Red deer cull.

Part one.

The caleodian forest is a lovely mix of pine, heather and all of the animals associated with it. But as beautiful as this is, something is out of balance. One animal is having a huge impact on all of the other species. The red deer. The cull is one of the most contreversal conservation issues in Britain today. Without natural predstors like wolves and bears , we humans eradicated both, deer numbers have increased dramatically in the highlands over over the last hundred years. They belong in the highlands just as much as any other animal, but humans have created an eco-system with no natural method of controlling them. Some people believe red deer population is so out of balance that it needs culling. Its an uncomfortable situation for most of us, but its a reality of whats happening in the highlands. The forestry comission of Scotland work hard to keep the deer numbers low. They believe that the red deer numbers are to high. One problem is they eat all of the heather, right down to the moss. The heather is essentail for all of the red grouse, but grazed heather is just the tip of an ecological iceberg. The caledonian forest struggles to regenerate because the deer eat all of the young saplings, its literally dieing out along with the species that live within it. This is what motivates the forestry comission to cull the deer, to help keep a fine balance within the eco-system. But the actual deer stalking is tough , sometimes it can take upto five hours to find a deer. A deer can smell a human upto one mile away if the wind is behind the humans, so blowing their scent towards the deer. The final part is to crawl amongst the heather to get close to his quarry. When the gun comes out of the bag it would really challenge me, but i know its essential for consevation. This is a a key part of a very difficult debate.