|
|
Print-friendly version
DEER STALKING
Scotland is undoubtedly the home of the finest traditional Red Deer stalking in the world.
To some extent the whole concept of painstakingly making one’s way up and across the face of an open mountain with no cover except short heather, using the topography of the land to reach a vantage point from which the shot can be taken, was developed specially for the Scottish Highlands, by Victorian sportsmen.
They tended to be wealthy, and the whole traditional system is based on having local experienced guides, or ‘ghillies’, who know every inch of the ground and will always know where the finest stags are to be found. Traditionally, due to the extremely rugged terrain, a ’pony-boy’ would also have been employed, to bring the stag back down from the hill so that the sportsman did not have to do this himself.
The immediate preparation of the body by draining the blood and removing the unwanted internal organs, known as ‘gralloching’, and the transport of the stag back to the larder was done by these estate employees, and to this day, the best stalking is still done in this way, although in some cases, all-terrain vehicles have replaced the traditional ponies on less difficult terrain.
This experience cannot be found anywhere else in the world, which is why thousands of sporting visitors come each year to take part in this most traditional and spectacular of sports. The best quality sport can be obtained from sporting agents or estates, many of which will be found on the Business section of this site, but there are many less expensive options to be found, such as culling the hinds at the end of the year or taking less spectacular stags as part of a sustainable management programme.
In some parts of Scotland, we have extensive commercial forestry plantations and the Red deer also use these as cover and shelter from harsh mountain weather – the stalking technique used in woodland stalking is completely different, and often utilises high seats and dawn and dusk stalking to produce successful shooting. The deer tend to be much larger in these woodland areas due to the better food supply and more sheltered conditions, and some of the heads can be truly magnificent.
For many years, Sika deer, a non-native species, have escaped from captivity, and we now have large numbers of these in some areas. In many cases, they have interbred with the local Red deer, and they are shot in the same ways.
Roe deer stalking is generally a woodland or woodland-edge sport, and these smaller deer live in the lowlands of Scotland rather than the bare and rugged mountainous areas, so the stalking is less arduous and often less formal.
As with woodland stalking for Red deer, it is mainly carried out from high seats and in early morning or late evening, and visiting sportsmen are likely to be accompanied by a local expert who knows the woodland and where the deer are most likely to be found.
|
|
