The State Forest Service has extended the roe deer hunting season this year and, in areas where red deer numbers are to be controlled, has permitted the culling of red deer hinds during driven hunts by using red deer calf hunting permits. These decisions were made to reduce the damage caused by animals to forestry and agricultural crops.

According to data held by the State Forest Service (VMD), significantly fewer roe deer have been culled this hunting season than the established quota allows. In the 2021/2022 hunting season, 60,000 animals were permitted to be culled, but only 17,000 have been culled so far.

To encourage the fulfilment of the roe deer culling quota, the VMD has extended the roe deer hunting season by several days, allowing these animals to be hunted until 5 December. In previous hunting seasons, the VMD also extended the roe deer hunting season to include the nearest December weekend. The fulfilment of the roe deer culling quota was hindered by the fact that driven hunts were prohibited from 21 October to 14 November due to the situation caused by the Covid-19 infection.

The VMD has also decided that in this hunting season, in areas where red deer numbers are to be controlled, it is permitted to cull red deer hinds during driven hunts by using red deer calf hunting permits. This relaxation in the organisation of red deer hunting has been established to encourage the fulfilment of the culling quota for these animals and to reduce the damage caused by red deer to forestry and agricultural crops.

The VMD has previously allowed the culling of red deer hinds using red deer calf hunting permits under these conditions. Such a decision has not had a negative impact on the sex and age structure of the red deer population. In the 2020/2021 hunting season, 1.6% of the total number of red deer hinds culled were taken using calf permits. The VMD estimates that there are around 71,000 red deer in Latvia this hunting season, and their population has shown a trend of increasing in recent years. Red deer are permitted to be hunted until 31 January of next year.