Questions for you Northern Hill Stalkers :)

eggy s

Well-Known Member
I am heading up to the Isle of Lewis next week for a holiday with 6 mates to bag a few stags.

The estate has one stalker and the estate owner has asked me to act as the number 2 stalker so we can get more people out on the hill.

I am normally a Lowland stalker so could you let me know what I need to take with me plus any other tips :)

Also do any of you use Rucksack with rifle slings for moving around the hill?? For example:

BushWear: Swedteam Backbone Rucksack

Or do you just load up your pockets and hit the hill?
 
Never seen anyone using one of those, not to say its not a good pice of kit though.
My advice would be, a small rucksack to carry a piece and a flask. Also a stout walking stick for glassing and help when dragging the beast. Length of rope for dragging the beast as where you're going it is likely to be very rocky so getting an argo/quad to the animal might not be possible.
The main thing is travel light, knives, ammo etc can all be carried in pockets, for the final crawl the rucksack can be left so you can move forward more easily. Once you have shot the beast then retrieve the rucksack.
Most of all enjoy the experience!


I am heading up to the Isle of Lewis next week for a holiday with 6 mates to bag a few stags.

The estate has one stalker and the estate owner has asked me to act as the number 2 stalker so we can get more people out on the hill.

I am normally a Lowland stalker so could you let me know what I need to take with me plus any other tips :)

Also do any of you use Rucksack with rifle slings for moving around the hill?? For example:

BushWear: Swedteam Backbone Rucksack

Or do you just load up your pockets and hit the hill?
 
Salmo Salar, Thank you for the advise.

I was going to get one of these BushWear: Swedteam Tracker Rucksack but then I saw the other one which I thought was a pretty good idea. But I think I will take your advise and get the small one, It should be able to carry everything no problems.
 
Travel as light as you can, take no more than you need on the hill for me its binos, knife, mars bar or energy bar in pocket, short drag rope and stick, not shooting sticks just a stout walking stick serves two purposes, one its an extra leg on steep slopes, plus its an aid to dragging, short rope round base of antlers then around jaw other end tied to stick use two hands on stick keep rope short so as you are lifting head off the ground as you drag.

In hill stalking rifle is normally kept in slip loaded but nothing in chamber until final approach.

Had a couple of Austrians who used rucksacks with rifle slings seemed to work for them, but personally I would never carry that much gear on the hill, leave all the extra stuff in vehicle at the bottom of hill or in Argo if you have one.
 
BT is correct rifle in slip. I would make sure i had a very long chat with the head stalker he will know were the beast will be in the weather conditions for that day. Also take note of were he says dont shoot as you might not be able to extract a beast from that area. He is the man.
 
Been using a Harkila rifle carrying waistcoat - which I bought from singing stalker on this site. He'll probably be able to tell you it's proper name. I've found it helluva handy on the hill. Then, as everybody else says, stuff your pockets. How much do you need anyway? Binoculars round neck. Spare gloves in pocket, range finder in pocket, bullets in pocket with phone (on silent), radio, if you have one in pocket, knive(s) in pockets or on belt, stick and rope, or even put the stick through the beast's nostrils and drag away. Have fun.
 
pockets and bino case are the only recepticles I use
rifle in sling, rope either in pocket or round waist.
knife, hankie, lunch (lots of sugar!), small torch, ziplock bags,
ammo (although in all the stalks I have ever done I have never required or even loaded the extra 5 rounds I keep in my pocket!)
if you know your ground and can get water from a burn then great, if not some fluids.

bags get in the way in my opinion
 
pockets and bino case are the only recepticles I use
rifle in sling, rope either in pocket or round waist.
knife, hankie, lunch (lots of sugar!), small torch, ziplock bags,
ammo (although in all the stalks I have ever done I have never required or even loaded the extra 5 rounds I keep in my pocket!)
if you know your ground and can get water from a burn then great, if not some fluids.

bags get in the way in my opinion

Perfect advice 10/10

Glendine
 
Im of the same opinion as above... no bags. Just take a mars bar, or small piece in a pocket. Radio, phone, bullets, knife, bino's/scope, drag rope, rifle in slip.... sorted! If its wet, which is more than likely, take plastic bags, for radio, phone etc I use bread bags lol but Im a tight bugger, theres probably better bags out there.
 
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All I would add is a few tissues / sheets of toilet paper in a small plastic bag. Also keep one tissue inside your hat band. As well as the obvious use :oops: it comes in damned handy if/when you need to wipe your optics when glassing or about to take the shot. Weighs nothing but can be a God-send if you need it.

Personally I always take too much on the hill. Rifle in drag bag, with piece, water, spare rounds, knife, small camera, etc in drag bag pockets. Depending upon the forecast I may stick an extra thin fleece in as well, as we often have two rifles out with the stalker, and sitting in the wind and rain for two hours whilst the rifle and the stalker are waiting for some stupid stag to stand up is no fun whatsoever.

I also put my old GPS in, as I've recorded every stag I've shot on the hill for the last 17 years. This means that, when we're sitting having our piece, I can regale the stalker with interesting conversations such as "I shot my beast in 2005 1.2 miles in that direction". As he says, he looks forward to my visit every year...or was that he looks forward to me leaving after my visit every year?

Whatever you do, don't forget your stick. I'd sooner leave my binos behind than my stick!

willie_gunn
 
Meant to add that I've never even considered a drag rope until this year. Fortunately the beasts were shot at the top of the hill so we could roll them down to where the Argo could get to, but a short drag rope would have made things a whole lot easier.

Also, this year I left my spotting scope back at the lodge, but if I was being expected to find beasts that we could then stalk in to I'd have taken it with me. Nothing worse than stalking in to a group of beasts only to find that there isn't a shootable stag amongst them. Of course some would say that you can always find a shootable stag ;)

willie_gunn
 
A Spotting Scope will be your number 1 must have.. Get to the best vantage point you can for about 9am once the deer have settled after there night time wandering (to better feeding) ... Ideally your vantage point will be overlooking as much of your intended stalking area as possible, even if this is from a public road a couple of miles away, with the spotting scope you will need to scan the ground for half an hour plus, check very carefully for single beasts hiding in deep burns/rushes sometimes all you will see is antlers.

The early stages of the Rut are under way up here, large mature stags are roaring and holding hinds, by next week it should be kicking off properly, and the hinds will be broken into smaller groups each with a stag of some sort, spikers and young stags will be scattered all over the place on the peripheries and can be a pain when trying to get in on target cull stags.

Glen
 
I nearly always carry a rucksack....you can stick all your gear in it and pack it in advance to make sure you don't forget anything (mind, that doesent stop me from forgetting stuff!). If you need to do some crawling you can ditch the bag and not worry about loosing stuff out your pockets.


I like sticks for all the reasons mentioned above but I use long ones so I can rest my binos on them when spying plus the extra length means two people can drag a beast together when the going gets tough.

Get a good hydration rucksack and you will find it invaluable

Oh, a big breakfast helps if your going to be out all day
 
A Spotting Scope will be your number 1 must have.. Get to the best vantage point you can for about 9am once the deer have settled after there night time wandering (to better feeding) ... Ideally your vantage point will be overlooking as much of your intended stalking area as possible, even if this is from a public road a couple of miles away, with the spotting scope you will need to scan the ground for half an hour plus, check very carefully for single beasts hiding in deep burns/rushes sometimes all you will see is antlers.

The early stages of the Rut are under way up here, large mature stags are roaring and holding hinds, by next week it should be kicking off properly, and the hinds will be broken into smaller groups each with a stag of some sort, spikers and young stags will be scattered all over the place on the peripheries and can be a pain when trying to get in on target cull stags.

Glen

Agree with spotting scope always had it in the vehicle for driving out the glen but once I had decided where I was going to go and which stag I was going for it stayed in the vehicle.

Stag 1933 yes mobile if you can get reception but the last Estate I was on there was no mobile reception had to travel about 17 miles to get a signal.
 
carry as little as possible mobile reception in the uig hills almost non exisitant on vodafone take a map and compass and be aware of the direction you need to head if the mist comes down you will probably need to drag the ground is hard to work with a quad or argo in a lot of places
 
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