The deer forest (
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
: frìth) is a sporting estate which is kept and managed largely or solely for the purposes of maintaining a resident population of
red deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
for sporting (
deer stalking
Deer stalking, or simply stalking, is a British term for the stealthy pursuit of deer on foot with the intention of hunting for meat, for leisure/trophy, or to control their numbers. As part of wildlife management, just as with rabbiting and ...
) purposes. It is an institution and phenomenon peculiar to the
Highlands
Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau.
Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to:
Places Albania
* Dukagjin Highlands
Armenia
* Armenian Highlands
Australia
*Sou ...
of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Typically, deer forests are in hilly and mountainous areas of the
Highlands and Islands
The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides (Western Isles).
The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 ...
; and, despite the use of the term "forest" they are almost all devoid of trees - the word is used here in its original sense, meaning an area set aside for hunting, rather than its later association with trees (see
Royal Forest
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...
). The land is typically not suitable for crops. Most deer forests have large areas covered with heath, in many places peat bogs, marshes, lochs or bare rock, elsewhere patches of grass or other herbage, while plantations of trees of greater or less extent may also occur.
They usually extend to and more, and deer which live there belong to the small-bodied, hill-dwelling race of red deer typical of northern Scotland, which have adapted to life on open hills after the loss of woodland habitat.
![Overcast day in Craiganour deer forest - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Overcast_day_in_Craiganour_deer_forest_-_geograph.org.uk_-_603893.jpg)
Most deer forests are not fenced or enclosed in any way, and the deer can move freely across large tracts of hill country. Boundaries, referred to as ''marches'', are usually marked by a river, stream, ridge, shoreline or similar natural feature. ''Hind forests'' and ''stag forests'' are so called because of the tendencies of red deer to form large, single-sex herds outside the autumn
rutting time, and most forests hold either a resident stag herd or a hind herd for much of the year.
In ''deer forest'', the term ''forest'' is derived from the ancient and medieval use of the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word ''foris'' - "open" or "waste", to denote an extensive outdoor "waste area" kept as a hunting preserve.
Scotland's deer forests are almost all privately owned and managed, although a few once-distinguished forests such as
Torridon
Torridon (Scottish Gaelic: ''Toirbheartan'') is a small village in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. However the name is also applied to the area surrounding the village, particularly the Torridon Hills, mountains to the north of Glen Torrido ...
and
Glenfeshie have moved into semi-public ownership via bodies such as the
National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organ ...
, the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment thr ...
and the
Ministry of Defence, and sporting deer stalking is no longer carried on there.
Some deer forests are retained in the hands of their proprietors, while many others are rented out, either for the shooting season or for a period of years, and in this case may bring a large rental to their owners. A person who rents the ground pays a fee for every stag killed. A deer forest is always an expensive affair, not only for the rent that has to be paid, but also for the number of keepers, guides, watchers, beaters, etc., that have to be employed in connection with it.
[
A comprehensive account of nearly all the deer forests in their late Victorian heyday is provided by Grimble (1896)
]
List of deer forests
[Ordnance Survey One Inch maps of Scottish Highlands]
Notes
{{reflist
References
Deer Stalking Scotland
Deer hunting
Rural Scotland
Hunting and shooting in Scotland
Highlands and Islands of Scotland
Deer in Scotland