Dowell, Dan et al
Dan Dowell and Abbie MacIntosh
Abbie:
'We eesed ging on white hare sheets thegither in the faa o the year. I've seen three tae fower hunner hares killed...sae mony we cairriet them aff the hill bi the cairtload. Maybe twenty tae thirty fowk wad hae bin sheetin. The hares war jist like sheep, drivin them afore the guns.'
Dan:
'Ae day, comin aff Morven, I stoppit tae watch the biggest herd o deer I've iver seen...at least 1,000 o them. Aabody wi me stoppit in amazement. It wis mid efterneen an the deer should hae bin restin because it wis a fine day. They were poorin aff the hill like watter. It wis a sicht I'll niver forget.
I shot ma first stag fin I wis aboot 30. Ye'd tae aim for the hairt. If ye missed, ye'd tae follae the stag till it lay doon, an then draa in aboot an sheet it. Ye ken the age o the stag bi the nummer o pynts on its antlers. Ye'd tae stalk the stag up win. I wis oot stalkin ae day an I seen a stag lyin up on the hill. My God, he lay there maist o the efterneen! Eventually we'd tae disturb him. He got sic a damt fleg he rose up an awa at the gallop, ower quick for us tae follae him. Efter a stag wis shot, I'd gralloch him. The ravens flee doon an clear awa the soss...echt or nine o them. The stag's body's strappit ower the pony's back. It's nae bother tae a stoot garron tae cairry the beast doon tae the Lan Rover, nae bother ava.
Whyles I wis oot aa nicht lookin for poachers. The biggest lauch I got wis fin I wis wi a Glentanar man. Aboot 4am we spottit a poacher an thocht he wis in trouble in the watter. The Glentanar man dived in tae save him...jist opposite Dinnet it wis. Bit the poacher swam ower tae the ither side an took aff like greased lichtenin, an my freen climmed back on the bank wi the watter rinnin aff him. We niver haunlit the poachers...nae wi them cairryin knives an guns. We'd phone the police, an let them deal wi it.
Whyles I took a boat oot on Loch Kinnord, in June, say, fishin fur broon troot. Kinnord's fu o pike, great big fish some o them. The biggest fish I catched wis a 34lb salmon below Potarch. That wis some beast! He gaed up the peel sae faist I thocht he'd rin ontae dry lan aathegither.
I'd tae reel like the divil tae bring him in. It wid hae bin aroon Merch that I catched him...there wis snaa on the hills. I wis very prood fin I liftit him oot o the watter...