Deer management course

stalkinginengland

Well-Known Member
Hello All I wonder if anyone has an answer.

About 18 years ago I took a course that was the predessesor of DMQ. It was run by City and Guilds and was part of the level 2 Gamekeeping and woodland management NVQ at the time. It lasted 10 days and was more indepth than the level 1 dsc. In fact it was almost upto level 2 dsc.

We sat a test, range work. simulated stalk ,the lot. About 2 years later I took it again as I was delivering part of the course at at the time was assessing , internal verifieing and external verifieing for NVQ level 2 game keeping. I then had a large part to play in the writting of level 3 NVQ game keeping. The sylibus was then lifted from this NVQ and became the DMQ about 2 years later. These dates are off the top of my head but are close.

2 points, 1, I am now told that my qulification is possibly worthless and I should start again. 2, I would like to use my knowledge and education back ground to do a bit of good. I contacted the deer iniative in this area and a year later have still not recieved a message back so can only assume they dont need any help or are just poor at emails.

Could I ask you all for some informed thoughts.

Many thanks

Mark

Sorry about the spelling but I cant get the spellcheck to work
 
The DI get alot of there funding from government north and south of the border and most of it it for reasurch work and education work contact your government rep and ask why they have not replied may be they dont need governemt funding or any of our TAX payers cash.
 
Your Correct I also completed The Woodland Stalking Certificate in the early 80s at Bowscar run by The British Deer Society which is the forerunner of DSC1 exactly the same course no different but without the Hygiene part

I was also told it was worthless so had to start all over again
I am now up to date with all of the paper Qualification inc the LANTRA one for both large and small game just in case the move the criteria again I am not going to get stuffed again.

Good luck with trying to get them to accept your old qualification but I dont think you will get any joy on the matter.
Regards
ALF
 
Mark

Regarding helping, depending on what you were thinking about, you might get more of a response from the British Deer Society or one of the other approved Assessment Centres rather than the DI. The DI is meant to be more about determining/influencing policy and co-ordinating management rather than delivering training.

willie_gunn
 
I should say that this course was run at the FC at thetford and we had ten days out with the rangers as well as class room lectures. This was before even the BDS got involved and was industry lead with the awarding body being city and guilds. At the time it included the game handling requirments but since then I have taken large and small game handling as well.

Can I just sit the exam?
 
I should say that this course was run at the FC at thetford and we had ten days out with the rangers as well as class room lectures. This was before even the BDS got involved and was industry lead with the awarding body being city and guilds. At the time it included the game handling requirments but since then I have taken large and small game handling as well.

Can I just sit the exam?


YES for your DSC1 but will need to shoot and get witnessed 3 deer for the DSC2
Regards
Alf
 
at one point your qualification could be swapped for DSC1 but i think the cut off point was about three years back ,mate , good luck with that anyway
 
why not email BDS training dept your extensive knowledge could be put to good use.do you have any of old certificates?
There are many out there who would benifit from your skills that call themselves qualified stalkers and have collected bits of paper:-| (all the gear and no idea:stir:). you may also find friends in local BDS branch who are only too willing to learn;).
 
I think that there is some confusion here. The DSC1 evolved from the National Stalkers Compertence Certificate, holders of one had plenty of time to convert it to the other and it was widely announced in the sporting press, I think there was an £15 admin charge. Many people couldn't be bothered but probably now wish they had.

The NSCC evolved from the Woodland Stalkers Compertence Certificate, again, to the best of my memory, there was a changeover period but I don't think there was any admin charge. Many people couldn't be bothered but probably now wish they had.

The BDS also ran the Advanced Stalkers Certificate, now recognised by LANTRA and called the Deer Management course.

Sparsholt College ran the Advanced National Certificate in Agriculture (Deer Management) Course, at the time, the only full time study deer course available although Sparsholt and other colleges offered Deer Management modules that could be tacked onto other game courses.

City and Guilds courses were run by FE Colleges and were often linked to YTS Gamekeeping/Forestry courses. I believe that NVQ's are the sucessor of these and other similar awards. I do not think there was any suggestion that C&G awards were ever linked to WSCC/NSCC/DSC although the content may well have been similar.

The St Huberts Club have a very comprehensive training system that is also recognised by LANTRA.

Obviously, in addition to the above, many people/groups/organisations offered training courses that did not lead to any qualification only a home produced, Blue Peter style certificate.

As I understand it (but would like to know more), NVQ's are very flexible and are 'Industry recognised'. I believe that they can be obtained by putting together portfolios of 'Recognised prior leaning'.

JC
 
Similar to my situation , I did the professional stalkers course on Rhum in the early 80s this was a full weeks course [ you had to be employed as a stalker to get on the course]

This course was ran by the then British field sports society, in conjunction with the Red Deer Commission, and the Nature Conservancy Council

When DMQ first started was told by them I could exchange my certificate for a DMQ level 1,, however when I applied
was told I would have to be re assessed no need to do course, just sit exam, as things had changed since I did the course
ie law, best practice etc.

Makes one wonder how long before they say the same about our present DMQs
 
I think that there is some confusion here. The DSC1 evolved from the National Stalkers Compertence Certificate, holders of one had plenty of time to convert it to the other and it was widely announced in the sporting press, I think there was an £15 admin charge. Many people couldn't be bothered but probably now wish they had.

The NSCC evolved from the Woodland Stalkers Compertence Certificate, again, to the best of my memory, there was a changeover period but I don't think there was any admin charge. Many people couldn't be bothered but probably now wish they had.

The BDS also ran the Advanced Stalkers Certificate, now recognised by LANTRA and called the Deer Management course.

Sparsholt College ran the Advanced National Certificate in Agriculture (Deer Management) Course, at the time, the only full time study deer course available although Sparsholt and other colleges offered Deer Management modules that could be tacked onto other game courses.

City and Guilds courses were run by FE Colleges and were often linked to YTS Gamekeeping/Forestry courses. I believe that NVQ's are the sucessor of these and other similar awards. I do not think there was any suggestion that C&G awards were ever linked to WSCC/NSCC/DSC although the content may well have been similar.

The St Huberts Club have a very comprehensive training system that is also recognised by LANTRA.

Obviously, in addition to the above, many people/groups/organisations offered training courses that did not lead to any qualification only a home produced, Blue Peter style certificate.

As I understand it (but would like to know more), NVQ's are very flexible and are 'Industry recognised'. I believe that they can be obtained by putting together portfolios of 'Recognised prior leaning'.

JC

The DSC was lifted directly from level 2 NVQ game and woodland management. It was option 018 of the level 2 course. I taught it. You did get a forest enterprise certificate , you also got a level 2 certifcate from City and Guilds for the 018 unit.

At the time there was no qualification from any national awarding body and I think it was the BDS that pushed to get it separated from game.

NVQs were part of YTS. but you did not have to be a trainee to get the qualification. In fact for level 3 game you had to be at head keeper level and all the evedance was collected by assessment and portfolio work together with D33 and D34 assessments in the work place..
 
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The DSC was lifted directly from level 2 NVQ game and woodland management. It was option 018 of the level 2 course. I taught it. You did get a forest enterprise certificate , you also got a level 2 certifcate from City and Guilds for the 018 unit.

At the time there was no qualification from any national awarding body and I think it was the BDS that pushed to get it separated from game.

NVQs were part of YTS. but you did not have to be a trainee to get the qualification. In fact for level 3 game you had to be at head keeper level and all the evedance was collected by assessment and portfolio work together with D33 and D34 assessments in the work place..

Fair enough, now I am confused. You taught courses but didn't keep your own qualifications up to date? To be honest, I can only comment on the qualifications that I have which does not include NVQ's so I'll bow out of this one. I can't even recall what the original question was! JC
 
Fair enough, now I am confused. You taught courses but didn't keep your own qualifications up to date? To be honest, I can only comment on the qualifications that I have which does not include NVQ's so I'll bow out of this one. I can't even recall what the original question was! JC

JC,

You are correct.

The DSC1 was a wholesale (slight) reworking of the then current NSCC. It was in the mid 90s that the ball started rolling in setting up the DSC system, largely driven by BASC and others. I was on the initial 'brainstorming' course for instructors at Minsterley Ranges in (I think) 1996 when the mechanics of it all were being set up.

It's quite feasible that NVQ courses such as Level 2 Game & Woodland Management were also using the already well proven syllabus of the NSCC in some of the modules, but they were not the source material for DSC1 - WSCC/NSCC had already provided that.
 
I don't know if this helps but I notice that BDS are offering a deer management course at the minute. It is a 5 day job and costs about £450 and you can opt to do the more advanced shooting test. Seems it also involves a visit to an estate to view deer management in action etc. Would this be related to what we are discussing?
 
I don't know if this helps but I notice that BDS are offering a deer management course at the minute. It is a 5 day job and costs about £450 and you can opt to do the more advanced shooting test. Seems it also involves a visit to an estate to view deer management in action etc. Would this be related to what we are discussing?

That's the one that JC referred to in post #9;

"The BDS also ran the Advanced Stalkers Certificate, now recognised by LANTRA and called the Deer Management course."

It was also a five day one when I did my Advanced Stalkers about 18 years ago, but I understand there are a couple of extra elements tacked on now.
 
Fair enough, now I am confused. You taught courses but didn't keep your own qualifications up to date? To be honest, I can only comment on the qualifications that I have which does not include NVQ's so I'll bow out of this one. I can't even recall what the original question was! JC

you have a PM on that last assumption.
 
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