Nice day on the hill near Dalwhinnie in the central highlands.
1 stag each for me and my old man, both shot with the stalker's Tikka .270 and norma 130gr ammo.

Weidmannsheil to both of you. Lovely pictures!

- mike

Well don bog,

When are you down in this neck of the woods again?

FB

Gabriel


Congratulations, nice stags and nicer stalkings I bet.

I would have sworn You are studying in Scotland, ...................but when does it happen?

Ah, Dalwhinnie. I seem to remember a tiny train station, where we got off, and headed East and then South, for a four-day trek; I forgot the name of the place where we ended up. The grouse jibberish was ever-present, and I'll never forget the herd of deer on the hill top with the setting sun in their back. Or the royal antlers boiling in an oil drum as we arrived in town after a marvellous four days in the hills.

1987 it was, fresh out of university. That trip revitalized the hunting genes that had been dormant since childhood. I did the hunter safety course and exam that fall, and got my first license the next year.

It also made me realize that my high school buddy and I had grown apart. The friendship never felt the same after that trip.

Congratulations on those stags!

Frans

Hi Can you send me contact details of the estate? What did it cost. Is it worth going?

Thanks,

Arjun

Hi,
It was a great day on the hill. We started at 9:45 with a quick practice shot then after a short drive we began a long day of hiking and glassing.
The trophy quality on the estate was quite poor due to the poor browse, but the numbers of deer were extraordinary with 200+ deer spotted in a day.
The roar was in full swing so I was fortunate to see lots of typical rutting behaviour between stags etc.
My 8pt stag was shot from a group of 7 hinds at 12:30. It was a frontal shot at 90m and the bullet remained in the rumen, and the small bodied animal collapsed at the shot.

My father pulled off a very long stalk that ended in a longer crawl and a beautiful 270m shot that dropped his stag with a shoulder shot. It was in a herd of roughly 30 hinds and was being kept very busy chasing 2-3 other stags away at the time, helping keep his mind off self-preservation.

Although neither stag is a trophy by any means, the hunt itself was very exhilirating and it was a treat to see so much interaction between the animals. The estate was roughly 30,000 acres and employed a head gamekeeper + 5 fulltime stalkers to guide hunters.
We also spotted a few hares that were already changing to their winter coat as well as several dozen grouse and the odd snipe.

Cheers

Gabriel Boghossian