A tenacious trio triumphs

With pure grit and determination, three hopeful Macnabbers overcome all odds to succeed in The Field's ultimate sporting challenge

- Madeleine Silver

AS THE CalMac ferry pulls away from Ullapool on its route to the Hebrides, there's something misleadingly delicate-looking about the Isle of Harris, lying hazily purple on the horizon. On the ground, things are a little starker: hairwhipping winds, knee-deep heather and sinking bogs ready to catch you out. And it's here that American Augusta 'Gusty' Clarke managed to bag her Macnab last August, in the shadow of Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on its 50,000 acres of craggy wilderness. "The Macnab is a challenging and incredibly gratifying experience," she reflects, buoyed by the grit of the estate's head gillie Adam Hunt (plus lavish supplies of Irn-Bru) to see her through the long day. "I've been fly-fishing for most of my life and I started hunting in Montana in my early twenties but I think Harris's mountains might be equally challenging. It is an extraordinary place - one of my favourites on the planet."

In a year of an inglorious Twelfth, when grouse numbers have been low and the salmon now elusive, the feat of undertaking the adventure inspired by John Buchan's 1925 tale of catching a salmon, shooting a stag and finishing with a brace of grouse all between dawn and dusk in one day - was a daunting one. This means that for the roll call of just three successful Macnabbers this season, a 2024 triumph is one to cherish.