Deer stalking is a full-time job for Tom Marshall.

The 29-year-old manages 600 deer on the 6,000-acre Cornbury Park Estate, near Charlbury.

His role includes culling as many as 300 animals each year, using a high-powered rifle with telescopic sight and silencer.

He said: “It’s a bullet, so it’s quick and they don’t know anything about it.

“My training means I’m able to do everything I can to make sure there’s no suffering.

“I’m a glorified farmer, except that a farmer loads animals on to a truck and sends them off to market or an abattoir for slaughter.

“I individually select animals in the park, so they are shot where they are born and have spent their lives, without having the stress of being transported.”

Culling is done on the basis of age and strength, improving stock through selective breeding of the deer.

He explained: “If there are 100 yearling males we would normally shoot 70 and let 30 go through.

“When they are two I will shoot another 15, and when they reach three I cull five and so on, until from that initial 100 there will be only four left.”

Once killed, the deer are skinned in what is known as ‘the deer larder’, where carcasses are hung.

The venison goes to local shops and restaurants, including Denshams butchers in Witney’s High Street.

Mr Marshall, who lives in a ‘grace-and-favour’ house on the estate, explained: “A 10-year-old fallow, shot in the middle of the season when trying to rut, so full of adrenalin, would taste horrible.

“But an 18-month-old female reared on our estate would be fantastic.

“It’s like the most tender Welsh lamb versus old mutton.”

Brought up on a farm, Mr Marshall says he knew he wanted to work with animals from an early age.

His career with deer began with work experience at Woburn Abbey, in Bedfordshire, which keeps more than 1,000 deer.

They offered him a job when his placement ended and he ended up staying for six years.

During that time he completed a National Diploma in Game and Wildlife Management.

After a posting at a deer park in Kent he was recommended for the Cornbury Park job by his old boss at Woburn. Mr Marshall is one of just 15 full-time deer managers in the country.

“A lot of people are quite intrigued when I tell them what I do for a living,” he said.

Most of the culling is done in the winter.

“In the summer you put the rifle away for a few months and enjoy the deer. Deer are quite secretive animals and hide away when they have their young.

“So although we see the odd fawn born, they have that wild instinct still.

“The best thing about my job is being out and about in the summer and enjoying the deer and feeding them in winter.

“I feel quite proud when people comment on how well they look.

“The worst thing about my job is having to deal with wild deer which have been in road collisions.

“I am proud deer deaths are quick and humane but when I have to go out to an accident that does upset me a bit.”