The joy of deer stalking

In spite of my dodgy right hand – caused by an injury to my radial nerve – I decided to go stalking in the Highlands last weekend. Recovery from such injuries is quite slow, but enough mobility had returned to my trigger finger for me to give it a whirl. Invitations to hunt stags in the Cairngorms National Park are nothing to be sniffed at, particularly as the Scottish government seems determined to phase out stalking, along with fishing, grouse shooting and all the other country sports associated with rich Scottish landowners.

The war being waged by the SNP and the Greens against the owners of private estates is motivated by class envy but it’s dressed up as a high-minded attempt to save the planet. According to these chippy little martinets, the most useful contribution Scotland can make towards reducing CO₂ emissions is to replace the peat moorland of the Highlands with pine trees – and in an effort to give this wanton act of destruction a veneer of romanticism, they talk about restoring the Great Wood of Caledon.