Jason Bruce is the star of head hunter chronicles and he has been over in Scotland to try for
a stag, a salmon and a grouse.
The original Macnab was three people taking a salmon and two stags from three different
estates.
Nearly a century after the author John Buchan brought out his famous book, John Macnab,
it has transmogrified into a stag, a salmon and a grouse or two in a single day on a single
estate.
Snog the cook, too, and that's a Royal..and we can't possibly say what an Imperial is.!!
To be honest we're pretty good at them - we haven't failed yet, be it in Ireland with
the O'Nab, or travelling the length of the country in the Ferrari Macnab...
Today, we are out in Scotland with our friend American friend Jason Bruce.
He's the star of the series Headhunter Chronicles on US TV.
However, this time we're taking a back seat - casual onlookers as Jason's cameraman Cody
tries to get the money shots and harassed sporting agent Lachie Smith from Inverness-shire,
tries to make the whole thing happen.
My expectations of a Macnab is we are going to pull a red stag off this morning and then
get to fish and I heard the salmon is going to be the really tough one and then we will
get our grouse.
So its going to be a lot of action in one day.
Sure he has got to be pretty skilled at making the shot.
I will be over his shoulder so I will have a shot.
Are they here.
First stop is a stag, high in the hills above the Beauly River.
Richard Smith is the stalker here - Lachie's man on the ground.
The stags are thinking about rutting and are moving from one side of the valley to the
other.
Here that - we just need to find them now.
Normally, stalking takes place on the hill but Lachie and Richard reckon now's a good
time to ambush a stag crossing the glen.
But it's not easy.
Whatever, the stags were doing yesterday, they are not doing today.
We are better utilising the time ... think about a stag.
Give me a call when you get in.
When the action takes place, it takes place fast and we're the wrong end of the glen.By
the time we get there, Jason has shot his beast.
Thankfully it's not something I'm not in the hot seat and have to explain to David why
there's a dead deer but no shot.
Two years ago he would have had a heavier rack than that.
Rack that is American.
He is American.
Hadn't you noticed.
You can call it a trophy if you want to be European.
Or head if you want to be Scottish.
So you want all the help you have got today.
Get that down that should do the trick.
12 year old.
Good lad.
That is what we need.
Better than breakfast isn't it.
We are going to need it for the salmon, because I didn't tell you I am not much of a fisherman.
Jason's relief is palpable.
First of the three he wants is done and it is still not 9am.
We've done as much as we can to help Jason with his trip - it's a bit like an exchange
trip at school.
He sorts us out with coyote and bear in the States and show him a good time here.
But it's fascinating to talk about the differences in hunting culture - he's a hunting TV star
available on cable endorsed by possibly the biggest name in global hunting - Jim Shockey.
Jason is an amazing hunter.
I bump into him or his footprints in some of the strangest corners of the world.
Like literally on the border of Afghanistan, in Iran.
Jason is a fearless hunter, he is the real deal and I have a tonne of respect for him.
So Jason has got a stag in the bag.
All we need now is a fish on a dish and we seem to have arrived at a canal, luckily there
is a river just behind it.
There's no rest on a Macnab day so off we go to what Lachie reckons will be the trickiest
bit, the salmon.We know Lachie is worried about achieving it all in a day, but what
about Jason and his cameraman?
Failure on any of these quarry could ruin the whole production.
Pretty good fly you have got there.
It is not really a fly it is a rainbow lure and I am actually not sure of the technique.
I have caught salmon before in the State of Washington and we actually drifted in a drift
boat.
Any kind of fishing is kind of new to me.
We are going to get you spey casting before the end of the day.
Yes that is what they actually said we are going to fly fish for a couple of hours and
then go to the spinning rod.
The River Ness flows out of the bottom of Loch Ness.
It's normally a productive river.
There are fish here but the water is low.
Jason tries flyfishing but, well, he's America, so don't shoot him.
He reverts to the toby spoon.
Generally the salmon would be considered the hardest to get of those three.
We had ten fish here last week.
You know so there is every chance that he will get a salmon.
I am going to do my best to try and get him a salmon.
As I said there is no guarantee in it, but I think what you have done, you have gone
out and got a stag this morning.
Coming here, getting a couple hours of fishing here, if we get a salmon then the grouse is
probably the easiest to get out of those three.
So yes it looks like you are in with a good chance.
No joy on the fish front for Jason, so we're going to take a break from casting and try
for grouse.
We have arranged to meet a dog handler and a beater on a moor in the Moadhliath Hills.
Today it's a wirehaired viszla that's working.
Have you shot over these dogs before.
Not those sorts of dogs.
Over English pointers and German short haired pointers.
We spot the grouse on the ground - and Jason connects!
It takes the pressure off now.
If I could just teach Jason how to catch a fish I will know how this one happened, but
I can't even catch fish.
So let's go fishing.
If we can't catch a fish then Lachie is buying fish and chips in town.
Hopefully we won't get kicked out.
We got kicked out of three restaurants last night.
I got called red neck at the bar.
Thank you Charlie of reminding me of this.
I am very grateful to you.
I am sure we will get a fish.
Well that is a very relieved American hunting star there and probably an even more relieved
production bloke.
That is a grouse on the floor of a windy moor.
We have got a stag in the bag just one more to go it is the fish.
It's back to the river Ness.
The fish we want doesn't have to be huge - a Loch Ness Tiddler will do.
Quite a lot of the people who do want to do a Macnab aren't fishers.
That in itself is a big ask because if you came here purely to salmon fish.
You wouldn't expect to roll up on day one and ten minutes later catch a salmon.
It is a big ask, but it is possible.
It is possible, but it is making it as possible as you can.
Exactly but at the end of the day Mother Nature has got the last 10% of the argument whatever
you try and do.
Jason catches a trout, he hooks and loses a salmon.
Finally he hooks a fish and the ghilly releases it so quickly, we don't capture it on film.
Cody does however, so you will have to wait until the middle of 2014 to see it.
Jason's salmon may have been on a spinner rather than the more tradition fly, but that's
owing to conditions.
The lovely thing about a Macnab is you can make it up as you go along.
Lachie reckons the Macnab is the perfect way to offer people an experience of shooting,
stalking and fishing in Scotland,especially if you stretch it out over a whole week.
You'll be able to see this episode of Jason's Headhunter Chronicles series five on Sportsman
Channel in July 2014 and you can be kept posted by visiting HeadhunterChronicles.com.
However, for 2013 we can announce that Jason is allowing us to run his previous adventures
on Fieldsports Channel.
So stay tuned!
And finally for your very own Macnab week of your own drop Lachie Smith an email.
ls@highlandsporting.com.