My wife Irene and I went with friends Bill and Maggie Yung to Scotland for touring and hunting. It was a great change of pace from Africa. We started at Glenshero Lodge in the Grampian mountains near Newtonmore for the the hunt. Our intent was to only shoot one stag each and to borrow rifles from the lodge.

The first stop was at the lodge for the hunt portion of the trip. This is the view out the lodge window:



750 year old bridge on the estate:



This is the hunting rig:



The stalker / gamekeeper (Bruce) crawling forward to peer over an overlook at some stags below:



The stag – Win. 270 with 130 grain bullet at 292 yards:



A little singing in the evening:



Accomplishing our hunt in only two days we decided to do a little touring – Highland bull



Nice ballroom:



Now this is a proper drink selection! (from a restaurant on the street in Oban):



Tour and taste in the Oban distillery:



And the Dalwhinnie distillery:



And the Macallan distillery:



And the Speyburn distillery:



And the Craigellachie distillery:



Hotel we stayed one night:



Tea room in Glasgow by Charles Rene Macintosh:



A Gatehouse:



One of more than a dozen castles we visited – this one is Kilchurn on Loch Awe:



And lastly, a special event for me – visiting Glen Orchy where my ancestors came from:

Great pictures and story. Nice stag as well. That's alot of distilleries in one week. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed the sipping. My ancesters are from the region near Perth. I visited a few years ago. I felt like it was home.

Mike

Nice Pics Allen,

What was your whiskey preference?

K

quote:

What was your whiskey preference?

Fallow Buck - I have always liked Talisker and Laphroaig best but of the distilleries we toured I favored Oban.

Glad you had a nice time and at one point you were only 20 mins from me could have had a nice stalk on a roe deer as well.Whisky drink of the devil but it sure is nice lol

Palmer
That looks like a great time was had. Something I should do as my grandparents were from Edinburgh and Dundee. If you don't mind my asking,who set this trip up for you.
Kidd

SLDG I think you are fortunate to live in such a beautiful country. There was not one day that went by that we were not just bowled over by the scenery.

Kidd We had no plan. We rented a car and just followed the hood. Everywhere we went was spectacular. No doubt you will want to visit Edinburgh. It seemed to me that one could spend days there. The use of the English language makes it easy and people are very friendly and helpful there.

Congratulations and a great report. This trip is a must do for me. Y'all did exactly the way we want to. Thanks for the inspiration.

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
No doubt you will want to visit Edinburgh. It seemed to me that one could spend days there. The use of the English language makes it easy and people are very friendly and helpful there.

Since when did they start speaking English in Edinburgh? Must visit some day myself if that is the case :-)

Seriouly thought, I enjoyed the photos and that was a good stag to get so congratulations both on a great hunt and a great trip.

Thanks for the pictures Allen, my wife and I are looking fwd to visiting Scotland hopefully one day soon. I want to hunt roe, and learn more about the Campbell Clan's history. But I am worried, I don't like whiskey....can I still be a proper Scot?

Glad you took the 'grab a car and tour' approach, it really is that simple to find good sights in Scotland.

Tell us more about the hunt. How did you find it? Was it similar to what you expected?

Bill,
The castle I attached to this post (Kilchurn) was built by Sir Colin Campbell 500 to 600 years ago. Also Campbells occupied the valley or glen pictured below - it is gorgeous.



My suggestion is that you try some Haggis (sheeps pluck cooked in sheep intestines). After two bites you will immediately be looking for some whisky and will be devoted ever after.

But in my opinion a Campbell will never be a proper Scot. I am a MacGregor.

Boghossin,
I booked the hunt with "the man in the kilt" at the DSC in Dallas - Mike McCrave [michael.mccrave@btinternet.com]

We booked 3 days but frankly the stalker is so good that one day would have been enough to be successful. We also booked the wives on a sightseeing tour while we were hunting. This was through the same outfitter.

The hunt was a lot of fun. If I had been trying to get one by myself I would still be out there. The stalker was so good he made it look easy.

It reminded me of brown bear hunting in a way. The weather was about the same as springtime in Alaska. It rained every day. You find the stags by glassing then try to put a sneak on them using little ditches and sometimes crawling over wet ground. Thankfully, like Alaska there are no snakes around.

The stalks can be long and it seems they were always up hill. Our stalker took pity on Bill and I and stopped every 10 minutes or so to let us catch up and catch our breath. We pretended to be taking pictures of the incredible scenery but we really were stalling around trying to begin to breathe normally.

The shots can be medium to long - about 150 to 200 yds. seemed to be normal for the 5 hunters that were in the camp at the time we were.

Good rain gear is a must. Camo patterns are better than solid colors. Getting in shape is a very good idea. I would definately recommend it. At my age I have a lot more bucket list hunts to do but if I ever ran out of ideas this hunt or one like it would be at the top of the list.

nice pictures - remind me on my travel to Scotland

Very nice pictures and a report.


Best-
Locksley,R.

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
I booked the hunt with "the man in the kilt" at the DSC in Dallas

One thing it might be worth saying, especially for those from the US who want to hunt Scotland but are, like me, on a budget: It is often possible to book stalking directly with the estate and to stay locally in a bed and breakfast to save money. Now, it may be that going through an agent type operation works out less expensive and also many people want the full experience (though many estates will book you accommodation including the lodge if you wish) and so an agent works for them. However, there are a lot of people on this forum who have experience of stalking in Scotland and there is also the Stalking Directory website where lots of UK stalkers hang out. So, getting info on good stalking is not difficult and making your own bookings should be easily possible.

Another thing worth considering if you are just after the Scottish stalking experience and not looking for a trophy is shooting hinds (female red deer) rather than stags. This is a lot less expensive (often around £150 per day) and there is sometimes the chance to shoot more than one per day providing recovery is possible. The winter days (hinds start end of October) are somewhat shorter which means you walk fewer miles so that can be a factor for some people.

I'm not trying to undercut anyone's business here, just making some suggestions for the people who would love to do it but who, especially at the minute, are finding the money tight.

I agree with caorach. If I were to return that is exactly what I would do. There seemed to be a lot of estates in that area that had hunting.