Deer Management Incentive Scheme

The Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Deer Management Incentive Scheme is designed to tackle herbivore pressure in the National Park by encouraging sustainable deer management through financial incentives. The scheme supports forest regeneration, woodland creation, peatland restoration, and habitat improvement by incentivizing higher female and juvenile deer culls. Participation is open to those with legal rights to take or kill deer on any landholding within or partly within the LLTNP boundary. The scheme requires a minimum cull of 3 adult female or juvenile deer per square kilometer to trigger payment, with back payments starting from 2.5 deer per square kilometer. Payment rates are £100 per animal for red, sika, or fallow deer and £70 per animal for roe deer. This is year one of a three-year pilot scheme launching on October 1st, 2025, aimed at achieving additional culling beyond current average levels to support Scotland's ambitious nature restoration targets by 2045.