Glossary

45 terms.

Accredited witness

A stalker briefed and approved to witness the cull a DSC2 candidate must demonstrate, and to sign the Individual Cull Record. Abbreviated AW; the plural is AWs.

Backstop

The ground or solid object behind the target that will stop the bullet. A deer on a skyline has no backstop and must not be shot. Establishing one is a mandatory safety judgement in the assessment.

BASC

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation. Assessments in the Netherlands are delivered under BASC, whose Deer Assessment Centre provides the Senior Internal Verifier on the day.

Berkenhorst

The Netherlands facility where the assessment is held. It has the shooting range, the classroom used for the written and visual modules, and the ground walked for the safety module, where the deer decoys are placed. Candidates stay three kilometres away at Hotel Landgoed Stakenberg.

Bipod

A two-legged rest fixed to the rifle fore-end, used prone or sitting. Permitted in the assessment; bring one if you shoot with it at home.

Calibre

The bore diameter of the rifle, and by extension the cartridge. Spelled calibre. UK deer law sets legal minimums by species and country; the assessment expects a rifle suited to the target, not a heavy magnum.

Carcase

The body of a culled deer once gralloched, prepared for the food chain. Carcase with an e is the United Kingdom meat-hygiene spelling and is used throughout the DSC syllabus. The double-s form is American and does not appear in the syllabus.

Chinese water deer

Hydropotes inermis, a small deer with tusks instead of antlers, found mainly in East Anglia. Buck, doe and fawn. The species continental candidates most often meet for the first time in the assessment.

Closed season

The period in which a species and sex may not be culled. Dates differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and knowing which applies where is examined in the written module.

Cull programme

The agreed number, sex and age class of deer to be taken from a range in a season, set against counts and habitat condition rather than by preference.

Deer decoy

A life-size deer figure placed around the assessment premises. The candidate must say which decoys may safely be shot and which may not, and give the reason. Backstop and beat boundaries decide it.

Deer management group

Neighbouring landholders who count, plan and cull deer together across a range rather than in isolation, agreeing fencing, vegetation and cull programmes. Standard practice in the Scottish Highlands.

DMQ

Deer Management Qualifications, the awarding body for DSC1 and DSC2. It exists to promote high standards in the humane management of wild deer. It awards the certificate; it does not deliver the training.

Driven hunt

A hunt in which beaters move game past a line of standing guns. Common in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, and the practice most continental candidates arrive already familiar with.

DE Drückjagd · NL drukjacht

DSC1

Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1. A knowledge and safety assessment in five modules, awarded by Deer Management Qualifications. Historically also written DMQ1, a name taken from the awarding body rather than from the certificate itself.

DSC2

Deer Stalking Certificate Level 2. Evidence of competence in the field, built from a single witnessed stalk recorded in a portfolio and verified by an assessor rather than by examination. It is the standard Forestry England and Forest Land Scotland require of a stalking leaseholder.

Ear defenders

Hearing protection, required for all shooting on the assessment range without exception. Bring your own: muffs or plugs are both acceptable, and electronic muffs that pass speech through are worth having because the assessor will be talking to you between shots.

Fallow deer

Dama dama, recognisable by its palmated antlers and spotted summer coat. The male is a buck, the female a doe, the young a fawn. Familiar to some continental stalkers, unknown to others.

Forestry Commission

The public forestry body in Britain, and one of the largest holders of deer ground. Its leases commonly require DSC1 to stalk, and DSC2 of the leaseholder and of anyone named on the licence as an authorised controller.

Game dealer declaration

The document a trained hunter completes when handing a carcase to a dealer, giving name, DMQ number, date, time, location and any observation on the animal’s health.

Game meat hygiene

The handling, inspection and presentation of a carcase so it may lawfully enter the human food chain. One of the five DSC1 modules, assessed by written paper.

DE Wildbrethygiene · NL wildbewerkingshygiëne

Gralloch

To remove the stomach and intestines from a deer in the field, immediately after the cull, so the carcase cools and stays clean. Also the noun for the material removed. Spelled with an o in both syllables; the variant with an a is a persistent misspelling.

DE aufbrechen · NL ontweiden

Green offal

The stomach and intestines removed at the gralloch, as distinct from the red offal of heart, lungs and liver, which stays with the carcase for inspection.

High seat

A raised platform, fixed or portable, from which a stalker shoots down into a safe backstop. Standard practice across continental Europe. An American speaker would say tree stand or blind; a British stalker does not.

DE Hochsitz, Ansitz · NL hoogzit

Humane dispatch

Killing a deer quickly and certainly, whether by the first shot or by a follow-up on a wounded animal. The assessment uses dispatch and cull, not kill.

Individual Cull Record

The ICR: the record a DSC2 candidate completes for the witnessed cull, describing selection, shot, gralloch and inspection, signed by the candidate and the accredited witness.

Larder

The chilled room where carcases are weighed, inspected, hung and held for the game dealer. Not a processing room, which is a different regulated step.

DE Wildkammer · NL wildbewerkingsruimte

Lymph nodes

Glands inspected during the gralloch and again in the larder for swelling, discolouration or other signs of disease. Examining them is part of the carcase inspection a DSC2 candidate must demonstrate, and part of what a trained hunter declares to the game dealer.

Moderator

A sound moderator fitted to the muzzle to reduce report and recoil. Legal and usual for deer in Britain. Ear defenders are still required on the range.

Muntjac

Muntiacus reevesi, a small introduced deer that breeds year round and has no closed season for the doe. Buck, doe and fawn. Almost unknown on the continent, so it repays study before the visual assessment.

Performance criteria

The listed competences a DSC2 candidate must demonstrate: selection, safety, humane dispatch, gralloch, control of the gralloch and green offal, carcase inspection, and hygienic delivery to the larder.

Portfolio

The DSC2 evidence file: the completed Individual Cull Record plus a written account of the stalk and the witness’s questions, signed by candidate and accredited witness before it goes for assessment and verification.

Prone

Shooting lying flat, the steadiest of the assessed positions, usually supported by a bipod or pack. One of the positions the DSC1 shooting test requires.

Red deer

Cervus elaphus, Britain’s largest land mammal. The male is a stag, the female a hind, the young a calf. Managed on the open hill in Scotland and in woodland further south.

Roe deer

Capreolus capreolus. The small deer most continental stalkers already know. The male is a buck, the female a doe, the young a kid. Widespread across Britain and mainland Europe alike.

Roe sack

A light pack for carrying a gralloched roe deer off the hill, worn on the back with the carcase against it. Bring one for the assessment kit check.

Rounds

Complete cartridges of ammunition. A British stalker says rounds or ammunition, not bullets — the bullet is only the projectile. Bring enough for the zero and all six assessment shots, with spares.

Safety walk

The practical safety module: a walk of the assessment premises with an accredited witness, answering questions on carrying, loading, high seats, fences and safe shots. No faults are permitted.

Senior Internal Verifier

The officer who oversees an assessment day and confirms it was run to the awarding standard, so the certificate issued carries the same weight as one earned anywhere else. A formal DMQ role title, and not the same thing as a head examiner.

Shooting sticks

A two, three or four-legged rest that steadies the rifle for a standing or sitting shot. Permitted as an aid in the DSC1 shooting test. Not a tripod, which is a camera term.

DE Zielstock · NL schietstok

Sika deer

Cervus nippon, introduced to Britain and now locally numerous. The male is a stag, the female a hind, the young a calf. Telling summer sika from fallow, and winter sika from red, is the hardest part of the visual assessment.

Stalking

Approaching deer on foot to bring yourself within range, using wind and terrain, then culling from a shooting stick or the prone position. In Britain "hunting" means hounds, so the two words are not interchangeable.

DE Pirsch, pirschen · NL bersen, bersjacht

Trained hunter

The formal status under game meat hygiene regulations that lets you declare a carcase fit and place it into the food chain. In the United Kingdom it is evidenced by DSC1 together with the large game module.

DE kundige Person · NL gekwalificeerd persoon

Visual assessment

The DSC1 module in which images of deer are shown and the candidate names the species, and for the later images the sex. BASC’s own name for the module; the older phrase visual prompting is not standard.

Zeroed

A rifle whose sights are adjusted so the point of impact matches the point of aim at a stated distance. You must arrive at the assessment with a zeroed rifle: the assessed shots begin straight away, and there is no sighting group first.

DE eingeschossen · NL ingeschoten

Last reviewed 2026-09-06.