First-time applicants for a deer-hunting licence will be required to show evidence of attendance and completion of a certified deer-hunting training course for the 2022-2023 season.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has confirmed that the mandatory training will be introduced next year, and comes from a recommendation in a deer-management plan published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht in 2015.
The NPWS said:
“An Irish Deer Management Forum was established to implement the various actions listed in the Deer Management in Ireland – A Framework for Action report.
“One of the recommendations was the introduction of mandatory certification training of deer hunters. The first step in achieving this is the introduction of mandatory deer hunter certification for first-time hunters for the 2022-2023 season.”
The training will cover:
- Principles of deer management including current problems facing deer in Ireland; methods of population assessment; breeding capacity and size of cull; planning the cull, among other things;
- Basic deer biology including species recognition, species distribution; species habits and habitat; lifecycle; pregnancy and birth; and antler growth, among others;
- Impacts of deer on forestry, agriculture and nature conservation habitats;
- Carcass handling and disease recognition including bleeding and evisceration; carcass examination and disease recognition including anthrax, bluetongue, bovine
tuberculosis, brucellosis, foot and mouth disease, warble fly infestation, and more; - Deer-stalking aids and techniques, including among others, use of high seat, use of dogs and dealing with an injured animal;
- Deer hunting and the law, such as regulations, licence requirements, firearm legislation;
- Firearms safety and firearms ballistics.
The 2021-2022 hunting season is now underway since September 1, and will last until the end of February.
Up to September 9, the NPWS had granted 5,253 licences to hunt deer in Ireland.
Last year, there was a marked drop in the number of licences granted, due to Covid-19.
Deer-hunting licences granted:
- 2018 – 5,502;
- 2019 – 5,815;
- 2020 – 5,344.