Just got back from three week vacation in Germany. Spent the 1st two weeks seeing the sights and then the last week was spent in my mom’s home village which is about 70 KM NW of Franfurt.
On my trips over there since 2002 I have been able to tag along/ assist my second cousins husband and some of his freinds in their hunting endeavors. This trip I was able to go with him 4 different nights. We were after rae (roe deer) bucks, counting hares to get a good population health estimate so he knew how many he could take this fall, and looking for medium and large wild boar. He has the hunting rights/ lease to the farmed areas around my mom’s home town and the next town over. With that he is responsible for any crop damage the animals cause in those areas, but then also can sell the animals he takes. I know he has standing orders for the deer and boars (and probably some of the ducks and hares he takes too) with local butchers, hotels, and restaurants.
We saw quite a few deer, but not any of the bigger bucks he was hoping for, several foxes which he will try and take in the winter (he took 59 last year) and quite a few hares (they are big - like jack rabbit size) The first night I was able to go we went looking for a buck first but only found smaller ones, and then later went to a stand over some grain that the boars had been hitting in a small hay field. He wanted to see if there were any shooters in the bunch or if it was sows with young ones. We stayed out until 12:3O and only saw one deer show up there. The next day when I talked to him, he said the boar had come in after we left so we would try again if I wanted to go. I was only able to go after the boar that night with him as the boss said I could have the late shift to hunt if I helped getting our three to bed before I left. We went again that night to the same place and at about a quater after twelve, in they came. It was a pair of sows and 12 piglets. We watched them for a while before they finally winded us and with a grunt, they where off. We headed for home at about 1:30 after watching a fox for a bit.
I checked in on him the next afternoon to see if I could tag along again on the late shift. As he is now retired, he hunts or is doing hunting related activity for most of the day and night. I asked him on this trip how much sleep he was getting now that he was not working??? He said he was getting old, so he was taking it easy and getting about 4 hours a night - more than likely 4 hours combined a day this time a year, since he is hunting late into the night and then again as the sun comes back up. He had averaged 3 hours a night in his younger years, he had said “Napoleon, only slept two”. Anyway, he was a bit irritated as boars had got into a field of oats during the night before and the farmer wasn't real happy. It looked to be the same bunch we had seen the night before as the oat field was only about a half mile away, but we should check to see what could be done about it or if it was a different bunch, possibly with shooters ( this time of year shooters equals big boys – Keilers - or juveniles from last year)
I went back at 10:30 and he had decided he would go sit on the oats that had been hit the previous night and I would watch another that was about a mile away. It had been hit the week before and his dog had actually got in the middle of them and gotten tore up pretty good. We made sure we could call each other’s cell phones since mine was a "foreign" phone and his was domestic, and then we headed to the stand I would sit in. The moon was not breaking above the trees where I was, so it was pretty dark. I didn't see anything while I was in the stand.
About an hour after he dropped me off, I do see him, heading my way. He was pretty amped up. The two sows and the young were in the oats he had been sitting on. He initially thought it was a lone boar, but not too long after the 1st sow entered, the rest showed up. As it would not be right to shoot them, he was thinking we would have to drive them out. We headed back to his house real quick to get a scatter gun to add a little audio encouragement to the hopeful retreat. I had my Black Diamond Icon headlight with me, the new one with two red led's that won’t screw up your night vision. When we got up to the field which is actually on the hill right above town, I hopped out and waited for him to get to the other end in his rig. Once he was there, he gave me a shout, and with the red LED's on, I waded into the oats. Now the oats are just below waist high or so and the sows are about knee high, so there was no telling where they were. As I walked, all I could hear was the stalks against my legs. I had been on drives before for boar, but this was my first night time one, and the first one dealing directly with sows that had young. I probably should have asked how the sows where going to react to me? But as my confidence in his read on the situation was high, it had not crossed my mind at that point.
The oat field is about 150 yards long and the further I got, the more I wondered if they were even still there. I dropped into a set of tractor tracks to make the walking a bit easier and to tear up less oats, and it was a bit quieter going too. After getting close to half way, I finally bumped a sow. She was about 3 yards in front of me when she let out a snort and plowed ahead. All I could see was the oats parting as she headed away from me. Another twenty to thirty yards and the same deal. Now I am wondering where the little ones are? I catch up to the sow (assume it is the same sow) and now she wheels off to my left and behind me somewhere. This is when I started wondering what I should be expecting her to do next, since I was most likely between her and her brood? I kept going thinking she probably high tailed it trying to draw me away - figured if she was looking for a fight, I would already be in one. I moved forward again and as I got about 50 to 60 yards from the back edge, I about step on a young one. Apparently they were all in the same general area as the oats erupted around me and they scattered every which way. There were still more ahead of me so I kept moving. No sign of either sow so I hoped I was in the clear. 10 to 15 yards ahead, I bumped a group, again right under my feet. This time a few go up hill and the rest dive down. There are hay fields all around the oat field, and the hay had been mowed the week before, so the only immediate cover was in the oats, and those little suckers weren’t going to leave it just cuz.
I turned and headed down hill and back a bit when I get the the call to move up the hill. I shout back that there are a few below me and I was going to try and turn them and move them up. I drop back and down about 30 or 40 yards and then turn to push them back up and hopefully out. I bumped them pretty quick and see 3 trails open and disappear as they head the right direction. As I push up the hill I bump two more but not before I notice the top of the oats moving from them being nervous and breathing heavy. One heads the right direction but the other only goes a couple of yards. I can see the tops of the stalks moving where it is sitting, so I ease over to right next to it. It's holding tight. I sweep my leg through to encourage it along and off it goes post haste with a sqeal. That was enough to get the majority of them headed to high ground looking for mama and out of the oats. As they left, my partner puts a shot out well above them that sends them into overdrive. Now the adrenaline finally starts kicking in. We head up to his rig and I ask about the sows and wondered if they would have charged me? He tells me that they had both headed for the brush above the hay field when they went passed me and that they do generally leave the young to hide unless they are being harmed, I guess kinda like black bears. Thank goodness. I am sure he wouldn't have sent me out there if I was in any danger, but who knows if the boars actually read the rule book right?
We are sure they are gone, and most likely won't try that again for a week or so, if at all. We head back to the original field I had been sitting on to listen to see if anything was up there. Nada. It's after 1:00 now and we call it a night. We head back to his house for a celebratory beer. I ask how long he can expect this to go on for? He replied that the oats were coming on now, then it would be the wheat, and finally the corn. He was looking at a good 6 weeks of this. If I understood correctly, toward the end of August to early September, the young would be big enough to start taking, so that would help. He would most likely have to get some of his hunting friends to assist in crop control for at least the corn, where there is no chance of seeing the animals, even from a stand. The previous year he had taken 35 boar. It had been a good year. I forgot to ask how many rae.
While we were having the beer, my brother texted me that they had heard the shot and wondered if we had taken anything. Apparently they had watched the whole thing as the family house sits directly across the valley and they knew we would be watching that particular field that night. They had seen the rig pull up and then this red light start moving across the field but could not quite figure out what the heck was gong on. They thought maybe we were driving them, but were not sure. When they heard the shot and saw us drive back through town, they had actually walked down to his house expecting to see a hog hanging and to take part in the celebration. Then they were really puzzled when all was quiet outside and no critter.
I was not able to go the next night. I ran into him the day after in town and he said all had been quiet. No signs of boars since we had chased the bunch off.
I was able to go again that evening and ended up sitting on the same stand I had two night before, with him across the valley on another spot. The moon was up and almost full, I could see really well and counted 4 rae, 2 fox, and a half dozen hares. I had told him that i could stay out as long as we needed to. He came to the other side of the field my stand was over at about 1:30. I could see him get out of his rig and walk a bit out into the field without his rifle. He was listening for boar. He thought he had heard them pass by him at his stand and head my way. After about 10 minutes he hops back in his rig and comes to get me. We discuss what I had seen and heard, and he was still trying to figure out what was going on and if there were boar about. I had not heard anything except for possibly some of the rae bucks fighting/ sparing ( the rut was on for them little buggers) We dropped down in the rig about a hundred yards, hopped out and listened for schwine. Nada. We headed back above town to the oats we had run the brood out of and listened for quite a while. Again, nothing. He was happy that the crops were safe, at least for the time being, but I thing he was really wanting to take a boar while I was there. My previous trips when I was able to go with him boar hunting, we had always managed to get at least one during my stay. We pushed on until 3:00, but it just didn't happen. We called it a night and he said he would get a couple hours of sleep and then try for a buck in the morning just after 1st light.
The next day was our last full day there so we spend time with my Aunt and Uncle who we stay with. We had gone out for lunch and on the way back, we took the kids to a couple of the stands I had been in for some pictures. We ran into him in town on our way back through and he said all had been quite. I stopped by that evening with the kids to show them all the critters he has in his house - just a couple of mounts, but lots of tusks and horns and hides. The walls are all lined with a lifetime of memories. Fox, marten, and dachs ( badger) tanned pelts are draped on a lot of the furniture. He has a nice stag he got in 20ll in Hungaria too. We chatted for a bit and he made sure that, when I knew I was coming next, that I sent him a copy of my license before hand and he would set everything up so I could shoot something while there. I made a gift of my headlight and thanked him for allowing me to go with him. He assured me no thanks was needed.
Can't wait to go back
