Three weeks in the Scottish Highlands.
The Wild Order team are back home after a successful season in the Scottish Highlands, we ran three editions of our flagship course “The Hunter’s Experience”, sharing our passion for hunting with 30 guests who were eager to learn! Below are some ponderings from Arthur, founder of The Wild Order, on our time up in snowy Scotland.
Whenever I get back from running our experiences in the wild Highlands, I’m left in awe of the landscape, the people and the opportunities that surround us up there.
The time we spend in the hills and forests, while purposeful and driven, is so much more than just looking for deer. We ponder our movement and get humbled by hills, freezing wind or sideways snow, sometimes all at once. We stop in the wonder of golden eagles or distant rainbows. It’s our slow footsteps, deep breaths and heightened senses that bring us the most meaning. Our pursuit of deer is of course a priority but this is by no means our sole purpose while out. Our purpose is to engage with the landscape in a meaningful way, to be part of nature, intelligently managing deer, not by indiscriminate culling, but by acting like a predator weeding out the weak, sick or injured. By doing this we reduce numbers while also increasing the health of the heard.
There is a reverence and respect one finds for Deer and all animals that call the Highlands home, harsh winters and poor feed mean only the toughest survive. While we sit cold in our modern high-tech clothing we watch these animals day after day tough out the wildest weather with only the hair on their backs and woodlands for shelter. This is what makes hunting special, not the taking of life but the breathing beauty of it.
I leave proud of the (30) guests that have travelled to be with us over the three weeks, they’ve taken time off work and spent their hard-earned money to be in this epic landscape to engage and learn new skills and hopefully take some venison home. I’m proud of The Wild Orders' endeavours to bring these experiences to people and I’m amazed at how people get stuck in.
Our guests took home a whopping 527 kg of fresh venison shot, gralloched, extracted, skinned and butchered by their own hands with guidance from our team. Sustainable, wild, healthy meat; you can’t do better than that!
We have got some exciting experiences launching soon so stay tuned!
Bookings for The Hunter’s Experience are now LIVE, click here for more info.
