The Muckle Hart of Benmore was the name given to a

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 ...

stag that was

stalked Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

(hunted) by the 19th-century naturalist and hunter

Charles William George St John Charles William George St. John (3 December 1809 – 22 July 1856), English naturalist and sportsman, son of General the Hon. Frederick St John, second son of Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, was born on 3 December 1809 at Chailey ...

.Watkins, M.G. (2004) 'St John, Charles George William (1809–1856)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; online edn, accessed 11 May 2020. In his book ''Short Sketches of the Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands'', he described the continuous hunt of the stag for six days and five nights, culminating in its dramatic demise on 1 October 1833. St John's account of the stalk was widely republished, and the deer has been described as "the most famous red stag to be recorded in the annals of British sport".

Background and publication history

Charles St John was an aristocratic Englishman with a lifelong interest in natural history who settled in Scotland as a young man, initially at Rosehall in Sutherland in about 1833. He spent the rest of his life fishing, shooting and observing wildlife. On 1 October 1833 he killed a large red deer stag named the Muckle Hart of Benmore. St John’s account of his pursuit of the Muckle Hart was first published in 1845, incorporated into a book review written by his friend

Cosmo Innes Cosmo Nelson Innes FRSE (9 September 1798 – 31 July 1874) was a Scottish advocate, judge, historian and antiquary. He served as Advocate-Depute, Sheriff of Elginshire, and Principal Clerk of Session. He was a skilled decipherer of ancient S ...

. St John later wrote an account of the pursuit in the 1846 book ''The Wild Sports and Natural History of the Scottish Highlands'', in which he described his encounter with the Muckle Hart in more detail. The story was re-published and anthologized widely.

St John's account of the stalk

On a Sunday, Malcolm, the shepherd, reports to St John that he has seen the

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

of a hart of extraordinary size which he guesses must be the "muckle hart of Benmore" notorious for its "wonderful size and cunning". The next day, St John sets off with his trusty servant, Donald, and Bran the dog. They shoot a

wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

but see no sign of the stag. They stay the night with Malcolm at his

shieling A shieling is a hut or collection of huts on a seasonal pasture high in the hills, once common in wild or sparsely populated places in Scotland. Usually rectangular with a doorway on the south side and few or no windows, they were often cons ...

(in Scottish dialect, a shepherd's hut used during summer grazing), and the next morning they spy the stag but, when they attempt to stalk him, he winds them. They return to the shieling. On the Wednesday, St John helps Malcolm by hiding in a hole beside a dead sheep and shooting two golden eagles which had been killing his sheep. They resume the hunt but see no sign of the stag and sleep in a "niche in the rocks". On Thursday, they see a footprint but dark falls amid heavy rain. In the darkness they hear a fiddle and wade a burn (small river) waist deep to enter a

bothy A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Sco ...

(basic shelter) occupied by illicit whisky distillers, where they spend the night and Donald becomes drunk. On Friday, St John resumes the hunt alone but becomes lost in the mist. He shoots and eats two grouse and bivouacs in the heather. Saturday breaks fresh and sunny. St John spies the stag and stalks him but can only take a frontal shot which nevertheless appears to kill the hart. St John lays down his rifle and approaches the prone stag with his knife. When he grabs an antler to bleed the animal it springs up and throws him to the ground. Cornered against a bank, St John throws his

plaid Plaid () may refer to: Fabric * Full plaid, a cloth made with a tartan pattern, wrapped around the waist, cast over the shoulder and fastened at the front * A synonym for tartan in North America * A plaid shirt, typically of flannel and worn du ...

over the stag’s head and stabs him with his knife. The stag stands at bay in a

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

while St John finds he has to pare a bullet with his knife to fit it into the rifle before he can shoot the hart in the head.

The trophy

In his accounts, St John does not describe the antlers other than to comment on first seeing the hart: "What a stretch of antler!" St John’s descendants reported that the Muckle Hart was a very heavy stag weighing .. Years after the stalk, Lionel Edwards and Harold Frank Wallace examined the mounted antlers of the Muckle Hart, which they described as "a well shaped head with thick horn, and very good brow points 13 inches long". Their photograph of the mounted head appears in their 1927 book ''Hunting and Stalking the Deer''.

Legacy and analysis

The Muckle Hart became legendary and was influential in the development of Scottish red deer stalking. The Muckle Hart has been described as "the most famous Scottish head which has ever been killed, probably the most famous head ever killed, at any rate to the English speaking world." St John's account of the stalk has been described as a "classic for all time" among deer-stalkers. In the 21st century, St John's account has been taken as an exemplar of the romanticised 19th-century combat between the hardy English stalker alone in the wild Scottish Highlands and the massive, noble, native Scottish antlered red deer stag. It is an example of the often embellished accounts of deer-stalking in "florid prose" characteristic of the era; Hayden Lorimer describes St John's account as "scarcely credible". St John’s account of the stalk of the Muckle Hart has been retold by many authors.

Notes

References

Works cited

* {{Cite book, last1=Edwards, first1=Lionel, title=Hunting and Stalking the Deer, last2=Wallace, first2=Harold Frank, publisher=Longmans, year=1927, publication-place=London