The wild red deer that live on the mountains of the Trust’s Torridon estate are at a low density of about four per square kilometre, so they can be pretty hard to spot. To help visitors see this iconic animal up close, for the last five decades we’ve kept some deer on the farm. If you want to get even closer, you can feed the deer with specialist pellets whenever a ranger is present!
On the farm, you can watch them go through their natural life cycle – from the stags shedding their antlers in the spring to the next generation being born in June, as well as the mating season, or rut, from late September. This is when the master stag roars his challenge to other stags, warning them to keep their distance from his hinds.
The deer museum may be small but we have lots of examples of antlers, other artefacts and intriguing old photos, and you’ll learn some amazing facts about the life of our largest native wild animal.