Young deer should be culled along with their mothers, experts say Stalkers who target female deer should also cull their young to prevent calves being left fending for themselves, a study has claimed. Almost 40 years of research found that orphaned, young deer struggle to find food and shelter, and are likely to die without their mother's care. Scientists from the universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge and Calgary studied data gathered on a population of wild red deer on the Isle of Rùm. They found that calves which were orphaned in the first two years of life were very likely to die sooner compared to those with surviving mothers. Male calves orphaned after the age of two were likely to survive but females orphaned after two years of age continued to struggle to survive in the long-term, the researchers found. The report claimed that males orphaned in their first year were slow to develop their first set of antlers and have poor growth in later life, indicating that the physical effects of orphaning may be lifelong. About 100,000 deer are shot in Scotland each year for sport, environmental and health reasons. Professor Josephine Pemberton, from the University of Edinburgh's school of biological sciences, said: "Calves are weaned at around seven months and afterwards benefit from their mother's knowledge of food and shelter, and from a settled social group, but lose these benefits when their mother dies. Our findings help pinpoint the impact on young deer of being orphaned at ages well beyond weaning. The study is published in the Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology journal. It was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Scottish Natural Heritage. It is the first to examine the impact on calves of losing their mothers during development, the authors said, and its findings support best practice guidelines for deer stalkers, which state that calves should be culled with their mothers. Alastair MacGugan, of Scottish Natural Heritage, said: "This echoes our best practice guidance, as trying not to leave calves orphaned is a basic tenet for those stalking deer. This research highlights how this is not just a welfare issue, but also impacts on the health and success of individual deer for the rest of their lives.