The week of the 24th September we had a guest from London who stayed in the cottages with his wife. On emailing to book the holiday he did mention that he would like to go out for a stag, maybe two. That was duly arranged and they arrived, they were looking for a quiet week but a few outings would be good. I sent him our Terms and Conditions then all was booked.
I cannot remember the whole story but seem to recollect that we went out a couple of times, I quickly realised the terrain for his ability were not suited, so a short outing it was to be, early morning, late evening. We were unsuccessful. So a boat trip was planned to look for deer, we spotted deer on the Island Eilean Garbh , they moved off and I had an idea to ambush the deer as they would almost certainly cross onto Rona.
I sailed round, we had picked a stag and I dropped the guest on the shore, he had instructions and he carried out the short crawl in to position where he dispatched the stag.
For me not a great experience, for him delighted. It was not a great stalk, resourceful because when you have a guest like this you try your best to get him or her a stag. You could argue if he could not ‘hunt’ it then why take him out. But the stag had to be culled and if that meant making it easy then so be it.
It is not the easiest of pictures to see what is going on but the stags came out of the hollow just after I dropped the guest off with clear instructions and he successfully shot the stag.
I anchored the boat, got in the dinghy, dragged the gralloched stag back to the dinghy and took it alongside the boat, them home. It was a bit of fun and of course I was pleased my guest got a stag.
The sting is in the tale, on settling up I presented him with the cost to which he was surprised first of all that he had to pay, secondly that he had not brought any cash to pay. Now I wont go into what happened next but I did end up with some money, not the full amount, he was not the first to do this or expect this for free. But he was the last. Not a good outcome and this tale gives you an idea that it is not all plain sailing. Shooting guests sometimes do not appreciate or understand the cost of ‘going for a stag’.
Another guest called off when he was told that the outing was just that and no, he did not get the stag to keep but he could buy it. Too expensive he said, guests like that we can all do without.
The German Week
I am not sure about this week suffice to say returning guest Frank and his colleague Heiko from Germany had returned for another week of stalking on Frank’s favourite Island.
I first met Frank who was at the time kayaking round the West Coast, he was in Big Harbour when a yacht ran aground, I grabbed him and we ‘rescued’ the unfortunate yachtsman, that is another story. We talked about deer and stalking and when he hear we did take guests he booked up and returned on several occasions.
I do remember that this week (1st October) was damp but we got off to a good start with an early stag.I am sure when Frank reads this he will correct me, unless I write it up on the day it will be forgotten, the pictures help. But looking back and trying to decipher my diary, not good.
I consulted my Deer Returns and see Frank shot this rutting stag South at Doire na Guaile on the first afternoon after the usual introductions, target and delivery to the cottages.
The next stag was a very good stalk, long crawl, not a bad day, breezy but had been wet. We got into a ‘runner’ and managed to get close, I remember the bank we came over to see the stag lying was steep and I think I had to support Frank as he took aim, a neck shot presented itself, the stag not far, 80 metres perhaps. A success and another good day. A bit of a drag and drive with the ATV as it was up North of the East side.
Moving onto the Thursday and Heiko had for him the best stag of the week.
This stag was shot on the 5th October up North, a better day, its antlers told us a story and sure enough on inspecting it we found it had had a broken ankle for some time. This is not that uncommon on Rona, it is such a harsh terrain. Needless to say Heiko was happy to get a ‘deformity.
At the time we had employed Richard Bourne and his partner Zoe, it was Richard’s first time at stags and he was ghillying. Dave MacCullough our now annual visiting Second Stalker was with us too.
Now we had three stags we had one to get, sometimes it can just go dead and despite our best efforts we were not getting into anything that I would want to cull. We tried the Lighthouse area which belonged to the MOD but we had an agreement. Wew drew a blank, despite there being deer up there, sorry I cannot remember that day.
But luck was with us and 6th Oct’ which was the Thursday I managed to get Frank into a young stag, perfect for venison, just below our highest hill (at 124m).
The picture tells the story, it was more damp than sun. A good week, entertaining, well won deer and satisfied customers.
Our Game Dealer would not come to Portree for dribs and drabs of carcasses due to cost, so we were forced to butcher, which was not a bad thing as it took off and I could have been doing just this, nothing else. We had to deal with rutting stags but surprisingly when you learn and know what to do you can still supply quality venison to the market, despite them initially being stinky!!!!!
A Previous Outing
Shortly before Frank and Heiko’s visit I took Richard, my new man up North in the boat to try for a stag for venison, it was a quick but interesting stalk. Up the path out onto the moor and immediately came onto a group of deer. I left Richard and stalked in, it was not within my usual range but the new rifle I had recently bought (a Franchi .308) was proving very accurate and I had confidence in it. I took the shot and then it was up to the ghillie, Richard to retrieve. We dragged it down and because there is no vehicular access for us now, the staff had left the Base closed, it was something new to us. The wheelbarrow.
Interesting that we could get a reasonable sized young beast into a garden wheelbarrow, who knew!!!
I think Richard was quite amused.
Over the years we have or at least I have done this quite a few times. Some big ones which were not the easiest, I remember one went between the boat and pier, not good.
All in all a good season.
End of the season posed photo, but I like this one better!!!!
