Growing deer numbers

GW Morrison's letter (12 May), in which he regards my view with amusement that "the stalking industry is responsible for the artificially high deer numbers", takes no account of the needs of the stalking industry.

Deer management to make the stalking estates viable includes habitat improvements, winter feeding, trophy shooting that interferes with the ageing process and an increased fecundity - all of which makes for a rising population.

As deer know no boundaries, they expand elsewhere, where the current forestry fad of planting deciduous trees provides them with additional food and shelter.

ANGUS MACMILLAN

Meikle Boturich

near Balloch, Dunbartonshire