Like all good DSC1 training the national gamekeepers association runs 4 day courses, usually over
two weekends.
The guys today have a lot to learn on the theory of deer stalking.
Why are they nervous?
Most of them haven't sat an exam for decades.
And this is the crunch weekend.
The final test.
Oh yeah, oh absolutely.
Just take everything, you can't isolate individual bits and focus on that, you're just going
to trip over so i'm just taking everything in.
I would reckon it was seasons.
You know, when you're going, you actually know what you're going for and you know what
you're going to shoot.
You book your holiday and you're going to shoot a stag and you book your holiday in
the stag season.
There are five parts to the DSC1.
Gun safety, rifle accuracy, deer habits and the law, a quarry identification test and
questions about meat hygiene.
The first two are practical tests.
The guys are tested on the last three in a written paper with 120 multiple choice questions.
So, how good are you?
The written questions come form a bank of 284 of them.
Here are three
for you
to sample...
Alan Barrell is the NGO officer holding the course today.
The course is designed so that people get an understanding of the subject.
Thats what we want, we want them to demonstrate that they have got the knowledge to go out
and start stalking, that they are safe to stalk.
That'll come from the safety test, or the safety examination that we are going to do
tomorrow.
And they have an ability with a rifle to put shots where they need to be.
If they go away with that and the understanding then I'll be very pleased.
The course and the exam is being held at Calton Moor range in Derbyshire which is run by Mike
Dickenson.
The DSC level 1 consists of a shooting test, a safety , test a visual test and a written
test.
The written test being 50 multiple choice questions.
A,B,C,D and you tick the answer.
Can I just learn that?
They're taken from a bank of 285 questions that DMQ have put together the candidates
need to know a broad spectrum of everything about all the species of deer.
The law, basic ballistics, meat hygiene laws, seasons, legal calibers, legal quarry, a general
and overall deer knowledge.
The two practical tests are instant fails if you get them wrong.
The safety test is a walk with the examiner, who will ask you whether certain shots are
safe or unsafe.
In the shooting test you have to put a total of nine shots into the killing area of a deer
target.
At distances from 100-40 yards and at various positions, including prone, standing and sitting.
The really tricky bit for most people is the new part of the test.
Game meat hygiene.
Today the students have a rare chance to visit a truly Rolls Royce game handling facility
on a nearby private estate.
Food hygiene these days is the most important part of it, where do people typically fall
down in the exam?
Not realising how easy it is to contaminate a carcass.
If you burst the rumen, or you get it covered in mud.
From the second it is shot, it becomes a food product.
And it wants treating the same as.
So, you wouldn't get your sandwiches for your dinner and drag them along the cow pats.
And cover them in offle.
So, treat it as a food product and keep it as clean as possible.
There's also a lot of words to learn with food hygiene like maxillary and has-sip and
rumen.
Do people fall down on those at all?
They do a bit, you don't need to know the exact wordings for all the glands.
As long as you can show them where they are.
You've shown knowledge that you know what you're looking for.
There are lots of ways of passing your DSC1 but unless you're an actor who is good at
learning lines then understanding the subject is key.
Now, heres another quick quiz taken from more DSC1 written questions.
If you want to know more about the NGO's course visit....
And if you'd like to know more about the JCB work-max...