The grouse-shooting season started at the weekend, but land owners and climate campaigners are divided over proposals for a licensing scheme.
The Scottish Government wants to minimise the impact of grouse moors through new legislation at Holyrood.
Campaigners claim grouse moors have "huge environmental costs".
But land owners said the Glorious 12th, one of the busiest days of the shooting season, was at risk from the "excessive" regulations being considered by MSPs.
The government introduced the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill earlier this year.
It is currently being considered by committees at stage one of its journey through parliament. The legislation seeks to implement recommendations for increased grouse-moor management and trap regulation as set out in the Werritty review in December 2019.
Licence rquired
If passed by MSPs, a licence would be required to kill red grouse - and inspectors would be given increased powers to investigate suspected wildlife crime.
It would also introduce stricter rules on muirburn - the practice of using fire as a land-management tool.
Scottish Land and Estates (SLE) has called for the government to amend its bill.
It said the game and country-sports sector was worth more than £350million to the economy and supported 11,000 jobs.
Ross Ewing, SLE's director of moorland, told the BBC: "Sustainable grouse-moor management provides a huge boost to the economy, bringing visitors to rural areas from August to December and providing revenue which underpins rural jobs year-round."
He described the Scottish Government scheme as "excessively disproportionate" because he said it would allow NatureScot to suspend a licence when an investigation started "without being satisfied that any relevant offence has been committed".
Environmental benefits
Mr Ewing argued that grouse moors provide environmental benefits through carbon capture, peatland restoration and wildfire prevention.
He added: "Sustainable grouse-moor management provides remarkable conservation benefits, particularly for ground-nesting birds, birds of prey, rare moorland plants and pollinators.
"The uplands are home to specialist species that benefit enormously from land management for red grouse."
The Scottish Greens said the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill was a key pillar of the Bute House Agreement, the party's power-sharing deal with the SNP at Holyrood.
Ariane Burgess, the party's rural affairs spokeswoman, said the new government measures were necessary following incidents of illegal persecution of birds of prey, such as golden eagles, in grouse-moor areas.