Dunlossit was one of the founder members of the Islay Deer Management Group in the early 1960s. It was one of the earliest such groups formed in Scotland and decides collectively on the management of the deer herd. As a result of some 30 years’ study and active management, we now have what is widely regarded as one of the healthiest and best managed deer populations in Scotland.
From a welfare point of view deer populations require active management. Selective culling which removes older animals or those in poor condition from injury, disease or malnutrition helps to reduce the number of deer which would otherwise die slow deaths accompanied by unnecessary suffering.
There are also environmental issues. In Scotland in general, red deer are implicated in significant potential damage to commercial forestry. There have more recently been increasing concerns about the suppression of regeneration of native woodlands and damaging impacts of grazing and browsing on heathland and other open moorland communities. There are also growing worries about an increase in the number of road traffic accidents each year caused by or involving deer.
As a result of these concerns the various management groups and land owners must consider how they control the numbers of deer for which they are responsible.
At the same time, deer represent an important economic resource in rural areas. Income is generated both through the sale of venison and when land owners let out the stalking of those animals which would otherwise be shot anyway as part of the normal management cull. Red deer management also provides an important source of employment, providing a number of jobs for stalkers and ghillies.
Because both stags and hinds move across large areas of ground (although hinds do not tend to be as mobile as stags) the herd may range over a number of neighbouring properties - this means that the way in which one land manager controls the deer on his estate will have an impact on his neighbours. This is the reason that the Islay Deer Management Group (IDMG) was set up in order to coordinate the management of the shared deer herd between neighbouring estates.
There were - and continue to be - many difficulties faced by the IDMG when deciding on their policy for managing the herd for which they are responsible. The first, and most important, was the decision taken to stop shooting 'trophy' stags who were in their prime and to concentrate instead on those animals which were older, weaker or in poor condition.
In order to be able to manage the herd effectively it was agreed to fence the entire range. This fence is now approximately 26 miles long and extends from coast to coast.
