Scotland's gamekeepers are warning MSPs not to strangle the countryside with further red tape, by seeking control of the voluntary deer management system they say is working well.

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) says many people would deem it a centralised attack on their way of life.

The SGA was responding to the news that the convener of Holyrood's Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, Rob Gibson is proposing the more than 60 Deer Management Groups (DMGs) of estates and land managers come under control of the Scottish Parliament.

The DMGs collaborate on a voluntary basis to plan deer management in the different areas, although Scottish Natural Heritage has the ultimate legal responsibility.

Mr Gibson believes the DMGs' focus on shooting deer for sport has led to increasing deer numbers causing severe ecological damage, particularly attempts to restore native species of trees.

The SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, has prepared a paper for his committee, which also proposes a legally enforceable code of practice. The committee will decide next week whether to pursue the issue.

In his paper he cites the example of the wild land charity the John Muir Trust proposing a red deer cull for its 9000-acre Quinag estate in north-west Sutherland last year. This was because the balance in the local habitat was found to be badly skewed towards deer numbers and against the regeneration of native woods.

However, it was opposed by the local DMG. Mr Gibson argues this happens across Scotland.

But SGA chairman Alex Hogg said yesterday: "While this may have been a laudable imperative on John Muir Trust ground, their refusal to entertain fencing, to properly consult with their neighbours and to discuss alternatives, meant their laudable imperative then became a major problem for everyone else and was clearly going to have a negative socio-economic affect, putting jobs at risk.

"This one area, however, is not wholly representative of the situation across Scotland where the voluntary deer management system is operating well and, in recent years, has been working better thanks to greater co-operative working with SNH."

He said sporting activities, including deer stalking, brought major economic value to Scotland, as well as preserving employment and opportunities in areas where there would otherwise be greater migration without a healthy industry.

He said one of the problems in introducing a statutory system, for example, was that it would be very difficult for the public purse to be able to match private investment.

Putting the DMGs under statutory control would mean "taking decisions away from the people who have the requisite knowledge to make them and placing them in the hands of those they deem to have less. It is hard to justify", he said.

"What you could end up with is the worst of both worlds. An unpopular, inflexible system operating at high cost to the public purse which doesn't solve the problem it was set up to address."

But head of policy for Scottish Wildlife, Dr Maggie Keegan, said: "We support Rob Gibson's stance. In some areas of Scotland, deer numbers are managed at levels which are not in balance with the natural environment and the damage caused through overgrazing and trampling pressure is causing severe damage to some of Scotland's internationally important protected sites and landscapes."

She added: "There is also a cost to the taxpayer because erecting deer fencing to keep deer out of protected sites and woodlands is expensive. In the past 10 years alone over £20 million has been spent from the public purse on deer fencing across Scotland."