Scotland Roe Deer/Salmon

I’ve tried the search feature and did not come up with much. Next July (2027) I was fortunate to be selected in the ticket ballot for The Open Championship which is being held at St. Andrews. We are going to a couple early practice rounds and the final round on Sunday so I have a couple days that I may be able to slip out and try to hunt a Roe deer or catch a salmon.

We will be staying near Balmoral Castle (I’d love to hunt THERE) in Ballistar.

Could anyone point me to an outfitter or estate gamekeeper that might have an opening for a guy trying to make the most of a trip across the pond?

Deer or salmon or maybe both!

So you can stay in the actual castle or one of the cottages? I’d love to do that.

Contact these guys - https://georgegoldsmith.com/sporting/stalking-in-scotland/ they will be able to advise you

Razorback said:

So you can stay in the actual castle or one of the cottages? I’d love to do that.

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We toured the castle on our last trip; there ARE game cottages but the 50,000 acre estate is not available to the public. I’d just like to not have to drive across the country to hunt for a day or two.

Sounds like an amazing trip. Looking forward to hearing a report if you tag on a stalk.

Please keep us Caddyshack fans posted!

Hedge774 said:

Please keep us Caddyshack fans posted!

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Will do.

I am a terrible golfer but I really appreciate how excellent the PGA elite are. I’ve always dreamed of attending The Masters but have been unsuccessful in their lottery for at least 20 years. In 2024 I found out The Open Championship has a similar lottery so I told my wife, “I’m going to put in and if we get drawn, we will go to Scotland (Royal Troon) watch some golf and sightsee”. Darned if we didn’t win tickets! We had such a great time we decided to try again for the next year as neither of us had been to Ireland…Royal Portrush he we come. This year was at Royal Birkdale in England and my wife has never been to London so we lucked out again.

When we were in Scotland one of our sightseeing missions was St. Andrews. I’ve never been to a cooler place. It’s the home of golf but it’s also a 1600 year old surf town. So neat. We had to try one more time and to my amazement we’ve got a good excuse to go back


Royal Troon and Balmoral:





Royal Portrush



Royal Birkdale



I’ve seen Roe deer and Red stag on each trip but my wife always has every minute planned. Since this is a return trip there will be some relaxing involved and I’d love to get a deer hunt or two in!

Steve O said:

I’ve tried the search feature and did not come up with much. Next July (2027) I was fortunate to be selected in the ticket ballot for The Open Championship which is being held at St. Andrews. We are going to a couple early practice rounds and the final round on Sunday so I have a couple days that I may be able to slip out and try to hunt a Roe deer or catch a salmon.

We will be staying near Balmoral Castle (I’d love to hunt THERE) in Ballistar.

Could anyone point me to an outfitter or estate gamekeeper that might have an opening for a guy trying to make the most of a trip across the pond?

Deer or salmon or maybe both!

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Have you tried asking the Balmoral Estate? I have stalked on Glen Tanar estate next door to Balmoral a couple of times and they were very good indeed and have or at least had Roe stalking available at the time. I know we have to be careful about posting links but if you were to search glentanar followed by .co.uk then you may well find the website!

SRvet said:

Have you tried asking the Balmoral Estate? I have stalked on Glen Tanar estate next door to Balmoral a couple of times and they were very good indeed and have or at least had Roe stalking available at the time. I know we have to be careful about posting links but if you were to search glentanar followed by .co.uk then you may well find the website!

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I will give it a try. Thank you. I was reading the royal family lost their hunting lease on a neighboring property due to a new owner.

Steve O said:

I will give it a try. Thank you. I was reading the royal family lost their hunting lease on a neighboring property due to a new owner.

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Just thinking other estates in the immediate area would be the invercauld estate and glenmuick estates. I’m sure someone would be able to fit you in if they can.

Awesome. I will do some research and contact them. This kind of information is exactly what I was hoping for!

I would contact Roxton's

I hunted with International Adventures for a estate red stag and free range roe deer in 2019. We also visited 4 castle's while there, and my wife hit some balls off the tee box at St. Andrews. Michael and Danielle were great hosts.

Steve O said:

I will give it a try. Thank you. I was reading the royal family lost their hunting lease on a neighboring property due to a new owner.

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The King still has plenty of ground but much reduced deer numbers due to policy change.

You can’t book direct with Balmoral but they let some via agents

Steve O said:

Awesome. I will do some research and contact them. This kind of information is exactly what I was hoping for!

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If you are still looking @Steve O drop me a message as I’m all over the Highlands this week so can ask around

Garciamarquez1918 said:

I would contact Roxton's

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Roxtons are good but hardly specialise in stalking and I would book direct with an estate for value with a recommendation off here (unless you are last minute and need a cancellation)

Lancaster said:

Roxtons are good but hardly specialise in stalking and I would book direct with an estate for value with a recommendation off here (unless you are last minute and need a cancellation)

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Well said -- but for an American who needs his hand held and doesn't have local connections I still think it would be a good choice. And of course they do specialize in angling, and since the salmon is the hardest bit...

I have replied

Garciamarquez1918 said:

Well said -- but for an American who needs his hand held and doesn't have local connections I still think it would be a good choice. And of course they do specialize in angling, and since the salmon is the hardest bit...

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This is true, as I said they are a good agency, JD who runs the shooting side a good guy, they take a lot of the high pheasants and partridges on The Duke of B’s estate and you can stay in one of his houses Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire which is an amazing experience, popular with Americans.

For the Highlands though I would use a Sporting Agent (as we call booking agents) based up here and the one I know best is a husband and wife team, Cara and Ali Hutchens of International Hunting Scotland. Cara is the shooting specialist and when she married Ali that added a lifetime of Scottish salmon fishing expertise.

I will be having a coffee with the retired founder of IHS later this morning, Pete Swales has been an agent in the Highlands for 60 years and for twenty years was the Holland and Holland Sporting Agent for Scotland before going back on his own and then over time handing over to Cara. He still acts as a consultant

Nick

What about Scottsport in Deeside, or is that too far?