Questions about stag hunting in UK

[LeeInSC]

When I see the rolling hills and forests of England and Scotland on the stag hunting web sites over there, and read the posts, several questions come to mind.

It seems to be a lot like the foothills of Virginia, but more open, like the foothills of Colorado where you would hunt mule deer among mixed trees and grass lands. Do you hunt them the same way, getting up on a ridge and glassing, then stalking? How far?

It seems a lot of the rifles are full sized Remington 700s, Steyr, Musgrave, Tikka 695, which weigh about 8.5 lbs or more loaded and with a sling. How much do you carry them in your hands, and how much slung on your back?

There are some very skilled stalkers, and some who hunt less often and not so skilled. How close are the typical shots, for the skilled who can close the distance, and those guided, who have to shoot from further away?

I don't see many dogs in photos, or much mention of tracking. Is most of the game found and recovered by those who shot it?

How far back in the country do you get from the roads, and how far do you pack the game out? I rarely any photos of horses or vehicles off the road, hauling out game.

[Waidmann]

We need to get Herne to comment on this one. I never hunted in Scotland for stags, although it was on my to-do list. From what I remember, the difficulty of the hunt was, at least to some extent, determined by the physical condition of the client hunter.

Waidmann

[LeeInSC]

I don't know how much climbing up and down you actually have to do. Some areas are very steep, like sheep country. Others are more like rolling hills, still a lot of climbing. The weather seems to be wet, like Washington state, or Oregon in the Pacific side. There is little cover, so you would have to do some crawling, like in pronghorn hunting. I would expect to see more waterproof clothing, and sturdy trousers, even with leather knee pads, and gloves.

Spot and stalk hunting is how I grew up, on squirrels, rabbits, foxes, and deer. This terrain is ideal for it, and beautiful, too. This is something I really want to do as soon as possible.

[André]

Some souvenirs from Scotland

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/Poneys.jpg
Highland Poneys

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/Stalkinginsnow-1.jpg
Stalking in snow

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/AMCharlie.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/BlairAthollAMRL.jpg
Stags shot with my former Wby .300

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/Reddeerherd.jpg
Part of a herd we were stalking. Due to the absence of cover, the difficulty was to approach the stag standing outermost right.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/RedstagR93.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/StagBlairAtholl.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/StagsBlairAtholl.jpg
Some victims of my Blaser R93 .300 Win

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/BlairAtholl-1.jpg
Gralloching in a beautiful scenery

[LeeInSC]

This is some very sparsely populated countryside, and has been for 300 years.
It seems that most of the hunters go out early by truck, hunt all day, and come home to supper and bed at the house at night. Is there no camping out overnight, or even for a week at a time?

[Altjaeger]

This is some very sparsely populated countryside, and has been for 300 years.
It seems that most of the hunters go out early by truck, hunt all day, and come home to supper and bed at the house at night. Is there no camping out overnight, or even for a week at a time?

Generally I think you will find the hunters back at an inn or Gaesthaus for dinner and a brew in the evening sleeping at home or the inn. Once in a while I heard of someone enjoying a small cabin, but never a tent camp.

[André]

You're right, Altjäger, we were housed in a fully accomodated lodge. Each morning, the hunting teams went to a different corner of the hills. A typical team consisted of the stalker (= PH), 1-2 hunters and 1-2 ghiliies to lead the poneys. Stalker and hunter(s) would start the climb in a Land Rover untill it got stuck. From there on, we'd proceed "pedibus cum gambis". Going slower, the poney leading ghillies followed behind and were warned by radio of the beasts to pick up. At the end of the day we'd all meet at a predetermined point and head back to the lodge.

[LeeInSC]

Those are beautiful photos, Andre'. The scenery is spectacular, and I like the way the photos are so natural, not mimicking some magazine or brochure pose. Everyone looks like they are having fun.

Some friends of mine went to Scotland on a bird hunting trip, by train. They spent a day and night in a town, or two, then moved on and shot birds in the next place. They went way up into the highlands and sent me a photo of a cabin, dug into the ground with only the windows up protruding, for the herders and hunters who were far from the main house, especially in the day before automobiles. It was all stocked up with firewood for the winter. Very cozy looking.

I am trying to get over to Argyll, where one side of my family came in the late 1600s, and see their old abodes, and walk their old properties, hopefully with some hunting mixed in. My wife, who is all Scottish descent on both sides, would be more enthusiastic about the trip if the lodgings are comfortable, the food prepared, and towns to stroll about and shop. That's fine with me, too. As long as the hunting involves effort and skill, I am happy.

After you get out of the truck, how much walking do you typically do in a day's stag hunting?
Also, I don't see many trees. It seems you could glass them like sheep and then proceed to try and close in on them.

[André]

It's mountainous, not as high as the Alps but still around 1500 m (4900 ft). The Jeep brings us about half-way up until the "road" stops and we then walk, climb, crawl for the rest of the day. One has to be fit to hunt through the afternoon. Weather is quite predictable : plain awfull... Rain, snow, mist, wind and... sun, all of it within a few hours. One's things sure too, you'll get wet from head to toes, if not from the rain, it will be from sweat. Back at the lodge, dinner follows a quick shower and most are so exhausted they fall asleep before leaving the table. One would be quite pretentious to book for the Highlands without having shaped up some months before.

[LeeInSC]

Andre'
Were those photos from one hunt, or two different hunts?
If you don't mind my asking, what part of Scotland were these photos taken?

[André]

No Lee, they're from 2-3 different yearly hunts where I booked and shot 4 Stags each time.
Now, on that grand estate of Blair Atholl (see pics below)you could harvest 10-12 a week if your physical condition and ££££££££££ are both up to par...
Our hunting was planned for 4 days and, while I prefer to stage the events and shoot one beast a day, one has to take the (impredictable but mostly bad) weather conditions into account. Sometimes, you're better to follow the stalker's advice and "take them as they come", even if it means shooting them all in a day and spending the remaining days playing the tourist for, smog or storm could ruin the rest of the hunt. These pics were all taken at about the same dates, give or take a day but 1-2 years apart. On some you see snow, rain and on others sunny weather. Truth is, you might -and often will- get all types of weather on the same day, in a matter of hours (meaning you dress and prepare for the worst...). Anyway, whatever you do or wear you'll get drenched, by rain, snow and... sweat at every outing...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/Othello041990/BlairAtholl-2.jpg
Above : Blair Castle, large and white, visible from the highway Edinburgh-Inverness (not far from the Royal Castle of Balmoral)
Below : on the estate, the lodge where our party stayed. Our cars are parked in front.

[LeeInSC]

Thanks so much, Andre'.

The answer was just as I had hoped, from looking at the hunting terrain: the hunting grounds are on the lands owned by my ancestors over 1,000 years ago. The remnant of that clan, and the ruins of one of their Middle Age castles, are only a few miles up the coast. Blair Castle looks like quite the place. I am going to look around for other hunting and places to stay in the area, because I am really hot to make a full-fledged trip to Scotland with my wife.