The Tasmanian government will cut deer-hunting permits and allow year-round culling across the state as it moves to rein in a wild fallow deer population now above 71,000.
Primary Industries and Water Minister Gavin Pearce announced the changes on Tuesday following consultation on the Tasmanian Deer Management Policy Review.
Deer numbers continue to rise despite years of control work, with the animals causing increasing damage to farms, native bush and public infrastructure.
An aerial survey in late 2024 estimated 71,655 fallow deer in the animal’s core range, with numbers rising by an average of 6% a year since 2019.
“Our farmers, hunters and landowners have told us action needs to be taken now and we’ve heard them loud and clear,” Pearce said.
“The data speaks for itself. Despite actions taken to date, deer numbers are going up.”
Under the changes, landowners will need just one permit to cull male and female deer year-round. The permit will last five years.
The reforms will apply differently across three management zones set out in the state’s 2022 deer plan.
Zone one covers the deer’s traditional range across central and north-eastern Tasmania.
Zone two is a buffer area aimed at slowing the spread, while zone three covers the rest of the state, where the goal is to have no deer at all.
Quotas and tagging will apply only to male deer in zone one. Zones two and three will have a year-long open season on all deer, with no bag limits.
Recreational hunters in zone one will be able to take two stags instead of one.
The government will also open 10 new blocks of public land for hunting, lifting the total area to 61,608 hectares.
Restrictions on commercial wild-shot deer harvesting will be removed after a trial.
TasFarmers welcomed the reforms but said more needed to be done to drive numbers down.
“Deer numbers are growing, impacts are increasing and current settings are making it too difficult for landholders to deal with the issue,” chief executive Nathan Calman said.
Calman said zone one landholders would be “disappointed” male deer could not be removed year-round and tagging limits would remain.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Carlo Di Falco backed the changes but raised concerns about the broader direction.
“Simplifying permits and removing unnecessary bureaucracy is a positive step,” Di Falco said.
“Hunters have been frustrated by a system that often made it harder to manage deer while offering little benefit for conservation or population control.”
But he strongly opposed year-round harvesting of does, citing concerns dependent young could be left behind.
Di Falco also rejected any move to reclassify deer, warning the changes appeared to shift towards treating them only as a pest.
The government will bring forward the next deer management plan by a year and consult on the status of deer.
Fallow deer were first introduced to Tasmania in 1836 as a hunting resource.
