "sporting" estates managing herds with an eye to capital value - which is closely linked to the number of stags shot over the last 5 years.  This encourages management to maximise numbers, rather than condition of deer (which raises some significant welfare issues, as red deer are essentially woodland animals, forced by circumstance in the highlands of Scotland to occupy treeless uplands).   

[Martin]

err; round here the deer are the countryside  coincidentally I was only just about to post a recommendation to visit one of my favourite places Knole; which has of course long since lost it's original purpose

another example of Man messing about with Nature and then complaining when it doesn't go his way? 

[Craig]

another example of Man messing about with Nature and then complaining when it doesn't go his way? 

I think so. Not surprising that if all of the deer's natural predators are killed, their population will increase.
And much of their habitats have been destroyed, and now people are complaining that they damage crops and gardens...

[Jaded]

I like the idea of giving them condoms.

[hatler]

Or reintroducing wolves ?

[Treewheeler]

Hello,
I'm currently staying for a couple of days in the home of a pro deer culler near Rotorua North Island N.Z
 There are skins, heads and awards for various animals brought down all around me here in the study.
 This guy won the best head taken award in North Island from the N.Z deer stalkers assn for several years.
Every meat dish we eat here is venison based.
 I've been out with a Maori hunting opossum with .22 and also trapping in leg hold traps for the fur, killing them first with a blow to the head then plucking them whilst still warm.
 The organised pig hunts here are something else! The real hard guys go in with just a knife after the dogs have cornered a porker, hanging onto its ears until the hunter lifts up the pigs back legs and plunges the knife into its heart from below.
 Not the right time of year for this but I may get to shoot a deer soon.
  Feral cats here are fair game too, easy to spot as the eyes are greener than an opossums and they don't freeze when you shine a torch on them.
  Later...x
 
 

[Adrian]

Or reintroducing wolves ?

Good idea. It could introduce a certain urgency to the ascent of Ditchling Beacon at dawn.

[Frenchie]

In Germany they have a problem with Wild Boar,...

In part of France too; although "we" hunt them. An encounter or collision with a wild bioar is a pretty harsh one; they charge like nutters when scared or injured.