ANNUAL SPRING DEER COUNT
Ever since 1991 QDM&CG has organised an annual deer count usually on a morning in early March. The count focusses primarily on assessing Red deer numbers and is undertaken by around 50 - 70 volunteers, each allocated to survey all or a part of one of the 52 different count blocks covering the Quantock Hills and adjacent lower lying land. Other deer species such as roe, fallow or muntjac deer are also recorded if seen, though the large scale nature of the count is less well suited to census the smaller deer species. It is important to note that we do not pretend ever to achieve a complete count of the entire Quantock red deer herd, as some proportion of those within the count area will always be missed in concealing cover, and others - not least some older stags - tend to move well off the hills from late winter onwards until re-joining mixed sex herds in the autumn. The main value of the count undertaken in the same way year on year lies in identifying minimum numbers that remain and as an index of long term population trends. See here for further background and history of the count.
The latest annual ground-based end of winter Quantock deer count took place on Sunday 1st March 2026. This 2026 Quantock Deer Count has been our 35th deer count! It would have been our 36th had we also counted in 2001 (Foot and Mouth)! The weather conditions were relatively poor compared to other recent counts, although after early rain it stayed dry with a cold breeze. Overall the Red Deer numbers seen were low - very low in comparison to recent years! Only 355 reds were counted on the day, the 3rd lowest of the 35 counts. While weather conditions may be part of the reason, the group will aim to obtain fuller details this year on all deer culled across the region via circulation of a confidential cull return request.
(Read more about this year's count at the Chairman's full 2026 count report ; and more on the background and policies of QDM&CG at our new 2024 Deer Brochure)
Red Deer seen: 355 ( 307 Hinds & calves of both sexes / 20 Prickets / 14 Young stags / 14 Older Stags)
Other deer seen during the 2026 Spring Count included 156 Roe Deer ; 0 Fallow; 0 Muntjac ; and 0 Sika Stag !
Overview graph shows summary results 1991 - 2025. Click below for fuller pdf reports by years.
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024| 2025 | 2026
(Click report year above for larger graph versions)
