eoinmk2 wrote: »

Can anyone advise me on where to get information, training days, books, clubs, anything really to get me started. It's obviously a whole different ball game to hunting birds.

I shoot on private lands with no syndicate or club so my advice will be limited, but the other lads can help out with other stuff.

Start by finding someone or a few someones to go out with. As the lads said above pulling the trigger is essentially the easiest part. The work starts after this. From dragging, to hanging, to skinning, butchering, etc.

Courses, despite all the hubbub above, are a good source of information for complete newcomers who have little alternatives like going out with others. The courses such as the Countryside one in the MNSCI gets excellent reviews. It covers not only the shooting part but the theory part and even on site demonstrations of butchering. IOW no guessing at what is being or having to try and imagine it. You get actual hands on experience.

There can be no harm to reading some books on the sport, but what they are or which is best is outside my bailiwick. I learned from doing, going out with family and friends and for years never actually shot a deer. I done all the grunt work and when i was ready went for my license (deer license as i had the firearm) and then shot my first deer the same year.

Perhaps someone who has read a few books can recommend some good reading.

There is really nothing like hands on experience so i cannot recommend it enough. It'll be tough, be under no other impression, to get started. Barring you buy a lease (with everything that comes along with it) people are very protective of their deer lands and shooting and are hesitant to share. Don't take this personally as its not. We're all the same, myself included. Something ingrained into our fabric.

There are good few associations you could join, even if you're not yet shooting. There is no requisite to be a stalker/hunter to join. Other lads can give you an opinion on which to go for or the benefits of being a member of one over the other, but regardless of the association you'll get to meet like minded lads, learn from those with experience, and possibly get a day out (i know some groups arrange non shooting stalks/walks). I'd like to list some groups but don't want to get into the politics of them so simply go onto Google and type in "Irish deer stalking hunting associations" and you should get a decent list of various websites or as is the popular thing these days, Facebook pages.

The social media aspect is a good thing too. This forum is a general shooting forum, but on Facebook you'll find dedicated deer stalking pages. Join a few of them and get asking questions. After some time you'll be well enough known that you can start to ask to meet lads and perhaps even accompany a few of them on a stalk.

You'll also get notices of days out, meat handling courses, game days, etc.

I'm sorry i cannot be more helpful. As said at the start i'm a somewhat solitary shooter. However other lads are involved in the various clubs or syndicates so they may be more helpful when it comes to that aspect.

Richard308 wrote: »

I stand corrected. Good to know.

The above is not an attack on you, and nothing i say from here on however phrased is intended as an attack or anything like it, but the amount of lads that were fed this line of horses**t, and going by your post still think it's a "thing" is annoying and wrong.

It is a bit mad though. Theoretically get a deer license, rifle license and not a clue how to hunt.

How do you suppose people learn? How many courses did you do before you applied for your first firearm? I know i didn't do one. I learned from watching then doing.

I'm torn on the subject of courses. Yes they are helpful and useful to those without the same hands on teachers we had when we were learning, but at the same time i'd hate to see the sport turn into a huge bureaucracy where a course is needed for every aspect. The sport is finding it hard to gain new comers in the various disciplines and that includes fieldsports, so to put unnecessary obstacles in the form of mandatory courses for everything you want to do will further hamper it.

The OP is lucky enough to have the option to do both (hopefully) but it surprises me the amount of lads, mostly in the sport for a good while, that seem to be shocked that someone can just get a gun and start shooting when we all started the same way.

Hunting rabbits and other shooting sports will prepare most people for what is to come, but when it comes to deer stalking doing is the best teacher. The OP has said they have experience in other forms of hunting so the natural progression to deer stalking has to start somewhere and by starting this thread they have taken the first, correct step.

I met a guy recently, I was saying how it was hard work to get a shot and he said he” ah sure I find them grand under the lamp”. He genuinely believed he was allowed to shoot deer at night using a lamp. He wasn’t winding me up. A terribly nice fella after but didn’t know is all.

Ignorance/stupidity is not the same as ability. I mean what he is doing is illegal (unless done under a section 42), but does he miss the deer when he shoots at them? See the difference? His ability to shoot well is not determined, governed or limited by his ignorance on the laws or his stupidity for not seeking advice or checking if its legal.

Just so you know the above bit about the courses might seem out of place for this thread. Its actually important information not only for yourself, but for others in the same position.

Hope you don't think it's a bitch fest for the sake of it.