A row has broken out over comments by the chairman of a Holyrood committee ahead of a meeting on the controversial issue of control of Scotland's deer.
The effectiveness of the current voluntary system is to be scrutinised by MSPs on the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, with the first meeting on Wednesday.
But Scotland's gamekeepers say statements from the committee's convener Rob Gibson SNP, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, could be prejudicial.
Mr Gibson previously prepared a paper for the committee calling for the voluntary Deer Management Groups (DMGs) to be brought under the control of the Scottish Parliament, and for a legally enforceable code of practice to be introduced.
More than 60 DMGs have been set up voluntarily over the last 30 years. But Mr Gibson believes they too often act in the narrow interests of the members from sporting estates, trying to keep the deer to be shot for sport only.
He was concerned by the impact of deer numbers on attempts to regenerate natural woodlands, and the DMG's opposition to culls to assist these projects.
He had backed the John Muir Trust's proposal for a red deer cull for its 9000 acre Quinag estate in north west Sutherland last year, to help woodland restoration.
Speaking in a personal capacity yesterday, Mr Gibson said: "There has been a concerted campaign by several estates in West Sutherland to pressurise the John Muir Trust, owners of Quinag in Assynt, to stop their demands for a deep deer cull, return to West Sutherland Deer Management group meetings and accept that temporary fencing is a solution to gross overgrazing of high nature designation sites at Ardvar.
"They have circulated an open letter that attacks the JMT making dubious claims that the voluntary actions of the other estates in the deer management subgroup are supported by the Scottish Government."
But a spokesman for the Scottish Gamekeepers Association said Mr Gibson's comments appeared to be a calculated attempt to influence the committee.
"To have this, from the actual convener of the committee, just days before the start of the evidence sessions is bound to cast doubts over how balanced this process is going to be and we can only hope that other members of the committee will approach the discussions with the level of open-mindedness and clear-headedness that is clearly required," he said.
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