I think if you are happy to live with their eating habits, then absolutely fair enough. They are a joy to see and have with you in the countryside. Some of the deer using your area will be "lost" as land neighbours cull, but it will even out. Roe normally give birth to one or two a year, twins are very common, so the population bounces back mostly, unless there is a lot of poaching. In my area we have Roe, Red and Fallow. Red and Fallow will travel long distances, where as Roe mostly stay local. Our biggest issue is out of season night poaching, although its illegal and a serious crime to commit with a firearm ( armed tresspass ) it happens a lot. Both the Reds and the Fallow are impacted. Its very hard to manage Red and Fallow numbers correctly over an area where there is a lot of poaching. The Fuzz dont see it as a No 1 priority, so are of little help. With deer management if you need to reduce overall numbers its females to cull and preferably the old/sick etc first. Reducing the male population does not have the same impact as reducing the female numbers.
If you are replanting them yes, tree protectors are one of the good solutions, or deer fence the area. With the protectors you may have to use larger ones as the trees grow. Basically, beyond the reach of Roe mouth and tonque. A farmer near us planted out a 10 acre copse on the farm border last year and only used rabbit type guards, the result is the deer took the tops out of every one of the saplings, the whole lot is now dead.
Last edited by Davetherave; 10/08/23 02:03 PM.
