STALKING

Exercise Highland Gurkha

G
urkha and British soldiers first fought each other in the bloody Nepalese wars of 1814-1816, and such was the mutual admiration between the two opponents that the first Gurkha battalions to serve in the British Army were raised from volunteers among the prisoners taken during the wars. Since then, there has been a strong bond of friendship between British and Nepali soldiers serving alongside each other, and today two infantry battalions of Gurkhas survive in the British Army, based in Kent and Brunei respectively. The Kent-based 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, are due to deploy to Afghanistan later this year. In the first week of December, last year, Major Andrew Todd took 10 of his soldiers

Soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles hone their skills when they lend their help to the hind cull. Charlotte Lycett Green reports
1878-1880, were noted by Lord Roberts and are just one example of several affiliations. In 1885, the first Gurkha pipe band was formed and trained by the 2nd Battalion, The Kings Own Scottish Borderers, and it was not long before all the Gurkha regiments formed their own pipe bands, trained by other Scottish regiments and led by British officers, many of whom were Scots at the turn of the 1900s. The Battalion Pipe Bands played in the massed pipes and drums at the Queens Coronation and the present battalion and brigade bands are now a popular feature of military tattoos and events all over the country. They are a visible reminder of the Scottish connections, and today they still bear the tartans of the regiments that trained

from C Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, to Scotland at the kind invitation of the Bulmer family, who had offered their Ledmore estate, in Sutherland, for three days hindstalking. It would provide a unique training opportunity and a chance to test the new army battle dress that has just been introduced. The team consisted of a combination of young riflemen who will deploy on their first tour of Afghanistan in the autumn and senior NCOs who will return for their fourth and fifth tours. Since the beginning the Gurkhas have had a particular affinity with the Scottish regiments. Both traditionally men of the hills, the special ties between the 72nd Highlanders and the 5th Gurkha Rifles, who fought alongside each other during the Second Afghan War of

M. MUNRO

The Gurkhas spent the first afternoon zeroing on the range

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Rifleman Tularam on the range. Gurkhas are known for their excellent marksmanship

The Royal Gurkha Rifles: selecting the best

Competition to join the Gurkhas is fierce and those that make the grade are justifiably considered to be the cream of Nepal. Traditionally recruited from the East and West of the country, 13,387 young Nepali boys aged between 17 and 21 attempted registration for selection into the Gurkhas in 2010. Of those, some 11,000 passed the registration process, with the other 2,000 failing to meet the initial health or education standards. Of the 11,000, 8,648 were invited to regional selection boards in the East and West of Nepal, with just 613 passing. A total of 500 were then taken forward to central selection, of which 221 passed and 176 recruits were selected to join the British Army it is a highly competitive process and two of the 2010 recruits were included in this stalking team.

13,387 613 221 176

register for selection pass central selection make final selection

pass regional selection

them years ago the Douglas tartan is worn by the pipes and drums to mark the affiliation with The Cameronians, and British officers are permitted to wear the Hunting Stewart tartan in a nod to the affiliation with the Royal Scots, which was approved by King George VI in 1950. There is, of course, another connection besides the pipes and tartan that is found in the link between fieldsports and soldiering, where there has been a long tradition of officers and troops honing their skills on the hunting field. When Marcus Munro invited me to Sutherland to stalk sika for Shooting Times two years ago, he mentioned that his father took some Gurkhas stalking in the early 1980s and 1990s, and that it had been a fantastic experience one that he was keen to repeat. We hear so much about these soldiers heading off to Afghanistan and doing amazing things so that we can all have a nice life back here, and I thought it would be good to rekindle the relationship that my father started. What we do up here each day stalking over barren ground while trying to remain hidden bears some similarities to the challenges the soldiers face on operations today, said Marcus.

Marcus is in charge of the deer management on Ledmore and Keanchulish estates and is assisted by 18-year-old Stuart Allison, a student on the gamekeeping course at Thurso College who comes from good stalking stock. His father, David, is headstalker to the Duke of Westminster on Reay Forest. Like his father and grandfather before him, Marcus has stalked all his life, shot

Success lies in a cull that takes more yeld hinds and is less hard on the hinds and calves
his first hind aged seven and learned to drive the estate Land Rover at Deanich Lodge when he was still too small to see through the windscreen so looked through the vents beneath it instead, but he also builds carbon-friendly log homes now among other ventures. It is always a delight to visit this corner of the Highlands. For most of the soldiers it was their first trip to Scotland and a

chance to taste life in this remote area. Stunning Ledmore, on the west coast of Sutherland, isnt a particularly steep estate. We dont have any Munros, said Mrs Bulmer, which means that the deer do not suffer the same level of disturbance from walkers as on some other estates. Just before the Gurkhas visit, however, the snow came in heavily to make the terrain significantly more challenging. Hindstalking is very physical. Its not to everybodys liking, said Marcus. We get people who want to go hindstalking for the very reason that its physically tough. You get cold and into difficult areas, and you have to look at lots of deer to select the correct cull animals, which means youre always stopping and spying and might have two or three stalks before taking a shot. Theres a great deal of pressure on a deer forest to get the management right and ensure the correct deer are selected to be shot it can be ruined so easily by mismanaging the hind cull and Marcus is of the opinion that success lies in a cull that takes more yeld hinds and is less hard on the hinds and calves. He does not take the view that any old hind and calf will do, and was keen to highlight to the Gurkhas c the importance of selection.

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L-r: Riflemen Suman, Chitraj and Kuberjung with Major Todd. The soldiers extracted the deer on their backs

Riflemen Dilip and Don assist Stuart Allison in the larder

The temperature gauge reading well below freezing and the sky full of snow, the group went to the hill split into two teams to stalk with Marcus and Stuart. Their army camouflage required some modification in the snowy conditions so they donned white snowsuits to help them blend in with the ground. I arrived at the Achness Hotel, in Rosehall, that evening, just as they were returning from the hill. It had been a successful day and Marcus was pleased. Their fitness and fieldcraft skills have been such a benefit, he said. Generally our shooting clients get out stalking a few times a year and do very well, but to have a

A successful day

Having the manpower to extract deer without using the Argo has opened up the estate
team at such a high level of fitness, toughness and awareness of the environment makes our job easier. Were always conscious of how we extract deer and try to avoid using machinery as much as possible. Having the manpower to extract deer without using the Argo has opened up the estate and meant there are no restrictions on where we can go. Today we extracted two very old yeld hinds with broken mouths from an awkward area where, had I been on my own, I might have been able to shoot one of them at best. We couldnt get the Argo up there but were able to use the manpower instead.

Rifleman Kuberjung Gurung, who has been in the army for four years and is about to deploy to Afghanistan for the second time, had endured a hard stalk with Marcus. The weather is tough with all the snow, he said. We had to crawl for more than 250metres in bad cover before I took the shot. When I had done it, I felt happy but a little sad too. Nepali people are warm and generous by nature, and they showed profound respect for the deer and the task in hand. Even though I live in a village, I have never even killed a chicken, said the youngest Rifleman Suman Rai. Shooting deer is a major experience. I have been so impressed with their compassion for the deer, said Marcus, and have commended all of them on that my view is that if you dont feel anything when you have shot a deer, then youre not a responsible hunter. We have a duty to carry out the task as quickly and cleanly as possible and they all understand that.

were eating and standing in front of each other in a bad position. Eventually we crawled forward again and made a comfortable position to shoot the deer. I took the first one with a heart shot and she went down straight away. After I took the shot, another very old hind didnt run away, so Stuart told me to shoot her as well. It was my first experience of hunting and my first time in the mountains, so it was exciting to see so much snow. Marcus banished me to the Argo on account of being seven months pregnant

Running off the hill

There were two more days on the hill, which gave the teams the opportunity to swap stalkers with the hope that each member would have a shot. I had a fantastic day with Stuart, said Rifleman Don Limbu, on day two. It was challenging because of the weather. We saw two hinds and Stuart and I crawled in good cover for about 100metres. When we got there, there were actually about six deer. Stuart selected a hind for me to shoot, and we Rifleman Kuberjung had to wait for about enjoyed a tough stalk 25 minutes as they with Marcus Munro

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and too slow to keep up, and as I chatted with Andy Hibbert, a film producer and underwater cameraman who owns nearby Loch Assynt Lodge estate, we felt rather lucky to be sheltered from the weather. Sunshine, snow, sleet and hail all did their worse as we waited for the signal to move forward to pick up the deer. Late in the afternoon a text message revealed that Marcuss team had shot one calf, and they were stalking another bunch of hinds on the edge of a huge reservoir. We moved round to a good vantage point and continued the wait. After another hour or so, we received another message saying they had shot two further hinds. We flashed the lights of the Argo across the hill and received a flash from a headtorch in reply. Soon, out of the gloom a few yards ahead appeared five eerie-looking figures dressed in white, the deer on their backs no small task considering the hinds weighed more than their bearers. The hinds and calf were loaded into the back of the Argo and the soldiers set off to run the six kilometres across the hill back to the larder.
c Riflemen Chitraj and Tularam prepare venison in the traditional Nepali way, outside over a fire

Learning useful skills

The rain and thaw arrived on day three. Though there was plenty of snow and ice about in the morning, by mid-afternoon much of it had disappeared, leaving the ground sodden. Marcus and his team headed to fresh ground on Keanchulish and by the end of the third day there were 11 deer in the larder, which was useful progress in the hind cull that

Marcus and Stuart needed to achieve before the end of the season. The Gurkhas are so disciplined, they listen and are incredibly quick to pick up new skills when shown, said Marcus. At the start they were not used to spotting the deer, so Ive tried to get them in the habit of looking for where the deer might be, even if they cant necessarily spot them at first. The younger guys have learned a lot about shooting too, the importance of muzzle clearance and how easily a bullet can be deflected by something as seemingly insignificant as a bit of snow or blade of grass. The training value for the soldiers is enormous, said Major Todd, and its not just about good marksmanship, the conditions here make everything hard its been brutally cold. From tracking to moving across the ground without being seen, the soldiers have been able to exercise all the basic skills required of an infantry soldier. The long hard stalks across open ground are physically demanding and made all the more testing in the snow and ice. The younger Gurkhas have learned skills here that may well save their lives on operations in Afghanistan. The trip finished with an evening of Nepali entertainment in the Achness Hotel, a fishing lodge on the banks of the river Cassley. The estate kindly donated a hind for the soldiers to cook

and serve to the local community and Riflemen Tularam Rana Magar and Chitraj Limbu spent the day preparing and cooking it in the traditional Nepali way over a wood fire behind the hotel. Some 50 people attended, with many more unable to get there because of the weather, and all of them enjoyed the entertainment and tasting the curry Marcuss youngest daughter Jessie, aged eight, entered into the spirit of the occasion and ate five chillies. It was an absolute privilege to be able to welcome the Gurkhas and share our estate to provide them with an opportunity to train in different conditions, said Mrs Bulmer. Theyve been a huge help to Marcus and Stuart, and its been a pleasure for us to support the Gurkhas as they prepare for their next deployment. We wish them the very best of luck for their forthcoming tour of Afghanistan later this year.

L-r: (back row) Stuart Allison, Andy Hibbert, Riflemen Suman and Pawan, Major Todd, Riflemen Kuberjung and Don, Charlotte Lycett Green, Marcus Munro, (front) Rifleman Tularam, Lance Corporal Kesh, Rifleman Chitraj, Sergeant Jiwan, Rifleman Dilip

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