POACHING rates appear to be rocketing in the Forest, with increasing reports of deer being shot and then gutted at night and in the early hours.

Forestry Commission ranger, Simon Holloway says poachers are using lamps to dazzle the animals and firing at them using both rifles and shotguns.

He says the poaching is "quite organised, and there's definitely a degree of local knowledge.

"They are firing from stationary vehicles with rifles and shotguns and we know they've got hold of keys to Forestry Commission gates. This means they can get into the centre of the Forest along Commission tracks.

"Once they've shot three or four deer, they appear to be taking the carcasses to a quiet place to cut up.

Other reports have come in from a water bailiff who stumbled on a carcass dumped on the banks of the Waterloo Ponds near Brierley.

"This is the first I've found around Waterloo," he said. "But a friend found the head and skin of a deer along with the inside organs in a bin liner and last week someone was seen cutting up a deer by the Wilderness."

Photographer, Robin Ward, says he regularly hears gunfire when he is out at night or first light.

"The skins and internal organs which have recently been found dumped at the side of Forest roads and tracks are the result of butchery in the Forest. They shoot the animal, skin gut and clean it so they have no waste to dispose of when they leave.

"If the poachers have a source allowing them to sell their illegally poached carcasses, then it doesn't take a genius to work out that there is a lot of money to made from our deer and the wild boar that roam our woods."

It is noticeable that levels of poaching tend to rise during recessionary periods and reports of poaching in the Forest soared in the 1980s recession.

But getting rid of venison is now harder. Licensed game dealers can only buy meat from authorised hunters where the carcasses are tagged – sometimes with a GPS reference detailing the site of the kill. Illicit back door sales to hotels or restaurants would seem to be the only outlet for illegally poached venison.