Following a year when completed Macnabs were as rare as grouse’s teeth, 2025 provided a bumper crop with 20 Macnabbers successfully taking their inspiration from John Buchan’s sporting trio: Palliser-Yeates, Leithen and Lamancha. From the Cairngorms to the Outer Hebrides and Canada, keen sportsmen chased fin, feather and fur with Buchan-esque derring-do. Macnabs were plentiful from the Angus Glens and Aberdeenshire throughout the season but success also spread to the isles and even further afield as autumn tightened its grip.

(Read: John Macnab, the man behind the Challenge.)

Juan Toquero was the first successful Macnabber of the year, kicking off the sporting bonanza at Gannochy. Despite low water on the North Esk in the last week of August, Toquero’s perseverance and headkeeper Colin Lanyon’s advice paid off when he landed a six-pound salmon by 1pm on the third day of his trip. As Toquero acknowledges: “The fish was key.” With Lanyon’s excellent pack of English pointers the chances of success were now extremely real, and plenty of grouse on the moors meant the dogs were soon back in their kennels with a brace in hand.

Out on the hill, underkeeper Scott Stephenson beadily spotted a herd in dense forest but the party continued on, leaving them as insurance. A larger group in the open and a disagreeable wind that made the stalk almost impossible meant a return to the first group, which had now wandered out of the woods. A crafty stalk and they were within 260 yards. Toquero did what was necessary to seal the deal. “Scotland at its best,” declares Toquero, whose thoughts are already on future sporting goals and a potential “walking Macnab”.

Gannochy has built a reputation as a Macnab Mecca, and at the beginning of September Ian Mariner travelled there from Dorset for his attempt. He was up and out of Auchmull Lodge at first light to fish Rock Pool on the North Esk. Casting a brass Conehead fly on six feet of eight-pound leader, Mariner landed a six-pound hen salmon by 7am. A quick breakfast and it was out to the hill for the grouse over Lanyon’s pointers. Following a miss at a covey, once again skill and luck collided: a succession of singles ensured the brace was gathered on the Hill of Corathro by 11am. Having snatched lunch and after “ditching the checked shirt and tie for something much darker” they set off, soon spotting around 70 stags. Mariner and Lanyon manoeuvred into position and with a fine 170-yard shot a 10-pointer was downed and the epic milestone wrapped up by mid-afternoon.

(You might like to read: Macnab mentors and their stories.)

Macnabs flowed thick and fast at Gannochy in the early days of the season. The next week on 11 September, Andrew Thompson and friend Bunker Risse took on the challenge. Risse had the first chance after an overnight deluge meant the North Esk was in prime condition. “I fished until breakfast,” he says, “then ran back to the house for a swift bite and some advice.” On his return a four-pound grilse was safely landed (his first ever) and Risse was immediately off for the brace. “It took a couple of coveys to calm my nerves,” he explains, but after some adjustments he took the first bird and a second, cornering away at distance. An “enjoyable but slightly anxious lunch” ensued before Stephenson and Risse navigated to within 400 yards of a group of stags. Despite an hour-long wait in dreich Scottish weather, Risse cleanly despatched an old stag at 160 yards: another first. With blood drying on his cheeks, he returned to the lodge for a celebratory dram.

An unforgettable day

The next morning it was Thompson’s turn. “Taking a Macnab was particularly special because I grew up listening to my father describe his numerous successes,” he reveals. Perfect fishing conditions following the spate quickly led to a strong take. “Landing a salmon by myself is an experience I will never forget; my hands were shaking throughout.” A bit of sustenance, and Thompson, his father Joseph and Lanyon struck out for the moor, finding and dropping their quarry in short order. “Two chances and two grouse; the day was proving remarkably cooperative,” notes Thompson. Their luck was soon to falter. An extended crawl had them within 250 yards of a viable stag but the group was bumped by another herd and it was 45 minutes before a shot was available. When it was, Thompson calmly took it, completing his Macnab. As a final surprise, a piper was laid on by Gannochy’s owner, Allan Hemmings, to serenade their evening drinks. “Listening to the piper, with a whisky and Macnab in hand while looking out over the hills: I can assure you that life does not get any better,” Thompson confirms.

Jack Czapalski cut it fine on an opportunistic Macnab tied in with a work trip. As his colleagues filtered south, Czapalski headed for Invercauld in mid-September. “A day’s stalking is always a special time out, even if it was to end there,” muses Czapalski. Tidily taking an 11-pointer that was “going back”, the game was afoot and headkeeper Richard Thomas and beatkeeper Sandy Morrison ushered Czapalski out for his first experience shooting grouse over pointers. Quickly folding his first, “a combination of easily spooked birds and a fair bit of adrenaline meant the next few coveys escaped unharmed”, says Czapalski. However, Thomas’s German wirehaired pointer was soon indicating again and the brace was completed. Losing no time, Czapalski jumped on to the recently risen Dee and fished the two main pools hard with an Ally’s Shrimp. With 30 minutes of daylight remaining, they tried the opposite bank. “Five casts in and I felt an unmistakable knock,” he remembers. The rod lifted into a 71/2-pound salmon, coloured from its extended stay in the peaty water, and a Macnab was secured moments before sunset.

It’s in the bag

It was to the Garynahine estate on the Isle of Lewis that Robert Lowe and three friends from across the pond came to try their luck. They started by fishing the Blackwater with Muddler Minnows and a Shrimp Partridge double-hooked dropper. “Blackwater is an honest name, as the river was stained like coffee from the peat bogs,” says Lowe. At 9.30am on day two it was “boom and fish on”, and with great care he brought a salmon of about five pounds to the net. “Needless to say, I was elated,” says Lowe. With a well-timed romp over the moors accompanied by English pointers, the grouse were downed and it was time for the pursuit of a stag with headkeeper Donnie Whiteford. Despite a close call and a tricky wind, Lowe crept within range of a spiker. Whiteford advised: “A stag in the hand is better than a big one in the bush.” One squeeze of the trigger of the Winchester .270 and Lowe’s Macnab was in the bag.

In late September Stewart Denton from Surrey also made the pilgrimage to Garynahine. Starting the effort with six hours’ casting on the Blackwater, chances looked poor. However, “with just 13 minutes remaining before the deadline, fortune turned and a 4½-pound salmon was brought to the net”. The ever-ready Whiteford was poised with the rifle and a careful stalk and single shot led to a pleasing 10-pointer. Then it was off to Carloway moor with the headkeeper of the nearby Barvas estate, Angus Macleod. “English pointers quartered the ground, and after two flushes a brace of grouse was accounted for,” concludes Denton. “It was a true sporting day in the wild heart of Lewis.”

In October, close by on the Isle of Lewis’s Morsgail estate, it was the turn of John Curnow to try for a coveted Macnab. An hour-long journey by Argocat took him to the moors around Loch Langabhat where headkeeper Jason Hill swiftly coordinated the harvesting of a brace of grouse as well as a couple of snipe. Gale-force winds made boat fishing too difficult, so Curnow tried his luck from the bank where he hooked a five-pound grilse that was expertly netted by underkeeper Brandon Knight. A Macnab was now a real possibility and they set off up Griosamol but bumped some hinds early on. At last they crawled to within 190 yards of another group. “Jason said he could actually hear my heart beating,” Curnow recalls. “I took a breath, steadied my nerves as best I could, and took the shot. A Royal 12-point stag dropped on to the heather, and I dropped to my knees.”

W Blake Rodgers of British Columbia (who had taken a Macnab at Garynahine in 2023) went one step further this year with a Prairie Macnab to be pursued in Saskatchewan. The species selected – and ratified by The Field – were white-tailed deer, ruffed grouse and a whitefish (a local salmonid) on the fly. Hunting quotas meant that Rodgers was only allowed to take a single cull-worthy whitetail from the Meadow Lake Provincial Park, which added further complexity to the task. Accompanied by his friend Joel Friesen, it took them three days in sub-zero temperatures to find an appropriate beast.

Once Rodgers had shot the chosen buck using a .30-06 M1 Garand with open sights, the race was on. He plunged into the forest, emerging a little later than expected with the requisite brace of ruffed grouse. A bumpy drive to the Waterhen River and after “what seemed like an eternity, a single atihkamêk [the name of the lake whitefish in the Plains Cree language] was brought to hand, and the Canadian Prairie Macnab completed.” To round off the adventure, the pair retired to Hazel’s, the local pub, for a celebratory libation.

The Invermark estate delivered first for Michael Davis last season. Before breakfast on the Ford Stream, positioned by The Field’s own Mungo Ingleby, the line came tight on the seventh cast. A 10-minute struggle ended happily and Davis was straight on to the hill post breakfast. Schlepping a good distance, Davis and stalker Jamie Renwick came upon an appropriate stag among his hinds, which was quickly taken. “Cold, wet and exhilarated after a successful stalk, Jamie grabbed a black labrador and a springer spaniel and in short order I bagged my first bird,” Davis recollects. “The second took a bit more work as the rain set in and darkness loomed.” Macnab complete, Davis picked off a third grouse for good measure and made for home to celebrate.

Three days later Greg Stone too completed the ultimate sporting challenge at Invermark. Up before sunrise to fish the Middle Blackhall beat, Stone recounts: “The water looked great and I could see how excited my gillie Angus was.” Fifteen minutes of fishing on Corner Pool resulted in a landed salmon and he was off for the grouse. In blustery conditions, Stone was a little apprehensive: “I’ve never shot well in the wind and that day the wind was howling.” An early miss was avenged by dropping a grouse into the gale. A few additional long-range misses came to pass before Stone snatched a second. Next the stag. After scaling several corries, and even shimmying up a waterfall, they came within range of two large stags chasing a group of hinds. From close range Stone cleanly shot a Royal. “Gary [MacLellan, headkeeper at Invermark] looked at me seriously and said: ‘Do you know what you’ve done?’ I was thinking that I must have shot the wrong animal. Then he smiled, shook my hand and said: ‘You’ve got your Macnab!’”

At the start of October, also on the Invermark estate, John Webster had one of the most unexpected Macnabs of the year during his friend’s 40th-birthday festivities. “At the start of the day no one was thinking of a Macnab,” he admits. However, as Storm Amy approached, Webster struck out for a wild stalk on the North beat, grassing an aged stag in an inaccessible spot. Wet through, he changed his jacket and cast a few lines on the pool just below Loch Lee with “a short sinking tip to account for the high water and tied on a variant of the Banana Bantam fly”. On the third cast, he lifted the rod to a mature hen salmon and after much aquatic acrobatics landed the fish safely. A Macnab was on; however, the weather was now “comparable to someone throwing buckets of water at us while equipped with an industrial leaf blower”. The team rallied and leapt into MacLellan’s truck to try for a brace on the Rowan beat. On the exposed moor Webster dropped a cock grouse with a single shot and soon after a single at the back of a covey. Suitable jollity broke out with Webster summarising: “This was a truly unexpected day in the storm. Three casts, two cartridges, one bullet and many celebratory drams.”

John Gilliland achieved his dream in record time at Invermark in mid-October. Guided by Mungo Ingleby, Gilliland hooked a salmon before breakfast: “We all cheered so loudly that I think they heard us all the way to the estate house.” En route to the high ground to search out the deer, MacLellan saw and heard chuckling grouse amid the heather. Pausing, they unsleeved the shotgun and set off to capitalise. A quick flush and a hit bird; 500 yards on and the same story. “Just the stag remained and it was only 10am,” exclaims Gilliland. A herd was quickly identified but the team had to be careful not to spook any unseen animals in their path. Keeping his head below the level of the heather during a crawl up a steep bank, Gilliland was 204 yards from two bedded stags. After a moment’s deliberation, the older stag with tall sabres and no crowns was chosen: “A good one to harvest out of the herd.” At last the two animals rose: “Bang! Perfect shot. A few paces and he was down for good.” Hoots and hollers followed, and it was still only 12.30pm.

Gannochy Macnabs continued to come. Illinois Blasdel, who has aced a flight of previous Macnabs, was back at it. Despite a few tough days “flogging the water” of the North Esk, his determination remained undiminished. He awoke early and fished the Runout beat: “I went about the mechanics of fishing the run, gradually letting the line out, and was surprised when my third swing went tight.” Once the fish was landed, he put in a call to the keeper: “This was not my first Macnab but there was no less anxiety and excitement about the day ahead.” It was hot and windless on the hill, and the brace was briskly added to the tally. On to the stag. A “constantly changing wind complicated the hunt but eventually we were able to manoeuvre into position”, he recalls. However, the stalk wasn’t over yet: “We didn’t have the shot. Crawling forward is tough but crawling backwards uphill is even tougher.” Eventually, after shuffling into another position, the stag yielded to a well-placed shot and the Macnab was complete.

Blasdel’s friend and travel companion, Martin Beerman, also managed the feat at Gannochy. Despite dry conditions, he landed a salmon just past midday and, following a bolted lunch, was spirited away to the moors. Having never shot red grouse before he was pleased to bag his first with a testing long shot. With time drifting away, “the excitement of the moment was at play when I missed the next bird,” says Beerman but, putting the wobble behind him, he subsequently connected. Chasing the stag, a capricious wind found the party pinned down: “I could see the look in Scott’s [Stephenson] eyes. We needed to make a daring move and risk being spotted.” They made the bold manoeuvre to put Beerman in position to take the shot, which he duly did – sealing his Macnab. “It took me more than one whisky to calm down that evening, and it was a hunt I will never forget.”

Just in time

Despite regular Macnab success at Gannochy, as Jack Clews found out nothing is assured. Amid a week of blank fishing, Clews’ chances appeared bleak. “Although salmon were showing in good numbers, they were dour and unwilling to take a fly,” he remembers. Close to conceding defeat at 12.40pm on the last day, a final cast with a Red Francis on Rock Pool delivered a five-pound cock fish. Within half an hour Clews and Stephenson were striding across the moor with pointers. First shots “found nothing but heather” but eventually a grouse lifted at 40 yards, which Clews dropped cleanly. Shortly after, a brace launched from the bracken and a second was added to the bag. Liaising with headkeeper Colin Lanyon, they crawled within range of an old, shootable Royal who frustratingly wandered off. As the pair set off to intercept him on a new line “his roar echoed across the glen”, confirming that they were in the right place. Clews steadied himself and fired the .243, cleanly felling the stag.

With Scottish heritage, American Laird Hamberlin was more than eager to attempt a Macnab at Gannochy. Macnabs are usually abandoned if a fish hasn’t been caught by 1pm, so there was much celebration when Hamberlin landed a 12-pound hen salmon at 1.06pm. It then started to rain hard and sideways, with Hamberlin likening the experience on the hill to “walking on the tundra in Alaska but worse”. Defying the elements, he wrapped up the brace in two second-barrel shots and it was time for the stag. Fighting their way through six-foot-plus-high, wet Scottish bracken they spotted a group of stags 300 yards away. Hamberlin was game for a long shot but given the filthy conditions Lanyon was taking no chances. Slithering to 115 yards, Hamberlin was given the OK: “One shot is all it took to finish my Macnab on the first day in absolutely horrible weather, which just made the feat even better.”

A member of Hamberlin’s party, Brian Reece, declares: “I wasn’t about to let Laird take it on without me.” Lady Luck was still smiling the morning after Hamberlin’s success when Reece hooked an early salmon on Witches Pool. After guiding the hen fish safely to shore, he departed the river in pursuit of the grouse. With a borrowed 20-bore he took a moment to find his groove but added two fine specimens to the tally. After a quick bite, the group bounded off for the stag. Spotting a herd several ridges away, they circled the mountain to approach against the wind. A smaller group appeared below with “one good shooter stag among them”. Belly-crawling through the heather to 215 yards, Reece took his shot downhill in a powerful crosswind. It hit true and the day was complete.

Jeff Moore, a Scot living in Switzerland, was new to fly-fishing before his attempt at Gannochy, so Lanyon first taught him to Spey cast. The next day, Moore was out at first light fishing the Witches but found the morning “wet and demoralising”. Casting better after breakfast under Lanyon’s watchful eye, a 4½-pound grilse took and was netted by 11.15am. A newcomer to grouse shooting but with an early one down, Moore began to feel the pressure. A restorative bridie for lunch lifted spirits and Lanyon soon got him on to a second bird that fell to his gun. Moore had also never shot a deer before, making it a day of notable firsts. Following a good crawl, a stag was in the cross hairs as the sun began to dip. At 220 yards the stag was hit hard and by 6.03pm Moore had a Macnab at the first time of asking.

What a collection of successful Macnabs the 2025 season has brought. Yet each attempt is a sporting triumph in itself – of wild quarry, conservation through management and a deep-seated respect for the fur, feather and fin that comprises The Field’s Macnab Challenge.

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Main image Sarah Farnsworth.