07/01/2025
The national Trust, vegans, vegies, animal rights activists, anti hunters along with the woke and politically correct who worked to ban hunting on NT land should all have a long hard look at this image of a very sick animal on the NT Holnicote estate because this is the state of many deer now. This deer probably has bTB as many on the estate have been affected by the disease. It is highly likely to have other diseases and parasites as well. It will certainly die a very slow death. When populations become too numerous and too intensive they become more vulnerable to many diseases and parasites. This applies to most animals including deer and badgers. Without natural predators anymore in this country numbers will get too large if man does not cull them. The NT did not cull badgers on its land while others in the area did and I am sure this has contributed towards the level of disease. The NT have form on this as there was a herd of Fallow deer at Dyrham Park which had been there for about 300 years but the whole lot had to be killed recently due to bTB. There are other places on Exmoor where hunting was banned and these areas also became bTB hotspots and many deer died from the disease and parasites like lungworm . Hunting disturbs the deer causing then to disperse and spread out over a larger area, with out it they tend to be more localised which increases the risk of disease and parasites. I took the above photo last year and I have images of other deer in poor condition as well. As an Exmoor man who has grown up on the edge of the estate I have witnessed first hand the harm caused by the urban managers of the organisation. A recent article in a local paper highlighted the NT allegedly culling up to 400 deer and then refusing to answer questions put to them about it. That prompted me to post this. It would be very interesting to know the number of sick animals killed and what diseases and parasites they were suffering from. A organisation with charitable status should not be able to hide and avoid accountability in this way, it is disgraceful. I have been a member for around 30 years but I dont know why I still bother. They are trying to cover up the consequences of their own actions and incompetence. Years ago there was a pheasant shoot on the estate run but local people, there was proper management and predator control and enough grouse on Dunkery to allow 2 days grouse shooting. The shoot is no longer there and neither are the grouse. When the estate was hunted there were a sensible number of deer and a healthy herd with many good quality stags. Now there is no hunting, many sick deer and deer in poor condition and few quality prime stags. With the hunting method I think about 50% of deer probably escape and these are unharmed. They may be tired but they seem to recover and live to fight another day. The weaker are more likely to be culled out which is what would happen in the wild in a heathy eco system where wolves would cull out the weak deer as they were the easiest to catch leading to survival of the fittest. This means the strongest survive and breed maintaining the strenth of the heard. This is helped by the use of local men called harbourers who monitor the deer in their patch and select the deer for culling. Priority is always given to injured or sick animals or those wounded by cars or with bullet wounds. Then it is the less good quality animals or those with genetic deformities like knott stags ( those that dont grow antlers ) or the old ones that wont get through the winter or stags that have been going back to the same herd of hinds for a few years and there is a risk of inbreeding. This way of managing the deer has existed for generations on Exmoor and resulted in the best quality truly wild deer herds in England. Any hunted deer that cant out run hounds stands at bay as they did with wolves. The hounds are trained not to attack and will stand back and bay the deer ( bark at it ) then a marksman can get very close , usually around 20 to 30 feet to shoot it. This allows a clean kill with no injuries.
In my view the best quality deer on Exmoor are found in the hunted areas and that is not a coincidence. If the existing law is changed and hunting completely stops I fear for the deer on Exmoor. I think numbers will plumet as land owners and farmers become less willing to tolerate the loss of grass and damage caused by them. Shooting, both legitimate and poaching will increase dramatically and every time a herd moves onto a different ownership then another lot of shooters will have a go at it. The first deer to disappear will be the magnificent prime stags who will be shot due to their value as trophies and for the meat. the young healthy animals will then go as the venison is better eating while the old, injured, deformed and sick will be left to breed as they have no value. Kill a sick animal and you have to pay for it to be disposed of so where is the incentive. The reason that hunting has worked is because it is management by one organisation not operating for profit. I think with in a few years of a ban any deer that are left will become more park like in isolated herds.
Basically what I am saying is we need people who have grown up on the land and worked it with experience is livestock, farming, vermin control and country pursuits managing the land not those from the towns and cities.
