Highland highlights
“It is difficult to explain, and certainly impossible to describe, the mingled feelings of excitement and interest of the enthusiastic sportsman who, after perhaps a couple of hours’ toil and stratagem, finds himself for the first time within eighty or a hundred yards of a noble stag, as it raised its head majestically to the heavens for a moment when it realises the possibility of danger.”
Tom Speedy wrote these words in 1920 in his incredible depiction of the time. His book, The Natural History of Sport in Scotland with Rod and Rifle, chronicles the Scottish landscape in intricate detail, offering a portal into a past mostly forgotten, or at the very least willingly buried. Multiple chapters on the foes of game species, and particularly the open persecution of raptors, makes for some very uncomfortable reading, and a reminder of a less tolerant age. I would urge all young gamekeepers and stalkers to source or borrow a copy – it is an essential foundation of their history.
In the
