WILDLIFE WATCH

OUR NETWORK

2022 was a particularly busy period for the CIC Trophy Evaluation System (TES). After numerous delays to trainings caused by the pandemic, we were finally able to start offering courses to great success all across the European continent.

Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, the UK and Bulgaria were among the countries in which training events took place this year.

For 2023, trainings in Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and France are already in the pipeline. We look forward to seeing you all next year.

To-date, there are a total of 33362 evaluations in the Trophy Evaluation Database (TED). By the end of the year, we will have trained around 240 new measurers, with the total number of active measurers now reaching just over 900!

Among the numerous fantastic evaluations that took place in the past months, the highlight was most certainly the new world record for muntjac, receiving a CIC International Gold Medal in the process.

With an impressive 81.88 points, the specimen was measured by Senior Trophy Judge Iain Watson during the CIC training event that took place in Oxford.

IN MEMORIAM: GEORGE ALLAN ALLISON (1939-2022)

We are sad to announce the passing of Allan Allison (83), the respected trophy judge, taxidermist and naturalist from Scotland.

A major contributor to the world of trophy measuring, Allan helped pioneer the evaluation of Scottish deer trophies from the 1980’s, along with the late Richard Prior and the late G Kenneth Whitehead (co-author of the Red Book). In so doing, he developed an in-depth knowledge and understanding of typical and non-typical roebucks.

Always a meticulous record keeper, in the days before the TES and the TED, Allan established and maintained a significant Scottish database covering the four deer species found in the country, leaving a valuable legacy of records scored using the CIC formulae.

At the establishment of the CIC UK Trophy Commission in 1997, Allan’s skill and commitment was acknowledged when he was appointed by Thomas Troubridge to be the senior Scottish judge. He was familiar not only to those attending Game Fairs in Scotland, but also to the many hunters from across Europe and further afield who visited his home to talk about hunting, sporting art, guns, and to have their trophies assessed. A regular contributor in the specialist sporting press, more recently he co-authored a work on vintage English guns.

After his retirement from active trophy measuring in 2008, Allan stayed involved by offering his knowledge and skills, while keeping his hand in ongoing matters by looking at heads brought to him by hunting friends. His contribution over the years has been of great importance in the UK and beyond, and he will be keenly missed.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Tony Dalby-Welsh United Kingdom 2014-STJ-014

How did you get into the world of trophies and what is the motivation that drives you?

My involvement with the CIC began over 30 years ago when I was recruited by G Kenneth Whitehead and Richard Prior, who - in running the UK Trophy Commission - used the Red Book as the basis of its work having been intimately involved in its production. Shortly afterwards, I became Head of Delegation (HoD), an accidental promotion and one brought about by the HoD at the time, the Duke of Westminster, resigning unexpectedly while pulling rank as a Major General on a lowly Brigadier.

I have always been interested in antlers and the growths which animals produce as part of their natural cycle. I think I was persuaded that the original use of an evaluation process was to try and help deer managers to better nurture the stocks of whatever species it was they had on their land. That in itself, I believe, is still valid as a reason to assess trophies. If we could only find a word to replace “trophy”; I would jump on it immediately!

The problem we have is that when the measuring system first evolved, the size of hunting estates were generally much greater than they are today. What we do see is an increase in the break-up of large tracts of land where an increasing number of hunters are involved in the management process.

Particularly within Europe, areas are often under some form of state control, but increasingly in other areas, their management is at the whim of individual landowners of whom there may be many across a single species range. This tends to make for incoherence in management strategies and - as a result - the species themselves suffer.

You are currently Co-Chairman of the International Trophy Evaluation Board. What is its main purpose?

My involvement with the International Trophy Evaluation Board was as much as anything a desire to try and bring the many nations who subscribe to the new TES closer together in producing greater consistency of performance across the spectrum of species that the CIC evaluates.

Language is always an issue, but there is a willingness to move closer together in terms of how we assess the various trophies. This is helped tremendously by the utility that the Trophy Evaluation Database affords us.

That in itself is now nearly ten years old and there is no doubt that a fundamental review of its capabilities is required. Database management has moved on over this period and we must ensure that we take advantage of the advanced capabilities that we can now include in what we do. What are the needs for fundamental review in the Trophy Evaluation Database?

A review of the Trophy Evaluation Database is fundamental to the future of trophy measuring within the CIC. We must also take a long hard look at whether we are serious about protecting the CIC’s copyright, applicable to both its publications relating to measuring trophies and the system of measurement itself.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to look at how we can positively use the data that we are collecting day by day.

Over 33,000 records now exist on the database and that must, in some way, be of some scientific value. The International Trophy Evaluation Board will have a view, but this question must be considered by a much broader audience within the CIC itself.