Stoat

Game Hunting

Fewer than 500 people own more than half of the privately-owned rural land in Scotland. This accounts for a number of the large estates; one person actually owns 350 square miles of land. And many of these large estates are managed for hunting, principally for game.

Since we hike through these large estates on many of our hill walks, thanks to the 2003 national right-to-roam act that allows us to walk anywhere (public land, private land), we have learned some about game management. That management includes ridding the estate of predators that feed on the game that hunters pay big bucks to shoot for sport (about $1,000 per day). See photo for a Stoat trap (small carnivores similar to weasels but with a longer tail).