It's a pretty horrible job to do but there are not enough people to control the deer in the open season

Archie Dykes, Gamekeeper

Gamekeepers allege that this means that many deer are being shot when they are heavily pregnant.

Archie Dykes, who works as a gamekeeper on Glen Dye in Aberdeenshire, said some deer are shot, under licence, out of season due to a lack of manpower during the shooting season.

He said: "More and more people are complaining about the number of deer shot out of season.

"Heavily pregnant deer are being shot in June and July which means deer calves are being left to starve to death.

"It's a pretty horrible job to do but there are not enough people on the ground to control the deer in the recognised open seasons."

1,400 deer were culled out of season in 2001

But the Deer Commission for Scotland said that only a small percentage of deer can be culled out of season and only under strict authorisation.

In 2001, 76,000 red deer were culled, about 1,400 of them out of season - less than 2%.

The commission's director, Nick Reiter, said its policy is for people to shoot responsibly, preferably within the season.

He said: "Any responsible stalker knows how to cull deer, knows that if it is necessary to cull a deer with a calf that you do not leave the calf to suffer and die a lingering death.

"I don't know that coming at it from an emotive, subjective, and in many cases inaccurate point of view, helps anyone."

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association wants the Scottish Parliament to order an independent inquiry into the issue as soon as possible.