On my desk sits one of our early Sporting Brochures dated 1975, a reminder of the early days of CKD Galbraith's Sporting Agency Business. It is a modest brochure of 28 pages with black and white photographs, and provides me with a wonderful snapshot of those early days well before my time as a sporting agent. There is a separate price list, with Vat included at 8%.

The firm was then Bingham Hughes Macpherson occupying numbers 6 & 23 Queensgate, Inverness.

It is pleasing to see that in many cases those early relationships forged when only a few estates had ventured into commercial letting, have endured to the present day. Estates such as Rhidorroch, Coulin, Ardverikie and Tressady are still in the letting business with us.

Rhidorroch was available only by the fortnight at £594 for the two weeks, whilst Inverpattack Lodge, Ardverikie was £75.60 lodge only for a week in September 1975.

Stalking featured predominantly in the commercial Sporting repertoire, with Red Stags charged at £65 per stag and hind stalking at £18 per day. Roe stalking was offered by the week, ten outings and an expectation of 3 – 5 bucks for £125 plus trophy fees; Sika stags were charged at £48.60. Driven Grouse shooting was readily available on offer commercially; where available, a day's driven grouse for 8 guns with an expectation of 60 brace was £680, or £85 per gun for the day.

Stalking at Ardverikie has changed little over the last 50 years.

Salmon and Sea trout fishing, was ever popular. A week's fishing on the Findhorn for two rods being £65.

Rough Shooting was equally popular and generally available for a wide range of species including pheasants and ptarmigan, but one shooting offer particularly caught my eye “ Capercailzie – one or two guns driven capercailzie shooting to join a party of 6 – 8 guns. October – January. Expected bag in excess of 12 Capercailzie per day, plus 20 head of other species. Cost on request. A pity as I would love to know what that one cost!

Wild Goat Stalking was the other exotic, available by the day and for periods of 4 days, at a cost of £54 per day. Wild Goat Stalking is still available today on a limited basis, but we get little call for it. One estate made the stipulation that if any wild goats were shot, on no account were they to be brought anywhere near the larder or any other building. You only need to smell a wild goat to know what sensible advice that was!

Sport in the highlands has changed very little over the last 50 years. Stalking is very much the same, there is probably less tweed on the hill, and fewer ponies, and rifles are a little more high tech but basically the same.

Grouse shooting is carried out in exactly the same way. Some guns now favour fast handling over and under 20 bores rather than the more traditional side by side twelves, but both are equally as efficient in the right hands.

The biggest change has probably been with fishing. Carbon fibre rods and multiple tip lines have replaced split cane and silk, and hair and synthetics have replaced fur and feather in our fly patterns. We also now have neoprene waders and goretex wading jackets, which make light work of spring fishing. Spring salmon fishing was still good in the early seventies, and often a better prospect than later in the year.

Sea trout have suffered badly over the last forty years, and many of the former sea trout fisheries – Eilt, Sheil, Maree are shadows of their former selves. It was interesting to see that Eishken on the Isle of Lewis, still in our portfolio, caught 603 sea trout in 1975.

Salmon and Sea Trout conservation is very much the watch word today and catch and release in some shape or form is encouraged on almost every river in Scotland. It is heartwarming that this initiative has generally been embraced wholeheartedly by the fishing community and rarely are there issues now about releasing fish.

Gaffing a big Tay salmon in the early seventies. Not a method encouraged today!

CKD Galbraith's Sporting Agency department has undergone the transition of a move to Perth from Inverness, as well as an in-between change of name to Finlayson Hughes

Although we still view our annual Sporting brochure as an important cornerstone to our marketing, it is now a much more glossy affair, and more importantly , complimented by our Sporting website www.sportinglets.co.uk We are now able to update this on a day to day basis if required, and it is just a click away from being viewed by anyone in the world with a computer.

Fax machines have come and gone, and email and mobile phones are now the preferred means of communication. Not always handy when your phone rings whilst playing a twenty pounder, but a real bonus for Sporting Agents who are out of the office on a regular basis.

A final look through the 1975 brochure also reminds me of the enduring relationship we have with our advertisers, and I am pleased to say that J Graham & Co. are still going strong, and the subject of a separate feature in this anniversary brochure.