First I would like to thank all the members of this forum that helped me prepare for this trip, your advice and information was extremely helpful. It was really nice to have people in the UK to ask for advice, without you I don’t think that my trip would have gone as smoothly. Thank You Guys!

I had the opportunity to go Stalking for Red Deer in 2003 and fell in love with the sport, the country and the people. At that time I vowed to come back and do it again as much as possible. Well between my career and starting a family it was not possible for me to do it again until this year. But I finally returned to the hill!

This trip was part Stalking (the first week) and part holiday for my family (week 2 and 3). So I chose a hotel that would be comfortable for my wife and kids to stay while I was on the hill. We stayed at the Banchory Lodge in Banchory. The family has stayed here before and were comfortable there. The kids enjoyed playing on the River Dee that is right out in front of the hotel.






The family spent the first day doing a little sight seeing around Banchory. We always visit Crathes Castle while we are in the area, the castle is beautiful with wonderful gardens. The kids just love to explore the gardens.








My first day stalking started with the 1 Hour drive from Banchory to Breamar, it is a wonderful drive thru all the little villages of Deeside. This was the first time I had been to the Mar Lodge Estate and upon arriving was greeted by the quite impressive Mar Lodge.

I then drove to the back and meet up with the stalkers



The stalking started with Chris the head Stalker spotting the heard on the hill with the traditional spyglass.



We then set off on foot up the hill to get into position to Stalk the Stags. This picture was taken about half way up the climb. Somewhere in the distance you can see the land rover if you look really closely (I think that Chris was testing my fitness because he chose to climb strait up)



We finally got to the top and started to cross the ridge to get on top of the group of stags, sorry I don’t have any pictures of the final stalk. It was your traditional crawling thru the heather to get into position above the heard.



Success, the Stag went down with one shot, here is Chris grolliching the Stag and one very happy American tourist.





After a quick lunch we went after another heard to get another stag, Who am I to argue when the stalker asks “do you want to go after another?”



Success again, one more shot and another Stag in the Larder.



When I booked the Stalking I requested that we use a pony to take the beast off the hill and to make it as traditional as possible. They were nice enough to accommodate me, all three days we used a Pony and to me that was one of the best parts. I prefer walking behind the pony to the growling of the argocat.



They were nice enough to let me lead the pony for a little while.





Then the professionals took over.



So ends my first day back on the hill, I was out there for two more days and will add those pictures soon.

Day two started with a different stalker and rain, I don’t know what language this guy spoke but I could not understand one word he said. I am pretty good with Scottish accents, but this guy had his own language.



here we are starting our stalk.





I don’t have any pictures of the stalk, It was 4:00 in the afternoon when we finally shot a stag and the weather cleared up and turned out to be a beautiful day. We covered a lot of the hill tat day and had a few unsuccessful stalks, but it was a wonderful day.

Day three started with yet another stalker and rain, here we are starting out stalk.



It appeared that we would be done really early as our first stalk lasted only about an hour, but when we got into position the stags got tired of the midges and left. I don’t blame them those little things are nasty. We ended up covering a lot of country and climbing several hills before I shot my last stag, all in all it was a wonderful day!

Here is my last Stag




Loading on the pony and walking out.









The pictures don’t show how steep the country we were stalking was, but this is the hill we took the stag down.



A picture I just couldn't pass on taking, Mar Lodge is a truly beautiful place and I had a wonderful time!

congrats on some good experiences.

.

Brad

It looks like an awesome trip. The scenery and hunting up there are truly special. I hope to get some of my own memories this week.

I got a mail from Chris and will collect your trophies for you next week when I get to Glenmuick.

K

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
Brad

It looks like an awesome trip. The scenery and hunting up there are truly special. I hope to get some of my own memories this week.

I got a mail from Chris and will collect your trophies for you next week when I get to Glenmuick.

K

Kiri,

Ab Taylor is supposed to be a top notch guy and should take great care of you. I hope that you have a great time at Glenmiuck! Please post pictures!

Fantastic photos and well done on what looks to be a great trip.

Very cool. That is a trip I may be interested in doing in the future.

Congrats Brad!

Brad,

At present I won't be staking at Glenmuick. We are staying in the house and shooting some grouse.

I'm heading the the Garroch tomorrow to stalk reds and goats. I will be sure to post some pics.

I'm planning on some stags at Glenmuick next year if all goes well in the house this time round.

K

Looks like a great trip, congrats. From your pictures it looks like I need to get into shape before planning a trip there.

incredible photos, looks like you had an amazing trip and one to remember.

Well done sir and congratulations.

Hi Brad - I was looking forward to your report and it didn't dissapoint.

Those are some very nice hill stags and it looks like you enjoyed the whole experience. It also looks like you had some balmy weather.

Using the ponies and wearing tweed is a nice way of re-injecting some romance to highland stalking. Maybe next time you will try another part of Scotland? The rolling hills of Caithness or the craggy high tops of the west coast....

Great report Brad, thanks for posting. 'Hope to be there in 2015.

Thank you for posting your report. Beautiful country and you took some very nice highland stags. Hope to do this sort of a hunt one of these days........ it's on the bucket list.

Waidmannsheil Brad, great report and enjoyed the pics. The guides there remind me of ones I had near the Alps after Chamois, calfs as big as my thighs.

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Bog, yes the traditional experience and the wearing of the tweeds is the best part for me. I am game to try other parts of Scotland and an open to recommendations.

A wonderful hunt report with some truly superb pictures chronicling the events. Well done! Made me miss my days in Scotland chasing stags across those purple hills! I liked the idea of the horse too... the argos were nice but the pony is very traditional.

Well, well, hunting reds with a tie

Not an every day sight in NZ

Great photos and wonderful trip!

I had to postpone my own trip for stag on the open hill to next year on account of a broken trigger finger... Seeing your photos makes me hunger for my missed trip!

Brilliant photos and looks like a fantastic experience.

Best-
Locksley,R