Re: Landowners agree to Lynx re-introduction
Posted: September 24th, 2018, 12:49 pm
scotia wrote:I was not suggesting that stalking took place within Lochinver, but merely that the presence of the deer suggested overpopulation, and that a sensible cull in Assynt should not have any deleterious affect on stalking. I spend a week annually fishing the Assynt Crofter's estate, and the problem of ticks has significantly increased, possibly associated with the deer.
[i][i]If these officials have their way, the deer population on the Assynt peninsula will be reduced to about 2 deer per square km. This is the density required to achieve what they have stated they wish to achieve. That will mean an annual cull of 25 stags for the whole Assynt peninsula area, if/when the deer population is reduced to the level SNH are looking to reach. To give some context, last year, 170 stags were shot on the Assynt peninsula (62 by the Assynt Crofters, which gave us a revenue of almost £9000 after expenses). This has been presented to the Board of SNH as being ‘a relatively minor sustained reduction in browsing pressure’. What may appear ‘relatively minor’ to a salaried, pensioned government official sitting behind a desk in Inverness would be economically devastating for Assynt.[/i][/i]
Fair enough - not sure that you will get too warm a reception from the locals if you start advocating much in the way of population reducton though. Also while you may have a point re ticks please bear in mind that the local woodlands are in good health and successfully regenerating.
Perhaps also worth pointing out that the revenue figures quoted above condiderably understate the actual economic effect of the stalking - the area as a whole will benefit by about £6-700 per stag.