The DSC1 assessment tests knowledge and skills in the following areas:

• Deer biology and ecology.
• Legislation.
• Stalking techniques and taking the shot.
• Deer identification.
• Safety.
• Shooting.
• Large game meat hygiene.

The DSC1 assessment has the following 5 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 6 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 4 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.

2 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.

2 shots into the chest killing area of a DMQ deer target from 70m. The shooting position may be standing, kneeling, or sitting. sitting or kneeling. As before, normal aids such as bipods or sticks may be used.

2 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.

Re-assessment
If you do not pass any of the 5 modules in the DSC1 assessment you will have to re-sit only those modules you did not pass. You can do such re-sits with any Assessment Centre with their agreement. You do not have to use the Centre you are registered with. You can expect to pay a fee for a re-assessment, which must be completed within 3 years of the date of registering for DSC1.