Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is advising walkers heading for the hills this Autumn to check ahead for possible deer stalking taking place on estates.
The stag stalking season is also a popular time of year for walkers.
SNH has launched this year’s Heading for the Scottish Hills service to reduce disturbance during the stag stalking season (1st July to 20th October), by giving walkers information to plan routes away from stalking areas – this information is also available direct on the relevant hill route descriptions on Walkhighlands. Just go to the relevant hill walk description on Walkhighlands and you will see a box with the stalking information provided by the estate, if the estate does not take part in the scheme other information about deer stalking may be available within the route description. The service covers over 70 estates in popular hill walking areas, mainly in the Cairngorms National Park, the Breadalbane area and on the west coast. Most estates begin stalking in August and September.
The service, started five years ago, has received positive feedback from walkers and has demonstrated that there is demand for the service from both walkers and land managers.
Fiona Cuninghame, SNH recreation and access officer, said: “The service is a quick way to check that you won’t disturb deer stalking when heading to participating areas between July and October.
“We’re working with partners to consider how we can re-design the system to make it more user-friendly and cover a larger area, and are hoping to launch a new, improved service in 2015.”
The Scottish Outdoor Access Code places a responsibility on walkers to try and find out where stag stalking is taking place and also encourages walkers:
– to follow reasonable alternative routes on days when stalking is taking place
– not to cross land where stalking is taking place
– to avoid wild camping where stalking is planned for the next day
The web service on Walkhighlands and the SNH site has now replaced the Hillphones service because of demand from walkers and land managers. Regular users of Hillphones will be pleased to hear that the following Hillphones are operating in 2014 as part of Heading for the Scottish Hills, but that the web service covers a larger area – phone for a recorded message about stalking on these estates:
North Arran Hills (01770) 302363
Glen Fyne/Glen Falloch (01499) 600137
Glen Dochart (01567) 820886
Atholl and Lude (01796) 481740
Glen Shee (including Invercauld, Callater and Clunie) (013397) 41911
Balmoral/Lochnagar and Glen Clova (013397) 55532
Glen Strathfarrar (01463) 761360