Deer stalking.

[HalfManHalfTitanium]

The following message used to appear on the North Chesthill Estate website.

"From September to January deer stalking is taking place .

The estate put up ‘DEER MANAGEMENT IN PROGRESS TODAY’ notices when this management activity is taking place.(These notices are displayed prominently in the Invervar Car Park and on The Invervar Hill Gate).

The Scottish Outdoor Access Code requires us to tell you when and where we are working and asks you as visitors to stay away from this affected area and walk elsewhere.

When these notices are displayed do not enter the Munros on the north side of Glen Lyon above Invervar."

I contacted the estate about this last September. I asked if this request to stay away from North Chesthill applied on Sundays, when traditionally there is no stalking on Scottish hill estates.

I was told that it did apply on Sundays. I pointed out that this conflicts with the information on the Heading to the Scottish hills website, which states that walking on the estate on Sundays is OK.

The estate manager was very helpful, and told me that he would try to get the messages consistent. I can't now see the message above on the website.

However, it seems from this thread that the issue has not yet been resolved?...

Tim

[Gareth Harper]

HalfManHalfTitanium, it is simple, North Chesthill do not welcome walkers.

The day I popped up to do the four Munros from Invervar there was a notice at the usual access point with details of a lengthy detour. A local happened to be walking along the road as I stood staring at the notice, they explained and told me to ignore it and pointed me to a gap in the fencing. The next few tall gates, if I remember correctly, were all locked. That was 2013.

[Gareth Harper]

Dunno how I managed to write that as a quote.
Don't seem able to edit it. Whoops. Sorry.

[prog99]

HalfManHalfTitanium, it is simple, North Chesthill do not welcome walkers.

The day I popped up to do the four Munros from Invervar there was a notice at the usual access point with details of a lengthy detour. A local happened to be walking along the road as I stood staring at the notice, they explained and told me to ignore it and pointed me to a gap in the fencing. The next few tall gates, if I remember correctly, were all locked. That was 2013.

Theres a properly marked and from memory sensible detour now, quite surprising given their history!

[Gareth Harper]

Theres a properly marked and from memory sensible detour now, quite surprising given their history!

When I was there, back in 2013, I couldn't figure out what the reason for the detour was. Well other than to inconvenience walkers and presumably put people off walking in the area.

Maybe there is a reason today, but back then there was none whatsoever.

[Spade]

Probably best avoiding these areas, These events will happen yearly. Don't fancy even being in the area with the thought of it happening

[Marty_JG]

Five out of twelve months isn't yearly, it's all-but half the entire year.

[Gareth Harper]

Probably best avoiding these areas, These events will happen yearly. Don't fancy even being in the area with the thought of it happening

Then we allow them to deny us access to the hills. In any case if you look at the walkhighlands route, which is the route the vast majority of people will want to follow, there isn't really a major stalking issue as you follow the ridge the whole way round and return to the same point.

This is not about stalking or deer management, it is about North Chesthill trying to keep people off 'their' estate. They do not welcome walkers at any time of year.

[morriskj]

I did the 4 Munro circuit last Sunday, 6th September.

Must admit, I approached Invervar with a little caution as I hadn't been on these hills since the early 90's and was fully aware of this particualr estate's position on access.

There was no signage relating to stalking on that particular day and we didn't encounter any estate activity throughout the walk - none that we were aware of anyway.

This is, of course, not to say that they don't stalk on Sundays just not this particular one.

[Pastychomper]

This might not be of interest to many here as they're a bit short of Marilyns, but Sandside Estate has recently put up a new sign warning of stalking for 10 months of the year. They had a similar sign years ago and the one time I 'phoned the number they gave me another number for the estate office, which iirc didn't answer so I just carried on.

On the plus side the new sign says "welcome" and recommends keeping to the track rather than 'phoning before every walk.