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beast, cairngorm national park, scotland
Deer stalking in Scotland is steeped in history. Wild red deer, referred to as ‘beasts’, have been managed for sport and food in Scotland for centuries. There is no accurate information as to how long this area on the Invercauld Estate has been under deer; 120,000 acres of wild wild wonderland, it has always been considered part of the Royal forest of the Scottish kings, and has maintained the traditions of old, as illustrated in the work of Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873). For the past 43 years Peter Fraser has worked here as a gamekeeper, now he is in his final season as a professional deer stalker and in a matter of weeks he will be home from the hill, retired from a profession that has defined most his adult life.
The toils are pitched, and the stakes are set.
Ever sing merrily merrily.
The bows they bend and the knives they whet,
Hunters live so cheerily.
It was a stag, a stag of ten,
Bearing its branches sturdily.
He came silently down the glen,
Ever sing hardily, hardily.
It was there he met with a wounded doe,
She was bleeding deathfully;
She warned him of the toils below,
O so faithfully, faithfully.
He had an eye, and he could heed,
Ever sing so warily, warily.
He had a foot, and he could speed,
Hunters watch so narrowly.
‘Hunters Song’ by Sir Walter Scott.
National Geographic