Sharpshooter

Post-covid demand may be driving up prices, but a record of sums paid in years gone by shows that stalking is more affordable today

The UK economy is bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels. Spending on overseas holidays and the like was held back while the virus raged, but now it seems the dam is about to burst. Demand is driving up the price of a host of recreational activities.

I understand that next season’s driven pheasants are averaging about £40 a bird. Some of the high bird shoots are charging as much as £60. Hill stalking is generally around £600 to £800 a stag, with trophy animals costing a lot more. Hind stalking tends to be around £200 to £350 a day — though one traditional estate, which still uses ponies, is charging £450 a day.

These prices are what they are because there are plenty of punters who are willing to pay that sort of money and make up for lost time. Time may not be a renewable resource, but money is, apparently.

So how do today’s prices compare with those of earlier times? We can use an online calculator to adjust real prices in line with inflation. This isn’t the whole story, of course, because at the same time, real incomes and living standards have risen markedly since about 1950. Taking inflation alone into account is not fully comparable, because people have much more disposable income today. But it provides a useful baseline.

In this context, I was fascinated to read a book called Deer Stalking in the Scottish Highlands 1940-1990 by Michael Forsythgrant (Pentland Press, 1999). Written as a diary, it charts the author’s stalking career season by season, on a total of 55 different Scottish deer forests. One of the most interesting details of the book is the way it records the prices he paid.

In 1948 Forsyth-grant was staying at the Invergarry Hotel, which leased a number of deer forests for guests, including

Garrygulach and Glengarry. He says the stalking was “cheap” at just £5 for every stag shot, the carcass belonging to the hotel. That equates to about £200 a stag today. It seems that the value of venison was much higher in those days and offset the cost of the stalking.

In the 1950s, the value of stalking rose. In 1952, Forsyth-grant rented Achnacarry North for £120 for a week, expecting 10 stags, with stalker, gillie and ponyman provided and the estate keeping the carcasses. That’s nearly £400 a stag in today’s money.

But if venison prices were high in those post-war years, the value of land was certainly not. In 1955, Forsyth-grant considered buying a deer forest near Ullapool. The asking price for 23,000 acres, a dilapidated lodge and several cottages equated to just £400,000 in today’s money.

In the 1970s, inflation ramped up. Forsyth-grant rented Pait and Monar forests for a week in 1979, paying £1,500, with an expectation of 12 stags. That equates to about £750 a stag today. He paid his stalker

“Venison’s value was much higher in those days and offset the cost of the stalking”

a tip of £10 a day (£60 today). In 1989, he stalked on Hunthill, paying £235 a stag (£640 today) and tipped his stalker £30 a day (£80 today).

It seems clear that, even 40 years ago, hill stalking was attracting the same sort of prices per stag that we see today, adjusted for inflation. Given the increase in incomes, this means that stalking is almost certainly more affordable now.