.

Out yesterday evening in a new concession that we have taken on near Düsseldorf Germany.

22.00h single Keiler came in to a maize bait. .275 Rigby shooting 139 g Hornady ammo. Dropped on the spot at 80 meters plus minus. Weighed 87 kgs and 64 kgs dressed. Approx 3 years old. All muscle no fat. Good eating pig.

Will get a picture or two up tomorrow.












.

Kentucky and Tennessee toast you sir.

Charlie - Pics and stories, please, whenever possible. I've followed your adventures well, everywhere, and yours are some of my favorites.

.

LHeym500 - it was neither Kentucky nor Tennessee but rather Chivas from Scotland but I know what you meant!

Badger Matt - photos added and now I have a few minutes to add some colour to the pictures -


Having left Nigeria after 11 years and relocated back to Germany, I have been very lucky and fortunate to have been invited by some close hunt friends to join in on their shooting concession lease. In Germany the hunt year calendar runs from 1 April to 31 March, and that is when the leases run too. They have an existing lease on 450 h of ground and have taken over the neighboring lease from 1 April 2020, so in total 800 h of ground with 6 of us on the lease. The lease runs 9 years.

Approximately 60% woodland and 40% fields and farm land, there is a very good population of roe deer - with over 140 deer having been counted - and plenty of wildboar. Recently one of the group photographed 148 wildboar out on one of the fields early afternoon! As I said plenty of wild boar! The ground is also very suited for pheasant, partridge, duck, hare and rabbit but we will need to seriously get on top of the fox and predator population to get the ground game up. I hope in a few years we will be able to hold driven and walked up hunts for pheasant and hare! Time will tell.

Anyhow, with the move from Africa to Europe, I have mothballed the Courtney boots for a while and mink oiled the Douvre Extremes and got out the layers - merino long johns and long sleeved tops, merino over layers and more - and a quiet top jacket, gloves, beanie and scarf and put together a high seat / Kanzel hunt pack consisting of night vision, torch and spare batteries, headlamp, 2 skinning knives, 1/2 inch felt seat pad, x 50 binocs, latex gloves and some more! And I have decided to hunt my Rigby .275 rifle as my go to pig rifle - .275 Rigby with a sound moderator shooting factory Hornady 139 grain 7x57 Mausers and hand night vision.

In autumn and winter the routine is drive out to the concession around 17.00 hrs and depending on a/ where the pigs are active and b/ the wind direction, to make the decision on which stand to sit at. There are some 15 plus stands in the concession. And then its pretty much as we all know a waiting game.

I have been out a few nights in the last weeks, escaping the Corona madness and isolating myself in a high seat or "Schlafkanzel" for a few hours at a time. The first two evenings roe deer and a badger came to the bait followed by a sow with piglets and I was happy to watch them until the wind shifted and they spooked.

Saturday evening, I sat in a stand on the corner of two fields that have just been planted with potatoes as one of the group said that the pigs would be on there sooner rather than later. Around dusk, 4 roe deer came out of the woods - a doe with last year's twins (a doe kid and a yearling buck in velvet), followed by an older buck. I watched them for an hour or so into the darkness.

Around 21h00, the wind shifted slightly coming in through the open window to my back and so I decided to leave the stand and move to another bait in the woods that I have sat on before. I phoned the local farmer (one of the hunt group) and left a message to say I was switching stands.

I was cushioned down at 21.15 with my Springer wrapped up on a blanket next to me in the bench, silent. Every 15 minutes I swept the ground and the two shooting lanes in front of me with my Leupold thermal handheld and then waiting, silently listening to the night sounds.

At 22.00h I switched on the Leupold, and picked up a bright green spot straight ahead of me at 80 meters at the bait end of the left hand lane. Zooming to x3, the spot grew bigger and was moving. My binocs and night vision confirmed it was a pig. Two more minutes and I was confident it was a single large Keiler.

Sighting on his ear, I touched the trigger and watching through the shot saw him drop on the spot. I cycled the bolt and put a second round into his head, frontal. Why a second shot? I didn't want to see this pig get up and take off into the night and he was kicking like a 'shot pig'. The lights went out and the Keiler was still!

After a short wait, my Springer lead the way to 'our' trophy (her first pig) and she near on bolted when she saw him up close! A good solid muscled Keiler which I guesstimated at 80-90 kgs. Not a bad guess as I later weighed him at 87 kgs.

I called in the pig to the farmer and he said he would ask his son to come and help. I then reversed my Defender 90 through the trees and undergrowth back up to the pig, when help arrived. Together we loaded the boar onto the tow bar carry wrack / tray that I use and there was a lot of pig hanging over the sides! Slowly, in second gear, I drove out of the woods and back towards the farm house where we have the skinning and other facilities.

Marcus was driving behind my Landy in his Ranger. The last two miles is 'Landstrasse', district tar road and doing 30 mph and nearly home, there was a loud rapport and looking in my rear view mirror, there was the pig in the tray - with sparks flying left and right - sliding across the tarmac at 30 mph! The bolts on the basket had sheared through! Long story short, after we stopped laughing, Marcus drove home and returned a few minutes later with the Claas tractor and front loader and the pig was carried home, held high, the last half mile on the front of the tractor!

It was now 23.15 hrs and I set to work gutting and washing down the pig and weighing him in at 64 kgs dressed. I was finished, hosed down and packed up at 00.15hrs and back home at 01.00 hrs with a stiff Chivas 12 year old to drink a dram to my first Keiler from my new concession!

And hopefully not the last!

Here a couple of pictures of the Keiler in the basket on the tar!

Never a dull moment








Hope that you enjoyed this distraction to virus isolation and lock down! This afternoon I am off to take the pig to the butchers!

Cheers,

Charlie

.

Waidmannsheil!

Nice pig.

Charlie - Thanks for the report - an enjoyable read and nice photos as always. Much better than reading about the pandemic!

I think you're going to need a beefier rack!

What's your night vision/scope set-up? A handheld Leupold and conventional scope?

Charlie,
You lucky, lucky guy, out there hunting and loving life while many of us are chained to the lockdown ! I can't wait til this thing is over and we're free.
Congrats on your new concession and recent night hunt success. I'm sure your group will manage this very well and enjoy much high quality hunting to come.

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
.

Out yesterday evening in a new concession that we have taken on near Düsseldorf Germany.

22.00h single Keiler came in to a maize bait. .275 Rigby shooting 139 g Hornady ammo. Dropped on the spot at 80 meters plus minus. Weighed 87 kgs and 64 kgs dressed. Approx 3 years old. All muscle no fat. Good eating pig.

Will get a picture or two up tomorrow.












.

Is that a scotch. Tell me about it, please.

Charlie - Thanks for the story and pics. Nicely told as usual. I've been debating selling several firearms I rarely use and buying one of the Rigby .275's. I take it you are pleased with yours. Was the threading for the suppressor integral or did you have it done after you bought the rifle.

.

Chivas - 12 year old blend. Easy drink. Have know it for years. That an Famous Grouse always at hand for that 'simple scotch moment' !


The Rigby was a 2017 buy from Rigby London directly. Dealt with Andrew and Marc. Highland Stalker in .275, blued action and scope rings, gold Rigby motif on trigger plate, gold stock oval, upgraded wood and a Rigby moderator. Very very pleased with the rifle and I know it has been discussed to death on here before as regards price et cetera but I love her! Accurate, great bolt movement, balanced and IMO a great trigger. Very very happy and a joy to carry!

.

Congrats Charlie - nice to see that the Highland Stalker does the job .. Can not wait to use my own on some European game


Morten

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
.

Chivas - 12 year old blend. Easy drink. Have know it for years. That an Famous Grouse always at hand for that 'simple scotch moment' !

The Rigby was a 2017 buy from Rigby London directly. Dealt with Andrew and Marc. Highland Stalker in .275, blued action and scope rings, gold Rigby motif on trigger plate, gold stock oval, upgraded wood and a Rigby moderator. Very very pleased with the rifle and I know it has been discussed to death on here before as regards price et cetera but I love her! Accurate, great bolt movement, balanced and IMO a great trigger. Very very happy and a joy to carry!

.

I have had Famous Grouse, but have never had or seen Chivas 12.i finally found a Scotch single malt I like. Glennfeddich.

Very nice!

Glad to see folks out and hunting despite the virus mess.

Never heard of the term Keiler before. Do you guys get to keep the meat as concession holders, or is it the landowner's meat?

.

Charlie hi. Was a bit of a decision whether to go out and sit in a high seat or Kanzel when the world is in lock down. However flip side was that the farmers have put in lettuce, asparagus and potatoes and the hogs are in there ploughing up the fields. Pest control was / is the order of the day. And there is no guideline against going out hunting.

I was out with my son last night til midnight, scared a sounder off the potatoes with the Landrover lights!

As for the German, its :

Noun - Sau
Collective - Sauen
Boar - Keiler
Sow - Bache
Yearling - Ueberlaufer
Piglet - Gestreiften

The meat is ours to keep and process. Will have about 30-35 kgs off that Keiler - chops, ribs, one ham, one smoked Schinken, mince/ground and neck cut. Will fill the freezer for a while!

Take care and stay healthy!

Charlie

.

Hunting as it should be. Some air time and shooting along with the challenge of the hunt. Meat for the future. All good. Thanks for the adventure. Always a good read. Be Well, Packy.

I'm more of a lurker here but read most everything. I farm and ranch in South Dakota and thankfully we're not invaded by pigs. My question is this, as a landowner, I'd require a certain number of females culled. Especially with the crop damage you report. I understand the logic behind only shooting males but when it comes down to money coming out of my pocket, the pigs would have to go. Plus, there has to be biosecurity problems in the crops being raised for human consumption. Maybe the lease offsets the damage? Please explain at your convenience.

.

Ipankratz hi and I'll try and answer your question but remember this is based on a European / German position and not US.

By law, in Germany, all land has hunting rights attached to it - agri, woodlands, parks, mountains, cemeteries et cetera. Federal Government - through the equivalent of Fish & Game / Parksboard - may decide to freeze the hunting rights to certain areas ie. cemeteries or city parks, but everything else has active hunting rights attached to it and will be hunted. Recently an anti-hunting landowner challenged the hunting rights on his land in court along the lines of its his land and he should be able to cancel or suspend the hunting rights to his land. He lost the case in court with the court stating that all land and the game on that land needs to be managed through hunting!

Now either the landowner may decide to hunt / utilise the rights him/herself or they are leased out to third parties. Often land is bundled together by owners to form a larger more sensible concession size. Small game leases (roe deer, hogs) are 9 years, large game (red deer, chamois, ibex) are 12 years.

You have to hold a hunting license for at least 3 years before you are eligible to lease a hunting ground / concession.

So now you have your ground and your lease and you as the hunter may decide - depending on what's open / in season or not - on what to hunt and shoot.

As a GOLDEN RULE in Germany, sows with young are NEVER shot - whether shooting from a stand, a high seat or a driven hunt. Always always shoot the piglets and yearling hogs and only if they are all shot then, and only then, the sow.

The coveted trophy is obviously the large boar or Keiler and any boar over 100 kgs or with tusks at 15-20 cms plus is an excellent trophy!
So in my case, I was sitting alone and a solo Keiler came on to the maize and I shot him. A great trophy and meat in the freezer and smoker!

Now to the crops .... you as the hunter are liable for crop and land damage caused by the game on your lease ie pigs eating / damaging crops, routing up pasture and bedding down in corn fields or rape fields. Roe deers stripping bark in tree plantations is also another example or damage that is the responsibility (read cost) of the hunter.

Hence you do everything you can to keep the pigs under control. Hours in the high seat, driven hunts in late summer, maize hunts at harvest, stalking and so on.

A very good hunting friend of mine had crop damage costs exceeding EUR 15,000 pa two years in a row from pigs in the maize and rape seed. He was stuck in that lease for another 4 years before he could get out!

Now where I am hunting - 800 h - its a good mix of woodland and arable and parts of the lease borders Holland. In fact we get pigs coming over the border from Holland, where they are resting up in the woodlands during the day and crossing to us to feed at night!

As regards biosecurity, a/ the crops are all tested before they enter the food chain and b/ all pigs shot are screened by the region State vet for trichinosis and other disease before being declared fit for human consumption. A piece or muscle off a front leg plus a piece of the diaphragm muscle are taken and submitted for testing (at a charge of EUR 12,- paid by us) and once cleared the carcass is tagged and may be processed for eating.

Some hunters will sell on their meat to defray the lease costs and possible crop damage with venison / game going for EUR 12,- p kg upwards. In addition, we levy a EUR 4,- per kilo dressed out charge on each animal shot charged to the hunter which goes into the Jagdkasse / 'hunt cash box' to defray all running costs - maize for baits, repairs to high seats and stands, salt licks et cetera.

Hence the pig that I shot will cost me approx EUR 250,- plus the butchery costs on top of the annual lease cost. But I can sell off some of the meat to defray the costs and my freezer is well stocked with game meat! So basically I am hunting at zero cost other than the lease charge.

I hope that this explains a bit of how we are working on hunts and leases in Germany. We have a lot of pigs on the concession and a lot of roe deer too, so lots to do and lots of game to manage and keep on top of!

Cheers,

Charlie

.

Charlie64, thanks for the information. I didn't realize that all of the ground was open for hunting. You gave a very detailed explanation and I understand now. Goodluck in your upcoming hunts.

Hello Charlie:

Hell of a boar there, you need a bigger basket!

Back in '1971-72 in the Army over there.
I ran a water point at Grafenvoer the 6 weeks
we were there.

Jim a grader operator and I had made
an agreement to meet there about dusk.
He on the CAT 12 open top blade and me in
a Jeep p/up 5/4ter we called it. The road
was higher than the blade. As I drove
over the bridge I saw Jim standing on top
the blade. "what the hell is he doing up
there?".

I kept a metal meal can in the creek with
milk and some food in it. Hogs got to
beating it around but, never got it opened.

Jim was a farm kid from Oregon so he knew
animals well. I never did see a hog there.

He said there was close to a dozen and
three big as hell boars had him treed trying
to climb up on the blade's deck. Too close
for him, so he got up on the engine cowling
out of reach he hoped. They never got up
on it though. When I drove over the bridge
they spooked. He was a mighty shook up
boy when I got there. From then on he
had a long handled shovel within reach
of the seat.

Cheers, and happy hunting.

George

.

George, what a great story! Yep, plenty of pigs around in Germany! Without Dr Google, I would imagine that over 1 million are shot every year nowadays.

I sat last night from 20h00 to 05h00 this morning. Saw plenty of roe deer, including a superb buck, a badger and a feral cat. But no pigs. Next time!





Keep well and healthy!

Charlie


.

Thanks for sharing your harvest and such a great read, Charlie.
No mistaking the contour of that European snout is there?

Charlie:

That looks a lot like the woods we
knocked down to build that golf course
south of Bad Kreaznach, seems like just
off hwy 120 or 420. Our post was near
Dexheim at Anderson Barracks, 2 miles west
of Oppenheim, Neirstein. Sure did enjoy that job.
Took about 5-6 weeks in the summer of
'72 to clear it, move a hill, build a
road and help the German's sort the tree's
out a bit to cut up firewood. They sure
got a lot of it! 200 acre's three of us
cleared with our dozers and bunched up so
they could get to it. Mostly iron wood tree's to 6",
not over a couple dozen pines.

Has it warmed up enough to sit out over
night like that? OR just barely?

Stay well,

George

.

George, what a story! Bulldozing 200 acres for a golf course I wonder if the course is still there today. I bet it is.

Weather has warmed up now heading in to Easter week. Recent nights were 5 to 10 degrees c so a few layers and warm boots were the order.

This week should be mild. Plan to sit through tomorrow night and Thurs or Friday. Farmers have put in potatoes and greens so we need to stay on top of the pigs!

Will keep you posted.

Charlie

.

George, I just left Germany a year ago.

I was at Kaiserslautern. The Army is building an expansion to the base on the north side of the highway across from the current base headquarters, this will disrupt about 250 acres worth of trees.

The current German law requires them to buy 250 acres worth of farm land somewhere and plant trees on it as an environmental offset.

In this case there were exceptionally dirty provisions for European Wild Cats that were in the area.

I/we made lots of trips to K/town.
Then, that was the main rebuild and
repair facility. So we hauled 'em
up to be fixed, and hauled 'em back
when done.

Our post was right down the road from
there. I'm thinking 60 miles or such. I
was there in '71 & 72, came home Jan 73.

Sgt told me 10 yrs or so ago there's a
new autobahn built from BK south near the
area that golf course was built.

CO got his ass in a jamb for building it
and taking some graft under the table.
Last I heard was in the paper spring of
73. "Pentagon investigates Army Capt for
building Germans a golf course." I've
never been able to learn more, or what
happened to him, if anything.

He set it up for us to put up a big shop
tent, divided into rooms for each of us.
Eats in towns, just set the empty beer and
wine bottles outside the door and they'd
be refilled when we got back. "send your
local girls to visit my guys too". I know of
two that got preg, and one marriage from there.

What more could GI's ask for? Privacy, girls,
booze and good eats?

We also built at least 20 "sportzplatz"
around the area too. Cleared, leveled,
graveled with their gravel, they drilled
the holes and we set 100' concrete light
poles in 'em. We kept busy, 40 hour a
week job, seldom more than a couple guys
made formations. Until we got a new CO,
then it all went to hell quick. Sure glad
I was a short timer when that happened!

Anderson Barracks, just 2 mi W of Oppenheim, I
think the hwy was 120 or 420, hard to
recall so long ago. Does that ring any
bells BWW?
Long way from where Charlie is.

I looked on G/earth a year ago and the place
was abandoned and falling apart. Maybe 5 yrs
ago, the motorpool was being used to store a
few thousand cars. Emptied out now. Real shame
the place is going to ruins, it was a real nice post
when I was there. All the barracks
were two story,
I saw where they'd added a
third floor to all the buildings since I left.
Nice street between each one, now all grown
up in trees and brush.

George