DUNCAN Mackenzie has had a string of jobs from being a policeman to a butcher and game dealer and even running a guest house.
However, it is his current role that has brought him the most satisfaction and should come as no surprise considering his DNA connects him to it.
Mr Mackenzie is now a deer stalker, who lives east of Ullapool in Wester Ross Scotland, and has single handed discovery of the ruins of a lost community of national significance.
Read more: Scots art gallery owners put business on market after 40 years
He is the subject of a new documentary to be broadcast on BBC Alba on Tuesday, August 30 at 9pm.
Made by award winning filmmakers, Richard Else and Margaret Wicks of Adventure Show Productions based at Newtonmore in the Scottish Highlands, the programme explores Mr Mackenzie’s radical views on deer stalking and his discovery of ruins of a lost community.
With stunning scenery of wild uninhabited mountain areas peppered with lochans and lochs, the programme explores how Mr Mackenzie’s DNA is directly connected to the land where he works. He is described as a naturalist, a stalker and historian and has been a policeman, a butcher, game dealer and run a guest house. His family has been connected to this land for generations and he describes himself as the last of the line.
Read more: Glasgow Kilbirnie Street fire victims remembered in poignant service
He has a non-sporting lease – so doesn’t take paying clients out with him – on an estate just south of Lochinver in Assynt. It’s some of the wildest land in Scotland. Duncan talks about his “duty of care” to the deer he manages and, with some satisfaction, says “I don’t take guests to the hill. I’ve been out with guests in the past and it was always the testosterone filled men that you had to keep an eye out for. It was just pull the trigger, get a stag, go home and get drunk. I used to fall out with them quite a lot. Many estates are still hanging onto Victorian principles but I go in, shoot the animal I want and leave the rest of the herd quiet”.
Seeking out where generations of his family had lived he uncovers the old moss covered stone ruins of a “cleared village”. Duncan has found what is probably the largest community in the north of Scotland and one which fundamentally changes many of the accepted views of Highland life. Bigger than most, stretching some four miles up Inverlael Glen, he explains how the villages were “cleared” of their residents in the period around 1819, when he believes 77 families, possibly 600 to 700 people were removed from their homes – they weren’t even allowed to dig up their potatoes to take them with them. “Their DNA is on this land since time began,” Duncan explains. Historian Dr Martin McGregor explains that “evil replaced what was paradise” for these people.
“My father introduced me to stalking when I was a child,” Duncan explains, “It’s either in you or it isn’t, but it’s part of my being”. The programme which took four years to make, explores his work on the land following the herd across mountain tops and glens with his two dogs Polar and Molly as well as commentary from academics working on the uncovering of the cleared settlement ruins.
Filmmaker, Richard Else says “Duncan Mackenzie is literally one in a million – a man hefted to this part of Scotland and with an enormous set of skills that most of us have lost long ago. It’s been a real privilege to work with him and long days tramping the hills in all weathers has been amply rewarded”.
Duncan Mackenzie, the documentary, will be broadcast on BBC Alba on Tuesday, August 30 at 9pm, and available throughout the UK on iPlayer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel