For thousands of years, deer were the foundation of human existence in Scotland. Hunting them provided us with food, clothing, tools and a rich cultural imagination that is hard to envisage in the modern world. Deer were a universal currency for our ancestors and everybody had a right to use them. It’s the kind of thought that had its roots in ancient understandings of nature and the significance of hunting.
That much is evident from the old Gaelic expression: ‘Breac à linne, slat à coille is fiadh à fìreach — mèirle às nach do ghabh gàidheal riamh nàire.’ This loosely translates as ‘A fish from the river, a wand from the wood and a deer from the hill — thefts of which no gael is ashamed.’
That sense of
