Photograph: Pat Scully and Jonathan Murphy undergo training in measuring a Red deer trophy head (Click to enlarge).
The Irish
Trophy Commission (ITC) held a Training Day on Saturday 25 May 2013 for persons
seeking to become ITC Accredited Head Measurers. The Training Day took place at
the Irish Fly-Fishing & Game Shooting Museum at Attanagh, Co. Laois, by
kind permission of the Museum’s Founder, Walter Phelan.
Training was
provided by Joe Murphy, ITC Secretary, who is also a CIC-Accredited Measurer,
with Liam Nolan, ITC Chairman, in attendance. Two candidates nominated by the
Wild Deer Association of Ireland, Pat Scully and Jonathan Murphy, successfully
completed the Training Day and were awarded their Certificates as
ITC-Accredited Measurers.
Pat and
Jonathan will now undergo a probationary period during which they will measure
heads under the supervision of experienced measurers Liam McGarry and Joe
Murphy, and will be available to measure heads at the forthcoming WDAI AGM on
15 June 2013.
ITC
Measurers will also be available to measure heads at the Borris National
Country Fair in August, and at the Birr Game Fair 2013.
Like BASC in
the UK, the ITC system has been benchmarked to the CIC criteria, but
incorporating various changes and rationalisations that will make the
measurement of deer antlers in Ireland more accessible, more inclusive and more
logical. ITC is confident that their system will still produce total scores
that will be within 1-3 per cent of CIC measurements. This is the same
differentiation that is normally found between all trained and experienced
measurers, whatever their backgrounds – hence the requirement for panels of
measurers in some European countries. ITC aim to ensure that ITC measurements
remain comparable to those offered by other systems, but also bring in many
previously unrecorded trophies and provide a significant contribution to Irish
deer data and statistics.
For
information on ITC Trophy Measuring, contact Joe Murphy, 087 283 4662.