I have thoroughly enjoyed reading over the years the write-ups of our members describing their experiences, especially the funny ones! Thought I would share my experiences on a December day at the hinds in the highlands.
I was invited by a friend, a generous offer, to stalk his hill ground with a view to taking a hind ( or two) if possible. We had a few possible dates but as the rain here has been of biblical proportions for two weeks solid, a window was looking unlikely. Eventually, a possibility emerged last weekend - the forecasts swung between Saturday and Sunday for the worst of it but Saturday started to look the most likely day and a plan was duly hatched. The rain at 0700 defied belief, even the dogs rolled over and pretended I wasn’t there when a morning pee beckoned. 14 days of rain, incessant, persistent, like a low grade hangover just never going away; turning ground to a spongey morass of greasy mud under a leaden sky with never a hint of blue. Scotland in late autumn. By 0830 a hint of washed-out tired blue appeared briefly; before giving up and disappearing back into the grey - probably until April.
We set off up the Glen track in convoy and stopped to glass the south and west face of the hills and ridges below the low cloud at about 500m, nothing obvious, low or high the wind was scouring these faces and although there were pockets of shelter it was pretty exposed, we carried on, stopping every few hundred metres to get a better look until arrived at the head of the Glen it wasn‘t looking promising, but the rain had stopped and it was definitely lifting and brightening a little.
We set off stopping to glass the hillside above us and chatting, whilst searching the slopes for merest hint of a deer, my eye was drawn to a grassy runnel in the bare heather clad slope and looking at a large Boulder I realised I was looking at a hind, no two, then a third appeared as I looked, blending perfectly into the bracken and heather slope, close to the cloud line and at a conspicuous kink in the little gully. Calling to my friend I pointed them out, settled but watching us. six in total, hinds, yearling and calves. Perfect. We would have to stalk left round the wind and come in behind and above them.
We set off left, up the burnside swollen to boot-topping depth and running fast, in view, but the deer were well over a kilometre away and 300 m above us. Stopping at a gate I looked left to the other side of the Glen there, making for the ridge was a large mixed group of hinds and stags, they were on the neighbouring estate and had been lying in the bracken - being on the adjacent ground of course - I had not bothered looking! I looked to the right up the hill, sure enough our little group was on its feet, trotting diagonally right up towards the higher ground, cloud level and safety. Damn.
The Route would take us around the wind so we decided to carry on, prospecting glassing as we went, the first 500m was steep but soon levelled off onto a large grassy plateau with plenty of deer sign and cover but nothing immediately visible. Looking left again we spotted two stags next to a Rocky crag, we had a decision to make, set off after the hinds and wind anything to our left, or take a chance and see if there were more deer behind the stags we could see, it would take 45 minutes to climb up and have a look, worth a shot, we set off back to the burn and began our approach.Reaching a waterfall we gathered what oxygen we could, let the burn dissipate from our legs we crossed a fence moving onward slowly, stopping at odd point of cover to glass ahead, until eventually peeping over a heathery knowledge we spied a set of antlers, on a large, light coloured stag, then another lying peaceably in the heather. We watched - nothing else. Backing off slowly we had a decision to make, it was like the children’s story “we’re all going on a bear hunt” can’t go round them, can’t go through them, can’t shoot them...they would wind us and possible ruin the rest of the hill if they ran right. Nothing else for it heading right quickly they soon winded us, and set off directly away and towards the higher ground...
tbc. fingers sore typing!
I was invited by a friend, a generous offer, to stalk his hill ground with a view to taking a hind ( or two) if possible. We had a few possible dates but as the rain here has been of biblical proportions for two weeks solid, a window was looking unlikely. Eventually, a possibility emerged last weekend - the forecasts swung between Saturday and Sunday for the worst of it but Saturday started to look the most likely day and a plan was duly hatched. The rain at 0700 defied belief, even the dogs rolled over and pretended I wasn’t there when a morning pee beckoned. 14 days of rain, incessant, persistent, like a low grade hangover just never going away; turning ground to a spongey morass of greasy mud under a leaden sky with never a hint of blue. Scotland in late autumn. By 0830 a hint of washed-out tired blue appeared briefly; before giving up and disappearing back into the grey - probably until April.
We set off up the Glen track in convoy and stopped to glass the south and west face of the hills and ridges below the low cloud at about 500m, nothing obvious, low or high the wind was scouring these faces and although there were pockets of shelter it was pretty exposed, we carried on, stopping every few hundred metres to get a better look until arrived at the head of the Glen it wasn‘t looking promising, but the rain had stopped and it was definitely lifting and brightening a little.
We set off stopping to glass the hillside above us and chatting, whilst searching the slopes for merest hint of a deer, my eye was drawn to a grassy runnel in the bare heather clad slope and looking at a large Boulder I realised I was looking at a hind, no two, then a third appeared as I looked, blending perfectly into the bracken and heather slope, close to the cloud line and at a conspicuous kink in the little gully. Calling to my friend I pointed them out, settled but watching us. six in total, hinds, yearling and calves. Perfect. We would have to stalk left round the wind and come in behind and above them.
We set off left, up the burnside swollen to boot-topping depth and running fast, in view, but the deer were well over a kilometre away and 300 m above us. Stopping at a gate I looked left to the other side of the Glen there, making for the ridge was a large mixed group of hinds and stags, they were on the neighbouring estate and had been lying in the bracken - being on the adjacent ground of course - I had not bothered looking! I looked to the right up the hill, sure enough our little group was on its feet, trotting diagonally right up towards the higher ground, cloud level and safety. Damn.
The Route would take us around the wind so we decided to carry on, prospecting glassing as we went, the first 500m was steep but soon levelled off onto a large grassy plateau with plenty of deer sign and cover but nothing immediately visible. Looking left again we spotted two stags next to a Rocky crag, we had a decision to make, set off after the hinds and wind anything to our left, or take a chance and see if there were more deer behind the stags we could see, it would take 45 minutes to climb up and have a look, worth a shot, we set off back to the burn and began our approach.Reaching a waterfall we gathered what oxygen we could, let the burn dissipate from our legs we crossed a fence moving onward slowly, stopping at odd point of cover to glass ahead, until eventually peeping over a heathery knowledge we spied a set of antlers, on a large, light coloured stag, then another lying peaceably in the heather. We watched - nothing else. Backing off slowly we had a decision to make, it was like the children’s story “we’re all going on a bear hunt” can’t go round them, can’t go through them, can’t shoot them...they would wind us and possible ruin the rest of the hill if they ran right. Nothing else for it heading right quickly they soon winded us, and set off directly away and towards the higher ground...
tbc. fingers sore typing!
