MORVERN lines
Eye to the hills
WINTER is an important time of the year for Highland stalkers. It is the season when the red deer hinds, the females of the species, are carefully selected and culled. The short winter days can be long and difficult for these gentlemen of the hills who go about their work in the most uncomfortable and trying conditions. Chilled to the marrow by the bracing northerly winds from Scandinavia, soaked to the skin from crawling through peat bogs and lying for hours in melting snow and ice, their task is indeed a hard one.
As if to compensate for the unpleasant times, there are days when to be on the high ground is nothing short of pure joy. The unrivalled scenery, the solitude, the lift of a golden-eagle on the breeze, the croak of ptarmigan among the rocks and the bark of a hind by the edge of the loch in the fading light. All these make the stalker’s task an enviable one as he goes about his business in the evening of the year.
Knowledge of the terrain and the strike of the wind on every corrie and slope of his ground are the most important factors which a stalker has to take into account when deciding where to stalk. To get close to deer one must be able to think like them – and that only comes through years of experience and respect for the animals.
A deer’s sense of smell is as strong as its eyesight and awareness. Hunted from time immemorial, they hate the scent of man and will run for miles once it is in their nostrils. Depending on the strength of the wind and the climatic conditions at the time, a hill-stalker will rarely risk passing within a mile on the windward side of a group of deer. Unless they have been disturbed, or the weather is especially fine, deer will nearly always lie out of the wind and so it is on that part of the hillside the stalker must start looking for deer with his telescope or binoculars before setting out.
It is possible to stalk deer in almost any weather but some conditions do not help. Mist is probably the greatest problem. Not only are they invisible it also makes them nervous and unsettled, and apt to move around more than usual. Human scent carries further and stronger in the mist and the slightest puff of back wind at the last minute will send them racing away over the nearest skyline.
Driving rain is not only uncomfortable, it makes spotting deer more difficult. It also creates a problem when using a telescopic sight – as most stalkers do these days. One of the pleasures of going stalking with a rifle or a camera is to be able to sit, back against a rock or a heathery bank, spying the surrounding areas unobserved, which is impossible in wet and windy weather. Although frosty ground is a pleasure to walk and crawl over, it can be noisy, especially if the stalker is wearing synthetic materials for extra warmth instead of traditional tweeds. Deer have acute hearing and the slightest noise of breaking ice will hold their attention for long periods.
High wind also makes deer wary. Although favouring the stalker by coming from a definite direction, its movement among heather and grass makes the animals nervous. Often when feeding in a gale, they will suddenly throw up their heads and catch out the unwary stalker as he or she tries to slip across an open patch of moorland.
On reaching the firing point, usually not more than 100 yards from the animal, the stalker spends some time selecting which one to shoot. The choice depends on the objective. Where the primary purpose is to reduce the size of the herd for the benefit of the majority, the oldest and the youngest will be taken as they will be the first to die of natural causes if left. If the animal is being taken for its meat, a ‘yeld’ hind is selected. That is a female which for some reason did not have a calf the previous year and is therefore in prime condition.
Once selected, the marksman shoots the animal in the neck, or the heart to ensure that it is killed as quickly and cleanly as possible. It is then bled and gralloched and taken to the larder by pony or more likely an ATV (all-terrain vehicle). Gralloching is the removal of the intestines which is of no commercial value and better left on the hill as food for the ravens and the golden or sea eagles.
Back at the larder, the carcasses are thoroughly cleaned, inspected and hung in a chiller to await collection by a game dealer or to be skinned and cut up for home consumption. Gifts of venison are permissible under the current legislation. Sales, other than to a licensed dealer, are rightly illegal to ensure it hasn’t been poached and that the product is traceable and presented to the public under the best possible conditions.