jamross65
Well-Known Member
Deerstalking Fair 23rd & 24th March, 2019, Border Union Showground, Kelso, Scottish Borders
We were delighted to be approached by Scottish Natural Heritage who wish to attend the fair this year and utilise this platform to promote their 'Wild Deer Best Practice Initiative'. This will be delivered through a series of talks and demonstrations to cover such topics as dogs for deer, habitat impact assessments and gun maintenance. They are also bringing their shooting simulator along for visitors to have a shot or two on. SNH Wildlife Management staff along with other Best Practice partners will be present on the stand over the weekend which will carry displays on the work they are involved in with regards wildlife management and licensing. They will be available to discuss any issues and answer questions visitors may want to raise. Full details on the schedule and the time the presentations will be delivered will be published before the event and within the venue.
Mike Norris from Brock & Norris Custom Rifles has made an incredibly generous offer to the fair, of a full custom built rifle, scope and moderator to be the main prize in a charity raffle, the proceeds of which will go to the 'My Name5 Doddie Foundation’, set up to raise funds for research into Motor Neurone Disease, a condition he is suffering from. Doddie is a friend of mine and as a keen shooting man has been a regular attendee at the fair. Hopefully if he will be available to pop down on the Sunday to draw the winner. Full details of the prize and how to enter will be published soon.
Viking Arms and Meopta are continuing their support and sponsorship of the fair and will be there with Merkel Helix rifles, Meopta Optics and other popular brands they stock. We have several new attendees this year signed up including Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Leica, rifle and stalking equipment distributors Raytrade Entwistle carrying among other brands Remington Rifles, Barnes Bullets and GPO (German Precision Optics), B&D Stalking Equipment and Best Deer/Fox Call to name a few. If the name isn’t familiar, B&D manufacture and carry a large stock of lardering equipment, high seats, suspended gralloching frames, skinning cradles, carcass trays and modular chillers and much more besides. A more comprehensive list of exhibitors and brands will follow soon.
As well as the exhibitors and traders and the presentations already mentioned, we will be holding several more educational talks and demonstrations covering shot site inspection and training dogs for deer presented by the UKDTR who will also have dog tracking equipment for sale, skinning and butchery demos using some of the equipment available to buy at the fair, venison and game cookery demos and a talk on ballistics, bullet choice and rifle accuracy to name a few. One of the most popular seminars from last years fair was on the subject of disease in deer, presented by Prof Jim Simpson. His knowledge on this subject is extensive and as one visitor said to me after attending Jim’s lecture last year, ‘it was worth coming just to learn from that man alone today, aside from everything else going on….’.
Entry is £10 for adults, under 16’s free, parking is also free.
So, hopefully in the meantime this will allow you all to get a taster of what’s on at this years Deerstalking Fair but please keep an eye open for more extensive details which will follow in due course.
We were delighted to be approached by Scottish Natural Heritage who wish to attend the fair this year and utilise this platform to promote their 'Wild Deer Best Practice Initiative'. This will be delivered through a series of talks and demonstrations to cover such topics as dogs for deer, habitat impact assessments and gun maintenance. They are also bringing their shooting simulator along for visitors to have a shot or two on. SNH Wildlife Management staff along with other Best Practice partners will be present on the stand over the weekend which will carry displays on the work they are involved in with regards wildlife management and licensing. They will be available to discuss any issues and answer questions visitors may want to raise. Full details on the schedule and the time the presentations will be delivered will be published before the event and within the venue.
Mike Norris from Brock & Norris Custom Rifles has made an incredibly generous offer to the fair, of a full custom built rifle, scope and moderator to be the main prize in a charity raffle, the proceeds of which will go to the 'My Name5 Doddie Foundation’, set up to raise funds for research into Motor Neurone Disease, a condition he is suffering from. Doddie is a friend of mine and as a keen shooting man has been a regular attendee at the fair. Hopefully if he will be available to pop down on the Sunday to draw the winner. Full details of the prize and how to enter will be published soon.
Viking Arms and Meopta are continuing their support and sponsorship of the fair and will be there with Merkel Helix rifles, Meopta Optics and other popular brands they stock. We have several new attendees this year signed up including Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Leica, rifle and stalking equipment distributors Raytrade Entwistle carrying among other brands Remington Rifles, Barnes Bullets and GPO (German Precision Optics), B&D Stalking Equipment and Best Deer/Fox Call to name a few. If the name isn’t familiar, B&D manufacture and carry a large stock of lardering equipment, high seats, suspended gralloching frames, skinning cradles, carcass trays and modular chillers and much more besides. A more comprehensive list of exhibitors and brands will follow soon.
As well as the exhibitors and traders and the presentations already mentioned, we will be holding several more educational talks and demonstrations covering shot site inspection and training dogs for deer presented by the UKDTR who will also have dog tracking equipment for sale, skinning and butchery demos using some of the equipment available to buy at the fair, venison and game cookery demos and a talk on ballistics, bullet choice and rifle accuracy to name a few. One of the most popular seminars from last years fair was on the subject of disease in deer, presented by Prof Jim Simpson. His knowledge on this subject is extensive and as one visitor said to me after attending Jim’s lecture last year, ‘it was worth coming just to learn from that man alone today, aside from everything else going on….’.
Entry is £10 for adults, under 16’s free, parking is also free.
So, hopefully in the meantime this will allow you all to get a taster of what’s on at this years Deerstalking Fair but please keep an eye open for more extensive details which will follow in due course.
. For everyone else who makes it to Kelso, enjoy!
