Wild fallow deer is a partially protected invasive species which have been anecdotally reported to have invaded the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and creep closer to urban areas in Northern Tasmania.

The Tasmanian Fallow Deer management strategy is still in its draft and consultation stage and is not expected to be implemented until 2021.

However, the state government says work on the first-of-a-kind plan is rolling out in a timely fashion and has defended its steps to date.

Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association chief executive Peter Skillern said. At the same time, he understood there was work being done; there was still considerable frustration among farmers about how they best manage feral deer populations.

"It does depend on where you are in the state, farmers who are impacted by deer populations are rightly frustrated, but there are others around the state who are happy with how things are," he said.

Since the release of the UTAS report, authored by Professor David Bowman, Dr Grant Williamson, Professor Ted Lefroy, Professor Christopher Johnson and Dr Nicholas Beeton, there have been numerous iterations and draft management plans, an aerial survey of deer populations for a census and a federal Senate inquiry that has held two hearings in Launceston to learn more about feral species such as wild deer, dogs and pigs.

In Tasmania, the draft management plan has been under broad consultation. Still, submissions continue to circle the commercialisation of fallow deer for venison and to allow recreational hunters more access to rural properties.

However, those arguments and submissions have not yet resulted in decisive action, nor the implementation of measures that farmers and shooters can take to manage deer populations.

The issue is a sensitive one because it intersects between agriculture, recreational shooting, and wilderness and heritage values, however concerns over deer encroaching into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area has prompted some to call for more immediate action.

During budget estimates last week, Greens leader Cassy O'Connor grilled Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett and his department heads about the action taken on fallow deer.

Ms O'Connor said people who attended a community consultation session on deer were told by DPIPWE staff that removing the protected status for fallow deer was not an option.

Mr Barnett did not directly answer that question during estimates, who said the government was "getting the balance right" for the deer management plan.

However, if the protected status for deer is off the table, it signifies another option the government has somewhat distanced itself from, which includes the commercialisation of fallow deer.

Advocates such as Lenah Game Meats owner John Kelly has thrown his support behind the commercialisation of venison in Tasmania. While the state government did commit to investigating the feasibility of a small-scale trial, it has not been fully endorsed.

"In its response to the 2017 Legislative Council inquiry into wild fallow deer the government committed to seeking advice on the feasibility of conducting a limited fixed-term trial to evaluate the potential for deer farmers and landholders to supply value added wild deer products to the regulated food or restaurant trade," a DPIPWE spokesman said.

"The feasibility study is nearing completion, with the consultant in the final stages of preparing a report for consideration by the government."

Mr Skillern said farmers who were impacted by fallow deer on their properties wanted concrete solutions on what they could do to manage them.

He said a member had circulated a photo that showed a fallow deer herd on a rural property, with nearly 300 deer encroaching on the farm.

"The constraints for many farmers is really the practical applications of managing those deer populations, they are not able to do much to properly manage them," Mr Skillern said.

He said traditional options, of shooting and poison, were restricted in their use. There is only so many deer a farmer can shoot, and poison is not an option due to the limited use of those poisons.

However, Mr Skillern acknowledged the government and the department were working on solutions, which the TFGA was thankful for, and he hoped the state government would implement the plan soon.

Concerns raised that wild deer were creeping into the TWWHA was debunked by DPIPWE.

"The earlier report [the UTAS report] was based on assumptions, including the abundance and geographic distribution of the wild fallow deer herd," a department spokesman said.

"Since that time an aerial survey has quantified the population of wild fallow deer in the traditional range and citizen science and camera traps are being used to quantify the population and its geographic distribution in areas such as the TWWHA, where the abundance is low to very low."

An aerial survey of wild fallow deer was completed in 2019 covered 19,905 square kilometres and found 53,660 fallow deer.

However, those results were also criticised by the Greens during budget estimates, with Ms O'Connor asking why DPIPWE restricted the aerial survey in its search area and why it excluded areas where deer were known to exist, based on DPIPWE's map published in 2011.

DPIPWE deputy secretary Louise Wilson, who responded on behalf of the government, said it was due to scientific rigour.

"Aerial surveys work best when you have a certain density...The survey methodology is appropriate for moderate to high populations of target species," she said.

A department spokesman said the methodology was called distance sampling, which was used to estimate deer abundance and has been independently reviewed and endorsed by two internationally recognised authorities in surveying wildlife populations.

UTAS has also been engaged to undertake an analysis of grazing deer impacts to ecosystems in the TWWHA to inform better how any future increase in population may impact natural value.

Mr Barnett said the state government was "getting on with the job" of better managing wild deer.

"Our focus is on maintaining a sensible balance between managing the impact of deer on our important primary industries and natural environment and maintaining a deer herd as a traditional hunting resource," he said.

He said work was underway to implement in full the comprehensive response to the Legislative Council inquiry on wild fallow deer and were developing the first wild fallow deer management plan for Tasmania.

"We have put in place new measures aimed at cutting red tape and increasing opportunities for farmers and recreational hunters to manage deer.

"These include the extension of the hunting season for antlerless deer, the introduction of five-year crop protection permits for antlerless deer and the removal of quotas and tags for both game licences and crop protection permits for antlerless deer."