Galloway's Holy Grail

The famous Macnab is a tougher prospect now than ever before, but it remains the ultimate sporting challenge

- PATRICK LAURIE

The traditional Scottish Macnab is probably one of the most famous field sports challenges in the world.

Sporting people travel for thousands of miles to try their luck on estates from Berwick to Cape Wrath, and while it’s no great achievement to drop a stag, land a salmon or bag a brace of grouse, doing it all in a single day calls for an edgy twist of sheer good fortune that money cannot buy.

Fifty years ago, Galloway was an excellent place to try for a Macnab. Stags and grouse abounded on the open hill, while a steady supply of salmon ran up the Solway.

Greyhen

A friend of my fathers attempted a traditional Macnab near Newton Stewart in the 1970s and was frustrated to miss the chance when his grouse turned out to be a greyhen and his salmon was a sea trout.

I have seen a photograph of the man standing across a big 10-point stag, holding the greyhen and what seems to be a fish of around 5lb in weight. Those were great days for wild, unpredictable sport and I find it strange that anyone should feel downhearted after such a jaunt.

Nowadays, the situation is altogether less bountiful. Salmon have declined so gravely that all rivers west of the Annan enforce a catch-and-release policy on migratory fish. There are only a few places where grouse can be found in reasonable numbers and local stalkers are concerned that commercials stalking targets are driving a decline in the local red deer population.

The prospect of a Galloway Macnab has never looked more challenging, but I could hardly turn down the idea without an attempt when Shooting Times asked if it was possible.