Drive tonight, hunt tommorow

[The Weazle]

I am so envious of your time in germany...do many guys over there use a deutsch drathaar (dog) for hunting?  Keep up the stories and pictures!  Looking forward to the rest of this thread... 

[rasbo]

that is really cool,tradition

[PacificNWhunter]

Awesome!

[addicted]

For the rest of my morning i saw only the ass end of one reh scooting out behind me. At noon we took a 15 minute scheduled break so that people could get down from the stands and gut their animal so they could be open and cooling. Got down and went to go ask want ryan(fire4effect) saw. while i was walking back to my seat a reh buck ran by my at about 40 yards oblivious to my presence. The hunt was scheduled to end at 1400. every couple of minutes someone would shoot something that they saw and the other animals would get spooked by the shot and make a mistake so the shots came in waves all day.  I saw one calf and cow running accross the valley infront of me coming my way so i was up and ready but all i saw after that was teh dogs that were pushing them. they had dooped the dogs. 1400 hit and we went to get the camera for the streckelegen(laying out of animals)here are a couple pics fromt that. Just got called in to plow the runway again. stay tuned

[fire4effect]

Ok, so here is my side of the story. Even though I didn't shoot anything i certainly saw what has got to be the biggest damn animals I've ever seen. The first day after the 1200-1225 break to field dress your game, I saw 3 massive class 1A Heirsch Bulls. For those of you who aren't familiar with the German ranking system, here is the break down:

3b is the least desired, usually weeded out of the herd
3a is developing to be a 1a, you will never shoot a 1a

2b is a strong bull, good antlers however will never crown and usually is a great trophy
2a again you will never shoot a 2a, its potential is far to valuable

1b, not sure if these exist
1a, now these are damn monsters and i am not joking, i swear i thought they had christmas trees on either side of their heads. I would say they were close to 700 m away and they were giants. the trophy fee for these ususally ranges about 500 euro per kilo. Hope you have deep pockets.

It was a great time had by all especially those who were able to harvest an animal. I am hoping next year with my re-enlistment bonus to go to graf and bring hope a big 1A.

Addicted (Josh) took all the pics because my camera was not charged.

[AngelFace]

Hopefully next year I will be able to go on this hunt with my husband. He had such a great time and was able to shoot such a cool animal as you guys saw pictures of. I really hope that I will be able to go next year and shoot my first piece of real big game. Two foxes and some ducks are just not enough in my book.

[hornhunter]

Isnt there a very hard test required to get your hunting license in Germany.  I met a German exchange student a few years back and he began to tell me about this test.  He also had a study guide book.  Did you have to take this test?  What an awesome experience to hunt in Germany and experience a different hunting culture.

[addicted]

yup. i took the test a little more than a year ago and my wife(angelface) and fire4effect took the test in march i think. the class we went through was 8-10 weeks with 3-4 nights a week and practice shoots on the weekends because not only is there a written test but a rifle, pistol, and shotgun, shooting test at the range.

[hornhunter]

Cool!  The exchange student was able to go elk hunting in Idaho with us for a week.  We all agreed he would learn more in elk camp for a week than highschool  He had a few German hunting magazines I looked at.  The pictures were neat 

[fire4effect]

the course is considerably shorter than what the germans take. the downside to that is we dont get to learn all the stuff they do. it does however take some time and a bit of studying but its totally worth it. i should have taken the course as soon as i got to germany.

[addicted]

stuck at work again but i'll finish off the story.

Day Two

so the second morning it was alittle  warmer. 15 degrees.
After going through all the ceremonies of the first morning again, we went out to a new area to hunt.
The forester placed me in a stand in its own valley. While pointing out where the other hunters were(unable to be shot directly) he said that this was the best stand in the valley. 

I quickley grabbed my gear and headed out to the stand which was a couple hundred yards from the road.  As i arrived at the stand it began snowing steadily. The stand had a 100-250 yard view of a tree line to the front of the stand and a huge meadow out to 600+ yards to the rear.

About 10 minutes into the sit a beautiful fully winter fured fox showed up about 50 yards in front of me. He was mousing accross the field while i got out the camera to snap some pics.(I'll post them when i get home) There was a gun shot and he spooked. i tried to squeek him back but he was long gone. Over the next hour i saw 4 more foxes. one behind me, one dissappearing in the trees and 2 chasing eachother out a couple hundred yards. I would have wacked the first one if we were to be shooting foxes that day. about 1030 i heard the dogs barking and turned to see a Cow and a calf crossing the feild behind me probably 400 yards out. i watched them hook around and dissapear in the trees. a minute later the dogs came down teh same path. they showed up again 200 yards out the left of my stand and i was going to wack the calf but they never stopped moving. they crossed the opening and were never seen again.

At 1150 two cows popped out of the trees 200+ yards infront of me and dissapeared back itno the trees. They came into a clearing and got the crosshairs on the first one. I sqeezed one off and saw her legs go week. she moved into the trees and appears a moment later about 130 yards to my left. i picked her out immediately from teh blood coming out of her mouth. as she came to the edge of the clearing I could see the dog catching up with her and i shot again. i couldnt tell immediately if it a hit  because she went into the brush. i saw her in a clearing in the brush quartering toward me a few seconds later standing still so i pulled the trigger one more time and she dissapeared. 

I could hear the dog catch up with her and start growling and howling. By time a came down there at noon the dog had ripped out the A$$ hole and another fun part. when the german hunting dogs get ahold of a piece of game they get very aggressive and defensive.  When  I got there the dog saw that the game was going to be taked car of and ran off to find more.  I looked at my shots. the first two were only a couple inches apart in a great spot. complete passthrough. the third hit just infront of the shoulder. Feild dressed her and went up to the stand. Didnt see much till the end of the day after shooting time was over. I heard several more shots though.

I marched back to the road and made the hoe hunt sign in the road while i waited for my ride. When fire4effect showed up we drove his new jeep out into the feild(insert fun) with the forester to pick up the cow.

Back at the streckelegan there was about as many animals as teh first day.

I'll post some pics if i ever get to come home. supposed to snow a few more inches so we are waiting so we can plow.

[addicted]

First pic is the valley i hunted. the stand is in there if you look close i think.

then a couple of my cow(alteer in deutch)

then fire4effects jk parked near where the animal gave up the ghost.

[addicted]

Some picks of the day 2 streckelegen.

A body pic of my cow

a pic of me recieving my Schutzen Bruchen. The shooters branch presented to successful hunters that is worn in the right side of the hat for the duration of the festivities.

[andrew_12gauge]

awesome story and photos addicted and congrats on your kill, how do the red deer taste?

[addicted]

awesome story and photos addicted and congrats on your kill, how do the red deer taste?

in this case i did not get the meat. it went to the forst department for sale. tastes like elk though