Prince William goes 'deer culling' in Balmoral

[vera99]

What's wrong with these people? I can maybe understand the need for occasional culling (though it is most often for the human agency not a concern for the animal) but to go out and enjoy stalking these magnificent creatures get them in the sights of your guns and kill them - that's just sick.

PS. King Charles was a big fan of fox hunting

AIBU? - Yes this is actual nature conservation activity and William is showing concern and leadership in participating in the shooting.

YANBU? - No this is a sick perverted hobby of the super-rich who glory in the pleasure killing of defenceless animals.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11300807/Prince-Wales-visits-Balmoral-goes-deer-stalking-Scotland-trip-Queens-funeral.html

"Deer stalking is the act of culling ageing stags that would otherwise die in the winter, with William shooting his first when he was 14 years old, something that is said to have left him delighted at the time.
The activity, which has been a shared passion among generations of the Royal Family, was encouraged by William's father King Charles III, while Princess Diana used to jokingly call him 'my killer Wales'.
William is not thought to have been joined in Scotland by his wife Catherine, who is herself a keen markswoman, and their children. A spokesman for Kensington Palace declined to comment."

An ethical viewpoint

Disgusting

It makes my blood boil

Entitled bloodthirsty pricks. Get rid.

Obnoxious people.

He just doesn't get it does he with all his smiling charity schtick? You would think he would have the nouse to realise this is a red line these days for your PR but no.

Even if the animal escapes injury, he or she can still suffer enormously.
In one paper, researchers tracked red deer who were hunted by people with dogs. These deer covered an average of 19 km, depleting carbohydrate resources and disrupting muscle tissues. They also had elevated levels of beta-endorphins and high concentrations of cortisol, suggesting extreme stress (Bateson and Bradshaw, 1997).

Some hunters justify their sport as necessary for the preservation of ecosystems or species, a means of ‘wildlife management'. Yet hunting more often disrupts the gene pool, with larger, more biologically successful animals particularly targeted (after all, bigger formally-fierce dead animals make for better selfies). Being hunted also disrupts animals’ natural activities, forcing them to alter their ‘activity budgets’ i.e., they may increase their vigilance, leaving less time for foraging and other behaviours.

Deer do need to be culled, probably more than they are at the moment. There's no need for it be such a performance though.

Deer do need to be culled though. They are huge creatures with few predators, damage crops and planted forests.

www.countryfile.com/wildlife/mammals/deer-culling-in-britain-facts-and-statistics/

If you accept the need for maintaining the population of deer at current levels, culling is the only option and taking out some of the very elderly deer is the least bad way to do it. And as these are wild animals which live on the hills, stalking/shooting is the only way. It's not the same thing as hunting for fun.

Now I wouldn't go out of my way to be the one up there tramping through the hills for the shoot, but if that's how William wants to spend his afternoon - under the supervision of a gamekeeper - that's up to him.

So you would prefer the old sick deer to starve to death, being shunned by the herd and occasionally attacked by the dominant stags. Okay, I bow to your compassion

I am not a fan of hunting but there are major issues with the deer population in Scotland. They have no natural predators left and are becoming out of control.

There's a world of difference between fox hunting and stalking. In some respects, it's much less stressful for the deer than slaughter methods for animals killed in slaughter houses, and deer will usually be taken back and butchered so it's not wasteful.

Fox hunting and pheasant shooting are much more problematic and I couldn't/wouldn't ever condone them but stalking is a bit different.

Lots of people are OK with killing animals to eat, and while stalking isn't terribly efficient from a food production point of view, it's quick and relatively humane.

Yeah.
Absolutely this

@vera99 this isn't just William though. Most of the royal family have been involved in hunting / killing deer, including Elizabeth.

We have a huge deer population problem, they need culling. The destruction to their habitat is massive. Deer stalking is a bloody hard, incredibly skilled way of doing this and a stalk can last hours. It isn't standing there blasting away at them, it is patient, relentless effort with a true understanding of how deer think and move.
And quite frankly free range, wild meat is a bloody step up from all the supermarket crap most people are eating.

He gets his kicks from doing that as the heir to the throne that's all I need to know - I'm a huge fox lover btw and have had the pleasure of having visitors and their cubs coming into our garden for the last 2 years. The rich often seem to get off on killing stuff I suspect it's something top do with their crazy alpha-male hormones

after all, bigger formally-fierce dead animals make for better selfies

Haven't seen any of these selfies from the PoW either.

They were discussing a managed cull of the deer near where I live on the outskirts of Glasgow. Over the last 15 years we have gone from seeing one or two sika deer on a very rare occasion to regularly seeing a dozen. Pretty to look at, not so pretty when they get onto the roads and are hit by a car.

Meh

Toffs gonna toff

Our local London park is shut early in the morning at the moment for the deer cull. They take out elderly males.

Yeah well, they should just fucking stop if they want and respect in this day and age and stop pretending they care about the welfare of animals.

We know you are anyi royal but deer culling is really not the issue.
Hunters are often really not "the rich" at least where I am from. It's just that newspapers don't find it interesting to write about not rich hunters!

I remember someone on mn arguing we should just farm the animals and birds because hunting is inhumane.... 🤷🏻 Like... K

Who's making it into a "performance" though? Who's "getting kicks" out of it? That's just your own spin on it.

One scenario is William making a special trip to Scotland, rubbing his hands with glee at the thought of shooting a few Bambis. The other is him being in Scotland anyway and the estate manager allowing him to tag along. Being out on the hills in good weather is glorious.

I don’t like hunting full stop but I acknowledge that deer do need to be controlled. They have no natural predators in the UK, so they can get out of control quite quickly.

There aren’t many humane ways to do it. You can’t poison them. It’s slow.

You can’t dart them and then put them down. Too time consuming.

Hunting them is the only way to do it. But it should be done in a way that minimises stress. So no big groups of shouting lads and their annoying barking hounds.

It's just what aristocrats do sadly.

By the way it does amuse me when people talk about the need for culling certain animals because of the damage they do. What about the damage humans do?! No one has f*cked up the planet like humans have. Let's cull humans, shall we?

teddington.nub.news/news/local-news/teddington-bushy-park-gates-closed-for-annual-deer-cull

Like father like son tally-ho.

I guess the top predators are extinct so princes have to step in. I’d rather re-introduce wolves/bears/lynx tbh. Let the elites go deer stalking with a risk of getting mauled and eaten, as royals in the past had to contend with.

Why on earth shouldn't he take pleasure in a good job well done?! It's bloody difficult to do, and I'd far rather it was done well that be a cheap chicken in a slaughterhouse!
This is yet again people making judgements based on the fact it is a "toff" killing animals for fun. Actually the majority of stalkers aren't rich in the slightest - the serious hare work of it puts off many of those type - and perhaps you should actually research what you are getting tied up in knots about?