 Typically, deer forests are in hilly and mountainous areas of the Highlands and Islands; and, despite the use of the term "forest" they are almost all devoid of trees - the word is used here in its original sense, meaning an area set aside for hunting, rather than its later association with trees (see Royal Forest).The land is typically not suitable for crops.Most deer forests have large areas covered with heath, in many places peat bogs, marshes, lochs or bare rock, elsewhere patches of grass or other herbage, while plantations of trees of greater or less extent may also occur.