Rum Lease (Island not drink)

Frax

Well-Known Member
Sorry, meant to post this when the paper came on Thursday:

rum.gif


Your chance to really get on Simon Kings' nerves by shooting all his pet stags!
 
That would be really amusing. "Where are all our old friends from the last rut?" "Oh, sh*t, they've been eaten!"

The good news is that I think the idiot Bill Oddie is not going to grace Springwatch this year.
 
SNH at it again, yes this may well give some stalkers the chance of shooting some nice stags, but all in the name of trees, which they are to be planting but not fencing!
A bloody disgrace if you ask me.
The Bill Oddie bit about him not appearing on Springwatch - now that is good news.
 
Lets make sure we are dealing with the right people here this is SNH /DCS /FC Now if we really have a problem why charge moneys at all.Its time that DCS decided what there agenda is. Do they want to sort a deer problem out taking millions and millions of tax payers money or do they want to take over the FC leases and charge moneys.
 
As far as I can see none of those organisations care much about the welfare of deer - Certainly not SNH
 
Being a 'soft southerner' I have no idea what something like this would cost.
Has anybody got any idea at all.
When they say 'around forty' do they mean 35 to 40 or less!!
 
Rhum was leased last year, a pal of mine did it, and it was a success[he is a sporting agent].

It is a sporting lease and is pretty pricey.

For many years the RDC{now DCS] stalkers along with the resident SNH stalker carried out all the culling which was done traditionally ith ponies and traditional selection was used. NCC [SNH predisessor] let some stalking to clients and the stalking was done by NCC/RDC stalkers[I was 1]

SNH and DCS have always worked side by side in the management of the deer on Rhum along with Cambridge Uni.

Although deer culling on Rhum hit the papers last year[bit of chinese whispers and stirring by a couple of people including a bbc reporter who now works for SGA!] the culling has always been done traditionally just as any other deer forest although at Kilmory{springwatch area] the deer were not shot and died naturally , this is a research area[one of the longest running mammal researches on the go]

The reason FC are involved is that there are some areas marked for reaforrestation and FC are having an input .

Rhum is a magical island and I've been very fortunate to have stalked on the island for many seasons, SNH are looking at the island as a whole community now and will inject some much needed cash via Accomodation , jobs and such like. I know many people are of the opinion that the stalking should be free , but fragile communities such as Rhum are dependant on the income from let stalking .
I am not always a fan of our SG quangos however I must aplaud SNH for taking the leed in giving some ownership back to the local community and thinking about the human side of things not just the micro-organisms.
 
I find the whole manner in which these organisations operate completely baffling. To add to Davie's comments above on charging or not charging money I relate my own experience.

For six years or so I had a lease from FC in Strathglass - mainly red deer - and for one of these years took (rather greedily in retrospect) another lease very close to my home - mainly roe - a lot of roe. After a year I gave this up since it meant full time part time stalking, if you see what I mean, total cull being about 45 beasts, and I was on my own. After this I gave up the lease as I was working abroad.

Now back in blighty I have (among others) a deal to cull roe on an estate next to my old (roe) lease. There are (or at least were...) a lot of roe which caused near 100% damage to restocks and in sussing out the lie of the land I phoned FC to see what the situation was on my old stomping ground. It appears that since I left there has been no lease in place and no cull of the roe at all. FC now have a self inflicted problem - about 30 acres of clearfell to be restocked, little resource to do a cull and wall to wall roe.

If they had just just shown a little naunce they could have had some income from a lease and some degree of control over deer numbers.

Can someone explain??
 
Rum

I followed an add in the Shooting Times just before Christmas and took a week on Rum in late Jan 09 (Hinds) along with a friend of mine.

By the sound of it.. I took a week with bambislayer's friend, and as he stated the island is magical.

Despite some very bad weather and my fitness! We had a wonderful week on the Island, shot six beasts and saw Hugh numbers of magnificent Stags and scenery that is hard to beat.

The SNH Deer Manager is great chap and the larder facilities have been updated and modernised in recent years to provide all that is needed and could be wished for.

Accommodation on the Island for those that have not been is within the Castle and is 1970's style hostel accommodation in the main. The building has a small drying room to use which gets the job done, a newly opened Bar for locals and guests alike and you can opt for self catering or allow the castle chef to cook you something up.

I hate paying money for stalking, but once a year a scrimp and save and head to Scotland for a week away on the Hinds.

At first glance the cost of this trip was high, but on further investigation, calls to friends etc I think it was good value for money as we had accommodation, food, stalking (Stalking Guide, two Ghillies and two ponies) for 4 days.

This was my first experience of SNH in person and I applaud them for the work they and others do in Kilmory. Every deer shot has samples taken, jaw bones removed and red pluck organs weighed, measured and samples taken for the work carried out within the universities around the UK. This along with the constant monitoring, tracking and protection of Kilmory animals provides world leading research into Red Deer.

If I was to criticise SNH for anything on Rum it would be the general lack of repair to the castle. It's estimated to repair the castle will cost around £13million. SNH cannot afford to spend that kind of money, but they have set aside budget to restore parts of the castle in coming years. I just hope it's not too late!!!

Who ever picks up the lease of Rum will have the opportunity of some fabulous shooting and I hope they continue to lease it out to paying guests in order to provide some much needed income to the Locals, the Island and for the repair of the castle.

I watch with interest and hope to get an opportunity to return one day.. I just need to get hill fit again first!

Robbo 25
 
Rum

Having read the above again... In regards my above post.. it can be misread. I refer to deer shot on the island have samples taken etc..
 
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