Fieldsports Journal Magazine The Scottish Sporting Gazette Winter 2014/15 Sonderausgabe

For 34 years, The Scottish Sporting Gazette has celebrated the long and happy love affair that has existed between sportsmen and women from all corners of the UK, and Scotland’s wild and unparalleled landscapes.

As David S. D. Jones highlights, intrepid sportsmen have been undertaking long and arduous journeys for their sport for over 150 years. The truth is, shooters, fishers and stalkers have long recognised that there is nowhere else in the UK that can hold a candle to the scale, variety and quality of sport on offer north of the border.

In light of this, this issue of The Scottish Sporting Gazette showcases the depth and diversity of Scotland’s sporting heritage with content from every corner, from the Borders to the Outer Hebrides – all of it illustrated with exceptional photography.

Indeed, this year, in particular, Scotland has had much to celebrate, from the resounding success (in more ways than one) of the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles to the return of the Commonwealth Games to Glasgow. And, although sportsmen and women from both sides of the border will have breathed a collective sigh of relief at the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum, 2014 has also brought with it a new wind of change and an air of uncertainty for country sports.

In a last-minute appeal to Scottish voters, the three main Westminster parties added fuel to Alex Salmond’s fire by promising further devolution of powers to Edinburgh and, coupled with the SNP’s proposed Land Reform Bill – which is due to be debated at Holyrood in the coming months – the very nature of land ownership in Scotland could be about to enter a sea of change. Alex Salmond has made it abundantly clear that, despite Scotland’s decision to remain in the UK, the groundswell for change to the way that Scottish natural resources are managed is far from quelled. The outcomes will, of course, impact upon anyone with a sporting connection to Scotland, as Michael Wigan spells out.