Personal experience of those with whom I trade and a long list of personal contacts who are full time Stalkers of note working professionally , The younger guys I know well still in their 30s in charge of premium estates ( and very good at what they do ) Are not even taking Level 2 . Its pointless ( one witnessed beast and it can be a fenced in for pities sake ) BASC Land on Aran you don't need a level 2 now .
Fenced in deer are not stalked they are quite bluntly killed ! but you can shoot / murder one and do a fair enough gralloch and you can get your level 2 ! When i took it 3 beasts witnessed by an authorised witness , most of us put in more because the minimum count rang bells with the verifiers ( i did 5 all true wild free ranging Roe ) and my witness told me at the get go that he personally would not others i shot from a high seat .
My guess at why things changed ? Money being made not a better class of Stalker
Look at the amount of folks offering approvals and witnesses now advertising
While I agree with you that an assessment involving 3 witnessed stalks is potentially more valuable than an assessment of only one, I strongly disagree with your opinion regarding "fenced in" deer (by which presumably you mean park deer?).
The DSC2 does not need to evaluate your ability to sneak through the undergrowth to get close to deer. What it does need to do is assess your ability to safely, humanely and hygienically produce carcasses suitable for the food chain. This can be assessed equally well, if not better, within the confines of a park.
Let's take a look at a few key aspects:
- Selection of suitable animal to cull: In the wild, you may only have a couple of deer in front of you from which to make your selection, so it's not difficult. In a park, you are likely to have a large group of animals in front of you, of both sexes, a full range of ages and varying body condition. Making an appropriate selection of a cull animal may be far more challenging than in the wild, so makes for a good opportunity to assess the candidate's knowledge and ability in this respect.
- Safety: The same, wherever you are.
- Shot placement: No different from in the wild, except that there may be the added difficulty that you might have to shoot an animal that's part of a tightly grouped herd, which is more challenging than most wild situations.
- Follow up: If things go wrong, they go wrong. You're going to have to deal with that wherever you are.
- Gralloch and carcass inspection: No different from wild deer.
- Lardering: Most deer parks will have larder facilities on site, which is a bonus as it gives the candidate an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of carcass handling and storage.
So, don't dismiss deer parks as a valuable resource for training and assessment purposes.
% that’s why in my opinion the standards are dropping, the number should have increased from 3 not decreased to 1
