Hi all,
Excuse the long post - which ended up like a job application but I guess it is really so that's what I've made it into
summary if it is all too much to read :- I'm offering to help you repair stuff and do prep jobs over summer and even be there to help you gut and drag a deer out of the mud come November, all in exchange for a couple of mornings out during winter
What do I want?
Like a lot of posts on here I'm looking for a chance to shoot with someone who has permissions near me.
But before you all roll your eyes,
Unlike most people, I'm willing to put a lot of help in during the off season to see if I can make this work and build a proper back and forth not just get something for nothing.
In essence, now that my stalking is pretty much done until Autumn I'd like to find a mentor/friend/guide now, learn, help out with repairs, jobs, work parties etc over the summer and in return get a few trips out with you once Autumn rolls around - see where it goes from there
I'm also happy to come along and do gralloching and extracting and not shoot sometimes as I need the practice on everything post taking the actual shot
My stalking experience
Until now all my stalking has been guided stalks (10 in the past year, another dozen or so over a decade ago)
My old stalking experience was fancy corporate stuff - guide gets you somewhere puts a rifle down and tells you to pull the trigger and then says "well done sir, where shall we send the trophy?" then you all go home - left me a bit flat to be honest.
Recently having got into target shooting I decided to try to learn it as a proper craft and have had some very good guides help me
but paying for proper guided stalks every time is not only expensive but very much changes the dynamic - the guide is obviously keen you dont draw a blank and is on the job - there's never a chance for me to lead from the front and learn and just see how i get on and if i see nothing or bump the deer then so be it.
Just feel I could keep going out like this next season and not actually learn much more about actual deer management and what happens in the off season
About me
I'm a decent enough (read, always Safe) shot , plenty airgun/shotgun experience (game and clay, driven & rough)
been target shooting for about a year with a gun club both indoor rimfire and fullbore at various ranges at Bisley
am or have been an archery, axe throwing and air rifle instructor so I'm not a moron about safety
lots of outdoor experience - I'm a volunteer for youth groups (scouts and similar youth charities) and am Kayak instructor, mountain leader, I teach bushcraft skills and wild camping all as a volunteer
I can wield an axe, saw or drill fairly well and bodge and fix stuff as needed - chainsaws frighten the crap out of me and I'm happy with that but I have done a Stilh chainsaw course
2 teenage boys at home and we all try to eat better meat and get through a lot of venison burgers and jerky - I can rope them in as assistant under gardeners when required
Qualifications etc
DSC1 - coming up this month.
BASC, NRA and BDS member so I might be covered by relevant insurance but will sort if not (thinking NGO when BASC runs out anyway)
Remote First aid (exceeds EFAW but not the +F bit, but i can add that separately if essential)
FAC application is in with the Met - so no gun now and who knows when that'll come back
I've got a SGC and selection of shotguns
Where: Herts, Beds, Bucks parts of Essex I guess
I'm based in North London - near Henley's Corner
I'm willing to travel since there's not much shooting near me and it makes the national newspapers when a golf club shoots a few foxes
but this probably only works if it's local enough to actually meet up regularly so an hour from home seems reasonable - anything inside Luton to chelmsford arc from London ?
When Weekdays are good
I work part time for myself so would suit someone who is similarly flexible during the week - (semi-)retired/self employed etc
I can arrange free days during the week easily and often at short notice
don't mind getting up at the crack of dawn esp if it means can be done in time for when the kids get home
weekends are usually pretty busy (see above all the scout stuff I'm generally away 30 weekends a year so any that I'm not are usually reserved for family)
How would it work
I don't know for sure open to anything really
I have a few useful skills, I'm keen and have plenty of weekday time and am keen to try and turn it into stalking time and more importantly experience somehow
we could agree some sort of formal deal: a work day in exchange for a stalk? or leave it vague
I'd also like some carcasses I'm trying to eat less but better meat and stop buying supermarket so would be keen to keep/buy what i shoot
long-term I'd like to get DSC2 so If you are (or were) an AW and can give me tips along the way, great
I'd eventually like to have a permission of my own or even my own actual land but that is part of a grand plan to retire to the country and well see where we get to with that but so long as I'm honing my skills I'm getting what I want out of it
Will you try to steal my permissions though?
seems to be a big (and valid) concern - don't know what to say really apart from I'm simply not that sort of person
I live in london, don't have a gun yet and drive a ford focus the bloody farmer is gonna laugh me out the door.
I think I'm a good way away from being confident enough in my own abilities to knock on a farmers door and anyway why would I want your permissions when I'm off to buy a hillside in the brecons as soon as the last teenager leaves home (we all need our dreams)
Excuse the long post - which ended up like a job application but I guess it is really so that's what I've made it into
summary if it is all too much to read :- I'm offering to help you repair stuff and do prep jobs over summer and even be there to help you gut and drag a deer out of the mud come November, all in exchange for a couple of mornings out during winter
What do I want?
Like a lot of posts on here I'm looking for a chance to shoot with someone who has permissions near me.
But before you all roll your eyes,
Unlike most people, I'm willing to put a lot of help in during the off season to see if I can make this work and build a proper back and forth not just get something for nothing.
In essence, now that my stalking is pretty much done until Autumn I'd like to find a mentor/friend/guide now, learn, help out with repairs, jobs, work parties etc over the summer and in return get a few trips out with you once Autumn rolls around - see where it goes from there
I'm also happy to come along and do gralloching and extracting and not shoot sometimes as I need the practice on everything post taking the actual shot
My stalking experience
Until now all my stalking has been guided stalks (10 in the past year, another dozen or so over a decade ago)
My old stalking experience was fancy corporate stuff - guide gets you somewhere puts a rifle down and tells you to pull the trigger and then says "well done sir, where shall we send the trophy?" then you all go home - left me a bit flat to be honest.
Recently having got into target shooting I decided to try to learn it as a proper craft and have had some very good guides help me
but paying for proper guided stalks every time is not only expensive but very much changes the dynamic - the guide is obviously keen you dont draw a blank and is on the job - there's never a chance for me to lead from the front and learn and just see how i get on and if i see nothing or bump the deer then so be it.
Just feel I could keep going out like this next season and not actually learn much more about actual deer management and what happens in the off season
About me
I'm a decent enough (read, always Safe) shot , plenty airgun/shotgun experience (game and clay, driven & rough)
been target shooting for about a year with a gun club both indoor rimfire and fullbore at various ranges at Bisley
am or have been an archery, axe throwing and air rifle instructor so I'm not a moron about safety
lots of outdoor experience - I'm a volunteer for youth groups (scouts and similar youth charities) and am Kayak instructor, mountain leader, I teach bushcraft skills and wild camping all as a volunteer
I can wield an axe, saw or drill fairly well and bodge and fix stuff as needed - chainsaws frighten the crap out of me and I'm happy with that but I have done a Stilh chainsaw course
2 teenage boys at home and we all try to eat better meat and get through a lot of venison burgers and jerky - I can rope them in as assistant under gardeners when required
Qualifications etc
DSC1 - coming up this month.
BASC, NRA and BDS member so I might be covered by relevant insurance but will sort if not (thinking NGO when BASC runs out anyway)
Remote First aid (exceeds EFAW but not the +F bit, but i can add that separately if essential)
FAC application is in with the Met - so no gun now and who knows when that'll come back
I've got a SGC and selection of shotguns
Where: Herts, Beds, Bucks parts of Essex I guess
I'm based in North London - near Henley's Corner
I'm willing to travel since there's not much shooting near me and it makes the national newspapers when a golf club shoots a few foxes
but this probably only works if it's local enough to actually meet up regularly so an hour from home seems reasonable - anything inside Luton to chelmsford arc from London ?
When Weekdays are good
I work part time for myself so would suit someone who is similarly flexible during the week - (semi-)retired/self employed etc
I can arrange free days during the week easily and often at short notice
don't mind getting up at the crack of dawn esp if it means can be done in time for when the kids get home
weekends are usually pretty busy (see above all the scout stuff I'm generally away 30 weekends a year so any that I'm not are usually reserved for family)
How would it work
I don't know for sure open to anything really
I have a few useful skills, I'm keen and have plenty of weekday time and am keen to try and turn it into stalking time and more importantly experience somehow
we could agree some sort of formal deal: a work day in exchange for a stalk? or leave it vague
I'd also like some carcasses I'm trying to eat less but better meat and stop buying supermarket so would be keen to keep/buy what i shoot
long-term I'd like to get DSC2 so If you are (or were) an AW and can give me tips along the way, great
I'd eventually like to have a permission of my own or even my own actual land but that is part of a grand plan to retire to the country and well see where we get to with that but so long as I'm honing my skills I'm getting what I want out of it
Will you try to steal my permissions though?
seems to be a big (and valid) concern - don't know what to say really apart from I'm simply not that sort of person
I live in london, don't have a gun yet and drive a ford focus the bloody farmer is gonna laugh me out the door.
I think I'm a good way away from being confident enough in my own abilities to knock on a farmers door and anyway why would I want your permissions when I'm off to buy a hillside in the brecons as soon as the last teenager leaves home (we all need our dreams)
