Hi!
I am Darren Kilner, an experienced and keen countryside and deer manager.
I have been studying and managing deer for over 25 years and have been fortunate enough to travel the length and breadth of the UK to professionally experience and manage these incredible and iconic animals at first hand.
I started Apex Woodland & Wildlife Services to answer the requests of landowners who were experiencing increasing deer numbers, which were negatively impacting their environments and livelihoods, but were unsighted about the best way to manage them in an ethical and sustainable way.
During my time in the UK Armed Forces, I was a competitive biathlete, competing internationally. These skills directly enhance my ability to coach the high-pressure, precision shooting required in the wildlife management environment.
Previously, I was a security expert within National Governmental Agencies, actively working with stakeholders to achieve the best outcomes. I bring this professionalism to ApexWWS.
I have had roles as diverse as Bomb Disposal to project manager and spent many years as an accredited trainer. These skills transfer into my knowledge of risk, solutions and inter-personal relationships.
The team at ApexWWS are all Deer Management Qualification (DMQ) 2 qualified as a minimum. Most are DMQ approved witnesses (AWs) to ensure consistent high standards whilst some are LANTRA deer managers and DMQ assessors.
Stewardship
Many estate and landowners are entering into mid- and higher-level stewardship schemes, but have little experience in how to gather evidence and manage the portfolios. ApexWWS are perfectly set up to assist in the initial gathering of data through to managing the portfolio and are able to provide advice and mitigations for the term of the agreement.
We care passionately about doing things properly and this is our approach to woodland and deer management. Everything we do is planned, safe, ethical and conducted as discreetly as possible. The reputation of the client is as important to us as our own.
Shoot Training
Our Training arm is Apex firearms training. You will be looked after by qualified trainers (not just shooters who think they can teach) as well as NRA qualified Range Conducting Officers who will give you relaxed coaching to get you shooting better in a safe environment on the Sussex South Downs.
Over the years I have seen newer stalkers excitedly walking out of gun shops with a bag of parts and a new rifle over their shoulder, with very little idea what to do next, other than gather what they can from the Internet. If this describes you, get in touch for our rifle set-up sessions. This will get you confident and safe with your rifle assembly, care and cleaning. Then you will get competent and zeroed on the target at 100m.
Come to us for training in safety, rifle handling, basic shooting (100m) pre DMQ 1.
Our basic rifle safety and handling courses are accredited by LANTRA.
Once you are proficient, why not come along for some more advanced tutorials. We teach some of the finer points of shooting such as wind reading, shooting at elevation, reticule characteristics, adjusting for bullet drop at distance. We would expect you to be able to shoot consistently at 50m-300m from multiple positions after this course.
All are welcome (subject to legal exclusions) but its probably worth noting that we are primarily shooting with deer management in mind. So, if you are already at a high standard and shooting flys off the target frame at 600m we would love to see you for some practice, but it won't be as testing as Diggle Ranges or WMS.
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