East Loch Ericht is one of the oldest DMGs having being established in the mid 1970s and therefore practising collaborative deer management for 40 years. The Group meets twice a year and appoints a Chairman and a Deer Count Coordinator on a rolling annual basis. The Red deer herd is carefully managed through a combination of record keeping, cull planning, population census and population modelling. Our objectives are to integrate the management activities of the members with optimal management of habitat and deer numbers to deliver sustainable deer management and long-term habitat improvement.
At the last count (February 2015) there were 1311 stags, 2594 hinds and 944 calves recorded on the ground, a population density of 16.5 per sq km. This is 3.4 deer per sq km below the highest winter densities recorded over the last 40 year period, a reduction consistent with the Group’s aspiration to balance deer numbers and habitat across the site.