The pressures to get cull numbers are only likely to increase, as the saying goes, control what can be controlled and accept what can't.
The use of range and differing aiming points generally stems from that so again cannot really be controlled, as people do what they need to do.
I agree regarding mentors, but again that's not something I can control.
And I think that's a pretty rich statement given all I've got little constructive from people, with very little other than 'we don't want to,' so how can I come up with a solution to that. I am also not the only person who can suggest ideas and solutions.
Further to that it was only going to be for tonight - I'll reacquire and reengage tomorrow.
Being a hobbyist does not excuse anyone from poor deer welfare, you have the same obligation that any of us do to be a effective and humane as you can.
CPD is a term, call it practice if that makes it easier to get behind?
And I am yet to be shown a flaw in my logic, the vast majority of responses either don't make any sense (if you can't shoot on paper there's no feasible way you can shoot consistently better on a deer, I firmly stand by that.) and the others simply come down to 'I've never done it before why should I do it now' or 'I don't believe wounding/missing is an issue', to which I've produced a study indicating it's about 4.8938% of deer shot at that are missed or wounded.
If someone can show me a clear reason for me to self reflect on, as to why this is a poor idea I will happily do so, until then I stand by my convictions.
How would you like me to answer this? I have no knowledge about shooting rats with an air rifle, I've never done it.
This line of questioning is getting pretty wearing. As I've said many times now, I'm advocating for voluntary assessment in order to inform people where their abilities are when under pressure and to be able to give something verified to a landowner so they know you are to a standard recently, not X years ago when you once took a DSC One shooting assessment.
Nor mandatory testing prior to getting your licence conditioned for deer or any other way people seem to be thinking.
I do not claim to be any sort of “master sniper”…..however, I can shoot, and as a general rule I put the bullet where it needs to go. There will always be times where it goes wrong (I have posted such times on here openly) it’s not lack of practice or training, it’s simply an anomaly.
I don’t need to spend time and money retraining every year with someone watching, grading and taking payment - I do that with my own practice/zeroing, obviously there are people out there that shouldn’t be near a rifle shooting at deer - however, for the vast majority I would estimate they are stalking and shooting ethically.
Your suggestions are based around marksmanship as that is your interest - that is clear from your posts and I get this is with the best of intentions, but I still think you are missing (no pun intended) the point as it would be better to get the stalking/getting into position but right as this reduces the need for “shooting under pressure” in most cases.
There will be times when follow up shots are needed, although I would be most people (unless guiding multiple people) don’t see that need very often.
I know of many older stalkers that can barely hold a rifle steady now due to shakey hands and aging bones - but it’s not often they miss/mess up as they know to stalk into sensible ranges and won’t stretch shots of feel forced by any cull numbers. And they’d likely pack it in before they’d succumb to pressures to do so at the detriment to animal welfare, they usually take someone under their wing to do the bits they struggle with and that’s natural progression and mentoring - far better than a few days course in my opinion.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with long range shooting and stretching ranges on targets and knowing your equipment - but on live game it’s not my cup of tea….if it goes wrong (and it’s hard to deny that the likelyhood increases as range does) it’s goes to get exponentially harder to recover by taking another shot or in finding the badly hit animal as timings increase to get to shot site etc.
You will get the “things go wrong at 60 yards” comments - but I bet more go wrong when people push thier limits.
I also shoot long mer range targets - and it certainly helps in knowing your equipment and confidence, but I’m fairly old fashioned when it comes to deer, if I can get to inside 200 yards or less - I will. Yes, there will be people shooting open hill where that will rarely be possible - however most will be shooting larger species where again the margin increases with the size of the animals heart/lung area.
Shooting can be a funny thing as you will get people that go out and shoot 3 deer a year, they are in many cases professional people who’s career does not allow any more trips as they are busy people, but they have maybe been doing it for 25 years, so do they need to pass a test?
I always thought the DSC requirements were a bit odd with identifying what the ar*e end of a fallow was - many people will never see a fallow in their life! Ok, I get the need for identifying male/females but again - that doesn’t always need to be the case as some people want the guide system where it’s someone else pointing out an animal and saying “that one”….
Many people say the pulling the trigger is the easy part - and that’s true in most cases. The gralloch and handling is probably the part where things go more wrong yet it’s a small area of focus on current DSC, and so is getting into position for a shot - again, things that come with practice, difficult to teach in a few days of course and so again, that leads me back to mentoring….
Regards,
Gixer
