Day in the life of a Dartmoor deer manager

Tom is out to shoot or at least spot three species of deer today. Dartmoor, where he lives, has the habitat for red deer, fallow and roe. He starts his day with a fallow cull outing on a local pheasant shoot. Then he heads into one of Devon's wilder valleys to look for a big red stag he knows well.
Find Tom on / dartmoor_deer_services or / dartmoor-deer-services...
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Why shoot deer?
There are more than two million red, roe, fallow, sika, muntjac and Chinese water deer in Britain’s countryside and semi-urban areas, the highest level for 1,000 years. Numbers have doubled since 1999, according to the Deer Initiative, the UK government’s deer agency.
Deer are an attractive and an important part of our wildlife. However, they have no natural predator in the UK so numbers must be sensibly and strategically managed to keep them in balance with their habitat and to prevent damage to crops, trees, woodland flora, gardens and other wildlife.
Deer cause £4.5 million-worth (Forestry Commission Scotland) of damage to plantations and other commercial woodlands in Scotland. Crop damage is estimated at £4.3m a year according to DEFRA, with the greatest damage on cereal crops in east and south-west England.
More than 8,000 hectares (Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology) of woodland with SSI status is currently in ‘unfavourable’ or ‘recovering’ condition due to deer impacts such as browsing and fraying. Deer can also influence the variety of wildlife in woodlands and other habitats by altering structural and plant species diversity. According to the University of East Anglia’s Dr Paul Dolman, that has resulted in a 50% decline in woodland bird numbers where deer are present, impacting particularly on nightingales, blackcaps, chiffchaffs and warblers.
Deer are susceptible to Bovine TB and may be responsible for the transmission of TB to cattle. They are also the likely driver behind the UK’s increasing tick population (Scharlemann et al 2008).
Happily, venison is a delicious meat. It is wild, natural and free range, and - almost fat-free - it is one of the healthiest meats available today. Results from research commissioned by the Game-to-Eat campaign (Leatherhead Food International Research 2006) suggest that there are real health benefits to eating game. Venison is high in protein, low in saturated fatty acids and contains higher levels of iron than any other red meat.
We’re proud to promote enjoyment of fieldsports and the countryside. There are three guiding principles to everything we do on Fieldsports Channel:
▶ Shoot responsibly
▶ Respect the quarry
▶ Ensure a humane, clean and quick kill
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[@waikarimoana]

Awesome videos for this week Charlie, last year we lost all the hunts that were booked and this year is going to be the same, hopefully we get rid of this Covid and life goes back to norm.Thanks for the videos and thumbs up for all, greetings from New Zealand and best regards to all.

[@pelletandferretpestcontrol7367]

Brilliant video didn't know we had all 3 species of deer on dartmoor

[@TheSpaniel1]

Great film as always, thank you 👍

[@BassSwirls]

When people see a growing Dartmoor herd headed by fine stags ...they don't realise the time and hardwork behind what they see.

[@TeamBuffaloOutdoors]

Love the hitch hang gambrel!

[@TeamBuffaloOutdoors]

Great day!

[@friendlyboar2652]

great show - more shows with Tom in the lead would be good

[@ditzydoo4378]

That was a truly beautiful Red-Stag, though poor Tom and hauling task with the doe were (ahem) entertaining to say the least. ^~^
A question if you please, what type of rifle rest is Tom using? It looks to be very stable.

[@tomdavies8888]

Good morning, here im using the viper flex sticks. Very sturdy, reliable and comfy to shoot from. Thanks

[@ditzydoo4378]

@@tomdavies8888 thank you indeed. ^~^

[@gantengmubazir7954]

👍

[@doomfathertm8771]

Would love to have permission on a large area of woodland like that

[@dvrn86]

I love the hunting back home but the lack of public land to hunt leaves it very difficult to get into deer hunting. Very grateful I've got hundreds of thousands of hectares of crown land to hunt here in Canada.

[@tomh2776]

@@dvrn86 which part of Canada? The tag system sounds worse than finding some land or paying in the UK

[@dvrn86]

@@tomh2776 I'm in Alberta. Yeah the tag system is kind of frustrating for some things but at least the money goes back into conservation. Some areas need special licences(draw system) and others are open for a certain period of time and certain form of hunting.

[@tomwood7092]

Great video as always!! Just wondering what calibre is he using?

[@tomdavies8888]

Hi Tom, here i was using 6.5 creedmoor, thanks

[@kieranmoss7913]

@@tomdavies8888 what thermal are you using in this video?

[@chilternvenison5057]

Extraction. I feel your pain!

[@zimtrout]

Which sling does Tom use??

[@tomdavies8888]

Hi, this is the z aim sling. Brilliant kit.

[@zimtrout]

@@tomdavies8888 ta mate!!

[@zimtrout]

@@tomdavies8888 thank you bud

[@louislegrange7986]

@@tomdavies8888 Hi Tom, what caliber you using on your Blaser and what ammo if you don’t mind me asking?

[@tomdavies8888]

@@zimtrout no worries 👍

[@DUKEisALIVE]

What gun is that?

[@fieldsportstv]

Blaser R8 Pro Success

[@DUKEisALIVE]

@@fieldsportstv Cheers!

[@HillTrekkerSarge]

As an American who has the opportunity to hunt deer on private and public land I don't understand the concept of hiring someone to kill the deer. Why not open up the opportunity to the public who can via a lottery system.
This concept of private land where the commoner so to speak cannot hut the deer smacks of the old Robin Hood tale. The killing of the king's deer.