Stalking Diary

Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill

- Davy Thomas

For me, a knowledge of the history of the land and those who stood here before me is something that fascinates me. However, many of us who work in the sporting sector struggled in school, as being cooped up in a classroom failed to channel our energy. Ironically, my own school grades, including history, resembled the latter half of the alphabet.

While resting the pointers during a morning’s grouse counting, I sat down beside a stone known by just a few as ‘McAlpines’. John McAlpine was perhaps the first professional stalker to have arrived in the deer forest in which I work. I have a few photographs of him, a typical burly Victorian with a fore and aft and big beard to boot. He and his wife took up the position around 1890. Sadly, she passed away from TB, and he lost his only son in the Somme.

Summer downpour