Sporting shooters in Northern Ireland will have plenty of opportunities to learn new skills this year thanks to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC).
BASC will be holding a Deer Stalking Certificate level 1 course on 27 February-2 March at Baronscourt Estate near Omagh followed by a carcass preparation day on 14 March at Carrowdore Estate, near Bangor. The day at Carrowdore includes post-mortem handling, inspection, transportation, lardering and basic butchery of shot deer.
There is also an opportunity for people to attend a two day Dogs for Deer course on 6-7 March. Aimed at both recreational and professional deer managers/stalkers it will be delivered by one of the foremost authorities on the subject of training and working dogs for finding injured deer, Niels Søndergaard who has 15 years experience of handling hunting dogs. It will cover blood tracking, selecting the right dog for the job, training techniques and the actual process of tracking wounded/injured game.
Tommy Mayne from BASC Northern Ireland said: “We are delighted to be able to offer this range of courses to BASC members in Northern Ireland. Other courses are planned for later in the year including a shotgun safety officers’ course, which will define the role of the safety officer and cover Health & Safety (Risk Assessment), ground inspection and NI Firearms Law relating to shotguns. If people are interested in attending any of these courses, it’s important they register their interest with us as soon as possible.”
Places on all courses are limited. For more information and bookings call BASC Northern Ireland on 028 9260 5050.
ENDS