Deer have been central to human cultures throughout time and space: whether as staples to hunter-gatherers, icons of Empire, or the focus of sport. Their social importance has seen some species transported across continents whilst others have been extirpated, or are in threat of extinction, due to pressures of over-hunting and/or human-instigated environmental change. Today deer represent a challenge in terms of management and conservation, with legislation struggling to meet the needs of all interest groups.

By bringing together individuals from a wide range of backgrounds, countries and disciplines, this major international conference, run in collaboration with the British Deer Society, aims to promote knowledge transfer between different groups and so advance broader understanding of human-deer relationships. Emphasis will be placed on comparison between the ancient and modern, the premise being that neither situation can be fully understood without input from the other and that past practice has the potential to inform modern policy.

To this end, the geographic and chronological remit of the conference is all-encompassing with sessions, papers and posters that examine how the history of humans and deer has been mutually shaped.

Audience

For deer stalkers, deer farmers, professionals, legislators, academics and members of the public.

Sessions

• Plenary sessions

Themed sessions

1. Thinking about deer: Beliefs, concepts and world views
2. Regulating and managing a mobile natural resource
3. Natural and human-induced factors in determining genetic structure in deer
4. Deer as material culture
5. Deer and People: New approaches on ancient and modern bones
6. General
7. Deer, people and landscape
8. Hunting and poaching: definitions, meaning and impact