Deer stalking - Where to start?

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If you must embark on the great journey bilbo Baggins style post 19 could be a good first step to ruination and acquisition of your precious. Gandalf required near Warwick👍 edit. Not to be confused with dildo baggins as different fella.
 
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I got into stalking from a family friend but +1 to 'watch first' rather than outright booking stalk the first deer I watched be shot was quite memorable and while I didnt gralloch or drag it it still gave me a good feel for what it was and if I wanted to continue.
 
Deer Stalking for new comers. Whereabouts is the OP. By far the best way is to find friends or acquaintances who stalk and go out with them. Plenty of stalkers always need a hand - its hard work recovering deer etc and many are happy enough to take out somebody who has a genuine interest. If it was me, I wouldn’t let a novice take a shot immediately, I would want to follow and see a number of stalks and come to a full understanding.

Meanwhile I also start them off shooting with a 22 rf. and once they are shooting that well, then a couple of shots with a centrefire, then back to the 22rf.

There are professional guides. There are good ones and there are bad ones. Over the years I have paid for stalking with a guide. Some good.

Others just wanting you to shoot the first animal that is seen so they can get back to whatever else they were doing before you interrupted their day. They also spend all their time on their phone. In the meantime you have paid hard earned cash for the privilege. And as soon as you pull out of yard, next client arrives.
 
First get yourself a pair of binoculars and good boots, and get yourself out into the countryside and go and find deer. Watch them, identify them, learn to distinguish males and females.

You can easily do this from public footpaths at your leisure. There are public parks, estates etc where there are deer, but there are plenty around in many parts of the UK.

You don’t need camouflage or anything. Learn how to wait for them, how to approach etc.

This is 90% of deer stalking. Squeezing the trigger, fractions of a percent. Gralloching, extracting, butchering and eating the rest.

Have a thorough knowledge of this

Best practice guides | The Deer Initiative

www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk

Or this

- Wild Deer Best Practice Guidance

Welcome to the Scottish Best Practice Guidance on the Management of Wild Deer. The guides are developed within Scotland’s deer sector to provide you with the best information available on wild deer.
bestpracticeguides.org.uk bestpracticeguides.org.uk

Local gunshops can be a good place to start a search if you don’t have any immediate contacts. Not emphasis on the word “can”.
 
artschool said:
not sure why no one has suggested joining a local gun club.

you need to be proficient with a centre fire before going out on a stalk.
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Because they want you to go 20 times and listen to their stories before you get to shoot anything. In the meantime you get to watch a load of old boys stumbling across the firing line while someone else is shooting to pick up spent cases while at the same time lecturing you about safety procedures.
 
Deer stalking isn’t about investing money and seeing if it is for you.
Before you think about killing , invest in joining BASC, BDS, GWCT,or an alternative.
Learn your trade and ask questions . It is easy if you wish.
It shouldn’t take more than a few months if you are really keen.
Don’t fight shy of doing any tests.
Can you drive? Why did you take a test?
Learn what is available to you and be welcome to join this sporting community.
 
Would also say if your handy with a pellet gun and shot a few rats or rabbits the transition depending on the individual is a very simple one in reality in placing the shot and the gralloch, though some folks would be better off not bothering.🤷🏽‍♂️
 
Andrewslater said:
Because they want you to go 20 times and listen to their stories before you get to shoot anything. In the meantime you get to watch a load of old boys stumbling across the firing line while someone else is shooting to pick up spent cases while at the same time lecturing you about safety procedures.
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Looking at where you come from it must take you hours to reach our club,Give me a shout next time your in 😂😂
 
If you have a local rifle club, attending as a probationary member gets you a little range time.

Then a paid stalk, that's how I started 46 years ago. If you like it, DMQ, own rifle, permissions etc follow.
 
artschool said:
to think i wasted all those years when i could have just set down my air arms 22 pellet gun and gone straight to deer stalking 😂
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Your loss. You could have done it easily enough at any time. There's no standard procedure for getting into stalking that everyone is required to follow. You could indeed have laid aside your pellet gun, applied for your FAC, and gone straight to stalking.
 
VSS said:
Your loss. You could have done it easily enough at any time. There's no standard procedure for getting into stalking that everyone is required to follow. You could indeed have laid aside your pellet gun, applied for your FAC, and gone straight to stalking.
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hardly, i had as much enjoyment stalking rabbits with a .177 as i did hunting bigger game in South Africa. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
 
taloac said:
Hi all,

I am feeling a bit lost on how to start with deer stalking - I've never done it before, I don't have a FAC and I haven't done DSC1 or any qualification/training for that matter. Based near Warwick if that matters.

I am slightly reticent to do DSC1 having no experience, especially rifle shooting ( I own a .22 break barrel air rifle, not sure how that translates to actual rifle) and on top of that, it could still turn out that stalking isn't for me and I've sunk the time and money into a qualification.

Is a paid commercial/guided stalk the way to go see if I like it? how does a commercial stalk compare to going out on a local permission? or would people recommend DSC1?

Interested to get peoples opinions on if you were starting deer stalking again what would you do?

Tom
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IMHO you should book with a stalker , before applying . You might not like it too much , or you will be very much keener and have something of a better standing with the local Firearms team .
Shoot a break barrel airgun competently and you should do a good deal better than someone who has never shot any kind of rifle , indeed if you can keep to a 2" group at 50 yards , you should in "theory" take a clean shot with the deer legal rifles at 100-150 yards
Try a few different stalking guides , some are poor , some are pretty good , a few are brilliant . You can operate under the Stalker ,using their "Estate rifle" . Having a couple or more of real stalks goes a long way with the FEOs . DSC was once brilliant but today i personally feel its far more about BASC and others Cashing in .
From 18 years a person is an Adult in law and the Police cannot legally have ground to not grant ( especially when you have been out stalking doing Estate rifle ) likewise if your 80 years old , so long as you are still with it
DSC is very over rated by the police ( A good amount of Police and FEOs that have visited me over the decades have no experiance of stalking themselves) . So i very much think getting out and doing some before you even apply for an FAC . Your legal "good reason" is you have been out and done it and your Stalker is happy to support the " good reason " required ie later dates in the diary.
 
Bowland blades said:
IMHO you should book with a stalker , before applying . You might not like it too much , or you will be very much keener and have something of a better standing with the local Firearms team .
Shoot a break barrel airgun competently and you should do a good deal better than someone who has never shot any kind of rifle , indeed if you can keep to a 2" group at 50 yards , you should in "theory" take a clean shot with the deer legal rifles at 100-150 yards
Try a few different stalking guides , some are poor , some are pretty good , a few are brilliant . You can operate under the Stalker ,using their "Estate rifle" . Having a couple or more of real stalks goes a long way with the FEOs . DSC was once brilliant but today i personally feel its far more about BASC and others Cashing in .
From 18 years a person is an Adult in law and the Police cannot legally have ground to not grant ( especially when you have been out stalking doing Estate rifle ) likewise if your 80 years old , so long as you are still with it
DSC is very over rated by the police ( A good amount of Police and FEOs that have visited me over the decades have no experiance of stalking themselves) . So i very much think getting out and doing some before you even apply for an FAC . Your legal "good reason" is you have been out and done it and your Stalker is happy to support the " good reason " required ie later dates in the diary.
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The OP hasn't posted for a year, so maybe stalking wasn't for him? 🙁
Or maybe he's been too busy stalking to post? 🙂
Either way, I think we're due an update @taloac
 
VSS said:
The OP hasn't posted for a year, so maybe stalking wasn't for him? 🙁
Or maybe he's been too busy stalking to post? 🙂
Either way, I think we're due an update @taloac[/USE
[/QUOTE]
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VSS said:
The OP hasn't posted for a year, so maybe stalking wasn't for him? 🙁
Or maybe he's been too busy stalking to post? 🙂
Either way, I think we're due an update @taloac
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taloac did sign in on Tuesday so he’s still around
KB.
 
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