Peter Green

The principal statute in England and Wales governing wild deer is the Deer Act (1991), amended by Statutory Instrument (SI) 2183 (2007). Free-living wild deer in the open countryside do not belong to anyone; they are not in the ownership of the landowner until they are ‘reduced into possession’. This means that wild deer become the property of the landowner when either they die on his/her land or are caught alive on that land.

The Deer Act and SI 2183 specify certain legally enforceable rules about wild deer management. It is unlawful to catch wild deer by nets, traps or stupefying drugs unless a licence to do so is issued by Natural England (NE) or Natural Resources Wales (NRW). Similarly, it is unlawful to cull wild deer during the specified ‘close seasons’ or to cull them at night unless specifically licenced to do so by NE or NRW. ‘Night’ is defined as the period between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. Arrows, crossbow darts, air guns and smooth-bored firearms may not lawfully be used to cull deer; minimum rifle calibres and muzzle energies are specified by the legislation. However, to relieve suffering, any ‘reasonable’ method may be used to dispatch injured or diseased deer at any time. Under section 7 of the Deer Act, deer may be culled out of season (including by shotgun) if they are causing crop damage, although this is judicially regarded as a defence to a legal action brought under the Deer Act, not as permission or an excuse to be able to shoot deer out of season at will. Farmed deer are provided with certain exemptions. The legal status of deer in deer parks is considered in Chapter 5.

In Northern Ireland, similar provisions are made under the Wildlife Northern Ireland) Order (1985) and its subsequent amendments. In Scotland, similar regulations are provided by the Deer Scotland Act (1996) and its subsequent amendments. Scotland is unique in the United Kingdom because, under the Wildlife and Natural Environment Act (2011), landowners have a duty of care to safeguard the welfare of wild deer on their property if, by virtue of overpopulation of deer or other land management factors, deer welfare is compromised. In 2024, Scotland abolished all close seasons for male deer.

Other English and Welsh legislation that governs the treatment of deer includes the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), which deals with trapping, snaring and the use of decoys to catch wild animals, and the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act (1996), which prohibits the kicking, beating, stabbing, impaling, burning, crushing, stoning, dragging, asphyxiating or drowning of any wild mammal. Under the Hunting Act (2004) it is unlawful to use dogs to hunt and kill deer, although a maximum of two dogs may be used to flush out deer or to aid in legal deer stalking. Wild deer taken into captivity, for whatever reason, become ‘protected animals’ under the terms of the Animal Welfare Act (2006).

Under the Animal Health Act (1981) it is compulsory to notify the authorities of certain diseases, such as Foot and Mouth Disease, Rabies, Tuberculosis and Anthrax. These may affect wild deer. The arrangements, controls and powers for each specific disease are set out in Statutory Orders and Regulations, which are regularly revised. Such Orders and Regulations have been issued for emerging diseases, such as in the Bluetongue Order (2007) and the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulation (2008). Epizootic haemorrhagic disease has been made notifiable under the Exotic Animal Disease (Amendment) (England) Order (2022).

It is notoriously difficult to count wild deer populations. For many years, the British Deer Society (BDS, https://bds.org.uk/science-research/deer-surveys/deer-distribution-survey/) has published and regularly updated deer distribution maps for each of the six deer species found in Britain. These have been based on surveys and reports by informed BDS members, academic researchers and students. The maps clearly show that all the deer species have expanded their ranges in the twenty-first century, with Reeves’ muntjac and roe deer becoming established widely compared with their distribution in 2000. These surveys do not, however, provide an estimate of numbers or deer densities. The BDS is therefore attempting to gather abundance data together with distribution. The Mammal Society (2018) estimated the total population of deer in the United Kingdom to be approximately two million, a very significant increase since the turn of the century.

At such levels, wild deer are having an adverse impact on native habitats. The Woodland Trust has made clear that ‘Deer are an important part of the UK’s woodland ecology and can have a vital role to play in balanced woodland and wood-pasture ecosystems. However, with numbers thought to be higher than at any time in the last 1,000 years, in many parts of the UK they have reached levels where they seriously threaten the habitats that they and other species depend on. Browsing by deer is now a major threat to the health and resilience of woodlands’ (Woodland Trust 2020).

The drive to plant and grow millions of trees in the United Kingdom is unlikely to succeed in the face of wild deer numbers that have increased by more than 400% since the 1970s (Defra 2020). The browsing by deer upon trees and shrubs not only inhibits growth and may kill the trees, it also has very serious effects upon populations of native birds (Holt et al. 2013).

In urban and peri-urban areas, wild deer are becoming established in gardens, parks, cemeteries, roadside amenity plantings and other habitats. Increased road traffic accidents and browsing damage to gardens, exhibition parks, horticulture and market gardening are problematic. Scotland was aware of the problems that were arising early in the twenty-first century (Dandy et al. 2009); these problems have increased and are not unique to the United Kingdom (Putman et al. 2014). In England the species most likely to become urbanised is the Reeves’ muntjac. Deer management in urban areas cannot be based on the use of high-velocity firearms. Appropriate deer-proof fencing is usually the only solution if deer are causing damage. A novel deer repellent has been reported to show some potential for limiting damage to shrubs (Curtis and Eshenauer 2022).