Forestry and Land Scotland rangers and contracted deer controllers are obliged to use non-lead ammunition if carrying out deer control in state-owned woodlands.
The vast majority have now switched to copper due to availability and venison standards groups increasingly demanding lead-free carcasses, to protect consumer health.
However, an anonymous survey of trained individuals controlling deer at night in public forestry has revealed that the majority continue to have major worries about using copper bullets.
Public safety was the most cited concern, with trepidation that increased propensity for shot ricochet with copper, compared to when firing lead, could lead to a human fatality.
One deer manager recounted occasions when copper bullets he had projected had rebounded past his own head, unexpectedly.
Another reported a bullet exiting a target animal at a 90 degree angle and wounding another, non-target deer, about half a football pitch away.
Aside from unease over animal welfare, deer managers are anxious that members of the public walking in woods at night are in danger, particularly close to residential areas.
The anonymous survey, advertised on popular deer stalking platforms, ran for 17 days and was carried out by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA).
It was open to SGA members and non-members and was specifically targeted at individuals managing deer in forests in the hours of darkness.
Nearly 270 professional deer managers responded anonymously, with 190 usable final surveys.
From those responses, 73% said they were using copper ammunition in woods through obligation rather than choice, to service the requirements of government agency contracts.
Sixty two percent said they believed that lead was better for animal welfare than copper whilst, significantly, 68% said lead performed better when it came to safety.
When shooting in woodland at night, 67% stated that there remains an argument to retain lead ammunition in these specific circumstances.
“Clear heads are needed around this issue,” said SGA Chairman Alex Hogg, MBE.
“Environmental care is of course important, as is human health, but ignoring the very real concerns from practitioners at the sharp end, who are using this ammunition regularly, could have fatal consequences.
“The last thing anyone wants to see is the loss of someone, through accident. There are deer managers working at night, sometimes around built-up areas. Since Lockdown, more people are walking or cycling through the woods at night time, for exercise and well-being.
“These are real issues for rangers and self-employed contractors who care about the animals and the public and the vast majority have been very clear in this survey that they want to retain the choice of lead, in these circumstances.”
Whilst some respondents said they had adjusted to using copper, usually through altering shot placement strategies, a number of this group still acknowledged that copper was less predictable and more prone to rebound when compared to lead.
One respondent wrote: "Safety implications are scary. Deflections after passing through a deer, or catching bone in the deer, are carrying lethal amounts of energy.
“I feel it's only a matter of time before an accident or worse happens.”
Another admitted they had shot 3 deer in 18 months by accident due to copper bullets exiting target animals unpredictably and killing others.
The principal issue cited was that copper bullets did not expand in the same way as lead, leading to deer often running on or requiring follow-up shots to finally fell them.
Similarly, because copper retains weight and energy, most shots exit the target before fragmenting, sometimes unpredictably.
****
