Thanks Jim, glad it all went well on the day
In relation to what was covered the 3 topics were:
Impact assessments: training on how to plan and carry these out as deer impacts are more important to planning than knowing exactly how many deer you have from a woodland/ habitat management point of view, this is now also being built in forestry commission woodland assurance schemes so its likily to become a required skill for those involved in timber growing.
Population dynamics: Looking at the species of deer, how populations grow, how to plan cull figures, and what effect different cull scenarios have on the population
Landscape scale management: This looked at planning for the management of the species that have a wider home range such as Fallow and Reds, pionts covered included collaborative working/culls, planning high seat locations etc.
A hard copy of the best practice document was included in the cost, for those that already had the folder a discount was offered however this was only a nominal discount as the event was funded by DEFRA's RDPE programme, the actually cost per person for the event was £59 the difference was paid via DEFRA, hence the little bit of form filling required.
I was really impressed with the food, I was a bit worried when I found out it was Chilli given how hot the temperature was the previous day, but I have to say I think I will be asking Patrick for his recipe as it was great.
In relation to the question about "best practise for what?" its in relation to deer management, specifically the topics covered above. Its about disseminating the information from the best practise documents now being produced by the shooting organisations, such as BASC, NGO, BDS GWCT who all have input into them. The more people that attend these type of events and refer to the guides the more professional we look as a community, numbers of people attending days like this for professional development will always be a valuable argument when defending the work stalkers carry out.
Above all I hope it was of value to those who attended, the feedback certainly seems positive and I think its hopefully led to improved knowledge in the local deer managers that attended. The DI are keen to know if there are specific aspects or topics that people would like covering on future events, Diseases was one that came up but if people want more info on specific topics then please let your local DI staff know.
What I was pleased with was the wide range of peoples back grounds we had in attendance, not just stalkers but farmers, woodland owners, managers and local authority staff. This bought a much wider range of very interactive discussions within the sessions as well as some good networking opportunities.
Finally I must really thank the DI staff, they all travelled a distance to do the talks and they are very passionate and exceptionally knowledgable about their subjects, and really do a great job of passing their knowledge onto others.