Early stags: a dead red redemption

With the roe rut over, Chris Dalton switches focus to the reds and sets out to cull a few young male deer — if he can find them

- Chris Dalton

It’s funny how you don’t notice minor inconveniences until they creep up on you to create one big problem. Since the first lockdown 18 months ago, I have been allowed to carry out essential local stalking, when specifically requested. However, this has meant that large areas of my ground have been left unmonitored for quite some time.

It is easy to forget that by going about normal routines such as guiding, we are automatically noting the ground and building a picture of what is happening there. I have been doing it for so long that it is now a subconscious action.

Consequently, I have a good idea of where my deer are, how the breeding season has gone and how the kids and calves are doing. This,in turn, allows me to narrow the odds when I am working with a client or starting a cull. I will have seen my chosen target on my rounds and know that it will most likely be returning to nearby cover to lie up after a night of foraging. But not this year.

After the roe rut, I like to switch straight on to some of the early red stags to reduce numbers before mid-September. There is client demand for stag stalking right through the season and we have guests booked in for the more mature beasts. I focus on vulnerable sites and areas where I have a large cull before turning my attention to my guests and the most sought-after stalking during the red rut.

Areas of focus

There were two areas I wanted to focus on; the first in Perthshire, where we are finalising a deer-fenced forest creation scheme, the second in Argyll, a restock site planted around two years ago. The first site required a recce to confirm that work was complete and to check the access points. The second site needed me to examine any damage done to the restock site and erect a new ground box covering the area.