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This was a long overdue hunt booked through Beate Molnár of Molnár Hunting, Hungary, at the 2020 Jagd & Hund show in Dortmund. Covid plagued the initial hunt plans with border closures, quarantine et cetera, so it was only now, early in the new year 2022, that the stars aligned and this hunt came together with open borders and no major travel restrictions.

January 2022, a five day, one on one hunt in the State Forestry Blocks in the Mátra Hills, north of Budapest, Hungary. Other than telling Beate that I wanted to hunt a mouflon ram, I was very open minded as to size and horns et cetera. I would take it as it comes and decide at the time whether to pull the trigger or not. That was the idea. Back of my mind of course was a big old ram for the wall!

Bea Molnár suggested back in 2020, that I hunt the rut in October when the rams - big and small, old and young - would be out and about. But with Covid, borders and diaries creating issues for us all, it was now to be a January hunt. Not ideal as the old rams would be tougher to find, but then again that’s true hunting is it not? And likely a fair bit of walking and stalking, Bea warned, which I was kind of looking forward to.

Accommodating would be a simple town B&B / guest house in the concession - Hotel Anna. Clean, decent bed, a hot shower and simple honest Hungarian food, cold beers and Unicum! Nothing fancy. No frills. Ideal.

Travel - now this was an interesting one. I could fly with Malev Hungarian Airlines or Lufthansa or any number of other carriers, some direct and some with a stop and then rent a car for the short 2 hour drive to the Matra area. Or I could drive some 12-14 plus hours in my trusty old Landy Defender 90 Tdi from Germany through Austria into Hungary and make the whole thing somewhat more of an adventure. My wonderful wife commented that the adventure might be towing the Landy back home after it breaks down! She is not a Landy fan at all.

Well I guess the title gives away the travel result - it would be my Landy and a few days on the road there and back! I love my Landy plus I had plenty of time on my hands and traveling at Landy speeds, I could spend time appreciating the countryside and winter scenery.

As far as the gear was concerned, I opted for my Rigby Highland Stalker in .275 Rigby (which was Rigby’s renaming of the famous 7x57 Mauser round, designed in 1892 and adopted for the 1893 Mauser actioned military rifle). A classic rifle, a classic round and topped with a classy Swarovksi Z8i scope shooting 140 gr Hornady factory loads. And as for the rest of the gear - for glasses it would be a pair of Swarovski O-Range binos and very importantly my Meindl Douvre Exteme boots. Great support, superb grip and my feet are always dry! In winter I never leave home without them! Plus a classic German Sauer knife with a sheep horn handle to round it off. All good stuff!

As a point of interest, I had the Rigby added to my European Firearms Certificate at our local police station weapons department, thus allowing me to travel through Austria and into Hungary by car with my rifle hassle free. Straight forward and simple and no airport waits and checks and extra weapon handling fee BS!

Actually with hindsight door to door driving time in the Landy was some 15 hours. Travel to the airport, check-in and wait time, flight time and stop over / change time, arrival and gun clearance and car rental and drive time would probably have been some 11 hours or close to. Not much in it and I got to see a lot of great countryside even if I did get a sore arse from the Landy’s uncomfortable driving seat ! Although In fairness to my Landy, the driver seat is no worse than a Lufthansa economy class seat just the Landy has likely had less butts on it over the years!

The Mátra hills is in fact a mountain range in northern Hungary, which peaks at 1.014 m. It is a vast area of arable land, vinyard covered landscapes, hilly areas and endless beech forests. The perfect area to hunt mouflon!

The Mátra Hills






“Happy New Year Charlie!” JaegerFrank, from AR, called early January to wish me a Happy 2022.

We chatted. I told him about my Hungary plans and he asked if he could come too and also hunt / shoot mouflon. I WhatsApp’d Beate Molnar and told her we were now two hunters. JaegerFrank lives in Southern Germany, so I could overnight at his place and we could drive together from there to Hungary. She let us know that Frank could hunt a private concession with a guide but unfortunately not the State Forest Blocks. All good. Frank was in.

Fast forward to late January, with the Landy packed and rifle secure in a travel gun case, I set off south east across Germany, arriving at Frank’s home near Stuttgart late Saturday afternoon. We caught up over a superb home cooked roast beef and bottle or two (or was it three) of great Bordeaux with hunting stories and tales of Africa and plans for the year ahead.

The following day, it was Landy on through Austria, circling Vienna and down into Hungary to the Mátra hills. Around Berchtesgaden we hit snow, hail and rain making for tough driving despite the Landy heating running on full!





All in all a long 10 hour drive, stopping twice to purchase motorway Vignettes for Austria and Hungary and arriving at our hotel for a late buffet dinner, a couple of beers and bed!

Zoologists are divided whether the European mouflon became extinct due to habitat encroachment and over-hunting 3.000 to 4.000 years ago and whether they were reestablished from Mediterranean island herds from Corsica and Sardinia or whether European mouflon are actually now decedents of Europe's domestic sheep herds. Either way, western European mouflon (Ovis orientalis musimon), are the westernmost and smallest of the species weighing in at 25 - 45 kgs for rams and 20 - 35 kgs for ewes. They have a smooth dark brown coat, typically with a white saddle on their backs and they stand at between 80 and 90 cms at the shoulder. Both sexes have horns with the males having large curled horns that can grow to 80 - 90 cms in length. Like most sheep and goats, mouflon, with their yellow / amber eyes and rectangular black pupils, have excellent eyesight and an acute sense of smell. They are a herd animal with rams often forming bachelor herds outside of the rut and then competing amongst the herds for ewes and breeding during the rut which is typically between October and November. Ewes will carry their offspring for up to 6 months, lambing in April / May.

In the last century, mouflon herds throughout Czech, Hungary, Poland and Germany were carefully managed and nurtured as mouflon became a more and more interesting and valued hunting quarry. The two World Wars saw a significant drop in the mouflon populations (poached / hunted for food) however with management and conservation efforts numbers soon grew and healthy populations were again recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.

Whilst mouflon are officially classed as VU (Vulnerable) in the IUCN listings, European mouflon populations are rising and require management to keep numbers in check. It will be interesting to see over time whether the increasing numbers of wolves throughout Europe and specifically Germany (where wolves are protected) has an impact on mouflon numbers. My guess is that the mouflon herds will be decimated. So if you plan to hunt European mouflon don’t wait too long!

Monday morning broke dry, sunny and cold at minus 8 degrees Celsius! After coffees we met Oliver and Bela, our PH / guides for the week and Frank and Béla - in a Mercedes G class - and Oliver and I - in his Hilux - set off into the hills after mouflon! Frank would hunt a private concession whilst Oliver would guide me in the 12.000 h Eger State Forestry concession.





(Photo JaegerFrank)


Waidmannsheil! Let the fun begin!

The ground that we would hunt was ninety percent woodland, beech and elm trees, with a thick carpet of brown leaves on the ground and a covering of thin, icy snow. A stalkers nightmare. It was walking and stalking on rice crispys the whole time! Deep valleys and rolling hills with forestry tracks cutting the woodland. We drove the tracks, stopping when we spotted mouflon and stalking. We drove to a number of feeding sites where hay piles attracted red and roe deer and mouflon to feed.








'Stalking on rice crispies!'





Oliver and I saw large numbers or red deer - stags averaging 3.5 kgs in antler weights and hinds with trailing calves. Reds are not as big in the Mátra hills as they are in Southern Hungary. Genetics and poor diet resulting in small heads but nevertheless I never tired of watching the red stags in and about the woods. Roe deer were frequent every day, singles, twos and threes, the bucks having shed their antlers weeks before. Mouflon were everywhere in small and large herds from two and three up to twenty plus groups. And we also saw a decent sized wild boar late one afternoon, which was pleasing as the area was hard hit by ASP a few years back.









Typically we stalked and hunted from 06:30 to 10:00, breaking for breakfast and then from 14:00 through to dark at around 17:00. It was cold but with longs, decent hunting trousers and a jacket plus good boots it was comfortable and walking and stalking kept me warm.





On the first afternoon, late in the day after a number of stalks, Oliver and I stalked up to a high house / Kanzel overlooking a feeding site 100 m away. Some 8 to 10 mouflon were feeding on the hay with the largest ram atop the pile and rump towards us. His spread looked pretty good and Oliver put up the shooting sticks. The ram turned broadside, looked to be a pretty decent mature ram and I squeezed off the Hornady SST round into the ram‘s vitals. He bucked, staggered and rolled off the hay pile. The rest of the herd bolted, Oliver encouraging me to try for a lamb as the herd stopped to look back, but I was more than pleased with the one ram to kick things off and watched as the herd moved on.











A decent trophy of 5 years and the 140 gr round had taken out the lungs and the top of the heart. Interestingly there was no visible exit wound.

After a couple of pictures for posterity, Oliver opened the belly cavity with a pocket Swiss Army knife and leaving the ribcage intact, using the saw blade to open the pelvis, he gutted, cleaned and tagged the ram in less than 3 minutes. Now that was impressive!

We then drove the ram to the Forestry Office in town and after hanging the carcass in a cold room, I returned to the hotel for a celebratory beer and an Unicum!

JaegerFrank returned, having seen game but not shot anything and joined me for beers and Unicums!

And so the days progressed, mornings and afternoons out hunting and breakfasts and dinners in the hotel. We dined out one night at a nearby traditional Hungarian restaurant enjoying bean soup and stew with pasta and cottage cheese.

Hotel food was pretty good









Frank shot an old, old mouflon ram and a red deer calf on his second day, which was great, especially as his PH could not take him out on the Wednesday morning, loosing hunting time for JaegerFrank. I”ll leave him to post pictures on here if he wishes to do so.

Mid week, I went out with another guide, Tibor, into a different part of the 12.000 h concession. Oliver had to organize a small driven hunt elsewhere. We saw a number of mouflon and red stags. We had one group of stags standing for 45 minutes. It was great watching them through the binos for such a long time before they walked slowly away between the trees.

That afternoon, I missed a good sheep at 263 meters uphill. A long shot for a small animal the size of a roe deer and I did not account for sufficient drop, missing the ram shooting underneath. He was in a group of 5 rams and all of them were pretty large - in the 75 cm plus range.

On another occasion, we spied a very large horned ram but forestry workers were further up the slope felling trees hence not allowing for a safe shot. The ram spied us and was away down the hill before we could think of a ‘Plan B’.





I enjoyed carrying and shooting the Rigby. A lightweight rifle ideal for the hills. And the Swaro Z8i scope performed flawlessly. A great versatile rifle.

Of note was that we saw wolf tracks pretty much every day and on day three we came across a fresh roe deer kill, three quarters eaten and partly covered in foliage, hiding the carcass from crows and foxes. Oliver confirmed that wolves, which are protected, are a big problem and as Frank and I agreed, it will be interesting to see whether mouflon are around in 15 years! Oliver called the kill into the office and they plotted it on their maps.






Beate Molner, drove up from Budapest on the Thursday evening at the end of the hunt and joined us at the hotel for a drink and reports. The trophies will be measured and recorded officially and then Beate will either bring them to Dortmund to the Jagd & Hund show in June (if it holds) or package and send them to us. Easy.

Molnar Jagd has been operating for many years specialisiing in Hungary but also offering hunts in other European countries. In my opinion they are top for roe and red deer and mouflon in Hungary, with great contacts and attractive prices. I will hunt with Molnar Jagd again - maybe a long weekend of roe deer in late spring with my youngest son.

The following morning we settled our drinks bills - the rest was all inclusive in the arrangement with Molnár Hunting - and trundled up the Hungarian freeway, entering Austria via the old border crossing where there was zero traffic as opposed to the more busy Nickelsdorf crossing and on through Austria to Germany and the Black Forest where JaegerFrank lives. I stayed the night and we again enjoyed some more great wines and stories before a well deserved sleep.

Saturday morning on the return route home, I made a short diversion, on Frank’s recommendation, to visit a well known German gunsmith by the name of Heinz Schiller, in the small village of Leutershausen.





After some 2 plus hours talking to him and admiring his gun room, his trophies and the workshop, I set off for the homeward leg of the 1.850 mile round trip, with thoughts of a full stock 6,5x55 Swede build on an old 98 system coursing through my head! Certainly food for thought! And what better gunmaker to build it than Heinz Schiller!

All in all a long overdue, great hunting break with lots of game seen in wonderful surroundings! Oliver commented that January is a tough time due to the weather and that October and the rut is certainly better. Who knows maybe another visit in October?!

Thanks to Molnar Hunting for the arrangements and the guides Oliver and Tibor for their time and effort and thanks to my Tdi Defender for making the 2.900 km / 1.850 mile trip without fault. It was pleasant sharing the daily events with JaegerFrank over drinks and a meal in the evenings. Thanks Frank for coming along and thanks to all AR members that came along through this report!





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Thanks for a great hunting story. But I don't envy your drive in what has to be one of the roughest vehicles ever inflicted on one's posterior.

Excellent report Charlie and a nice mouflon trophy. Well done!

Excellent hunt, great food and nice memories.

Thanks for posting!

Great report and pictures Charlie, that looks and sounds like a wonderful hunt!!

Charlie - Thanks for the great report. Will your trophy end up as a shoulder mount or skull mount?

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Gents, Thanks for all the positive comments! Appreciated as always when I post a hunt report.

Simple European mount of this one. It has to be officially measured and tagged by the Hungarian hunting authorities and then will be released to me.

I have had a couple of PMs asking me about the costs of this hunt, so in the interests of transparency plus general sharing of info here on AR, I thought I would post details.

Booked through Molnar Hunting as follows -

5 nights accommodation, half board ie breakfast and dinner,
plus 4 days one on one guided hunting with two outings per day Total EUR 675,-

Trophy costs EUR 1.130,- inc prep and official measuring.

So all in all a bit under USD 2.000,- on top of which came travel / fuel
costs which JaegerFrank and I split at a couple hundred EUR each.

A very reasonable price for a good hunt IMO.

Cheers.

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As a Brit, I am really jealous of the sort of freedoms all of you in the continent have to do this sort of hunting. Just pick up rifle, put it in the car and drive to your destination two, three or four countries away, hunt with good old and new friends and drive home again with a cooler full of good meat and trophy for the wall. Treasure this freedom. It was hard won.

In the UK this freedom was stolen from us by a bunch of rightwing liars and criminals. We now need individual visitors weapons permits from each country we want to drive through, no chance of transporting any meat - cos far to dangerous and might spread disease etc. and we have to pay huge customs fees to our government to bring anything into the country. All so that a few very wealthy can avoid the attention of the tax authorities, or any of the regulation that makes life better. And our population is fed a diet of utter lies that we are better off.

Charlie64, thank you again for writing up an inspiring hunting story! What a great experience with stops with friends and a famous gunsmith.

I hope you keep these stories coming.

Congrats for the nice ram and for a good story!
How did you succeed in paying only $1,000 for a full curl ram? Having seen the picture I would have expected much more.
Thanks again.

Excellent Charles and glad the 90 made it.

Always a good story Charles. Great photos and they always make me want to hunt those places too. Thanks again and Be Well, Packy.

Charlie - I've said it before and I'll say it again. You really ought to consider writing a book. You have an engaging style of writing and your photos always tell a tale beyond the mere kill.

Excellent all around. Congratulations on a fine hunt for a rarely hunted and worthy quarry!

Compliments on your choice of rifle, too. The new Rigby is superb.

I guess congrats are also due for avoiding the tow truck and inevitable Landy repair bill.