United Kingdom

In Scotland hunting is predominantly carried out on large, privately owned estates, where professional hunters (gamekeepers) are employed to manage wildlife harvests.

 

The principal game species are red deer and red grouse in the uplands, and pheasants and roe deer in the lowlands. Deer and grouse are managed wild game, whilst pheasants are generally reared and released prior to shooting. Other game bird and deer species are also shot, but at a lower intensity.

 

Information on the numbers of game present and the numbers shot will be collated from many private estates and national game bag data, held by the Game Conservancy Trust.

 

National remote sensing habitat data is available via Land Cover Scotland data held by the Macaulay Institute.

 

National surveys of birds, including avian predators are available from the British Trust for Ornithology, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and via the Raptor Monitoring Groups in Scotland.