Fiascéalta – Spring 2026
Chairmans Address
I welcome all our members and potential members to our first Newsletter. We are a small organisation at the moment fighting to be heard against a cacophony of other deer related interests. With your help we will be an effective voice in the welfare, understanding and humane management of our deer population. This is our first newsletter which we intend to publish twice a year. This first issue will be linked to our website, but as our media interface becomes more sophisticated we hope to send it directly to members emails. Our primary raison d’etre is the welfare and humane management of deer. We try to do this by example, but also by publicising both the positive and negative aspects of human/deer interaction. It is abundantly apparent that deer are pushing into urban areas and can be seen even on the M50 Dublin ring road. In an effort to control numbers, which if allowed to get beyond the carrying capacity of the environment can lead to damage to sensitive areas , road traffic incidents and disease in the herd, the Irish Deer Management Strategy Group(IDMSG) was formed. Under a government initiative recommended by the IDMSG, deer management units (DMUs) have been set up in parts of the country and it remains to be seen how successful this will be. Certainly we cannot expect to see any results in the short term. One tool in the arsenal of the DMU is a section 42 permit to hunt deer outside of the restrictions imposed by the 1976 Wildlife Act (as amd.). As we near the breeding season for our deer the Irish Deer Society appeals to all hunters to refrain from shooting female deer. Section 42 permit’s allow for the shooting of non-lactating deer. However these permits also allow the use of lamps and thermal riflescopes to target deer during the hours of darkness. You cannot identify a non-lactating deer with these devices and it is a very experienced stalker indeed that can identify a non-lactating deer in the light of day. We believe it is cruel, even barbaric to shoot females in the breeding season, or for the first three months of the fawns life and even then only if the fawn can be culled first. We intend to raise other issues in these public newsletters and readers are encouraged to get involved with the debate on issues around deer management and our environment.
I hope you will enjoy this first issue and anticipate our Autumn/Winter issue.
John Moloney, Chairman Irish Deer Society
Visit To Mar Lodge at the Invitation of the BDS Highlands Branch
Through our webmaster David Lennon we received an invitation to attend the BDS Highland open day and AGM at Mar Lodge. Mar Lodge is a 60,000 acre former hunting estate located on the river Dee close to the villages of Ballater and Braemar. The lodge is now owned by the Scottish National Trust . David Lennon and Neil Forde attended on behalf of the Irish Deer Society.
In an endeavour to redress the depletion of the primordial timber forest the estate was divided into two sections in the 1990s. Roughly half the estate was fenced and deer were cleared from the area, while stalking continued in the other half of the estate. A photographic record of a before and after view of the fenced section of the estate were quite striking. The current density of deer in the fenced area was held at 1 deer per square kilometre despite frequent incursions by deer from bounding properties, but it is now proposed to allow the deer numbers to increase to 11 deer per square kilometre.
What was particularly interesting was that the most recent depletion of timber in the estate was the result of the huge demand for timber to be used to build structures and repair bomb damage in the 2nd World War, which had led to massive clear felling in the Scottish Highlands including at Mar Lodge. The reduction of the understory dates from this period.
Mar lodge was ground zero of Highland deer stalking as it is known today. A driven deer hunt in circa 1614 resulted in the killing of 3000 deer. This would indicate that the number of deer in the Highlands was substantial even when wolves and wildcats were also still numerous .
Our representatives delivered a talk on how our deer population has expanded with emphasis on the increase in sika deer numbers. The main concern from the ‘floor’ was the possibility of the hybridisation of the Scottish red deer with the ballooning sika population. Insofar as we could demonstrate anecdotally, hybridisation of sika and red deer is confined to Wicklow and we have no evidence of it occurring elsewhere in the state. What we do not know is how far the hybridisation has infiltrated the Wicklow herd. There is some speculation that the entire combined herd is hybridised with some of the deer strongly exhibiting red or sika characteristics.
The most striking distinction between deer management and attempts at deer management in the Highlands in the huge areas of land owned by estates where there are no or very few farms or crofts. Comparing Highland deer management with Irish attempts at deer management must keep this distinction in mind
We extend a thank you to our hosts, the Highland Branch of the BDS and particularly to Steve Connolly and Stewart Blair outgoing chairman of the BDS Highlands Branch.
Coillte Forest Management Plan 2026 to 2030
The Irish Deer Society made a submission to the Coillte public consultation on the Forest Management Plan. Our emphasis was on making management of deer within Coillte properties more successful through the design of forests. We advised on the benefit of deer lawns , wide margins of cleared areas between forests and roads and in conjunction a less rigid layout of forest bounding farmland. Such techniques have proved very effective in other jurisdictions.
It was disappointing to see that deer management is very lightly touched on in the published document(s) with no specific strategic policy to manage deer and take steps to ameliorate collisions between vehicles and deer particularly on minor roads. We will as a society continue to advocate for effective deer management measures in our forestry.
National Rifle Shoot
We return to the Midlands Shooting Grounds (R35NC58) after an absence of many years to hold our National Rifle Shoot on the 7th June 2026. Check in takes place between 0930 and 1030 on the morning of the shoot. Potential contestants are advised that there are strict regulations in place at the Midlands Shooting Grounds and these must be adhered to with no exception.
We are indebted to Paddy Tighe at Woodland Optics who with the support of the team at Highland Outdoors have sponsored out first prize and to our members who have sponsored the second and third prize.
Competition rules:
1) Range officers decision is final
2) No cash alternative will be offered for prizes
3) Valid insurance and gun licence ( for your gun on the day) must be produced.
Competitors must register with the IDS and the range on the day. Bring photo ID.
4) Rifles should be normal deer hunting configuration firearms. No muzzle brakes. Competition rifles are not permitted.
Anyone without a moderator must inform the range officer. Shooting sticks are permitted.
5) No zeroing or practice shooting on the day.
6) Midlands shooting grounds will not be selling ammunition on the day, so please bring your own ammunition.
1 box should be plenty
7) Registration is between 09.30 – 10.30am.
8) Firearms must be kept in their cases until the competitor is called to the firing point. Please bring a breech flag.
9) No photos or videos to be taken on the firing range. (By order of the range)
10) Please remember this is a fun shoot. Be compliant with all IDS staff and range officers. Be careful and enjoy your day !
We are looking forward to seeing you all there. Don’t forget the barbecue afterwards. At the moment we are sourcing prizes for a raffle and tickets will be available on the day .
Going Forward
Even as we compile this newsletter the ground is moving under us. Many of you will by now have seen all or part of the interaction between the Dail Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food and witnesses from NPWS, FRS and Coillte debating deer management.
The Society engaged and continues to engage with the committee members before and subsequent to the meeting to ensure they have relevant and science based information on which to base their questions and assessments. The response of the witnesses was vague and aspirational on many points and we will be analysing this and other public utterances on deer in the next Newsletter.
The NPWS has now gone completely online for both deer licences and section 42 permits. There have been problems and certain aspects of the section 42 permit award are grounds for concern. However the system must be given a chance to bed in and we remind all stalkers, not that you need reminding, that NPWS staff are as keen to get this system to work as you are so if you encounter difficulties in getting results from the software it is not the fault of NPWS frontline staff.
Photography Competition 2026
Our photo competition will be announced shortly. I leave you with last years winning entry taken by Evan Kearns
We will be back in the Autumn so for now enjoy the summer and keep an eye on the Irish Deer Society Web page.
Le meas, Editor