Red stag hunting, open hill and trophy deer stalking shooting advice and information

 Scottish Red Stag stalking in the traditional style takes place on open hills. We have plenty of Red Stags which live in forests on lower ground and these animals, with their better feed and shelter can grow to a similar size to those found in Central Europe. Our hill stags do not attain such a large body weight and do not grow antlers which are as substantial. It is important to understand that open hill Red Stag stalking is selective which means that you cannot expect to shoot master stags in their prime or really strong stags which may be a little younger - these beasts are left for breeding in that year.

You may be lucky and offered an old stag which is past his prime, but nevertheless may have 12 or more points. Traditional hill stalking for stags is really spectacular and takes place in stunning scenery with the whole emphasis being place on the 'stalk' or the 'hunt' itself rather than on the trophy. I often receive requests from clients asking for hill stalking with a guarantee of a royal or a good trophy - folk who ask for this should not go hill stalking but should specifically go for  'trophy stalking' which may be on low ground or in a large enclosure.  

As a general rule, the stalking begins at around 9 am when the hunters begin to climb up to higher ground. You may be spared part of the initial ascent by travelling part of the way by Landrover or other all terrain vehicle. At some point you will then have to walk steadily until you are above the deer. At this point the guide will begin looking for a shootable stag and if one is not found, then more walking and looking at the groups of deer on the hill side will be necessary. Depending on the ground, by the end of the day, you may have walked 10 or 12 miles and climbed up and down a couple of hills - on other grounds, we can cater for the less fit by ensuring you are transported all the way to the high ground and thereafter you only have to walk more or less downhill all the time. Not all estates involve this amount of walking and the difficulty of walking varies a great deal. As a general rule, estates located on the West of mainland Scotland will provide tougher walking. Rainfall is also higher on the West which sometimes results in more lost days. However, the compensation of stalking on more rugged ground is that the scenery can be truly spectacular on a fine day. Estates in Central and the Far North of Scotland offer scenery just as dramatic and sometimes have the additional benefit that lower rainfall enables the deer to have better body weights and stronger antler growth provided they are managed well.   

After glassing the hills and seeing various deer, the stalker would select a shootable stag in the distance (which may be a few hundred yards away or as much as half a mile away) and a route is then planned to bring the rifle into a close position which is downwind of the animal. The route may not be direct and there may be quite a detour to be made until you finally reach the point where you may have to crawl for some distance until within range. Most Red deer would be shot at ranges of 70 up to 200 yards. Ranges further than this are very rare and as with other forms of stalking, the person who thinks it is clever taking long shots does not understand the sport as this increases the chance of mistakes to making an efficient and humane kill and would be best sticking to target shooting.

It would only be on the final approach that you would normally unslip your rifle and load it.The final approach is sometimes the most difficult part of the stalk, particularly on ground which is flatter and offers less hillocks and ditches in which to hide at close range. You have to be prepared for a  long crawl on wet ground which may happen in some situations where cover is sparse!   

After the shot, the guide will gralloch the stag and it is then either dragged down the hill by hand and taken to the game larder , or loaded onto an all terrain vehicle or pony. The traditional method of extraction is by pony and involves the use of another person to walk the one or two ponies up the hill and they are called up after the shot. Estates often charge a higher price for this stalking because of the higher overheads - but this makes the stalk quite special to my mind - after all, you can talk to a pony, but you can't to a noisy and smelly  ATV!   

Equipment to take with you: small pair of binoculars, soft rifle slip, covers for the rifle 'scope,  gloves (we can have snow on the higher ground from mid September onwards!), small knapsack for camera, spare jersey, lunch, water bottle, spare ammo. I always carry some para cord with me in case of broken boot laces and all sorts of other emergency uses.  Lace up waterproof boots are best on the feet. Hat. Make sure you also carry a clean cloth for drying your rifle 'scope. 'Scope covers are important as you may be stalking in misty or wet conditions - the Butler Creek flip up covers are the best, as you cannot lose them. A long walking stick is useful when stalking - you don't have to bring one if you are flying - ask the guide or find a handy hazel tree on the low ground.

Rifle calibres: Nothing smaller than .243 using 100 grain bullets. .30-06, 7 mm, .270 calibres are fine. Zero your rifle for point of aim at 100 yards and note the drop at 200 yards just in case you need a long shot. 

Prices for Red Stag stalking vary a great deal. Prices vary from   £350 to as high as £650 per stag. The price may be affected by the number of stags you have to book in a week and also whether you are obliged to use the accommodation on the estate or not. Most estates do not operate an outing rate plus a trophy rate. You usually pay by the beast shot  and if you do not get a fair chance at a stag, then the estate or agency will make a refund of a substantial proportion of the hunting fee. Of course, if you miss or you do get a fair chance but are too slow to take the shot etc. ,then you cannot expect a refund. 

If you want to be certain of shooting a large stag which has 12 points up to as many as 26 or 28 points with thick heavy antlers, then you have to request trophy stag stalking. This may be in an enclosure which may be 3 or 4 hundred acres or 2 or 3 thousand acres (one Hectare is approximately equal to 2.5 acres). As a rule, you would have to specify in advance what sort of size stag you want so that the organiser can ensure as far as possible, that size of stag would be available for you. Most trophy stag stalking does not require the hunter to be particularly fit and is seldom as physically demanding as the traditional hill stag stalking. The magazine section has pictures of trophy stags and regular hill stags for comparison. Prices for trophy stags may be from £800 for a 14 pointer to £3,000 or even £4,000 for a record book stag.     

Top Of Page