Charles Smith-Jones tells you how to prepare yourself to pass your DSC1 and face the assessments with confidence
Stalking
Deer stalking is a sporting pastime, but it is also essential to protect forestry and valuable agricultural crops. Deer breed prolifically and suffer from starvation and disease unless they are culled.
To this end, landowners and stalkers usually work in close co-operation with one another to create a plan that balances the welfare of the deer against the damage they can cause if allowed to breed unchecked.
The responsible stalker will know and understand all the laws applicable to the sport and will act with safety as a primary concern. Shooting UK regularly publishes articles from a pool of deer stalking experts covering every aspect of stalking including: safety, rifles, ammunition, equipment, clothing, techniques and finally some recipes for venison dishes. You can read them here with regular updates.
How to be a deer stalker
I have just passed my DSC Level 1 and want to progress and learn more about deer. Would it help if I joined one of the specialist groups and, if so, which should it be – the British Deer Society or the St. Hubert Club?
Stalking muntjac – a real sporting challenge
The diminutive muntjac deer arrived in Britain in 1900 as a plaything of the 11th Duke of Bedford who added it to his deer park at Woburn Abbey. Rumour has it that the Duke was so fond of this little species that he engineered a series of clandestine releases, driving…
Tips to improve your rifle shooting and markmanship
As we drift towards the summer, most game seasons have closed. Your stalking kit has been cleaned and stowed away, and you’ll likely see more venison on the barbecue than under a cross-hair for the next few months. Shooting is a perishable skill We all have a responsibility to be…
English and Welsh roe review 2017 and other species
The CIC’s trophy measuring system has had another good year. Newly qualified UK measurers got into their stride throughout 2017 at home and at shows around the country. And senior members of the UK Trophy Evaluation Board (TEB) attended the International TEB in Budapest last September to assess, along with…
Scottish roe review 2017
With a score of 175.93, K. Mehl’s Aberdeenshire trophy took top honours for Scotland in 2017, maintaining that county’s place as one of the country’s great roe hunting territories. However, this year it was eclipsed, numerically at least, in the top 10 heads by its principal competitors, Angus, Fife and…
Should deer stalkers have to be qualified?
Soon after I accepted my first invitation to shoot in Germany, a small package arrived. Inside were the instructions and forms required before I would be allowed to join the shoot. These included letters proving insurance, in both English and German, passport photos, copies of a firearms licence and a…
Roe deer hunting – the five minute cull
We are in the thick of the doe season as I write and trying to catch up the numbers on one estate. Parts of this ground can be quite disturbed with walkers and people enjoying time in the woodland. It also has two good shoots that run from November to…
2018 deer seasons
Red deer England and Wales: Aug 1-April 30 (stags) Nov 1 – Mar 31 (hinds) Scotland: July 1-Oct 20 (stags) Oct 21-Feb 15 (hinds) Northern Ireland: Aug 1-April 30 (stags) Nov 1-March 31 (hinds) Sika deer England and Wales: Aug 1-April 30 (stags) Nov 1 – March 31 (hinds)…
Do we rely on scopes too much?
I once went out on the hill with an old stalker who bemoaned the use of bipods. This struck me as odd, because I would have thought using bipods meant fewer missed shots and, more importantly, fewer wounded beasts. But according to him, in using a bipod, his guests tended…
The 6.5mm Creedmoor round – why stalkers are talking about it
Q: I keep hearing about a new round called the 6.5mm Creedmoor and friends say it is the best cartridge for deer. Is that true? A: The 6.5 Creedmoor is one of the new wave of cartridges designed to get the best possible ballistics from an efficient case design. The…
A deerstalker was doing something completely legal. So why were the police called?
There will be exceptions, but most countryside and wildlife police officers that I’ve come across have gained the trust of many shooters. The best appreciate that the support of the shooting community is key to their role. And the effective ones use a quality too often lacking in job descriptions…
How do you carry a rifle when woodland stalking?
What is the best way to carry a rifle when woodland deer stalking?
Why can’t we shoot deer after dark?
As a wildfowler I am allowed to shoot duck and geese under the moon and I can also shoot rabbits, foxes and wild boar at night. Is there some reason why we can't shoot deer after dark?
The new ZEISS Conquest V6 scope on test
Low light conditions sort out the men from the boys when it comes to optics. Budget scopes – while offering reasonable image quality in good light conditions – often become useless when the light starts to fade. The mid-range new ZEISS Conquest V6 2 – 12 x 50 scope boasts…
We review the best scopes for under £350 – which was the winner?
The 3-12x56mm scope, with its good range of magnification settings and 56mm objective lens size allowing plenty of light to enter the scope for low-light situations, is ideal for a wide range of hunting and target situations, whether that be vermin control, foxing or deer management. Three of the four…
Do I need a qualification to stalk?
A: The straightforward answer is that you do not require a formal qualification to go stalking. While many people who stalk have undertaken training and successfully completed the DSC at level 1 and level 2, there are many who stalk who have not. Knowledge of a wide range of topics Stalking is a complex sport, requiring skills,…
UK other species review 2016
There is often debate among the UK hunting fraternity about the status of introduced species and the application of the CIC formulae to them. This comes from the concern as to whether introduced ungulates are truly wild in nature or because of the way man has manipulated their existence, they…
When should you take the shot?
Leaving aside the stalking skill, knowledge of the quarry, correct rifle mount, stability of position, breath control and all the other disciplines needed for an accurate shot, what do I wait for in those few seconds before the message is despatched to squeeze the trigger? Period of calm With the scope crosshairs on the target,…
English and Welsh roe review 2016
One of the things that I enjoy about measuring trophies for the CIC is when a hunter, either because he’s just shot something bigger than normal or has been encouraged by a friend to have a head assessed, finds that with little understanding of the measuring process he ends up…