This February and March 2010 the British Association for Shooting and Conservation(BASC) are running courses on Carcass Inspection and Butchery in Sevenoaks Kent. They aim to teach the less experienced stalker “a sturdy foundation of knowledge including safety and basic hygiene legislation” in addition to the practical skills for basic carcass processing, such as skinning and all the techniques necessary for home butchery. Candidates will be given a carcass to prepare under the supervision of the course tutors and costs £125.

For the intermediate deerstalker BASC has designed a course that steps between the Deer Stalking Certificate (DSC) levels 1 and 2. This two day course teaches the “safe and humane shooting of deer”, retrieval, gralloching, and further carcass inspection and lardering techniques. Activities include “stalking deer and/or shooting from a high seat, taking the shot and reaction to shot, approaching the deer and follow up, extracting and transporting the carcass, plus gralloching and inspection to DSC 2 standards.” The course costs £260 and you must be a BASC member to take part. For further information and course dates, contact Anne Mellows, BASC Shooting Standards, on 01244 573018.

http://www.basc.org.uk/