Terms & Conditions

Sending an enquiry, through this website, by email or by phone, does not reserve anything. When you ask to book, the Estate Office will send you a written confirmation of your dates, the sport, the number of guns or guests and the price, together with the terms for your sport. Your booking is confirmed once we have received your deposit and your signed acceptance of those terms.

Whoever makes the booking does so on behalf of everyone in their party, and is responsible for making sure the whole party has read these terms and for all payments.

The price is the one stated in your written confirmation from the Estate Office. Our sporting charges are subject to VAT at the standard rate, and your confirmation shows the full price including VAT.

• Deposit: a non-refundable deposit of 50% of the price is payable before we can confirm your booking.
• Balance: the remaining 50% is due 60 days before you arrive. If you book within 60 days of arrival, the full price is due when you book.
• Late payment: if the balance has not been paid by the due date, we will remind you. If it is still unpaid 7 days after that reminder, we may cancel the booking and treat it as cancelled by you.
• Extras: trophy charges, additional stags or hinds, rifle and shotgun hire, ammunition and cartridges are charged for what you actually take or use, at the rates in the terms for your sport, and are settled at the end of the week.
• Accompanying guests: a daily charge applies to anyone who comes out with a stalking or shooting party without stalking or shooting.

To cancel, tell the Estate Office in writing, by email or post. Your cancellation takes effect on the day we receive it.

• 60 days or more before arrival: you lose your deposit. Nothing more is due.
• Less than 60 days before arrival: the full price is payable. We will try to re-let your dates, and if we do, we will refund what we receive from the new booking, up to the amount of your balance.

If one member of a party drops out, the same terms apply to their share, unless someone else takes their place. You are welcome to pass your booking to another person at no charge, provided you tell us their name before arrival and they meet the requirements in section 8.

Because stalking and wildfowling are leisure services booked for specific dates, the 14-day cancellation period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations does not apply. We strongly recommend travel insurance that covers cancellation, including cancelled ferries and flights.

We will only cancel or materially change a confirmed booking if we have to. If we cancel, you can choose between new dates or a full refund of everything you have paid us.

If wildfowling is cancelled because of a Government-imposed wildfowling ban, your deposit will be carried forward towards a booking for the following year.

If we cancel because of something else outside our reasonable control, such as severe weather, animal disease restrictions, a change in the law or a Government instruction, that refund or rebooking is the limit of what we owe you. If we cancel for any other reason, we will also consider reasonable, documented costs you could not recover, such as non-refundable travel.

This is wild sport. Stalking and wildfowling depend on the weather, the season and the behaviour of wild animals and birds, and bags vary with conditions and circumstances outside our control. We make every effort to give you the best sport available, but we also have a duty to manage the deer and birds sustainably. Guns who have only shot reared birds should come with realistic expectations.

The stalker or Head Gamekeeper adjusts each day’s programme to the weather, and if they consider it too dangerous to go out, their decision is final. Days lost to weather, and poor sport, are not grounds for a refund.

Getting to North Uist depends on CalMac ferries and Loganair flights, which the Estate does not control. If you arrive late or leave early because of travel disruption, we will do what we can to make up the time, but we cannot refund days you miss.

Wild shooting and stalking demand a reasonable level of fitness. Tell us when you book about anyone in your party with a medical condition or mobility limit that needs special consideration, so the stalker or Head Gamekeeper can plan around it. Everyone should bring proper waterproof clothing and suitable footwear, including wellingtons.

• Stalking is let by the week, normally Monday to Friday. A stag week entitles each rifle to shoot up to five stags of up to nine points; more, or better heads, can be taken subject to the trophy charges. A hind week gives each rifle the opportunity to shoot up to ten hinds, weather permitting, and additional hinds can be taken by arrangement with the Estate Factor.
• Single days are sometimes let by arrangement with the Estate Factor. A day charge applies whether or not a stag or hind is taken.
• Before any stalking takes place, you will be asked to place five shots within a five-inch circle on the practice target at 100 yards.
• You will be accompanied at all times by the Estate stalker. The decision on which animal may be shot rests solely with the stalker, whose word is final.
• There is no penalty for a miss, but if there is not time for another stalk, no refund is due. We make every reasonable effort to give hind stalkers the opportunity to take ten hinds, but if the weather prevents it, no refund can be offered.

If you shoot the wrong animal, the following apply:

• Consent for further stalking will be withdrawn.
• For a stag, the trophy will be confiscated and a charge of four times the trophy charge for the stag shot will be made.

A wounded animal must be followed until it is recovered, the following day if necessary. A charge applies for a wounded stag or hind that is not recovered, and for the value of any venison that cannot be sold because an animal was not shot cleanly.

• Shooting is let to parties of five guns, normally Monday to Friday. Additional guns, when agreed, are charged pro rata, and shorter lets can be arranged with the Estate Factor. You are welcome to bring your working dogs.
• From 1 September to 15 November, a snipe and wildfowling week has a goose flight each morning, snipe and other species during the day, and two evening duck flights. Snipe are mainly driven on machair under crofting tenure.
• From 16 November to 31 January, a woodcock week is typically one day in the Estate woodlands and four days on the moor, some reached by boat. Walked-up woodcock over dogs is limited to five birds per gun per day.
• The Head Gamekeeper normally meets your party on the evening you arrive to explain the next day’s programme, then meets you each morning and supervises the shooting through the week.
• The days involve a fair amount of driving around the island, so please make sure your party has enough transport of its own. Car hire should be booked in advance.
• Please make sure everyone in your party has a copy of the Estate’s Information & Safety Rules, available from the Estate Office.

• Guests are normally expected to bring their own firearms. Rifles for deer must meet the Deer (Firearms etc.) (Scotland) Order: .243 calibre or above, with bullets of no less than 100 and no more than 150 grain.
• The Estate hires out a rifle for stalking and 12-bore and 20-bore shotguns for wildfowling, by the day. Ammunition is charged by the round used, and cartridges can be ready for you if you tell us in advance.
• Lead shot is banned over wetlands in Scotland, so wildfowling parties must use non-lead cartridges.
• Every gun must hold a valid UK firearm or shotgun certificate for the gun they use, or a Visitor Firearm Permit. The Estate can submit permit applications for overseas guests, for a fee, if it has your details at least two months before you arrive: ask the Estate Office for the form, and include a copy of your European Firearms Pass, your current firearm or shotgun certificate and your domestic hunting permit.
• On every outing, please follow the instructions of the stalker or Head Gamekeeper. We may stop anyone from taking part, without a refund, if we reasonably believe they are unsafe, have been drinking, or are putting people, animals or property at risk.

The Estate provides personal liability insurance. You are responsible for insuring your own firearms and equipment, and we recommend travel insurance that covers cancellation.

All venison and game remain the property of the Estate, although we can arrange for you to buy venison, or take some game home.

Stags of ten points or more carry a trophy charge, set out in the stag stalking terms. The Estate can send trophies to a mainland taxidermist for you, provided you repay the packaging and carriage costs.

Accommodation is not included. Each party arranges and pays for its own, but the Estate is happy to advise. Most shooting parties stay at the Lochmaddy Hotel or Langass Lodge, which both have drying rooms and gun storage. Any stay is a separate contract with that business, on its own terms, even where the Estate helps you arrange it.

Fishing is booked by the day through the daily roster at the Lochmaddy Hotel or the Estate Office, on the Estate’s fishing terms. There are no refunds for fishing days lost to weather; if you need to cancel for any other reason, tell the hotel as early as you can so your beat can be given out again. Anglers who don’t hire a lifejacket must bring their own.

• Sending an order request through this website does not take payment or reserve a hamper. The Estate Office will confirm availability, the price and the delivery date in writing and send you an invoice. Your order is confirmed once you have paid it.
• Hampers contain fresh venison, which goes off quickly, so the 14-day cancellation period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations does not apply. If you need to change or cancel an order, please tell the Estate Office as soon as you can, before it is sent.
• Hampers are sent chilled by courier to the address you give us. Please make sure someone can take delivery and put the contents in the fridge on arrival. We are not responsible for a hamper that spoils because the address was wrong or it was left uncollected.
• If a hamper arrives damaged, spoiled or not as described, tell the Estate Office straight away, with a photo if you can, and we will put it right with a replacement or a refund. This does not affect your statutory rights.
• We sell hampers containing alcohol only to people aged 18 or over, for delivery to someone aged 18 or over.

Stalking and wildfowling take place on rough, remote ground and carry inherent risks, which you accept by taking part. We are responsible for losses you suffer that are a foreseeable result of our breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for losses we could not have foreseen, for business losses, or for your own belongings, which you should insure. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law, and nothing affects your statutory rights.

This website is provided for general information about North Uist Estate. We try to keep it accurate and up to date, but if anything on it differs from your written confirmation or the terms for your sport, those apply.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this website, including text, images and logos, is owned by or licensed to Lochmaddy Hotel Limited and may not be reproduced without our written consent.

If something goes wrong during your visit, please tell your stalker or Head Gamekeeper, or the Estate Office, straight away so we can put it right while you are here. If you are still unhappy, write to the Estate Office and we will reply within 14 days. These terms are governed by the laws of Scotland and disputes will be decided by the Scottish courts, although if you live elsewhere in the UK you may also bring proceedings in your home courts.

These terms are offered by Lochmaddy Hotel Limited, trading as North Uist Estate, registered in Scotland, company number SC035545, registered office C/O Estate Office, Lochmaddy, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, HS6 5AA. VAT number GB 596 9064 81. You can write to us at North Uist Estate Office, Lochmaddy, Isle of North Uist, Outer Hebrides, HS6 5AA. If you have any questions about them, please contact the Estate Office at info@northuistestate.co.uk or call 01876 500329. See also our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.