SCOTLAND: Red Stags On The West Coast

Great write up. Thanks for taking us along.

This evening we checked out the area we saw the stags in the morning but nothing showing, so we continued on our way to another area a few miles away.

On the way we saw a switch head working his way up and over the mountain but decided to leave him and keep going to our destination.

We were stalking an area which was a mountain top with probably 200 degrees encircled by woodland below. The idea being we stalk up and see what might come out the wood.

As we climb up and start cresting the hill by stalker suddenly dips and has seen a spiker. We drop back and come around the hill to get a better angle. Our final approach is a 20m crawl into position. Turns out to be two spikers only 30m away. Keeping our heads down not to be spotted I got into position. Paul told me to try and take both if I could. I line up the first one, squeeze the trigger and he drops on the spot, quickly cycle the bolt and the second spiker now alert and trying to work out where the shot came from allows me the time to take him too.
We carried on to the other side and sat waiting to see if anything would come out of the wood. Nothing showing but We were treated to some stunning views.

Trying to upload some photos but it keeps erroring out… will keep trying

Extracted the two spikers back to the track with the quadbike

Day 4

This is now the second part of my trip and I am up to the Isle of Skye for 2 days to finish the trip. My stalker Davie has touched based to say he is seeing some stags and a little bit of roaring is going on. However; the weather on this day on Skye is terrible! 42mph winds and driving rain - as it’s a good 5 hour drive up we agreed it wasn’t worth rushing up, so I had a bit of lie in before my journey.

The journey up was absolutely stunning! Every bend I was treated to a vista you would see on a postcard.




As I got to Skye the weather forecast was correct and no deer or person in their right Mind would be out in this. Gutted to lose 1 of my 2 days stalking, especially as this was my last chance at a stag but you can’t control these things.

Annoyingly there was a bit of a break in the weather as darkness came in but Davie said let’s go for a drive and see what might be out with the thermal and inform our morning plans. We could see lots of deer and had an area in mind for the morning.

Day 5 - the last dance

I woke up early, full of hope and also some desperation! We met at 7am and headed out to a peninsula with a small wood at the bottom and a tall mountain glen above. We parked up and started picking apart the glen. We spot a big stag but he is on the move up the glen. There are about 20 hinds and calf’s about 600m to his right and we hope he is on his way to them and will settle. Nope, he goes straight up and over. He wanted to be somewhere and it was here.

We continued as we had seen a lot of deer the night before out towards the end of the peninsula. After a 3 mile trek out we start spotting some deer but the wind isn’t good. We have to drop right down to the cliff edge so our wind doesn’t bust us.



Down below the cliffs there is a small grassy plateau before it meets the sea and the remains of some very small stone cottages. I ask Davie about them and he tells me they are all over Skye from inhabitants back to the 1800’s.

Back to the stalking… we start to ascend up the cliff and the deer should be somewhere as we come over the top. Davie can see the stag and he is a big old boy but he is with about 15 hinds and calf’s. We work our way round and have about a 20m crawl to a grassy hump where we can get about a 150m shot from. We start crawling but 10m from our shooting position some hinds we hadn’t seen bedded down to our left see us and bark…. I rush forward to a shooting position but the hinds are heading up the glen and the stag is following. I have him in the cross hairs but he’s running. He stops at about 250m but behind a hind… no shot and they all continue up the glen, over the top and out of site.

Gutted doesn’t cover it…. We committed our morning to this stalk and the long trek back to the truck we were both pretty down beat and I was now beginning to think I was not going to get my stag.

We head to another area late afternoon. We pick up some hinds and calf’s but no stag. We setup on a hill looking out across the glen and down to a forest where Davie saw two stags holding their own group of hinds and calling two nights ago. We wait and nothing shows. Then I see some antlers coming over a ridge up from the trees and my heart rates picks up. Sadly, it’s just a young three year old but we wait to see if he is part of a bachelor group. he is on his own and we lose the light and head back to the truck.

That’s it - my last day and last attempt and we have come up short. I can’t fault the effort and I have had a wonderful experience and met some great people for which I’m thankful but I am down beat of falling short of my first highland stag.

Thankyou for sharing!!

Hope to experience that hunt someday

Day 6 - extra time

Today I am due to drive the 13 hour journey home but Davie says he has something he must attend in the afternoon but he could take me out in the morning if I am up for it…..

Count me in, I am here, let’s make the most of it.

We meet at 6am and drive about 45mins to the north west of Skye and start spotting with the thermal. We pick up lots of deer and there is a group with a stag about 750m up from us. They are up at the top of a grassy hill which has a 200m sheer drop to the sea on the other side. The wind is blowing straight down and we have cover to work with. Game on.

We make our way up but as we start getting closer to the top the wind is playing havoc. It’s coming in from the sea, hitting the cliff and barrelling over taking our scent back up… we try our best but they wind us and it’s game over. We can’t catch a break.



We decide to spy the glen opposite us and see if any deer are on it. We can see 4 deer making their way up. I range them at 1,405m. They are making their way over the top. Davie says there is a road around the other side and we can drive round and try to spy where they have gone and if one is a stag.

We make our way over and spy the group and one is a stag! The trouble is they have bedded at the top with a view all the way down the glen. There is a burn (stream) out the right which goes most the way up, would be the right side for the wind and should keep us out of site. We make off and start the long, steep, wet climb. About half way up we both hear the very faint sound on the wind of a roar. As we make our way up the sound gets clearer. We get to the top and we think we are about 500m to the right of them and thankfully the stag roaring allows us to pin down exactly where they are. We use another burn for cover to cross the open top and approach a mound to shoot from. I crawl forward, set up my backpack for a rest and range the stag - 218m. We have no more cover. I dial my scope for 200m and settle on the stag. There is quite a strong cross wind at the top of the glen to consider too.

I get the stag in the cross hairs and he is on a grassy mound up above his hinds, but he is lying down. A few minutes pass and he stands and starts roaring again. He is quartering quite hard away from me right to left, then the same direction as the wind but I have a good solid rest and feel good. I put the cross hairs just behind the back rib to compensate for the wind and then the angle should take the bullet into his off side shoulder. I squeeze the trigger and let off the shot. I feel it’s a good shot and the stag takes off down the mound he was on and out of site. Hinds start exploding out in all directions trying to pin down where the shot came from. Davie didn’t see the shot as I went forward solo to reduce the chance of being seen. I talk him through it and I felt good.

We see hinds making their way out of dodge and no stag with them. A good sign surely!

We start making our way over.



As we approach I see a brown lump and antler sticking up about 25m down at the bottom of the mound he was on.



Pure elation! We have worked hard for this and I will admit I didnt think it was going to happen. Back slapping, hand shakes and laughs all round.



Davie went down to get the quad bike, I stayed behind to grollach (gut) the stag but first took 5 mins to take in the moment, the view, the stag and reflect on what had just happened - a roaring highland stag! A bucket list trip for me and one thing I can say now is it won’t be the last.

As I grollach him I can confirm the shot was perfect. I went in on the second last rob half way up and exited on the front tip of the shoulder on the other side. In hindsight, I should have given myself better odds and wait for him to come more broadside but it worked and the shot was good.

What an ending! And absolutely stunning stag. Well earned

I hope this day by day report was enjoyable. I am normally terrible for either not doing a write up or being very brief but I wanted to capture the trip in detail for both myself in the future and to also share with you all some of the amazing opportunities available in the UK.

I have been to Scotland a few times and shot red hinds and Roe but this was my first on the stags. All I can say is you will not regret it!

What a thriller! Congrats on a great hunt and well rewarded for the persistence.

How does this stag rate in terms of trophy quality up there? I’m not too familiar with highland stags. Did you get an age estimate?

JPbowhunter said:

What a thriller! Congrats on a great hunt and well rewarded for the persistence.

How does this stag rate in terms of trophy quality up there? I’m not too familiar with highland stags. Did you get an age estimate?

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Thanks!

Thats a fairly typical size for a highland stag. Yes they can be bigger but these deer live in tough conditions and the food source quality is not great on the hill, so they do not get big like their lowland brothers. He was estimated at 6 years old by my stalker.

Well done, you worked hard to get your stag and that's what creates the memories.

Congrats on your stag, you certainly deserve it.

I am missing any comment about that great whisky they produce in Skye

Nyati said:

Congrats on your stag, you certainly deserve it.

I am missing any comment about that great whisky they produce in Skye

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Thanks! I am afraid I am not a whisky drinker, though I did enjoy some lovely local beers and a gin

Well done Tom. Great tale well told. Congratulations.

I have just finished cleaning up and mounting the head. I decided to go for a traditional Scottish cut.

Stunning and love the dark and light contrast