The deer hunting season in Ireland has been extended to help “manage” numbers it was announced today (Thursday, February 29).
Changes to the Deer Open Seasons Order will allow for the continuation of the hunting of female and antlerless deer until March 31, 2024 and males until April 30, 2024.
The 2024/2025 male hunting season will also begin at the earlier date of August 1, 2024.
According to the Minister for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, the revision of the Deer Open Seasons Order is a response to a key recommendation from the Irish Deer Management Strategy Group.
Minister Noonan said today: “Deer are an integral part of the Irish landscape, but overgrazing by deer has become a serious pressure for native woodlands and for peatland habitats across Ireland.
“Extending the open season will provide land owners with greater flexibility for deer management and should, with time, help us to bring deer back to sustainable levels locally and nationally.”
The minister for agriculture said that it had become clear that certain parts of the country had populations that are currently above “a sustainable level for land management activities, and are impacting on farming, forestry, nature conservation and biodiversity”.
“There is no doubt that the wild deer population is having a significant impact on farmers.
“Land set aside for grazing livestock is being plundered and our forestry is being impacted by over grazing which prevents regeneration,” Minister McConalogue added.
Hunting licences
The revision of the Deer Open Seasons Order extends the hunting season for Red Stags (excluding in Kerry), Sika Stags and Fallow Bucks so that the season will begin on August 1, each year and end on April 30, of the following year.
It also extends the hunting season for Red Hinds (excluding in Kerry), Sika Hinds and Fallow Does – and antlerless deer for each species- so that the season would now end on March 31, each year.
Meanwhile Niall Ó Donnchú, the director general of the National Parks and Wildlife Service said there will also be “improvements” to how applications for hunting licences are managed.
A new online portal is currently in development.
Ó Donnchú said: “This will become a one-stop-shop for all licences in due course.
“Applications for deer hunting licences for the 2024/2025 seasons will be managed through the new portal. This will provide a fast, efficient and user friendly process.“