Superb stalking in Galloway

Well, the boys have made a great start and shot two red stags today.
Both were black and rutting. Good Galloway stags with wapiti in the big one, the smaller one being a Galloway 'hill' stag.

Nice work and heavy going bringing them in this morning.
Unfortunately, no photo's - but a good friend has late this afternoon shot another stag on the moor area of our land. So the total today is 3 stags down.

It's all action in Galloway right now..stags roaring everywhere and the ambient temperature still very warm.......much warmer than it should be right now. The temperature is so warm just now, the beast have to be dressed & in the chiller really fast, so pics are definitely not a priority - but now I have one.

The ground which holds hinds so every year the stags come in during late September and gives us fantastic sport....it's a magnificent time, with very challenging hunting.

After the rut is over, stags will hang around for perhaps two months, but of course on 21st Oct. the stag season closes and the hind season opens. Now that, is even more challenging than stags by a long way!
A picture of one area within the estate is shown.

 

[Hunting Solutions]

Looks like a beautiful piece of ground.

 

[novice]

Interesting comment re the wapiti blood. I know Galloway stags have a reputation for going big but first time I've heard mention of outside blood like that. Does anyone have information on recorded introduction of pure wapiti into the area, or is it on the assumption that introduced park stags would have an element of wapiti blood in them?

Novice

 

[Amberdog]

Thats a cracking beast your very lucky

​Amberdog

 

[jon2]

I've heard that said before also but I suspect it is not correct/true.

Would obviously be interested in hearing of any factual evidence that this is the case.

​I find it hard to believe there would be any introduced blood line to the Galloway Reds.

 

[patrickt]

A truly magical image!!! and well done to all

 

[paul k]

I'm not aware of any wapiti blood in wild UK reds, I'm not even sure that there is any proven wapiti in the main park blood lines from Warnham, Windsor and Woburn that are in many UK reds.

 

[ion]

We get back tines on red stags ( which have a lot of park blood ) in Meath which are reported to be a throwback to wapiti blood. I had always assumed (without justification?) that it came through the Windsor and Warnham line. About twelve years ago I saw an ad for farmed red hinds running with a wapiti stag. I was sceptical about whether he was a genuine purebred, but park / farm bloodlines are widespread in the wild red herd in Ireland now. Apologies for wandering off topic.


Ion

 

[ion]

Deeangeo,

Please excuse the query from mild wet Ireland, but is that SNOW in the background?

Magical view

Ion

 

[deeangeo]

Yes, that's snow....the pic was taken 2011/2012. ATB

 

[Bulkier]

Excuse my ignorance but what is Wapiti

 

[deeangeo]

Excuse my ignorance but what is Wapiti

A large deer, Cervus canadensis, with large much-branched antlers, native to North America and now also common in the South Island of New Zealand Also calledAmerican elk

It's often said by some, Wapiti blood in deer shows up in two or three ways. Often the deer may be physically larger than usually expected - but not always due to the blood line. A dark, almost black 'horseshoe' shaped ring of fur colour across the rump of the deer and tines running rearward at the top of the antler may all be indications of wapiti blood. It's accepted there can be some disagreement about this, but personally, I'm inclined to believe it the case there is wapiti blood around in some Galloway deer. Not all, but some.

 

[the laird]

hi there deangeo,
have you any evidence of this introduction of wapiti to Galloway or is it just a nice story to sell a few days stalking.

 

[deeangeo]

hi there deangeo, have you any evidence of this introduction of wapiti to Galloway or is it just a nice story to sell a few days stalking.

I'm not selling any stalking, nor have I offered any, nor do I intend to offer any stalking & no, I don't have any specific evidence - only stating views that have been expressed (mostly by game dealers) over almost 30 years of stalking this land. May or may not be correct, but I'm inclined to believe it so.

Incidentally, I didn't post the statement to either promote or raise a debate/discussion/argument, just really a comment passed on, that others had on a number of occasions made when carcasses with the dark horseshoe over the rump had been taken in to dealers. Other open hill deer hadn't displayed the feature whereas woodland deer sometimes do. ATB

 

[NickJ]

hi there deangeo,
have you any evidence of this introduction of wapiti to Galloway or is it just a nice story to sell a few days stalking.

I have, over the years also encountered some locals in Galloway who talk about 'big reds with some wapiti blood in them.' However as A. no one can recall any releases in to the wild B. no one can recall any farms having wapiti (that could have escaped) in the area and C. the DNA testing that was done in the area threw nothing up - personally I concluded it was unlikely. The DNA testing was, of course for the sika gene but I'm sure they would have spotted wapiti at the time.

Red deer do, of course range wildly in colour, black stripes etc. We sure have some whoppers but not sure about any wappers!

All the above IMHO only and I'd be very interested if anyone knew of any information to the contrary.

ATB
Nick

 

[jon2]

I have, over the years also encountered some locals in Galloway who talk about 'big reds with some wapiti blood in them.' However as A. no one can recall any releases in to the wild B. no one can recall any farms having wapiti (that could have escaped) in the area and C. the DNA testing that was done in the area threw nothing up - personally I concluded it was unlikely. The DNA testing was, of course for the sika gene but I'm sure they would have spotted wapiti at the time.

Red deer do, of course range wildly in colour, black stripes etc. We sure have some whoppers but not sure about any wappers!

All the above IMHO only and I'd be very interested if anyone knew of any information to the contrary.

ATB
Nick

This is my opinion too. Over the years I have heard this theory from several and sometimes experienced fellows but it is too conspiracist for my liking.

It sounds interesting when someone of a certain standing mentions it but in my opinion it is purely anecdotal only.

I also don't want to detract from the OP's post (super ground Deeangeo by the way) but I have always had quite strong views on the matter and so felt compelled to post my opinion.

 

[paul k]

We get back tines on red stags ( which have a lot of park blood ) in Meath which are reported to be a throwback to wapiti blood. I had always assumed (without justification?) that it came through the Windsor and Warnham line. About twelve years ago I saw an ad for farmed red hinds running with a wapiti stag. I was sceptical about whether he was a genuine purebred, but park / farm bloodlines are widespread in the wild red herd in Ireland now. Apologies for wandering off topic.


Ion

A large number of new wild red populations owe their genetics, at least in part, to Warnham and Woburn but I don't think either have wapiti in the blood lines. Some farms used a wapiti bull to get a bigger carcass weight and the throwback top tines are typical of wapiti but not exclusively so as Eastern European (maraloid) reds have this feature as well.

​

 

[jimbo1984]

I know of a deer park in the midlands that used wapiti crosses for heavier carcasses weight and as deer tend to some escaped Into the wild but not of any instances in Scotland , be interesting to hear of Any though

 

[traveler]

Worked in the area for 12 years and did hear the Wapiti rumour, too. I have seen some heads, too that show very strong Wapiti characteristics. I had heard that they had escaped from an enclosure near Carsphairn many years ago. HWH would know, Im sure!?

 

[Thar]

Many years ago there was an article in DEER magazine which gave the time and location of something like 6 releases of Wapiti into the Scottish red deer herds by rich Victorians, IIRC around 1880s rings a bell, and came from the USA Rocky Mountains. The theory was that Wapiti released in to the hill deer did not do well, the going was too hard in the winner to allow the bigger animals to prosper. However releases into the woodland herds did better, hence why it is thought there is Wapiti in the Galloway Stags.

ATB

Tahr