A Few bits on Scottish Environmental Conservation

[Alan H]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ica#Black_Bear

17 fatal Black Bear attacks in Canada and the USA in the 200's

7 fatal attacks in the USA and Canada in the 1990's

0 in the 1980's

4 in the 1970's.

Brown bear, which includes Grizzly and Kodiak bears, actually the numbers aren't much bigger. I just personally would never mess with any animal that is double or triple my weight, you know?

[Alan H]

I'd pay to see a photo of you looking like that!

uh-oh, this sounds like a challenge! LOL

Seriously, my friend John Robinson, who backpacks in Alaska pretty much every summer, has a walking stick with a bell on it. He says it's so the grizzlies know he's coming. NO SURPRISES. He's been doing this for fifteen years, easy.

That's just a little too dicey for my appetite for adventure.

[Alan H]

BTW, to everybody writing in this thread, my thanks. I am really intrigue'd to learn more about Scottish natural history, and especially environmental, wildlife and land use issues in Scotland.

X Marks is all about tartan and kilts, and then also about The Regiments and Clans and The Chief and The Games and so on....great stuff all of it, but it's nice to hear about something new, as well.

[BoldHighlander]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ica#Black_Bear

17 fatal Black Bear attacks in Canada and the USA in the 200's

7 fatal attacks in the USA and Canada in the 1990's

0 in the 1980's

4 in the 1970's.

Brown bear, which includes Grizzly and Kodiak bears, actually the numbers aren't much bigger. I just personally would never mess with any animal that is double or triple my weight, you know?

Thanks.
It might be those three in 1978 that were stalked & killed while fishing in Canada that I was thinking about(?)

[ThistleDown]

For a great read try Clayton Mack's "Grizzlies and White Guys" -- a survivor of several grizzly attacks up the coast of British Columbia. If I'm back to BC in time for the salmon run next Fall I'm thinking of crossing from Vancouver Island to the mainland by Zodiac to watch the grizzly fishing.

A walk in the wood here in the mountains of Vancouver's North Shore means donning the bells first. Good for black bears because it tells them you are there and then you rarely see them. No surprises for either, in other words.

Grizzlies, on the other hand -- a different kettle. You know that you can tell whether that scat is from a grizzly or a black bear just by poking it a bit with a stick, don't you? If you hear bells you know its from a grizzly.

All those bear attack statistics; I know of perhaps two or three in British Columbia over the years -- not more that I can recall. I've often been within 20 yards of black bears without a problem. I did have to yell and shout at one a few years ago, but she was pretty cowardly and huffed just once before she turned and walked away.

Now rattlesnakes I will give a mile of space. Shudder!

We have a red squirrel feeder in Scotland and that gets filled each and every morning even before the dogs and humans. There's a delightful wee creature!

Rex

[Jock Scot]

Alan to shoot a deer on most land in Scotland(UK wide)you must seek permission from the owner. You will be committing an offence otherwise. The value of deer stalking to be let to the paying public on a tract of peat bog, water, rock and fresh air otherwise known as a Highland estate is often the difference between financial survival and disaster. Not all estates have a whisky distillery, quarry, hotel, to help make ends meet.

Most, if not all, Highland estates are subsidised by the owner to a massive amount. Why own an Estate in the highlands? Well for all the things that we have said here why we love Scotland and also the chance for the owner to treat himself, his friends and family to live a dream for perhaps a month.

The Monarch of the Glen TV program is oh so right in describing the shortage of money to run the "big house" and the lifestyle. So the more deer an estate has, the more money the estate can earn by letting the deer stalking and selling the venison. Mind you the cost of running a deer stalking enterprise is considerable, so it is not all profit.

[ThistleDown]

Alan this is your thread so you can lead us where you wish. Obviously Jock and I are quite happy to pass on whatever we know and you are apparently interested in land use. Ask away. You might start with land ownership and the apportionment of giant tracks of the country as "estates" since pretty well everything else depends on that.

Rex

[BoldHighlander]

Thanks Jock, you pretty much answered my question about deer stalking in the highlands before I even asked it!

Alan to shoot a deer on most land in Scotland(UK wide)you must seek permission from the owner. You will be committing an offence otherwise. The value of deer stalking to be let to the paying public on a tract of peat bog, water, rock and fresh air otherwise known as a Highland estate is often the difference between financial survival and disaster. Not all estates have a whisky distillery, quarry, hotel, to help make ends meet.

Most, if not all, Highland estates are subsidised by the owner to a massive amount. Why own an Estate in the highlands? Well for all the things that we have said here why we love Scotland and also the chance for the owner to treat himself, his friends and family to live a dream for perhaps a month.

The Monarch of the Glen TV program is oh so right in describing the shortage of money to run the "big house" and the lifestyle. So the more deer an estate has, the more money the estate can earn by letting the deer stalking and selling the venison. Mind you the cost of running a deer stalking enterprise is considerable, so it is not all profit.

[BoldHighlander]

For a great read try Clayton Mack's "Grizzlies and White Guys" -- a survivor of several grizzly attacks up the coast of British Columbia.

Thanks Rex, I'll have to look for that one...

Grizzlies, on the other hand -- a different kettle. You know that you can tell whether that scat is from a grizzly or a black bear just by poking it a bit with a stick, don't you? If you hear bells you know its from a grizzly.

We have a red squirrel feeder in Scotland and that gets filled each and every morning even before the dogs and humans. There's a delightful wee creature!

In the last 4 or 5 years the grey squirrel has made a comeback here, though a black coloured variety from BC has migrated over the border (so I've been told by local game officials) & spread like wildfire in the area.

The other morning I had a family of four scampering about the side yard. I went out to toss them some old bread I save for them, and one was on the roof behind me. He jumped right over my head & landed on the railing in front of me!

Last spring my dog was very interested in a tree just off our back porch/deck, and I spied this little fella' up in the branches peering down:

[Alan H]

Alan this is your thread so you can lead us where you wish. Obviously Jock and I are quite happy to pass on whatever we know and you are apparently interested in land use. Ask away. You might start with land ownership and the apportionment of giant tracks of the country as "estates" since pretty well everything else depends on that.

Rex

Please expound! I read with eager eyes! The notion of "Estates" is very different from what we have here in California, I believe. They may be somewhat similar to California ranches, though most ranches here have a history of raising cattle.


Jock, you make a good point. In California, you can hunt on private land or public land. If you hunt at all you need a permit. Hunting on specifically designated public land is free, once you have the permit, but then you have to find the animals yourself, and that in and of itself is HARD work.

However, there are large ranches in California that have pretty much stopped raising cattle, and turned to being hunting ranches, instead. I believe that fully half of the Statewide hog (boar) hunt was done on private land in 2009. It can cost $600 for a man to stay at the ranch for a 3-day weekend, meals included and these are not by any means glamorous accomodations. You are sleeping in a wood shack or a tent cabin, andmaybe you have running water in your room and maybe you don't. You get a guide, and 2-3 hunters will go out for a day. Several ranches boast as high as 50% success rates for guided hog hunts. It's not a "big business" but it IS a business, and it's survival for some ranches which have prime California country and don't want to sell it to real estate developers. However, I have to say, running a deer or hog hunting lodge is no way to get rich. You'd better love the life, to do it.

Here are a few links to only two California hunting ranches that I know of.

Hogs Wild

http://www.hogswild.com/

Ive been out to Hogs Wild, though haven't been hunting. If I ever WERE to go hunting, then I'd probably bowhunt for hogs/boar.

Golden Ram...pretty big outfit, they're really pretty plush

http://www.goldenramhunting.com/