Protests as new rules pave the way to extend open season for shooting male deerBy Rob Edwards, Environment Editor

OPEN season is about to be declared on Scotland's national icon, the Monarch of the Glen. You might think that this will please the chaps with guns and tweeds who like nothing better than bagging a stag. But you'd be wrong.

Ironically, it's the environmental lobby that's supporting new government proposals to allow year-round shooting which will be launched tomorrow. Many environmentalists think of stags as little better than vermin.

Hunters and landowners favour keeping the current traditional closed season which allows shooters to kill the animals for just a few months every year.

Arguments over managing Scotland's deer are as old as the hills. Over the last 50 years the numbers roaming the slopes and forests are estimated to have doubled to approaching a million animals.

Landowners have been accused of keeping the numbers artificially high so that there are plenty to be shot at by paying visitors. But the beasts are now so prolific that they are wrecking the environment - eating saplings, destabilising the landscape and stunting the growth of native forests.

The government's Deer Commission for Scotland has identified 63 large areas across Scotland where trampling or grazing by too many deer is causing damage. They include Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond, Ben Lawers, Glencoe, Rannoch Moor and the Cairngorms.

In an attempt to tackle the problems, ministers are now proposing a series of changes to the way deer are managed' - in other words killed. The proposals will be contained in a consultation paper on reforming wildlife and natural environment laws to be published tomorrow.

The Sunday Herald understands that the main change will be the introduction of an obligation for landowners to manage deer sustainably'. That means if numbers get out of hand they will have to cull the herd. There will also be back-up powers to force them to cull deer if voluntary measures fail.

At the moment no-one needs a licence to shoot deer. However, a new registration system will involve some sort of test of marksmanship. It is hoped that this will improve animal welfare by improving practice and accuracy.

The proposal that will create the biggest fuss will be the one to give ministers powers to alter or abandon the closed season which restricts the shooting of deer to specific times of year. At the moment, male red deer cannot be shot between October 21 and June 30.

Ministers are now looking at phasing this out, as well as reducing the length of the closed season for female deer. The intention is to make deer culls easier and more efficient.

"There is no biological reason that we can see to support the continuation of a closed season for male deer," said Duncan Orr-Ewing, head of land management at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland. The RSPB owns large tracts of land in Scotland which are home to many species of birds. Deer pose a threat to these habitats.

"We support a system of statutory deer management planning in order to help deliver sustainable deer management in the public interest."

According to Orr-Ewing, some progress had been made in reducing the damage caused by deer. "However more still needs to be done," he argued. "Deer densities managed according to best ecological advice is key to achieving sustainable management."

But Finlay Clark, secretary of the landowners' Association of Deer Management Groups, disagreed. "The close season for male animals currently affords welfare protection and helps prevent over-exploitation," he said.

"Wintering stags often congregate in traditional low-lying areas where they need shelter and peace to recover after the rut. Stags at this time of year are easily shot with little economic value and the concern has to be that they are shot in large numbers with animals stressed when they are at their weakest."