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I opted to shoot my own land in Broubster in the pouring rain and successfully stalked and shot a roe buck at The Fairy Glenn. Ranger Chris skinned it for me and the Thurso butcher cut it up.
I opted to shoot my own land in Broubster in the pouring rain and successfully stalked and shot a roe buck at The Fairy Glenn, gutted it and carried it home with great pride to hang in the fish room of the Forss House Hotel! I agonised over whether to skin and butcher the animal myself but felt that I should report the kill to Ranger Chris. As it was shot by me in my own estate and carted home by me as well, he reckoned that it was my deer! He offered to skin it for me and so I drove the immense distance along unmade roads to find him and his house to get the job done. He also showed me how to butcher it, but I opted to get the Thurso butcher to do that job as per Charlie's recommendation. There was a horrific evening of wind and rain and so I opted for an early night.
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The day that was supposed to be the eve of my departure but Charlie Sutherland of Reay examined my Range Rover and decided that a replacement automatic transmission would be needed
On a day that was supposed to be our eve of departure, we were struggling with my Range Rover and so enlisted the help and advice of Ian McGregor who introduced me to Charlie Sutherland of Reay. They tried a few things and then decided that a replacement automatic transmission would be needed but then, after enquiry, they undertook to make the repairs. I hired a Land Rover County from them whilst they worked on the Range Rover and this allowed me to take Nigel off to Thurso Railway Station for him to catch the overnight sleeper back to London and thence home. The following day was his wife's birthday and he was not supposed to be up in Scotland on a sporting holiday with his own car back in my garage in Paxton!
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A wet day stalking but we only saw roe does and red hinds. The car finally broke down on the way back and real action would be needed the following day.
We awoke to the pouring rain which actually got heavier as we drove over to our rendezvous with Chris. On arrival we mutually agreed to call it off and then decided to meet up in the evening. Chris brought over a neighbouring keeper and we all went to South Strathy. I went with Chris but we only saw roe does and red hinds. The evening ended freezing cold which did not help my cold, but I thought that I was getting over the worst of it. The car finally broke down on the way back and real action would be needed the following day. Nigel and I stalked Broubster during the day and we are gradually learning the technique.
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Today we went stalking with Chris on the neighbouring Limekiln Estate at Broubster where we traced and stalked a buck from this morning from 5.00am in the morning.
We saw one roe buck at a distance and several does nearby that we could not shoot and so drew a blank. The evening on the neighbouring Limekiln Estate where we traced and stalked that buck from this morning and I ended up dropping him dead with a single well-aimed shot. He had a good head - the best of the thirty or so that Chris had culled this year. We stalked him along the brook as the rain fell harder and harder and then he was eventually killed just beyond my own boundary in Broubster. We had got the car petrol tank fixed but now there was a gradually-worsening sound coming from the mechanics.