It said deer were stripping younger trees and plants sheltered under the canopy of older trees and recommended an urgent national deer management strategy to better control the pests.
Flanders said it was no surprise that deer numbers were getting out of control, as he sees large numbers where he shoots in the Puketapu and Puketitri areas.
“On a day you might go into a farm and have a look and see one or no deer at all. But later on at night you might see 50 or 60 when it’s dark in the same place where during the day you see none.”
Flanders said the deer wandered wherever they wanted – decimating areas of native trees and plants as well as crops and young pine forests.
He said some young pine forests had needed replanting, as wild deer had eaten them. And fences were no barrier – even the allegedly pest-proof ones.
“The deer just go wherever they want to,” he said.
“They even jump deer fences as well. Quite often I’ve seen it.
“I’m chasing them, and they jump straight over the top of a deer fence!
“There you go – how did that happen? But it does.”
Flanders said many farmers didn’t allow shooting on their farms, and that was part of the problem, as deer numbers continued to rise with little control.