Deer Stalking Certificate (DSC1) assessment-only day

The Deer Stalking Certificate (DSC1) is designed for shooters who have recently taken up stalking and are seeking further knowledge and guidance.

BASC is running a number of assessment-only days across the country; these will involve all five DSC1 assessments in one day. 

Prior the assessment day, you can purchase a DSC1 manual to study. These are available in either digital form @ £15.00 or hardcopy @ £27.00 to study at your own pace. Along with the manual, you can also access a series of revision test questions on our website to use in preparation for your assessments.

The DSC1 assessment is made up of the following five modules:

1. Written. This has 50 multiple choice questions which are taken from a bank of written questions. To pass, at least 40 questions must be answered correctly.
2. Visual. Candidates are shown 20 images covering the six species of wild deer in the UK. The species and the sex have to be identified for each image, and both must be correct to gain a mark. To pass, candidates must obtain at least 16 marks out of the possible 20.
3. Game meat hygiene. This has 40 multiple choice questions taken from a bank of wild game meat hygiene questions. These cover areas such as recognising normal and abnormal behaviour, common diseases, signs of ill-health, possible sources of contamination and hygienic working techniques. There are also food hygiene questions on risks to human health, use of veterinary medicines on wild deer, food safety and notifiable diseases. To pass, at least 32 questions must be answered correctly.
4. Safety. Candidates are walked around a safety assessment path during which they are shown four deer targets and asked to specify whether they would shoot at them or not. Candidates are additionally asked nine other questions on safety and all must be answered correctly to obtain a pass.
5. Shooting. The details for the shooting assessment are as follows:

• two shots into the chest killing area of a DMQ deer target from 100m. The shooting position is prone or from a simulated highseat (if available). Normal stalking aids, such as rucksack or bipod may be used.
• two shots into the chest killing area of a DMQ deer target from 70m. The shooting position may be standing, kneeling, or sitting. As before, normal aids such as bipods or sticks may be used.
• two shots into the humane despatch (head) killing area of a deer target from 10-20m. The shooting position is standing, and sticks may be used. Please note the range for this discipline may vary due to individual range requirements. Shooting safety glasses must be worn when taking this discipline.

Those completing the assessments successfully will be awarded the Deer Management Qualifications; Deer Stalking Certificate 1 and the large game theory element of DMQ Wild Game Meat Hygiene.

To gain full Large Game Trained Hunter status to meet the Food Hygiene Regulations 2004, individuals will need to undertake DSC2 after successful completion of DSC1.

If you are bringing your own rifle, it must be a deer-legal calibre and ammunition should be factory produced (no home-loaded ammunition). All .22 centrefire ammunition must have a bullet weight of 50 grain or more and produce muzzle energy of at least 1,000ft-lb. Rifles will be provided for those who do not own one.

You should be able to consistently hit a 4″ target at 100 metres and be able to shoot lying down, kneeling and off sticks for the shooting element of the assessments.