If the course is aimed at deer managers or prospective managers and experienced recreational stalkers who are through DSC1 and 2 and possibly the BDS course; I would have thought you should be aware of the challenges and considerations about how to manage different species..... and be able to do that already?
I think the target market for this course is twofold:
1. The paper collectors. Typically newcomers to the sport/profession. Want rapid progress from beginner to expert - zero to hero candidates. Will be able to talk the talk, but only a few will actually walk the walk. There will be some though, so you can't entirely dismiss this approach to knowledge acquisition. However, those who will succeed would probably succeed without this course.
2. Land owners who don't know better. Mostly institutional. Like to be comforted that their decision to appoint Deer Manager A over Deer Manager B is backed up by independent assessment/LANTRA/NVQ/plenty of certificates. Most private owners will see through this very quickly and make their decisions based on many other factors (most of them established within 30 seconds of meeting the person).
Learning is always good, I can't disagree with that. However, this is a business opportunity above all things. I've met some of the promoters, and its clear that they are even more keen businessmen than they are deer stalkers.
I think the promoters have been inspired by other industries' training programmes. For instance, the common route of RYA Competent Crew to Yachtmaster (fast track) courses and the PADI Divemaster (internship) route and beyond to instructor levels. Each take someone with limited knowledge or experience to a "professional" level within very little time. People are happy to pay quite large amounts (more than this will cost) for accelerated learning/opportunity in order to have a professional qualification. Quite rightly, accelerated learning programmes are viewed
extremely skeptically by those in the industry, and especially employers.
Both PADI and the RYA have for many years constantly encouraged the taking of new modular courses (e.g. diesel engine maintenance, first aid, PADI Master Scuba Diver) alongside core development modules. This appeals to the paper collectors but does nothing for employment and many are truly questionable as to whether it helps anyone learn any meaningful skills - but hey, its a hobby in its own right, I suppose.
However, in yachting and diving there is always a need for new (often young) entrants into the professional world because employers can pay them peanuts and they can still support in teaching courses or skippering boats. They are keen and willing to subsidize their employment in return for the chance of a real paying career in the long term. They get travel and subsistence along the way, not normally much more. Many leave the industry after just a few years (often less than 12 months) because it just doesn't pay, but is an interesting sojourn and hasn't cost them nearly as much as paying to do that diving/sailing recreationally would have cost them. They've also had the kudos of being a dive/yachting professional, that they will probably talk about for many years (I admit, I used to until I grew up!).
The difference is - there aren't the jobs or opportunities in the deer world that there are in sailing or diving. The employers are also far more circumspect about who they employ in my experience.
So, will it work?
Well, it will sell some courses that otherwise might not be sold. So on that measure, it will be a modest success.
Will it find people jobs that otherwise they wouldn't have got? I sincerely doubt it.
What's next? Expect to see the next level of courses for instructors to deliver this training. It will become a pyramid scheme, much as PADI is. Everyone wants to get to the next level (Open Water instructor, IDC Staff Instructor etc) because they think when they get there it will finally start paying for itself. Sadly, deer management isn't done next to a swimming pool in Egypt so there are less incentives for people to live with poor pay even if the opportunities were there.
www.shootingandhuntingacademy.co.uk
