Stalking and Age

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Latest BASC magazine - they're extending the remit of the register of competent stalkers to connect experienced stalkers with people looking for a mentor.

Seems like another very positive move by BASC for better deer management. ✅️
 
Hazlett said:
Latest BASC magazine - they're extending the remit of the register of competent stalkers to connect experienced stalkers with people looking for a mentor.

Seems like another very positive move by BASC for better deer management. ✅️
Click to expand...


Brilliant gesture

Mentors are still the best way hands down for someone to firstly see if they adhere stalking deer and get a steady learning curve going after that it’s priceless
Unfortunately stalking has changed so much and you see a lot more of I’m alright jack or it’s £ orientated and the main thing that deters mentors is a possible chance of a bad trainee and who will try nab your hard earnt shooting permission

There are unfortunately some who carry on and I have had it done to me twice the second one I got back for free after the guy left wounded deer in the field and shot the farm out of everything after he was pulled up

I still help and mentor people to shoot, stalk L1 and as a AW and I have never charged a penny, that is because all the people who shown me the ropes were genuine and I proved that so was I I've done every shooting discipline I know from rabbiting to grouse and all species of deer and it’s my job as well and I love it and very grateful to those people I rubbed shoulders from 10 years to 70 years nigh on

I’m always up to help sportsman develop 100% it’s how it should be but sadly will never be the same now I fear

Good on the BASC for running it up, best thing since sliced bread, fingers crossed they get a boat load of mentors and the same with serious trainees. 👍

Good luck to all
 
Hazlett said:
Latest BASC magazine - they're extending the remit of the register of competent stalkers to connect experienced stalkers with people looking for a mentor.️
Click to expand...

It's a bit of a coincidence but I have recently been in touch with BASC regarding this.

I had a hiatus from stalking over the winter while I dealt with my father's poor health, but now life has returned to some kind of normality I thought that learning from someone in (hopefully...) my local area would be a great move for this year while I continue to learn - with the ultimate goal being to do my DSC2 which should open up some syndicate opportunities. Fingers crossed that I hear back from somebody!
 
Overlay took me out rabbit shooting one night what a nice guy he will talk you through and not talk down to you.
I have had the help from two great guy's from this site Overlay for rabbit's and a great stalker for deer so with out there help i would not have learnt so much

GUYS thank you for taking the time and effort to show me 👍 👨‍🎓
 
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In any job there is a natural increase in productivity as you learn and then a drop in productivity at some point as you age. That peak varies for every job and person but that doesn't mean you are redundant. We all have to just except it.
 
MGD said:
Yes ,but I here people wanting season extended and I personally want shoot does in last month of season .
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What about the possibility of orphaning a fawn in November (the beginning of the long hard winter)? In my eyes that's way worse than shooting a pregnant doe in march. I personally think it's good to shoot heavily pregnant does up to the time when you have a chance of her having given birth and leaving a fawn in the grass.
My example is what we try and do for muntjac does.
 
MGD said:
I don't think you would have offended as many as you think.
There is plenty of opportunity's out there for people to learn but as for myself when I started I had to prove I was worth bothering with.
I here to may stories about shooting deer at long range,shooting does carrying fawns ,its easier at night.
A lot of the problems in stalking are the wrong people mentoring (a few I hope)that offer youngsters opportunity's to stalk deer and then take the out (late on in the day ).
As for my statements .
Long range I shoot targets to a thousand regularly and I wouldn't shoot a deer past 300 it cannot be hit constantly to be human
Does carrying fawns means you can't stalk well enough to get enough earlier in season.
90 percent of my deer are shot with in 100 yards and some as close as 10 yards .That's not sitting in highseats it on foot for me that's what stalking is all about.
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What is the issue with shooting a doe carrying young??

From a welfare perspective it’s the best time to shoot a doe, it’s best practice for muntjac as they have no season.
 
25 Sharps said:
What is the issue with shooting a doe carrying young??

From a welfare perspective it’s the best time to shoot a doe, it’s best practice for muntjac as they have no season.
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Technically does (roe at least) are carrying young throughout the entire open season.

They only become obvious enough to upset people toward the end.

Logically, a death is a death, so it shouldn’t matter if you shoot the doe on Oct 22 or April 30. But people get a bit funny about it.

Until recently I found shooting very heavily pregnant does quite challenging indeed. But it was entirely irrational. After taking time to really think it through, I don’t find it anywhere near as unpleasant.
 
25 Sharps said:
What is the issue with shooting a doe carrying young??

From a welfare perspective it’s the best time to shoot a doe, it’s best practice for muntjac as they have no season.
Click to expand...
This is a topic we really need to nail because it's one of the big obstacles to effective management high populations of deer, especially fallow. There've been so many urban myths about this - there was a post on here a few years back, something like 'once you've seen a fawn in the gralloch in March trying to stand, you'd never do it again'. It's utter nonsense. There is no reasonable welfare issue of shooting a doe in March except in respect of causing the other does to scarper at high speed. But running from danger is what deer are designed for...

Personally, I find examining the development of the foetus totally fascinating.
 
MGD said:
Does carrying fawns means you can't stalk well enough to get enough earlier in season.
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What a daft statement!
Have you considered that many stalkers are not even allowed on the land until February? Nearly every muntjac doe I shoot is pregnant. Every female larger deer I shoot from January onwards is pregnant.
If you never shoot pregnant female deer you clearly only stalk females in November and December and I’m guessing your cull is very small.
 
Hazlett said:
This is a topic we really need to nail because it's one of the big obstacles to effective management high populations of deer, especially fallow. There've been so many urban myths about this - there was a post on here a few years back, something like 'once you've seen a fawn in the gralloch in March trying to stand, you'd never do it again'. It's utter nonsense. There is no reasonable welfare issue of shooting a doe in March except in respect of causing the other does to scarper at high speed. But running from danger is what deer are designed for...

Personally, I find examining the development of the foetus totally fascinating.
Click to expand...
It was an entirely rhetorical question, I have no issues with it whatsoever.

I start late and finish late, far less chance of leaving a struggling roe kid through the winter.
 
I once hunted with an old man called guy Thornton I heard afterwards that he was 82 when he died . He was found sitting in his Land Cruiser after his last stalk nr thetford
 
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