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- Dec 21, 2009
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Last week Zeiss Optics flew me to Germany for a new products launch and a traditional German driven hunt. I arrived in Frankfurt Germany and met up with a couple of Danish guys at the airport before being driven to the small town of Wetzlar where one of Zeiss's Sports Optics factories is located.
The next day Zeiss presented some new products to a group of writers, publishers and television and media folks. I am not allowed to mention the new products until after SHOT Show in January but I will tell you that they are very cool and definitely products that long range hunters will be excited about.
That afternoon we were taken to a shooting range outside of town where we sighted in the Merkel RX Helix rifles we would be hunting with the next day. The RX Helix features a staight-pull bolt popular in Europe for extra fast cycling between shots. You may be more familiar with the Blaser R8 with a similar straight-pull. The rifles were in 30-06 and were topped with Zeiss Conquest V6 2-12x50, a version of the Conquest V6 which is sold in Europe.
The next day we were taken to the hunting grounds which was on a large private estate owned by a German earl. There was a large group of folks milling around and several large dog trailers and trucks. Soon a group of locals called us to attention with their jagdhorns which is a traditional hunting horn played like a bugle but shaped like a small tuba. There was a buzz in the air as we listened to the property's Game Keeper give the rules and instructions in German, which one of the Zeiss executives then translated to English.
We were allowed to shoot as many red deer as we wanted but we should shoot calves and cows first. Stags could have no more than 9 points and could not have crowns on the tops. We could shoot one male mouflan sheep with horns of any size. We could shoot as many female roe deer as we saw again starting with fawns, but the males had already lost their horns so telling the difference would prove to be very tough. We could shoot unlimited wild boar and should start with the young and be careful not to shoot the "leading sow" unless the young had all been killed first. We could also shoot as many fox and raccoon as we saw.
The hunt would officially begin at 10:00 am but we were allowed to start shooting as soon as we reached our hunting stand or "high seat". At 10:00 the "beaters" and dog handlers with their packs of tiny terriers and dachshunds would begin working the hunting area. I heard that there were over 70 dogs this day.
There were a total of forty or so hunters and we were split into groups of four or five and assigned a van and driver who delivered us to our individual high seats. Mine was a tall wooden structure built almost entirely of local tree trunks. I climbed up and got settled in and before I even got my rifle loaded I spotted a roe deer sneaking through the brush about 100 yards away. It moved quickly never stopping and there would have been no way for me to spot a small brush of hair on its rear end which is the only obvious giveaway of a female when the males have already lost their antlers.
I began to hear shots close by from my neighboring hunters and soon I could hear the beaters blowing their horns and calling out in German and the packs of dogs yipping and barking. What an exciting feeling to know that animals were on the move and the likelihood of seeing something was high. It felt like opening morning of the rifle deer season in my home state of Wisconsin with the added excitement of hoping to see animals I had never seen in the wild before and possibly getting a shot or two at some of them. Plus there was a little nervousness worrying about making a mistake and shooting something that wasn't allowed.
For the next three hours I saw several foxes and managed to make a good shot on one of them. I saw a half dozen different roe deer but never could confidently identify one as a female. At one point I heard a pack of the little terriers barking and growling excitedly followed by a wild boar squealing loudly in the pine trees nearby. Before long a small boar appeared with four of the little dogs attached to it, growling and barking and chewing on it while the whole mess of them stumbled by right under my stand and then disappeared.
At precisely 1:00 the hunt officially ended and I collected my fox and waited for the van driver to pick me up along the dirt road nearby. On the drive out of the area we passed a nice mouflon ram that had been dragged to the dirt road and must have been killed very close to me.
After lunch at the clubhouse where we had started that morning we all gathered round to participate in the traditional post-hunt ceremony. All the animals killed that day were laid out by species on their right side surrounded by pine branches. The horn blowers played several tunes and the Game Keeper called each successful hunter up to receive a pine branch and to tell what each hunter had killed. He reported that he was very pleased with our group of hunters for killing the animals humanely and not killing any off-limits animals by mistake.
There were three female red deer and two mouflan rams along with many wild boar, female roe deer and foxes. A total of 63 animals were killed that day. I heard of only one boar that needed to be tracked with dogs and killed by a dog handler's knife. All the rest were killed quickly with one or two shots from the hunters - pretty impressive considering that most shots were taken at running animals.
The next morning started with the playing of the horns and a talk by the Game Keeper before we were taken to a new area and dropped at our high seats. Almost immediately I took a shot at a small wild boar scurrying through some brush with several others but I missed. Later I had a couple roe deer run by but could not tell if they were female. I blew an opportunity at a fox who ran right under my stand. I must admit that I don't practice running shots with a rifle often and I just couldn't get my act together in time for a shot I felt comfortable with.
I heard a fair amount of shooting again that day but it seemed like less than the first day. About 30 minutes before the end of the hunt I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and spotted a pair of wild boar sneaking through some trees and brush at the edge of my view about 130 yards away. I got my rifle up and picked the only small opening in the trees that would give me a chance just as the first boar passed through it. The second boar hesitated just for a moment giving me just enough time to squeeze off a shot and it dropped right there.
When the driver came to pick me up one of the other hunters who was from Sweden came along to help collect my boar. As we walked up the hill toward the tree I had marked as the spot the boar had dropped he was surprised that we kept walking. When we got to my boar he commented on what a long shot it was. I had to smile that a 130 yard shot is considered long.
At the ceremony that day there were over 60 animals killed again. There was only one female red deer and no mouflon. There were many more wild boar than the day before along with a few roe deer and a couple foxes. That day the dogs were not needed to track any wounded animals and again I was really amazed at all the excellent shooting.
The Europeans practice moving shots in shooting cinemas where a movie screen plays live video footage and a system tracks all the shots. And they grow up shooting at moving animals from a very young age. It goes to show that with practice, what one person considers an especially difficult (and maybe risky) shot can become very makeable.
My German driven hunt was so much fun and I was really glad to experience the German hunting traditions. I thought of some of the informal traditions that my family practices when hunting that, like the German traditions, are all about paying respect to the game and giving thanks for the opportunity to put food on the table, along with celebrating the excitement and pride that comes from hunting. It was also nice to be on a fun and exciting hunt that had much more to do with managing the game in a particular area with lots of shot opportunities and great camaraderie and less to do with enduring and suffering while holding out for that one trophy animal.
I also had an absolute blast chatting with and getting to know hunters from all over Europe and learning about their cultures, traditions, and hunting styles. Hunting is a universal language that brings people together and makes them feel comfortable with each other and that was very true on this trip.
I was lucky to spend one extra day in Frankfurt before heading home with my host from Zeiss and the two other Americans who had been invited on the trip. We ate a delicious traditional Christmas lunch at a centuries old monastery and vineyard and then explored the downtown Christmas Market which is a tradition in most every town and city in Germany.
I want to express a huge thank you to Zeiss for hosting me on this very memorable trip.
The next day Zeiss presented some new products to a group of writers, publishers and television and media folks. I am not allowed to mention the new products until after SHOT Show in January but I will tell you that they are very cool and definitely products that long range hunters will be excited about.
That afternoon we were taken to a shooting range outside of town where we sighted in the Merkel RX Helix rifles we would be hunting with the next day. The RX Helix features a staight-pull bolt popular in Europe for extra fast cycling between shots. You may be more familiar with the Blaser R8 with a similar straight-pull. The rifles were in 30-06 and were topped with Zeiss Conquest V6 2-12x50, a version of the Conquest V6 which is sold in Europe.
The next day we were taken to the hunting grounds which was on a large private estate owned by a German earl. There was a large group of folks milling around and several large dog trailers and trucks. Soon a group of locals called us to attention with their jagdhorns which is a traditional hunting horn played like a bugle but shaped like a small tuba. There was a buzz in the air as we listened to the property's Game Keeper give the rules and instructions in German, which one of the Zeiss executives then translated to English.
We were allowed to shoot as many red deer as we wanted but we should shoot calves and cows first. Stags could have no more than 9 points and could not have crowns on the tops. We could shoot one male mouflan sheep with horns of any size. We could shoot as many female roe deer as we saw again starting with fawns, but the males had already lost their horns so telling the difference would prove to be very tough. We could shoot unlimited wild boar and should start with the young and be careful not to shoot the "leading sow" unless the young had all been killed first. We could also shoot as many fox and raccoon as we saw.
The hunt would officially begin at 10:00 am but we were allowed to start shooting as soon as we reached our hunting stand or "high seat". At 10:00 the "beaters" and dog handlers with their packs of tiny terriers and dachshunds would begin working the hunting area. I heard that there were over 70 dogs this day.
There were a total of forty or so hunters and we were split into groups of four or five and assigned a van and driver who delivered us to our individual high seats. Mine was a tall wooden structure built almost entirely of local tree trunks. I climbed up and got settled in and before I even got my rifle loaded I spotted a roe deer sneaking through the brush about 100 yards away. It moved quickly never stopping and there would have been no way for me to spot a small brush of hair on its rear end which is the only obvious giveaway of a female when the males have already lost their antlers.
I began to hear shots close by from my neighboring hunters and soon I could hear the beaters blowing their horns and calling out in German and the packs of dogs yipping and barking. What an exciting feeling to know that animals were on the move and the likelihood of seeing something was high. It felt like opening morning of the rifle deer season in my home state of Wisconsin with the added excitement of hoping to see animals I had never seen in the wild before and possibly getting a shot or two at some of them. Plus there was a little nervousness worrying about making a mistake and shooting something that wasn't allowed.
For the next three hours I saw several foxes and managed to make a good shot on one of them. I saw a half dozen different roe deer but never could confidently identify one as a female. At one point I heard a pack of the little terriers barking and growling excitedly followed by a wild boar squealing loudly in the pine trees nearby. Before long a small boar appeared with four of the little dogs attached to it, growling and barking and chewing on it while the whole mess of them stumbled by right under my stand and then disappeared.
At precisely 1:00 the hunt officially ended and I collected my fox and waited for the van driver to pick me up along the dirt road nearby. On the drive out of the area we passed a nice mouflon ram that had been dragged to the dirt road and must have been killed very close to me.
After lunch at the clubhouse where we had started that morning we all gathered round to participate in the traditional post-hunt ceremony. All the animals killed that day were laid out by species on their right side surrounded by pine branches. The horn blowers played several tunes and the Game Keeper called each successful hunter up to receive a pine branch and to tell what each hunter had killed. He reported that he was very pleased with our group of hunters for killing the animals humanely and not killing any off-limits animals by mistake.
There were three female red deer and two mouflan rams along with many wild boar, female roe deer and foxes. A total of 63 animals were killed that day. I heard of only one boar that needed to be tracked with dogs and killed by a dog handler's knife. All the rest were killed quickly with one or two shots from the hunters - pretty impressive considering that most shots were taken at running animals.
The next morning started with the playing of the horns and a talk by the Game Keeper before we were taken to a new area and dropped at our high seats. Almost immediately I took a shot at a small wild boar scurrying through some brush with several others but I missed. Later I had a couple roe deer run by but could not tell if they were female. I blew an opportunity at a fox who ran right under my stand. I must admit that I don't practice running shots with a rifle often and I just couldn't get my act together in time for a shot I felt comfortable with.
I heard a fair amount of shooting again that day but it seemed like less than the first day. About 30 minutes before the end of the hunt I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and spotted a pair of wild boar sneaking through some trees and brush at the edge of my view about 130 yards away. I got my rifle up and picked the only small opening in the trees that would give me a chance just as the first boar passed through it. The second boar hesitated just for a moment giving me just enough time to squeeze off a shot and it dropped right there.
When the driver came to pick me up one of the other hunters who was from Sweden came along to help collect my boar. As we walked up the hill toward the tree I had marked as the spot the boar had dropped he was surprised that we kept walking. When we got to my boar he commented on what a long shot it was. I had to smile that a 130 yard shot is considered long.
At the ceremony that day there were over 60 animals killed again. There was only one female red deer and no mouflon. There were many more wild boar than the day before along with a few roe deer and a couple foxes. That day the dogs were not needed to track any wounded animals and again I was really amazed at all the excellent shooting.
The Europeans practice moving shots in shooting cinemas where a movie screen plays live video footage and a system tracks all the shots. And they grow up shooting at moving animals from a very young age. It goes to show that with practice, what one person considers an especially difficult (and maybe risky) shot can become very makeable.
My German driven hunt was so much fun and I was really glad to experience the German hunting traditions. I thought of some of the informal traditions that my family practices when hunting that, like the German traditions, are all about paying respect to the game and giving thanks for the opportunity to put food on the table, along with celebrating the excitement and pride that comes from hunting. It was also nice to be on a fun and exciting hunt that had much more to do with managing the game in a particular area with lots of shot opportunities and great camaraderie and less to do with enduring and suffering while holding out for that one trophy animal.
I also had an absolute blast chatting with and getting to know hunters from all over Europe and learning about their cultures, traditions, and hunting styles. Hunting is a universal language that brings people together and makes them feel comfortable with each other and that was very true on this trip.
I was lucky to spend one extra day in Frankfurt before heading home with my host from Zeiss and the two other Americans who had been invited on the trip. We ate a delicious traditional Christmas lunch at a centuries old monastery and vineyard and then explored the downtown Christmas Market which is a tradition in most every town and city in Germany.
I want to express a huge thank you to Zeiss for hosting me on this very memorable trip.
