Monthly Archives: August 2013

PROCEDURES AT HCAP RANGE TESTS

Map_MRC_Large

Location of Midland Rifle Range (click to enlarge)

All HCAP Candidates are required to note the following matters in relation to Range Tests conducted at the Midland National Shooting Grounds (“MRC”), at Blue Ball, Tullamore, Co. Offaly:

1: Only Candidates who have passed the HCAP MCQ may take the HCAP Range Test.

2: Candidates must use a rifle of calibre legal for hunting deer in Ireland, i.e. minimum legal calibre .22/250.

3: All firearms must be transported in sleeves or cases. The firing bolt should be removed and carried separately. Firing bolts should be inserted only when preparing to shoot. At all times when not actually shooting, the bolt should be removed and a breech flag inserted.

4: All Candidates are required to carry fully adequate Shooting Insurance and must provide evidence of insurance to MRC on the day of any Range Test. NARGC, Countryside Alliance and IFA Countryside membership all satisfy the insurance requirement.

5: The law requires that a valid firearms certificate must be carried when using or transporting any firearm. The firearm certificate covers the “use, possession or carriage” of the firearm. MRC require HCAP Candidates to exhibit their firearm certificate before proceeding to the Range Test. In certain limited circumstances and always subject to prior notification, Candidates may use a firearm which they do not themselves own, provided that the certificate holder is present with the Candidate at all times.

6: All Candidates are therefore required to sign in at the main MRC check-in desk on arrival at the Range, and before proceeding to the Windmill Range on which the HCAP Range Tests take place, and to exhibit evidence of insurance and firearm certificate on request.

7: Following experimentation over a number of Range Tests, the Deer Alliance have adopted the following procedures in respect of Range Tests:

a) All Candidates will be listed alphabetically (surname first) and allocated to firing details accordingly.

b) Each Firing Detail has a maximum of 16 positions (up to 16 Candidates to each Detail).
In certain circumstances, depending on which Range is in use, the maximum number may increase to 20.

c) The first Firing Detail will always kick off at 10 a.m. sharp, with approximately 45 minutes allowed for each Detail.

d) All Candidates are urged to arrive at MRC not later than 9.30 a.m. on the day of any Range Test, to allow time for registration procedures as set out above.

e) Thereafter, HCAP Range Officials will allocate positions on each Detail according to alphabetical order and actual presence on the Range.

f) Deferrals must be notified in writing (email or text message) to the Deer Alliance not less than 3 days before any Range Test. “No-shows”, i.e. non-attendance without notification, may result in loss of entitlement to complete the HCAP Certification programme.

g) After shooting, each Candidate, pass or fail, is given a slip with his or her name on it and indicating pass or fail, and attempts taken. This slip (pass or fail) must be presented to the HCAP Administrator Liam Nolan before leaving the Range in order to receive the HCAP Certificate and/or to register for any subsequent Range Test.

h) Candidates taking two or more attempts at the Range Test on any given day are required to pay a Repeat Fee of €25.00. The Repeat Fee if taking the Range Test for a second or further time on any subsequent Range Test day is €50.00.

i) Safety is paramount at all times and any lapse will be severely penalised. All Candidates are issued with the Deer Alliance “Safe Stalking” safety leaflet when participating in the Programme. Copies will be available at each Range Test. It is the responsibility of each Candidate to ensure that best practice safety procedures are followed at all times.

 

HCAP RANGE TEST, SATURDAY 31 AUGUST 2013

The following Candidates are eligible to participate in the next scheduled HCAP Range Test, which will take place on Saturday 31 August 2013 at the Midland Range, Blue Ball, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. The list includes all most recently qualified candidates from MCQs in 2013 not already certified. Candidates from 2012 or earlier who are approved as eligible from previous MCQs, or Repeat Candidates from previous Range Tests, and not listed below, are advised to confirm eligibility with Deer Alliance HCAP (email or text only please, deeralliance@gmail.com, 086 1927 845).

Candidates should familiarise themselves fully with the requirements for all candidates shooting at the Midland Range (see separate posting on this blog).

Barlow, Gavin, 2013/0076
Bradley, Luke, 2013/0114
Brady, Maurice, 2013/0110
Byrne, Michael, 2013/0060
Byrne, Stephen, 2012/0095
Carolan, Colm, 2013/0108
Casey, Ken, 2013/0130
Casey, Jerry, 2013/0068
Coady, Mark, 2013/0073
Collard, Stephen, 2013/0066
Condon, Thomas, 2013/0075
Connolly, Stephen, 2013/0116
Daly, Brendan, 2013/0118
Delapp, Pat, 2013/0102
Dempsey, Timothy, 2012/0060
Dillon, Eric, 2012/0093
Doheny, Barry, 2013/0017
Dunne, Jonathan, 2012/0066
Duggan, Mike, 2013/0067
Farrell, Sean, 2013/0071
Fergus, James, 2013/0107
Fleming, Mike, 2013/0072
Flynn, Patrick, 2013/0001
Galant, Marcin, 2013/0083
Gibbons, Daniel, 2013/0103
Glynn, Ross, 2013/0028
Harkin, John, 2013/0117
Hendrick, Earl, 2013/0097
Horan, John, 2013/0096
Hughes, David, 2013/0124
Hughes, Jamie, 2013/0125
Kane, Brian, 2013/0082
Kane, Robert, 2013/0105
Kavanagh, Jonathan, 2013/0113
Kennedy, John, 2013/0122
Kenny, Peter, 2013/0127
Kelleher, Damien, 2013/0043
Kelliher, Denis, 2013/0057
Kelliher, Michael, 2013/0056
Kelly, Stephen, 2013/0080
King, Patrick J., 2012/0073
Lees, Kieran, 2013.0055
Markey, Brendan, 2013/0078
McAndrew, Pat, 2013/0106
McIlmale, Gerard, 2013/0094
McKeown, Nick, 2013/0088
Moore, Alan, 2013/0074
Morehead, Oscar, 2013/0119
Morgan, Gary, 2013/0121
Mulvany, David, 2013/0009
Murphy, James, 2013/0123
Naghten, John, 2013/0095
O’Brien, Barry G., 2013/0089
O’Brien, Ciaran, 2013/0090
O’Connor, John, 2013/0070
O’Neill, Liam, 2013/0086
O’Donoghue, Enda, 2013/0098
Porter, Paul, 2013/0099
Randle, Joseph, 2013/0100
Reibisch, Momme, 2013/0091
Ruane, James, 2013/0093
Scully, Declan, 2013/0024
Somers, Niall, 2013/0051
Smith, Stephen, 2013/0092
Smyth, Aaron, 2013/0104
Thompson, Bernard, 2013/0069
Woulfe, James, 2013/0046
Wyse, Bernard, 2013/0085
Young, Mervyn James, 2013/0120

 

RESULTS OF HCAP MCQ, PORTLAOISE, CO. LAOIS, SATURDAY 24 AUGUST 2013

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(Click to enlarge)

The following candidates (numbers, followed by mark achieved) were successful in the HCAP MCQ held in Portlaoise, Co. Laois, on Saturday 24 August 2013 and are eligible to participate in the HCAP Range Test to be held at the Midlands Range on Saturday 31 August 2013.

2013/0114, 92%
2013/0110, 90%
2013/0108, 90%
2013/0130, 94%
2013/0066, 86%
2013/0116, 94%
2013/0118, 92%
2013/0117, 96%
2013/0097, 84%
2013/0124, 86%
2013/0125, 84%
2013/0113, 80%
2013/0122, 92%
2013/0127, 80%
2013/0080, 92%
2013/0078, 84%
2013/0119, 80%
2013/0121, 84%
2013/0123, 84%
2013/0095, 86%
2013/0089, 80%
2013/0090, 96%
2013/0098, 94%
2013/0099, 80%
2013/0100, 80%
2013/0091, 90%
2013/0051, 88%
2013/0120, 82%
2013/0102, 92%

The following candidates (numbers, followed by mark achieved) were unsuccessful and are required to re-sit and pass the MCQ stage before proceeding to any Range Test. The application fee for repeat candidates is €50.00. MCQ dates and venues are posted periodically on this blog site. “Fail” grades may be appealed to the HCAP Assessment Committee, subject to written application accompanied by re-checking fee, €50.00. Where written application for re-checking is received, it is reviewed by the Committee at the next scheduled Committee meeting following receipt of application. Applications for re-checking must be received within 10 (ten) days of publication of results on this blog.

2013/0111, 72%
2013/0101, 72%
2013/0126, 66%

 

REGULATION (EC) 253/2004, “TRAINED PERSONS” & THE DEER ALLIANCE

The following is the position of the Deer Alliance in relation to the “Trained Person” requirement under Regulation (EC) 853/2004 so far as it affects the supply of wild shot game including venison into the human food chain.

1: The Regulation provides that persons who hunt wild game with a view to placing it on the market for human consumption must have sufficient knowledge of the pathology of wild game, and of the production and handling of wild game and wild game meat after hunting, to undertake an initial examination of wild game on the spot.

2: The requirement under the Regulation was given life by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food (now the Department of Food, Agriculture & the Marine) (“the Department”) on 29 August 2011 when it was stipulated that from 1st September 2011, a FCI (“Food Chain Information”) document must be completed for each wild deer received at Game Handling Establishments approved by the Department. The Department’s instructions to game dealers stated that both “Trained” and “Untrained” hunters (persons) should complete the FCI declaration in the prescribed form, “untrained” hunters presenting the form along with the whole deer including the head and all viscera (internal organs), except for the stomach and intestines, to the dealer (“trained hunters” being allowed to deliver the carcase minus head and internal organs where they could complete the declaration as “Trained” persons).

3: At the time of the Department’s edict, the Deer Alliance had already been negotiating with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland since 2005, with a view to securing accreditation from FSAI for a Deer Alliance Food Safety Module. Those negotiations had dragged on for some time and in the final analysis were overtaken both by the Department’s eventual implementation in 2011 of the Regulation of 2004, and by the NARGC’s introduction of their “Safe Handling of Wild Game” Course.

4: It emerged in negotiations that FSAI, although deemed the “competent authority” in matters to do with food safety, required third-party accreditation of the Deer Alliance Food Safety Module, as their Game Handling Course had become known in internal discussions. Therefore the Deer Alliance looked to FETAC (Further Education & Training Awards Council) for accreditation, to find at that time that applications for granting of awards and provider recognition were closed pending amalgamation of different awarding bodies under the new coordinating statutory body, Quality & Qualifications Ireland, or QQI (see www.qqi.ie). The Deer Alliance were therefore obliged to seek recognition from QQI firstly of the imperative for an award under QQI guidelines and within the National Framework of Qualifications, leading to a nationally-recognised Special Purpose Award at Level Six of the Award Scale and secondly, of the Deer Alliance position as a provider, again within QQI guidelines.

5: The current position is that Deer Alliance are now seeking to finalise the format of the Food Safety Module under QQI guidelines, and satisfying QQI as to their competence and credentials in terms of being the appropriate provider of training leading to the Award. The Course Syllabus, Course Format, Panel of Instructors and Cost have all been settled, and the route to approval within QQI has been identified. QQI themselves have stated to the Deer Alliance that they will not be in a position to agree any new Awards or Provider Applications until they have completed a round of public consultations across a wide range of courses at end August 2013. In the meanwhile FSAI have stated to QQI in meeting with Deer Alliance that they are fully satisfied and have confidence in the Deer Alliance Course Syllabus and in Deer Alliance as Course Providers.

6: The latest development is that on or about 24 July 2013 the Department launched what they describe as a Public Consultation process dealing with the requirement that all wild game presented to approved game handling establishments must be accompanied by a trained hunter declaration. By way of background they stated that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is proposing to make it compulsory that hunters who supply wild game to the market must undergo formal training in food hygiene, as required under EU Regulations. It is proposed that all wild game presented to Approved Game Handling Establishments should be accompanied by a trained person declaration. The Public Consultation document notes that many wild deer shot in Ireland are sold to the UK ‘in the skin’ and that the UK authorities are now insisting that all these deer must be presented with a trained person declaration to the approved game handling establishment. The document also notes that where a hunter is part of a hunting party, it is sufficient that only one person of the hunting team has the requisite training; the trained hunter can undertake the necessary examination and sign the declaration for the other hunters in the hunting party; also that the hunting of wild game for own use is outside the scope of the hygiene package regulations – “the ‘trained persons’ requirement is for those who hunt wild game with the intention of placing it on the market for human consumption and it does not apply to hunters who only hunt for domestic use”.

7: The question arises, what if anything has changed since September 2011. The answer is, nothing – except that the Department appear now to be proposing that mandatory training now be introduced for all hunters (with above exceptions) with effect from 1st November 2013. However various announcements including text messages from game dealers and others tend to suggest that the regime introduced in September 2013 has changed. This is not the case, and the Department has been asked to issue immediate clarification, up to and including retraction of the Public Consultation document where it is misleading or inaccurate, and to set a new and more realistic deadline for introduction of mandatory training. In the meanwhile the deerstalking community is urged to submit comments to the Department on or before the Public Consultation deadline of 19th August 2013.

8: It will be evident from the forgoing that a vast amount of time and energy has been put into the development of the Deer Alliance Food Safety Module as part of a re-structured Training, Assessment and Certification programme for Irish deerstalkers, encompassing proper training not just as trained persons in the matter of safe handling of game within the provisions of the Regulation, but as trained and certified hunters engaging in best-practice management of wild deer. In this regard, and subject only to final accreditation of the Food Safety Module by QQI (and such other authorities and/or accrediting bodies as may be appropriate), the Deer Alliance expects to introduce its Food Safety Module not later that 1st November 2013.




For more information of Regulation EC 853/2004, 
see earlier postings on this blog, 
29 August 2011 & 4 September 2011.


RESULTS OF HCAP MCQ, CLAREMORRIS, CO. MAYO, SUNDAY 28 JULY 2013

Officers of the Irish Deer Society (Connacht Branch) Jim Daly, Joachim Schaefer and Craig McCleane photographed with Liam Nolan, Deer Alliance, at the HCAP MCQ in Claremorris on 28 July 2013 
(Click to enlarge). 

The following candidates (numbers, followed by mark achieved) were successful in the HCAP MCQ held in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, on Sunday 28 July 2013 and are eligible to participate in the HCAP Range Test to be held at the Midlands Range on Saturday 31 August 2013.

2013/0074, 84%

2013/0086, 82%

2013/0088, 100%

2013/0092, 94%

2013/0093, 96%

2013/0094, 100%

2013/0096, 92%

2013/0103, 88%

2013/0104, 98%

2013/0105, 84%

2013/0106, 92%

2013/0107, 92%

The following candidates (numbers, followed by mark achieved) were unsuccessful and are required to re-sit and pass the MCQ stage before proceeding to any Range Test. The application fee for repeat candidates is €50.00. MCQ dates and venues are posted periodically on this blog site. “Fail” grades may be appealed to the HCAP Assessment Committee, subject to written application accompanied by re-checking fee, €50.00. Where written application for re-checking is received, it is reviewed by the Committee at the next scheduled Committee meeting following receipt of application. Applications for re-checking must be received within 10 (ten) days of publication of results on this blog.

2013/0091, 74%

2013/0097, 70%

2013/0099, 66%

2013/0100, 76%

2013/0102, 76%

2013/0108, 76%

IRISH TROPHY COMMISSION & DEER ALLIANCE AT BORRIS COUNTRY FAIR, AUGUST 3 & 4, 2013

Liam Nolan (left), Chairman, Irish Trophy Commissions, presents Declan Mortimor with his Gold Medal and Certificate at Borris Country Fair, following official measurement by Jonathan Murphy (right), ITC Accredited Head Measurer.

The Irish Trophy Commission shared a stand with the Deer Alliance at the National Country Fair held at Borris House, Co. Carlow on 3 & 4 August 2013. Visitors to the stand saw an impressive display of trophy heads, including medal-quality Irish deer species, as well as wild boar from Croatia, chamois from Austria and roe deer from Scotland. Several specimen heads were measured by Joe Murphy and Jonathan Murphy, accredited ITC measurers, including Declan Mortimor’s Gold Medal wild goat from Co. Clare, Michael Cleere’s Gold Medal red deer from Co. Kilkenny and the first recorded Gold Medal sika head from Co. Wexford.