Another day another hunting destination, and once again we have been drawn to the majestic
Scottish hillside. Realtree's Nolen Sweet its out with the Huntsman, and is hoping to
harvest one of the many fine red stag, that inhabit this hillside. In Scotland there is
a healthy red deer population. Figures vary, but there are estimated to be between 500,000
and 750,000 red deer in Scotland, although red deer traditionally live in forest, they
have adapted there habitat and behaviour as the forests declined. They are now found mostly
in glens and on hillsides across the highlands, irelands and lowlands of Scotland. It is claimed
that the deer stalking industry in Scotland brings in an estimated £1,500,000 each year.
Before Nolen can get out and do his bit, he must show the ghillie that he is a competent
shot. Nolen sets off up the steep banks, climbing these hills is no easy task, and you have
to make sure that you are fit to hunt in these hills. Or your going to struggle. Onwards
and upwards they go in pursuit of the elusive red stag. Well it is absolutely gorgeous out
here, you have the hills and the valleys down here, you got beautiful creeks and brooks
running through it. It is absolutely gorgeous up here, and it is steep, it is. Much more
than I was expecting, but we will keep trudging along and keep after it. So this time of day
what are the stags doing? Well they are probably on the hill line. Fancy going in for a swim?
I was thinking about that, seems a couple of spots that would be nice to get a little
dip in. Right well we are heading, or we are going to go up this way here, we are trying
to keep down wind, the wind is coming from my right here at the moment, what with what
little wind there is. There is a big area of ground there, and we are trying to go round,
following the river round in circle and see if we can find something to stalk out there.
The boys stop off for a spot of light refreshment, and then it is time to move on again. So what
we have done is we have followed the river here, moved all the way up they hill, having
the wind to our backs, pushing the wind up this way, we wanted to come up, and be able
to look up onto the hill here. You see that short rooks there, and on top of the hill
with the sun on it there is quite a big group there. What we are looking at is the sunny
patch over there and it has warmed up the grass, should be nice for the deer to eat
on, so we are going to see if we can make our way up a little further and do a little
spotting and see if we can find any stag up in there. In the open ground the deer can
be seen a long way off, the only problem being that the hunters can also get be seen a long
way off. Suddenly they spot some deer crossing in front of them. Nolen takes instruction
on which deer to take, and takes his shot. The shot is good although the stag does not
appear to react to the shot. It does not make it far before it stops, drops, and expires.
So we have just moved up the hill, and we were down at the river, we could see them
moving across, and something had scared them, so we held close to the river, walked around
the bank moved up the hill, and right here as we were crossing the hill, they are crossing
the river. So we picked out a nice stag, real pretty, chocolate horns, with white tips,
moved across, waited for the right opportunity, he paused for a moment, took the shot, hit,
he started to run off, but watched hum through the scope and just as I was about to take
another shot, he was starting to wobble and he collapsed. So he went down, and we got
a solid hit. Aw man, that was quite exciting, quite a rush. that was good game keeping right
there. Knew exactly where he was going to be. You can see, pretty decent shot, here
is the exit hole, the way he was, so we will find it on the other side of the shoulder,
pretty sure that he has been hit in all vitals. You could hear the bullet hit. Made a solid
sound. So i knew it was on him, watched through the scope and just as he started to pause
a little, you saw him wobble and take his last breathe, and collapsed, right here. He
is an absolute, magnificent, beautiful creature. You can see he has still got a little bit
of the velvet coming off, gorgeous little bit of the white tips, chocolate horns, just
an absolutely gorgeous species of animal, incredible game keeping, we saw the herd as
they walked up the hill and it was just an awesome, incredible experience. As this is
the traditional first, this is Nolens first stag, so I am traditionally, he gets a wee
bit of blood on his cheeks. The deer on this estate are brought off the hill in a traditional
method, one of the 3 native breeds of the highlands, the highland pony was originally
bred to be strong and hardy enough, to not only carry a 17 stone stag, but to hold timber
and provisions as well, back in the day. I suppose you could call it, the original 4x4.
Nolen heads off the hill after a truly breathtaking stalking experience, and you can bet it wont
be his last.