There are several factors to a rise in deer culls in Ireland, the Irish Deer Commission has said.
Data released by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) shows 78,175 wild deer were culled in the past year.
That figure is up 41% from the previous record set in 2022 when 55,008 were culled.
Irish Deer Commission Spokesperson Damien Hannigan told Moncrieff there has been a rise in the number of hunters.
"It's a staggering number to any of your listeners to think that 78,000 wild deer were culled in Ireland in a 12-month period," he said.
"There could be a number of factors at play here - one is that we've seen a significant increase in the number of hunters.
"Over the last 10 years we've seen a 45% increase in the number of hunters that are actually culling deer on licence in Ireland each year.
"So we've we've approximately 6,500 hunters culling deer in Ireland".
'Perfect storm'
Mr Hannigan said the numbers being culled per hunter are also increasing.
"When we look at that data we can see that since 2002, the average number of deer culled by each hunter has always been between six and eight deer per season - but that number has actually increased by 20% to 10 deer per season," he said.
"Probably the main factor is that the COVID-19 and the restrictions that we saw at that time really created the perfect storm for for deer numbers to increase.
"That being said we don't know what the population of deer - it's unknown, a census was never taken - but what we saw during COVID-19 was obviously restrictions on our movements.
"The population would [naturally] increase between 25% to 30% each year if they're not managed.
"We saw a two-year period within COVID where there was very little or reduced and deer culling."
'Worldwide crash'
Mr Hannigan said there has also been a 'collapse' in demand for their meat.
"The second thing we saw was the collapse of the venison market," he said.
"If any of your listeners have been fortunate to eat venison before it's an organic, sustainable superfood.
"It's one of the by-products of deer management.
"What we saw during COVID, obviously with restaurants and hotels closed, was a worldwide crash in the venison market.
"Those factors combined are likely to have led to the increased number of deer that we've seen culled".
'Absence of a natural predator'
Mr Hannigan said the animals also don't have a natural predator in Ireland.
"I think any discussion on the management of wildlife is always an emotive topic and we've seen very polarised views from farming, forestry, rewilders, photographers and so on in recent years," he said.
"Deer are an iconic animal - they've been present here in Ireland for over 5,000 years continuously, they're our largest land wild mammal that we have here and a very iconic species.
"But in the absence of a natural predator, it does fall on men to manage the numbers at sustainable levels.
"Deer, while they can have positive impacts in the countryside, where the numbers become unsustainable they will have negative impacts for farming and forestry in terms of overgrasing."
'Really concerning'
Mr Hannigan said there are concerns that the cull may be going too far.
"It's not necessarily that we need to know the address of every deer in Ireland but I think it is of concern that, without knowing the population of deer, are we currently culling too many? Do we need to cull more?" he said.
"So from the Commission's point of view, we very much support the management of deer and it's a core activity of our members.
"But without knowing or having any dynamics in terms of our populations increasing or decreasing it's really concerning that we may be culling too many."
Mr Hannigan added that the number of culls is "realistically significantly higher" due to deer killed on roads and the illegal killing of deer known as the 'poaching'.
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