For his brother Stuart’s birthday, Toby Wilson gave him £350-worth of red stag stalking in Scotland. Go to a grand estate and that will buy you as little as a day and a cull knobber. Go on the BASC deer management scheme on the island of Arran and that buys you a whole week’s stalking with an unlimited bag limit of some of the most impressive heads in Scotland. And no trophy fees.
Arran is the rugby ball-shaped island off Ayrshire. Dubbed ‘the Highlands in miniature,’ land here rises from sea level to the 2,866ft mountain Goatfell. It can be tough stalking.
BASC leases the sporting rights on the 27,500- acre Forestry Commission land on Arran, which holds around 500 beasts. There are two other large estates on Arran which between them hold 1,700 beasts on open land: Dougarie owned by Stephen Gibbs and Arran Estate owned by Charlie Fforde.
Last year, BASC members had to cull 135 of the island’s deer population, with resident Forestry Commission ranger Bob Logan taking another 15 off the Goatfell area. Neil Griffiths and Bob are BASC’s team on the island, running the programme with radios and mobile phones, driving round and round the island and, on command, bringing carcases off the hill on quad- bike trailers.
BASC runs 13 weeks a year for up to 16 of its members at a time. They share 25 beats, all of which include land from low woodland to high hill, so whatever the cloudbase, you can find somewhere to shoot. The Arran deer management scheme is open to all BASC members (who are in possession of their own stalking rifle) and is suited to both novice or experienced stalkers.
Toby and Stuart were two of the stalkers on the third week of BASC’s stag programme in 2007. The weather had been kind to BASC so far. On the first week, BASC stalkers shot 10 stags, predominantly spikers. In the second week the tally was 11 with the biggest a 27-stone 14-pointer and two of 10 points with three at 24 stone. Stuart has not shot a red stag before, so he is hoping that he will be lucky this week.
The year before, a silver medal stag was shot.
Each week starts with a briefing from Neil in the hotel. He reassures everyone about the safety aspects of the programme. Mountain Rescue is available and HMS Gannet has helicopters in the area if anyone needs to be taken off the hill. Any light injuries and
has 12 portable highseats for stalkers who can no longer cope with Arran’s steep slopes. “Know your limitations,” says Neil. “Don’t walk on to the hill and be too knackered to shoot.” Next, the shooters go to the range to show they are capable of shooting. All stalkers on the scheme have to have passed their DSC1. Bob then divvies out the beats and briefs each pair of stalkers on what to expect.
Toby is in the army, Stuart works for York Guns – fit lads both, Bob gives them Glenloig to stalk.
One of the toughest hills on the estate, they have to climb from the road at 200ft above sea level to 1,500ft on top. All the time stags are roaring around them, from Gleann Easbuig (the bishop’s glen) to their left to Gleann an t’Suidhe (glen of the seat) on their right, where St Columba is said to have rested.
They do the first two-thirds of the hill in 20 minutes. Then they range-find their vehicle, parked below, and discover they have only travelled 750 yards in a straight line in that time. Demoralised and facing even steeper terrain, it takes them 40 minutes to clamber up the last third of the hill.
“When we got to the top, we were absolutely broken,” says Toby afterwards. “Doing this last year, I lost three-quarters of a stone in weight in three days. Part of that was feeling too exhausted to eat in the evenings.” At the top, they spotted their stag at 660 yards. They called with a stag roarer. “He came mooching out of the wood line and called back,” says Toby.
But the brothers’ calling was too good. They were imitating a much larger stag than this one wanted to tangle with. “Being a little squeaker, he didn’t want a fight,” says Stuart. “He moved away.” They followed him over the hill and Stuart left Toby to watch while he stalked up close. Toby’s job as bag carrier is to keep an eye on mobile phone signal levels, so he knows where he last had one, and an eye on where Toby hits the beast and which direction it runs. They nearly all run here – some of them up to 100 yards.
Stuart’s Remington 700 in .243 that Neil earlier mocked as a “girlie calibre” hit the beast hard in the neck. It ran a short distance, then dropped.
“You can’t beat this scheme for value,” says Toby. “It’s graft, but we saw loads of animals.
Happy birthday Stuey.” Standing over his first stag, Stuart says: “I feel fantastic. Mission accomplished. My brother has been before – but now we’re going to get him one. I don’t care if I don’t get another...
well, I do.” And so they did. The tally for the week was 13 stags, among them one for Toby.
‘You can’t beat this scheme for value. It’s graft, but we saw loads of animals. Happy birthday!’
What does it cost?
Despite the cheapness of BASC’s stalking, you do have to factor in travel, food and accommodation costs for the week. BASC’s stalking on Arran costs £350 for a week of stags and £175 for hinds. It is the sister scheme to one BASC runs in Thetford, Norfolk. Speak to Andrea Green 01244 573000,
www.basc.org.uk.
A car on the Ardrossan-Brodrick ferry with two passengers is around £70. See
www.calmac.co.uk.
You find your own accommodation on the island,
www.visitarran.co.uk. BASC has arranged a £50/night price for B&B at the luxurious Auchrannie Spa Hotel – so bring your swimming trunks.
