A leading representative body for shooting sports says the removal of male red deer season will not help reduce soaring population levels.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), pointed to Wild Deer Best Practice which states a “a reduction cull must focus on the females”.

The organisation spoke out after the Scottish Government unveiled a range of new powers to help control the rapidly growing deer population.

The measures include the use of specialist night sights to cull deer at night, the use of ammunition with is less damaging to venison products and permission to cull male deer across a longer period of the year.

Peter Clark, Scotland Director of BASC said: “We agreed for the Scottish Government to permit the use of light intensifying, heat sensitive or other special sighting devices to shoot deer at night and amend the minimum bullet weight so as to make non-lead ammunition more accessible.

“However we opposed the removal of close seasons for male deer and the ultimate reason BASC opposed the change is due to the lack of tangible reasoning or evidence behind it.”

Mr Clark added the key to any effective deer management is to strictly control the number of females within the population.

He said: “Within any effective maintenance cull which aims to keep the deer population static, will require at least 50% of the cull to be breeding females and to reduce populations this percentage will need to be much higher.

“Removing barriers to allow deer managers to take more male deer may have some localised benefits, although in many scenarios such as protecting crops the control of seer out of season is already covered by the General Authorisation.”

Mr Clark said while BASC was against the removal of male deer closed seasons, he said it is refreshing to see the “bigger picture of government appreciating and supporting the work” of the sector.

Although rising deer numbers are causing concern among organisations and the Scottish Government, proposing culls can prove divisive in communities.

Concerns about Lyme disease, which can be passed to humans from ticks carried by the deer, along with complaints about damage to gardens, prompted a petition for complete eradication of the iconic species on community-owned South Uist.

In May, a total of 522 residents voted on the cull after hearing presentations from petitioners and Storas Uibhist, which oversees the community-owned estate, with 140 voting in favour of a cull and 379 voting against.

Earlier this month, a report published by Scottish Environment LINK, highlighted that deer numbers are at a historic high in Scotland and are one of the biggest threats to the survival and expansion of Scotland’s globally important temperate rainforest.

The document set out a number of recommendations, including long-term support for deer management and support for new technologies such as drone and thermal surveying.

In addition, it argued for the development of a community approach to deer stalking and management, including the establishment of more community larders, the training of community members to participate in deer culling and venison handling and much more focus placed on the management of roe and sika deer. Traditionally, deer stalking had mostly focused on red deer.