I just thought I would share these as we started our stag stalking schedule for the Garroch this week.

Nice stags! Looks like the 10X was killed on the side of the hill below the rocks where I shot my two beasts a few years ago.

Yep up in that face mate but closer to the bowl.

K

Magnificent looking hunt. Thank you for letting us see part of it.

Are these typical trophies for the area?

There is very little trophy stag stalking in Scotland. You get what they tell you to shoot.

If it is a big trophy stag it is the hunters luck. If it is a 15 year old stag with 3 tines on each side, it is the hunters luck.

Big Wonderful Wyoming: That has not been my experience but I guess it depends on your definition of a trophy and who you stalk with. I consider a mature 10 or 10+ point stag worthy of any wall in my home. If you need a multi-palmed, 20+ point animal for it to be a trophy, you should probably look elsewhere. Although some estate stags in the UK are big beasts. If you believe experience and participating in good management is part of a trophy experience, you can kill a mature, trophy stag representative of the area. I have shot my share of switches and culls, and sometimes that is required before you get on a good stag. However, I have also stalked and killed some big, beautiful, mature, free range, Scottish stags. A couple of them were on the Garroch with Fallow Buck and his crew. You can see them on his website where the stag photos are posted. I am the attractive gentleman on the second row with the flat cap. Maybe I am just lucky...

Safe travels and safe shooting............Larry

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Are these typical trophies for the area?

Hiya,

I would say these are on the smaller side of the range, especially the little 8pt which we refer to as "a Chad Buck"!!. The 11 was probably a couple of years away from big status but would of been taken out for the lack of symmetry

He would have ended up like this one which I shot a coupleof years ago at a range of about 20ft!! I roared him in and he literally came round the back of the hill to sneak up on me and start a fight!!!:





Other stags we have shot are like these, but this next one is the current scottish hill record since 2010. Several AR members have seen biggeron the hill but have been unable to close the distance so the legend of 2-Tone lives on!!

Just for reference,

Galloway stags are renowned for a couple of things. Primarily it is their dark antlers that carry mass well through the beam. Neil is not a small guy and both the record stag and the royal on the chair are nearly as thick as my wrist almost up to the crowns.

The other thing you will notice is the mane on these animals. They are particularly long with some specimens reaching 10-12 inches so they make an impressive mount.

It is a hard hunt and we don't conduct in the way of the traditional highland stag hunts. We like to focus on hunting the bigger stags during the rut/roar, but we take what the hunting gods are willing to send us. It works well and providing you are fit enough and don't breathe on your scope (justr sayin dude..) then you should be able to get a good stag weather permitting....

I'll post more pics next week when the next guys go through.

K

Kiri:

Catherine has been bugging the hell out of me to return to Scotland. Even though I didn't shoot anything close to my biggest hill stag with you, it as a great hunt and great value - but if I had brought my own rifle I would have taken my biggest hill stag - I am sure of it. But at 430 yards I didn't know the trajectory of Jacob's .25-06 and so we elected to get closer - that plan failed.

Actually, the thing we talk about a lot is that guy that came into the hotel pub selling the fish prints when we were having dinner/drinks...remember that? We bought a trout print and it is framed just below a Cape buff and above a smallmouth mount.

Hey mate, that's the beauty of the place. You just don't know what is going to turn up.

I heard today that the record was broken a couple of weeks ago about half a mile away. I have a hunch I know the stag as I saw him last year but didn't have someone able to get to him.

Current score is 192.5 CIC

Let me know if you want to get back and we can make a plan.

K

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Are these typical trophies for the area?

Jerry, those are typical free range highlands stags. I did a similar trip back in 1985 and it remains one of my greatest sporting memories. Scottish deer stalking is about the 'sport', not the horns.

I shot 4 stags in 4 days but it also included guided activities for the wives during the day, black tie dinners at night followed by sampling single malts. It's about as gentlemanly as a hunting trip can be. Gene Hill, the well known author, and his lovely wife Marsha were our group leaders. Visiting with him over a fine single malt in front of the fireplace after dinner was wonderful.

We hunted with Major Neil Ramsey, whom I presume is deceased at this point. He hosted us on his estate near Aberfeldy. I don't recall all the estates I stalked on, but I'll never forget Airlie Estate or Pitmain Estate. Two beautiful properties and the memories remain vivid. Also, our final dinner was grand even before Eddie MacGregor came marching in, playing the bagpipes for our enjoyment. The Scottish highlands at this time of year are wonderful. It's an experience worth doing, by all means.

So the new record stag was shot about half a mile away as the crow flies and I have a hunch I had seen him two years ago but we just couldn't get on him.

He was ten years old so he had plenty of time to pass on those genetics.

Those are proper Chad stags. Joel’s stag looks pretty wide in the picture.

Chad

quote:

Originally posted by mrfudd:
Those are proper Chad stags. Joel’s stag looks pretty wide in the picture.

Chad

Hey buddy, I wondered if I'd get a rise!!

I hope you are well.

It sounds like they caught up with Two Tone a couple of weeks ago.

Speak soon,
K

All is good here, hope you have mended sufficiently. I guess son of two tone will have to do. Looks like better weather for stalking this year- the sun was nice last year, but movement was really down.

Hey,

Yep it is colder and they are moving about. They started chasing hinds a week or two ago but should be roaring well by now. Last year was abnormally warm but you are right it has an impact on the big guys.

I think I may head up tomorrow and take a look as I picked up some more ground and I want to see what's on it.