Award-winning Newtonmore film-makers document 'man in a million'
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The newest offering by a well-known pair of Newtonmore film-makers is about to hit the screens.
Multi-award winning producers Richard Else and Margaret Wicks describe the subject of their latest documentary, Duncan Mackenzie as ‘literally one in a million'.
The programme – which was more than four years in the making – explores Mr Mackenzie’s radical views on deer stalking.
He is a naturalist and a historian – a man who has been a policeman, butcher, game dealer and ran a guest house.
His family has been connected to the land for generations but as Mr Mackenzie notes: "I’m the last of the line".
The film-makers describe him as 'one in a million' as he is a 'man with an enormous set of skills that most of us have lost long ago’.
His views as a life long stalker may surprise many people as well.
Mr Mackenzie has a non-sporting lease on an estate just south of Lochinver in Assynt.
He talks about his ‘duty of care’ to the deer he manages and, with some satisfaction, said: “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."
With many estates still hanging onto Victorian principles, Mr Mackenzie’s approach is different.
He said: "I go in, shoot the animal I want and leave the rest of the herd quiet. I couldn’t take a guest out now. I’ve got too much respect for the beasts’.
And the inside story of stalking is very different to what is often portrayed.
He talks of the ‘love-hate relationship’ always present in his work. ‘You’re coming off the hill late at night, you’re soaked, you’ve maybe had to wade a burn, you’re dragging something.
"You’re knackered, you’re wanting home, you need a dram, you want your food and then you realise when you get to the road at 9pm you’ve got to drive home and start skinning.
"So it’s midnight before you can sit down at what’s left of the fire."
Yet Mr Mackenzie would not swap his solitary life.
His methods have seen deer numbers kept low with the result that the average weight of the beasts has increased from 12 stone to just under 16.
He also has a firm belief that the best meat comes from culling outside the annual rut.
Mr Mackenzie said: ‘It’s easy to shoot a beast, but it’s not easy to shoot the right beast all the time’.
He said that his job is about the preservation of the herd, rather than just killing deer.
Mr Mackenzie sums his life in one sentence: "Stalking is either in you or it isn’t; some people love it, others just can’t do it, but it’s part of my being."
Mr Else said it has been a real privilege to work with the deer stalker.
He said: "It has been an honour to be alongside someone who has unrivalled knowledge of the landscape in which he works. I’m sure our film will strike a chord with all hillgoers."
Mr Else and Ms Wicks are the pair behind the long running Adventure Show on the BBC.
• ‘Duncan Mackenzie - Dileab nam Beann (The Legacy of the Hills) will be broadcast on BBC Alba next Tuesday (August 30) at 9pm (and available throughout the UK on iPlayer)
