Small is possible stalking - a view from a ‘non- elite’ deer stalker There are many reasons why a person may want to shoot deer, and perhaps as many reasons why that same person would rather not shoot deer. Hugh Chalmers explains how circumstances made him a deer stalker.

eer stalking, especially for would grant us licences for night and for taking their life, and truthfully, , is generally an out of season shooting. I do not enjoy the act of killing. To individual pursuit, and kill a deer humanely is to place a Dthe stalker has to have made many A price worth paying shot in the right part of the deer (the decisions well in advance of having a Although deer control was obviously chest). This is what deer stalkers aim deer in the crosshairs of a rifle scope. going to cost more than we had to do every time. Wounding a deer is Not the least of these is deciding budgeted, the alternative was to unacceptable. that it is right to take a life. I am risk total failure and the payback a deer stalker (it’s like a confession of a Forestry Commission tree Getting qualified to a therapy group) and would like establishment grant, which at around To be confident that this can be to explain why. To the readers of £1,000 per hectare, meant that the achieved safely every time is why this Journal, it may be obvious, in stakes were high - £150,000. A new knowledge, training and practice light of the current debate over the culling regime included taking on an are required. There are many skills impact of high densities of deer on experienced, enthusiastic and very and attributes required, including woodland regeneration in many parts fit stalker to patrol the valley once a a decent level of fitness, being able of Scotland, but we know that there week, and to allow volunteer stalkers to move quietly through woods or may be other ways of dealing with to look for deer too. In order to vet hills, accurate shooting, firearms too many deer: by fencing them out, volunteers, I felt that it would be knowledge, knowledge of deer or perhaps we could wait for research useful for me to get some experience, behaviour and biology, and being able on deer contraception. (It could be a so I enrolled on a Deer Management to process the meat (gutting, skinning long wait…) Qualification Level 1 course at the and butchering). Venison can be local agricultural college. Once a very healthy part of our locally However, in 2004, the issue of roe qualified and with some tutoring sourced diet, and this may be another deer control became the number from more experienced stalkers, I too big motivator for becoming a trained one problem at the Carrifran walked the valley once a week, armed hunter. Wildwood in Moffatdale, in the with a high velocity rifle. Southern Uplands, where over 150 Like operating a chainsaw or using hectares of new native woodlands Thankfully, the high level of stalking a spreadsheet, deer stalking is not had been planted, protected only by effort at Carrifran has paid off, for everyone, but it is a very useful 20-centimetre-tall vole guards and a and though the deer cull averages skill and one which we hope will be fence to keep out sheep and goats, not around 25 per year, that seems to employed more, by more people, in deer. A deer fence was not practical be enough to allow trees to become controlling deer to maintain a healthy as most of the fence would have been established, though we need to deer population whilst allowing tree above 2,000 feet and exposed to remain vigilant, with the first sika stag regeneration and establishment. extreme weather such as ice formation shot at Carrifran in November 2013. Starting from scratch, the first step and collapse. From the outset, the A group of around ten volunteers would be to enrol on a Deer Stalking Wildwood Steering group knew that are signed up to assist and are Certificate level 1 course [2], organised we would need to cull deer, if (and coordinated by Borders Forest Trust. by the British