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Keep up to date with all the latest news from WDAI.

● The NPWS have stated that all licence applications applied for coming hunting season of 2021 / 2022 will be issued in a timely manner this year. No repeats of last year’s delays.

● No signed hard copy land permissions required to be attached with your application. But you must declare your permissions on the application form and sign off that the permissions are valid and in place, please ensure you have permission on the declared land.

● All applications submitted must have a valid e-mail address.

If a member requires help setting up an email account. We can arrange this for our members only. (no email address = no licence).

● All applications should be submitted on line where possible. The NPWS are removing the postal application option within the next 12 months.

● A HCAP or equivalent course will be required next year for all new applicants for season 2022 / 2023. The WDAI association recommends that all of its members should complete a Deer stalking course first, before you apply for a Deer hunting licence.

Please note that HCAP / equivalent course qualification requirement has been waivered for the 2021 / 2022 season due to Covid-19.

● It will become mandatory in the next few years for everyone to submit a HCAP or an equivalent qualification to obtain a deer hunting licence

The GRANDFATHER clause will be removed in the near future.

●The NPWS are exploring the idea of hunters having to do a refresher course possibly every 3-5 years to keep their HCAP or equivalent qualification up to date.

● The NPWS are exploring the idea as submitted by the WDAI of a 3 year deer hunting licence.

● The NPWS have advised that down the line a fee may be applied to each deer hunting licence issued. With funds then been reinvested to a wildlife crime unit.

●The NPWS will have a e-licence platform fully implemented and ready for the

2022 / 2023 season.

The Association will be assigned a contact in the NPWS licensing department to assist and help on members licensing issues. This option will only be used if a license has not yet been issued and it is coming close to the opening of the season.

Smart Deer – Deer census

The Wild Deer Association of Ireland has been invited to participate in an all Ireland census of our wild deer herds. Please read the text below and click on the link to partake in this survey, everything is fully explained on the site of Smart deer Ireland. WDAI would request that all members participate, the returning information will be of benefit to all stakeholders up and down the country.

Our project has been developed to work with stakeholders, for stakeholders. We are leading the first nationally-coordinated initiative of deer in Ireland by collecting and analyzing empirical data across the country that will help managers to make evidence-based decisions.

Neither the up-to-date precise distribution nor the population density of the four species of deer is currently known, and no national coordination in the collection of deer data exists. Recent advances with technologies such as smartphone applications or digital deer mapping surveys have not been implemented for Irish deer so far, and our project aims at filling these gaps by introducing tools that will allow national deer monitoring in real time.

https://sites.google.com/ucd.ie/smartdeer-ireland/home

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Deer Hunting Licences – 2021/2022 Season

Applications for Deer Hunting Licences are considered under Section 29(1) of the Wildlife Act 1976 to 2018.

Application forms and further information on the 2021/22 season will be posted on 15 March 2021.

Application packs will not be sent by post to those hunters who held a licence for the 2020/2021 deer hunting season at this stage due to the impact of Covid-19 on the operation of the Wildlife Licensing Unit. However, the Department will keep the matter under review. In addition, due to the current travel restrictions applicants are not required to submit a signed landowner permission form at this time but must provide all landowner permission details on the application form. Applicants can still provide Coillte permits with their applications. You are advised to make an application for the new season as soon as possible once the application forms are available.

If you are a new applicant, you must complete the application form and have permission from a landowner(s) to hunt deer on land of at least 100 acres (42 Hectares). However, if you are applying to hunt deer on your own lands, the 100 acre (42 hectare) requirement does not apply.

https://www.npws.ie/licences/hunting/deer-hunting-licences-2021-2022

Good evening to all members
I am pleased to advise our members of the announcement today by Coiltte with regards to the 2021 / 2022 hunting season waiver fee for paid up clients of season 2020 / 2021. Some of you may have seen this leaked information already on other social media and hunting platforms ahead of its agreed release date,but the Wild Deer Association of Ireland gave assurances that we would not publish or disclose until Coillte had first posted this announcement on their own website. We have had several very successful meetings with Coillte over the past few months on a wide range of deer related topics and look forward to working with them on future projects, you will see our proposals being implemented in the near future. Please check out Coiltte newly launched App for your phone called HAMS.Further details on all topics can be found on Coiltte main website.
Please note that it is expected that where syndicates are Coillte licence holders, these fee waivers and reductions should be passed on to their members.

This information note gives some detail for hunters on how fees and licences will be managed for the 2021/2022 seasons. It also gives an overview of the new online licencing system which will be developed over the coming months to engage with and manage hunting and hunters in the future.
Allow the introduction of workflows to ensure tendering can be done online and associated payments can also be transacted . Act as a document management system, so licence holders can upload required certificates, insurance details, etc. . Simplify and expedite the sharing of the data captured, through dashboard reporting. Allow licensees to return information regarding site observations, cull returns etc. Interface with external systems, such as our Cengea Forestry Information System, Agresso accounting system, Arc GIS mapping. • GDPR compliance (Data privacy) and IT Security. Allow for better communications. Provider B&P (Software is HAMS) HAMS.ONLINE. Developing timeline for implantation currently.

yours in Sport, WDAI

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CHAIRMANS REPORT

Ger O’Brien
Chairman of the Wild Deer Association of Ireland.

Dear members as you know by now our AGM has been cancelled along with the many other events that we had planned our annual rut walk in Killarney on October 10th has met the same faith. We had a very successful year in 2019 with a lot of events from Dog tracking,
carcass handling, butchery, a free day of testing and shooting the latest equipment from Blaser and other leading manufacturers, our annual shoot with the usual free barbecue I want to give a special thanks to our events coordinator David Dunne who organised
most of these events I want to thank all the committee for their work on your behalf with a special mention also for our secretary Barry Redmond who is on top of everything . as you are all well aware the issuing of Deer hunting licenses has been a disaster this
year the present system is not fit for purpose we have been in contact with the relevant ministers office to discuss a review of the licensing system before this meeting takes place we want input from our members so we can represent your needs sum of the proposals
we have already are a 3 year license, online applications and cull return’s, a break in the tie between land and license, all sensible ideas are welcome remember the Facebook page ( Wild Deer Ireland) has nothing to do with us to contact us on Facebook use
wild Deer Association of Ireland or our website www.wdai.ie Our 2020 membership is free for anyone that was payed up in 2019 we have a free draw for for members for Red Deer stalking in Scotland, Fallow in Ireland and lots more check website for details membership
is 20 euro get in before the draw. We will be launching our anti poaching campaign shortly again input for this is appreciated. That’s all for me for now I hope you all stay safe and healthy.
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WE REGRET TO INFORM OUR MEMBERS THAT THIS YEARS ANNUAL RUT WALK IS NOW CANCELD DUE TO THE RISING NUMBERS IN CASES RELATING TO COVID-19

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Hello members
We have some very exciting news to share with you all. We have been gifted two Deer stalking packages, one for a shoot in Ireland on Fallow deer donated by Larry Ryan and the second for a red deer stalk in the highlands of Scotland in 2021 by Celtic Fieldsports donated by David Moore. On top of that this year David Dunne has kindly donated a one on one butchery lesson and with the deer carcass to be taken home. This is a paid up members raffle only, to be included in the draw you can join via our website link, new members are always welcomed. Please look to the facebook page and website for further updates on this exciting draw.

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The following Email was received by our secretary whom wrote to the NPWS on the issue of the delay in issuing deer hunting licenses for the up coming deer hunting season from the NPWS in refrence to the deer hunting licences for the 2020/21 season

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We are processing deer hunting applications and license’s are currently being issued to applicants. It is our intention to issue as many license’s as possible before 1 September. However, there will some delays in the issuing of license’s given current working arrangements due to Covid-19 and not all applicants who have submitted applications will receive their license’s by 1st September.

I appreciate that your members are anxious to start hunting next month and we are doing everything possible to expedite the issuing of license’s. I note your suggestion that applicants who have submitted applications but not received license’s should receive a waiver until the end of September. Unfortunately, the provisions in the Wildlife Acts do not allow for the extension of deer hunting license’s.

As you are probably aware we have published a notice on the NPWS website on this situation.

Regards

Gerry

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As next week Tuesday the 1st of September will be the start of Deer hunting season, the executive committee wishes every hunter a safe and successful day out. Just to point out do not take a chance and go hunting without a valid license for 2020 / 2021. Safety must be made a priority on the day, the golden rules still apply.
Always keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction, firearms should be unloaded when not in use. Do not rely on your gun safety, treat it as if its ready to shoot. Be sure of your target and what lays beyond . Treat a misfire as though the gun could go off at any moment. Keep your finger out of the trigger guard until ready to shoot. Tell someone where your going and when you plan to return home.Dress for the weather.Carry a torch whilst returning back after dark. Most importantly have respect for your quarry, ensure a clean kill.

best of luck and stay safe from all committee members


  
Wild Deer Association Ireland

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