![]() The island has other historical associations: George Orwell, author of 1984, during his stay there called it the most “ungetatable” place. Today, the approximate number of animals on the island (which wander freely around the seven sporting estates) is about 5,000, compared to the human population of just over 200. The Isle of Jura is historically famous for its high numbers of red deer. It is felt by some that they may be extinct soon. The rare ‘Cromie’ type are seldom seen today and are only killed when age or poor health requires it. During his time on the island in the late 1800s, it is said that he shot and killed 11 Cromies over a period of 12 years. Evan’s claim to fame was as one of the first promoters of the management of wild red deer. These peculiar animals are also mentioned in Henry Evans’s privately published book, Jura Red Deer, which describes his research into deer on the island. Consideration was given to a research study but, due to the lack of access to DNA, it has been considered unfeasible. Grimble goes on to state, “though at first sight it may appear ugly as compared with that of the usual monarch of the glen, I am sure all deer fanciers will eventually agree with me in regarding the head as a wild and beautiful one, while the sight of it cannot fail to arouse speculation as to its origin.”ĭue to their rarity, no scientific proof has been found as to their origins. Even in Jura these “cromies” are very scarce, living only in certain parts of the island, where perhaps three or four “cromies” may be seen to one hundred others, and the whole forest may not contain a score of them. “Mention must now be made of an extraordinary curiosity of the Jura Forests, called “the cromie stag,” Gaelic for “crooked.” In Jura only do these stags exist how they got there or whence they came no one knows, but there they have been from time immemorial, and confident I feel either that they are a distinct race, or that some stag from foreign lands once managed to get to Jura in days gone by and left his mark behind him. One of the best descriptions of this anomaly appears in the 1896 book The Deer Forests of Scotland by A Grimble. ![]() The ‘Cromie’ stag head differs from normal deer in that the antlers sweep back along its neck. The very rare taxidermy deer head, called a ‘Cromie’, was shot on the island in 1951. However, the unique Jura item now up for sale predates both of these and is part of the island’s unknown and forgotten history. Jura is world-famous for its whisky and, more recently, the internationally renowned Ardfin golf course. The Glasgow-based auction house McTear’s have just come into possession of an exceedingly rare curiosity from the Isle of Jura.
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