September - October

Scottish Red Stag Stalking

The stag experience

Red Stags

Terrain: Highland

Time of year: September - October

Outing times: 7am - 6pm

Area: 6,000 acres

Scotland’s largest wild land animal and most iconic. Red deer are now mostly confined to highland areas of open heather hill as they are fenced out of forests and seen as a pest in lowland situations. We stalk in a traditional way on foot which requires a degree of fitness with a normal day lasting 6 – 8 hours. We stop frequently to spy for or listen out for the sounds of roaring stags as we plan our approach in the hope of locating a mature specimen.

Itineraries are based on three day slots, Monday – Wednesday and Thursday – Saturday. Expectations vary according to the time of the season. There are two distinct parts to our season, pre-rut & rut. Pre-rut is the most unpredictable time starting in mid September and running up to early October.

The rut, starting in the first week of October is the time when we have to maximise our chances and expectations increase dramatically. Experiencing the rut in the Scottish highlands is the pinnacle of big game hunting, it is short but well worth it as the season finishes 20th October.

A typical three day hunt, pre-rut is based on an expectation of one stag whilst a three day hunt during the rut is based on 3 – 4 stags.

Trophies – our approach is a very simple one, we try to select mature stags of 6 – 7 years. These animals will vary in the size & shape from 6 – 14 points but age is the determining factor. Every year we observe several 12 point animals known as ‘Royals’ during the rut, preferring to leave them to breed for the good of the population.

At the end of every trip we offer a trophy prep service where heads are cleaned & bleached then dried before shipping. This is an optional service

Interested in learning more about our Red Stag Stalking experiences? We’d love to hear from you.

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