With less than two years of service to go, I started to think about what I want to do in civilian life. I have a keen interest in the outdoors, in the countryside and in particular – Bushcraft. Whilst researching my resettlement options, I noticed HighGround – a charity developed specifically for service men and women in the transition phase from military to civilian.

They put me in touch with a former Rural Week participant who is now a semi-professional deer manager working for Jelen-Premier Wildlife Services. Having made contact with Tony, he and Jelen-PWS set up a three day internship paid for with my Individual Resettlement Training Costs (IRTC) Grant.

Over 3 days, I was mentored every day from first until last light in the skill sets required to find, identify and cull deer.

In addition, I was introduced to the business side of running a Deer Management company by professionals who were supportive and unstinting in sharing their deep and extensive knowledge of all aspects of deer stalking /management.

As a result, I am now in a much better position to decide on my options and how best to take the next step forward into civilian life either as a professional Deer Manager or as a recreational stalker.