Deer Poaching

Poaching is viewed by many people as an acceptable crime, or even as not being a crime at all. The very word poacher conjures up romantic images of a lone traditional countryman stealthily hunting late at night, silenced rifle to hand, in the hope of bagging a rabbit or some such for the pot.

Poachers today are most often gangs of highly organised, selective and effective killers of the countryside. They stake out their target areas to find the best times to go in and wreak their terror and destruction; make a quick killing (literally); and get out again without detection. Of course, the trail of carnage left behind is clear for all to see the following day, but they don’t care. By then they will be many miles away, having sold their illegal carcasses, celebrating their success at another good night’s work.

The Lincolnshire Deer Group instigated the formation of a committee to tackle this problem, which was set up in the autumn of 2001 and has had considerable success in raising the profile of the problem with the police and the public through the media. The South Lincolnshire Poaching problem has been publicised throughout the local press, Shooting Gazette, The Field, Shooting Times as well as BBC Radio Lincolnshire, BBC Look North and East Midlands today.

The committee is made up of representation from local estates, British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC), Country Land and Business Association (CLA), National Farmers Union (NFU), Police, RSPCA, National Gamekeepers Organisation (NGO) and the Lincolnshire Deer Group.

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For further information contact secretary@lincolnshiredeergroup.co.uk

• Restrict access by Four Wheel Drive Vehicles by securing gates, digging shallow trenches where access would otherwise be easily gained.
• Maintain hedges and the fences on your property.
• Join the “Poacher Watch” scheme and work with neighbours to organise nighttime patrols to work with the Police.
• Buy a “Poacher Watch” Road Sign – It is fact that prominent signs are a good deterrent against damage to property.

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