The management of game resources and enforcement of game legislation by the Campbells of Glenorchy in the early modern period provides a detailed case study of the manner in which elite hunting privilege, the management of land for game resources and the prosecution of poachers represents projections of power within and beyond the locality, underpinned by a strong cultural symbolism particularly associated with deer hunting. The family’s activity in this area included hunting itself, the management of forests as deer reserves, and the enforcement of game regulations on their own tenantry. They were also commissioned to manage game reserves on behalf of the crown and the Earl of Argyll and these commissions offered further opportunities to project power. Understood within this framework, the activity of hunting and management of game supported both ideological and symbolic power and also offered opportunities to reinforce the social position of the family and to leverage further territorial influence and landholdings. This case study provides an example of how the importance of understanding the cultural, social and political context of the management of natural resources is essential to the development of holistic environmental histories.
Ian MacLellan (Fri,) studied this question.