best practice course thornhill

Good lunch, top drawer butcher and an excellent input from the guy who has the deer farm and also a qualified vet. He should have had longer. An interesting input re planning making you think that deer management is not just about culling. Overall a worthwhile day.
 
Great minds and all that, I've only just put my own thread on to say how much I enjoyed it!

Novice
 
Good lunch, top drawer butcher and an excellent input from the guy who has the deer farm and also a qualified vet. He should have had longer. An interesting input re planning making you think that deer management is not just about culling. Overall a worthwhile day.

As I've said before on here , if you think it's only about pulling the trigger give it up ,it's about time that everyone looks at Deer Management as just that, deer management, which you and the others that took part in the Best Practice event, are invaluable to the structure of Deer Management I've been to the Highland Best Practice events and Best Practice workshop days , which are also full of valuable information and well worth the time to have a look at to compare the different types of management .

Big thanks to Mike Cottam and his team for his first Best Practice day well done that man .

The content of the Best Practice days was delivered by some very knowledgeable people ,where you may think, I'll never have to know about Impact or Habitat assessments until you have to prove to some land agent you or they have a Deer problem ,this is where you can say well I'll show you where the problem lies .

Personally myself I took in all the sessions over the two days ,I came away with some valuable information for a ongoing project ,which will give me a further selling point when it all comes to fruition.
 
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I really enjoyed my self every thing was there for the novice and if you have been doing it for a while then uyou can pick out points of interest. I did notice a few failing with regards the graloch but that just gose to prove we are all human and should have put a few of the bigginers at ease. Well done Mike it went well and nice to meet the man behind the name. I hope bob didnt scare every one:lol::lol:
 
As I've said before on here , if you think it's only about pulling the trigger give it up ,it's about time that everyone looks at Deer Management as just that, deer management, which you and the others that took part in the Best Practice event, are invaluable to the structure of Deer Management I've been to the Highland Best Practice events and Best Practice workshop days , which are also full of valuable information and well worth the time to have a look at to compare the different types of management .

Big thanks to Mike Cottam and his team for his first Best Practice day well done that man .

The content of the Best Practice days was delivered by some very knowledgeable people ,where you may think, I'll never have to know about Impact or Habitat assessments until you have to prove to some land agent you or they have a Deer problem ,this is where you can say well I'll show you where the problem lies .

Personally myself I took in all the sessions over the two days ,I came away with some valuable information for a ongoing project ,which will give me a further selling point when it all comes to fruition.

Could not have said it better well said that man :thumb:
 
I'll second that Widow's Son. I was also there for both days and feel that I gained some useful information, and some good contacts too. Some thought provoking discussions came out also from the audience, which was full of equally knowlegdable folk. In all a good 2 days amongst plenty of likeminded people. Many thanks Mike and your team
 
Thoroughly enjoyable with some very knowledgeable people present (not me of course!)

The butchery demonstration was excellent in particular
 
maybe one day i will be able to butcher a deer as fast as he did.....
Well done to mike and all the team that supported him.
i will attend the next one.
what i would say is that i had a dodgy gut that evening so ???? maybe a bad sani as i did have a few ha ha oh and the soup

f.
 
The day was well thought out and very well organised. All the presenters knew their topics and were able to put it over in a way that got the audience involved. Highlights for me were:-
  • butchery session - if only I could do it like that
  • syndicate session - topic on dealing with RTA's was excellent. I always wondered how I would handle a situation if I got called out to a RTA involving deer and this not only covered how to do it but all of the pitfalls you may encountered on the way.
  • firearms - Callum Fergusson was very good on rifle maintenance and being able to put a bore scope down my barrel to show my own mainetance was up to scratch was a plus
  • Planning - I have done dung counting before as a way of finding out the possible number of deer but the Near Neighbour Method of assessing damage as way of understanding the causes (not always deer but they tend to get the blame) and therefore the number of deer needing to be culled was good.
Many thanks to Mike and his team for an excellent day. Will definitely attend the next one.

Mulac
 
It most certainly has, given the coments above, been an excellent event and I am very sorry to have missed it. Work getting in the way of pleasure once more. However, can it be repeated and this time here in the north east of Scotland as there are a number of stalking syndicates as well as groups of stalkers who, I am sure, would support such a venture
 
Donsider mate were you are have had the most BP this was because the lowlands has been left out so if i were you i wouldnt ask for one up there but maybe a weekend BP would be in order there were a lot from my Deer Group that could not attend. So i have asked Ronnie and a few others to give us a personal covering of NND assements and Peri Urban Deer Control. soon as that section is finnished and wrote up.
 
Donsider mate were you are have had the most BP this was because the lowlands has been left out so if i were you i wouldnt ask for one up there but maybe a weekend BP would be in order there were a lot from my Deer Group that could not attend. So i have asked Ronnie and a few others to give us a personal covering of NND assements and Peri Urban Deer Control. soon as that section is finnished and wrote up.

Davie like everyone else that took the time to take, time off the work to attend the best practice event if we can ,so can everyone else .
This day was well advertised to everyone not just best practice subscribers, we all had plenty of time to organize time off ,if others cannot be bothered that's there loss, simple.
 
I had a good time and enjoyed most of the topics.

Although I have to say the carcass handling bit by the FC ranger was at best ropey and he has clearly never heard of best practise never mind read it!!!!!!!!!!!
 
:rofl: @Sweep I know what you mean but as i said before it brings things into the real world .I think it was Widowson that commented on the burry of the Gut 1 mtr and every one had a real laugh at that only to watch the Stalker throw the offal in the bin , "Stuff digging 6 foot in a demonstation" said the stalker. lmfao
 
Widows son you are very fortunate to be able to take time off from work when you can. I, as I am sure there are many others amongst us, do not have the luxury of taking time off when they can. With me it was college exams and my commitment to my students overrides everything. Believe me I am very much bothered and if I could have made the time I would have.

Yes, the event was well advertised and and a tremendous success and that being the case then let us repeat it and if it can be put on, or something similar, here in the north east so much the better.

I would expect all forum members would want to share, as well as good practice methods, but stalking experiences too. So the more events that can be organised and well supported like this over a greater geographical area so much the better for us all.
 
Guys,
Many thanks for your support, a great turnout with 70% new to WDBP Events. A combination of location and a focus on topics of interest to Recreational Stalkers seems to have done the trick.

It was very important to achieve such a response when we are waiting for new budgets to be agreed at a time of public spending cuts. Government needs to see WDBP is delivering public benefit.

Your comments also help in the way forward for WDBP.

Keep in touch.

Regards

Mike
 
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