Country: Romania
Dates: October 28 - November 4, 2014
Areas: Zalau for wild boars and Bistrita for brown bears
Outfitter: Marius Merutiu www.huntromania.com
Airline: Lufthansa
Rifles Used: Sauer 303, 8X57


Since almost my childhood I have heard and read about the driven hunts for brown bears that was conducted in Romania. Most known for this type of hunt is the former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu that is the number one brown bear “hunter” that has ever walked this earth shooting approximate 4000 brown bears during the period 1955–1989. I guess that Nicolae did not have to draw for the stands in every beat…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_in_Romania

Considering that it took 8 years of hunting for me to take a brown bear here in Sweden this type of bear density sounds surreal.



So when this offer was posted on AR

http://forums.accuratereloadin...531043202#6531043202

I directly contacted Marius and gathered 9 friends to fill the group for these 3 days. To say the least, all of us had our disbeliefs about the possibilities to conduct driven hunts on brown bears, the densities needed for this kind of hunts sounds like a fairy tale.

Hunters heading for Romania



Anyway, Marius suggested that we also book 2 days of driven wild boar while we are in Romania and the whole group thought that this was a good idea. We booked flights and started to wait for the end of October. During the waiting time Marius web page was hacked and his e-mail was not working properly and this was a bit of a nervous experience when the deposits were paid and we did not know if anyone will meet us at the airport. Anyway when Marius surfaced again it was clear that we have booked flights to the wrong airport. We were booked to Bucharest and that would result in a 7-8 hour bus trip to reach the hunting area. Marius solved that by buying domestic air tickets for the whole group (including 3 camera men) for his own money, which was much appreciated by the group. We would have been very tired the first day of hunting if we would have to ride on a buss all night before.

When flying with guns in Romania, bring a LOT of patience. There is nothing easy about guns here…



2,5 hours to check in the guns



The ammo has to be checked in separately



Day one

Driven wild boars in quite steep country. The guns was posted on small roads on top of the steep hills and the beaters drive the boars upwards towards the guns. This has to be very tough for the beaters because the terrain but they did a good job under the circumstances, it is very difficult to make driven hunts on wild boar before the leafs have fallen down from the threes. The forest was still green here and I did not envy the beaters their task.



In the first beat I made a fool out of myself when I missed a wild boar on 3 meters distance. The boar was about to pass the road I was standing on 30 meters from me and I was going for an easy shot when it was on the other side of the road and I would have a good bullet catchment for my neighbor hunter. When the boar stepped up on the road and saw me it immediately charged. I was very surprised, I have been charged by wild boars before but they have all been wounded and my dog have been baying them. This one was not wounded, just pissed of. Anyway, I shot when it was very close (could not shoot until it was close because bullet catchment) and succeeded to miss. When I shot, the boar run downhill for shelter totally unharmed. I did not like to present myself that way on the first day and beat…

Thomas, Ove and Torbjörn had a blast on the second beat. Thomas shot 5 running boars with 5 shoots, Torbjörn 3 and Ove shot a big male. The subspecies living in Romania and Bulgaria is Sus scrofa attila and is the worlds biggest wild boar subspecies and we were all surprised of the size of the animals we shot. Compared to the boars we shoot in Sweden this boars is very big.

Torbjörn and Thomas with their catch



Ove first boar, very big body and with silver medal tusks



Lunch in the field, very nice





The first two day passed fast with 19 bagged boars and some foxes. Now we were supposed to have one day of to rest and transport us to the brown bear hunting area. But the group had other plans, after an island council we decided to ask Marius if we can buy another day of wild boar hunting. Marius was ok with this, plans were made and we hunted another day. The beaters and their dog was of course tiered of the two previous days of hunting so the result was not as the first days but we had a nice full day of hunting with nice people. To bad but one of the hunters in our group missed a very big male with 4 shots this day.

The transport to the other hunting area in the evening was 3 hours with buss and we arrived to a late supper in the hotel. All of us were now very eager to see the long sought after scene of driven brown bears, could it really be true?

First day of driven brown bears



Allowed game was brown bears (not females with this year’s cubs), wolves, foxes and wild boars (not big sows).

Nice hunting cabin, Nicolaes old…



In the first beat the tension of all hunters was high and when the beat only contained foxes and wild boars we relaxed, it was not so high brown bear densities after all. The only animal shoot in this the first beat was a big female wild boar. This was of course very embarrassing for us as a group when the first animal taken was not meant to be taken. We excused our self with the fact that the hunter who shoot was from Finland and not from Sweden (in Sweden we shoot about 100 000 wild boars/year). In Finland they have no wild boars and he was not used to this game species. To his defense I can add that the assistant who was in the high seat together with him did not warn him that it was a sow even when he asked before shooting. Anyway embarrassing.


Second beat, after some very steep climbing to the stands that was nice small high seats the beaters started. After some 15-20 minutes three shots were fired down below me in the gun line and Mikael soon sent out the message that he had shoot a big bear. We then heard from the assistants that there had been 3 bears in the beat and Olle had one of them in his stand but the bear winded him before he got a shooting opportunity. The bear Mikael shoot was very big, we guessed around 300kg. One European wild cat was shot at bay in a tree for the dogs by the beaters in this beat, very interesting to see this species.





After lunch (very good food) we did divide to two groups taking one small beat each. The beat conducted of grazing areas for cattle and sheep mixed with brushes and was on lower ground and not steep at all. I could not imagine hunting brown bears in an area like this and I prepared to shoot wild boars. When I started to hear the beaters it did not take long before I heard some dogs closing into my stand. Much to my surprise they were chasing a brown bear! When it entered my stand I had no chance to shoot because the lack of bullet catchment towards my neighboring gun but I was lucky enough that it turned left into good bullet catchment and I bagged my bear. I shot my bear the first day and was very happy.

My bear, a male told to be about 7-8 years old



This black and white dog that Bernt is petting was most intense when hunting my bear, I would not mind bringing that one back to Sweden



In that beat Ove shoot at a big wild boar and the beaters claimed that 8 brown bears went out through the beating line. Before the beat was over one wolf was shoot by one of the guides. Bernt that had this guide in his high seat had nothing to argue about his guide shooting the wolf, it was 2 wolves entering the stand from behind and he would not have had any chance of getting up his gun before the chance was over. It was very interesting for us to see a Romanian wolf.

Oves second boar, a strong silver medal



Romanian wolf




I can now understand why there is so small problems for hunters in Romania when it comes to wolves even tough they have many thousands of wolves. The wolves in Romania are very small compared to Swedish wolves (about half the size) and they are not dangerous for hunting dogs. I asked the hunters we meet in the three different areas we hunted in about the problems with wolves killing hunting dogs and got the same answer from everyone I asked. They have never heard of a hunting dog getting killed by a wolf during hunting. Some wolves go into villages during late nights and kills small dogs, but that’s it. Here in Sweden the wolves are a major threat to any hunting dog and they kill many dogs every year. But then again our wolves are double the size compared to the Romanian ones.

The two bears shot the first day



Second day of driven brown bear

The first beat for the day was preceded by a steep uphill walk. It took about one hour to walk up to the gun line consisting of small high seats.

Steep country



When climbing it is a good idea to bring dry clothes to shift before the hunt starts, otherwise you soon start freezing when you are to stand still in frosty weather.




That beat was also empty considering brown bears and we continued to walk uphill to the next beat that was on the other side of the mountain. After the gun line was set the beaters started. Only about 10 minutes after the beaters started the first shots was fired and David sent out the message on the radio that he had shoot at one bear. After a while more shoots was fired and we got the message that Bernt also had fired shoots and bagged his bear. When the beat was over we could ad two more bears to our list, both Davids and Bernts bears were laying dead in the stand. Now the beaters had a difficult task to carry the two bears out from the beat without damaging the furs in a very difficult downhill climbing.

David and Bernt with there female bears



After lunch we climbed another steep hill for the third beat of the day. This beat took some time but produced one bear for Robert that he shoot on close range in a very dense stand (there was no doubt that the organization had the knowledge of were the bears usually run). In this beat there was another bear that the beaters saw but it did not enter a stand. One VERY big wild boar was killed by the beaters after seriously wounding 3 dogs. The size of this subspecies is amazing!

Roberts female bear



Enormous boar shot by the beaters





The first two days of brown bear hunting had delivered 5 brown bears, one wolf, one wild cat and some wild boars.


The third day of driven brown bears was in a complete different area consisting of rolling hills of beach/oak- forest surrounded by agricultural and cattle/sheep grazing areas.



When we saw the area we immediately thought that the brown bear hunting was over. The area looked like there was no possibility for brown bears to live there, wherever you looked you saw sheep. We went very surprised this day…

We meet the new beaters and their dogs in the morning and the guns were put to stands.

I had already shot my bear and was out to try to shoot wolf or wild boars. I had little confidence in this area when I entered my first stand. Much to my surprise after 15 minutes in the first stand there had been 4 different bears and one wolf passing my stand! Sorry to say I did not had any chance whatsoever to shoot the wolf passing 80 meters away from my stand. When I saw it I lifted my gun and when I got it into my scope it disappeared downhill. In this beat there were at least 8 bears, very surprising because the beat was only about 20 hectares, maximum 40 hectares. The only shoot fired by one of my group in this beat was unfortunately hitting a tree instead of the bear. We could easily see this when we looked on the film that was recorded, one big advantage of hunting with camera men!

Next beat was also with several bears but no shoots was fired, one big bear went by Ove on 80 meters but the trees was always covering the bear and he did not fire.

This third day was the most surreal day of this trip. Open beach and oak forest filled with brown bears.




We had more than 20 bears running through our stands during this day. But only Mathias killed a bear this day, a nice male shoot at close range. Mathias was also standing on the ground on a road (not in a high seat) so the experience was very intense as it should be. The bear killed by Mathias was very interesting, I was set on a stand far to the side of the gun line in the pursuit of wolves and was told that if a bear comes I should make noise to scare it into the gun line. Three dogs was coming with this bear directly towards me and when it was about 45 meters away I started to make noise and I told the bear to turn to meet the guns in the gun line. The bear looked at me and turned left. I went on the radio and told my fellow hunters that a single bear is heading up the gun line. When I heard the shoots from Mathias I was very happy. Sorry to say I managed to miss two foxes this day, very embarrassing!

Mathias bear




To add up, Marius told us that we should expect to see in-between 50-75 bears during our three days of hunting. No one of us thought that this could be true and that these numbers was a nursery tale! When adding our different bear observation we could see that we had 72 observations. Totally amazing! I have myself seen 9 different bears and one wolf during these days, fantastic!

Marius with two of the bears



The brown bear population in Romania has to be the most reproductive in the world. We saw many females with 3 and 2 cubs, only one of the leading females we saw during 3 days of hunting had 1 cub.

Word of advice if you want to try this kind of hunting.

1: As you see on the offer there is a breaking point for higher trophy fee when the bear reaches 350 CIC points for the skin. The limit for gold medal is 300 CIC points. This was examined by us before we left and we all thought that there is no reason for worries about high trophy fees, a gold medal is a big animal and 50 points over the gold medal level should be a humongous animal. When we got the points for the animals shoot we were very surprised. Out of six killed bears, every bear was a gold medal and 5 were over 350 points! This was very strange because 3 of the 6 shot bears were females. Could this really be true? And yes, sorry to say it is true. We were 10 hunters on this hunt and on the lunch the last day of hunting we did a little survey. Together we have shot about 700 moose (yes we do shoot enormous amounts of moose in Sweden) and I asked my fellow hunter how many gold medal moose they have shot. The answer was that no one has killed a gold medal moose. 2 silver and 4 bronze medals was the outcome of 700 killed moose! When it comes to the CIC measuring of brown bear skins there is something rotten in the system! The only possible explanation is that when a brown bear cub sucks the last milk out of its mother the skin he/she carries is a bronze medal. So as an advice, if you are going on a brown bear hunt when the trophy fee is depending on CIC measuring on the skin be ready for the fact that almost every animal you see is a gold medal!

2: Another thing if you are thinking of conducting a hunt like this is about females with cubs. In Romania it is legal to shot females with cubs from last year. This may be a good management strategy, I don't know how the authorities argue about this. But many of us in the group were not interested in shooting a leading female and that was not so popular among the guides and beaters that did a great job driving the bears towards the gun line. So if you do not want to shoot a leading female, clearly state that to the organization.

3: Also, when we go next time we will bring a scale. As a Swede the thing we are interested in about the shot bear is the weight (not the size of the skin), here they do not weigh the bears.

4: Our decision to bring hunting radios to this hunt was good. It is very nice to be able to communicate with the neighbor gun about secure angles to shoot and to give friends heads up about bears in movement.


Was everything on this trip as expected? Well no, it was far better! We did not expect this high numbers of brown bears! We were all surprised by the high bear numbers and especially the last day was surreal when it comes to the bears. The organization was very good, Marius have really made more than we could expect from a trip like this.

Will I make this trip again? Well YES, I have already booked the areas for next September/October! Then we will bring our own dogs and try to make this hunt by ourselves, which will be very interesting.

Miscellaneous pictures

Beaters heading out



The game transport



Skinning house



Dog transport



Good food and company every night

Thanks for the very interesting hunting report and congratulations on the bear! I enjoyed reading the report and point 1 of your words of advice very interesting.

Amazing report. I agree that I would have mixed feelings on shooting the females.

Can we ask for an indication of the cost of this?

quote:

Originally posted by Claret_Dabbler:
Amazing report. I agree that I would have mixed feelings on shooting the females.

Can we ask for an indication of the cost of this?

You find all the costs in the link to the offer in the start of the report

A realy amazing hunt

Eventually P-A - you are a slow writer

I wish I was there. Maybe next year ? PM sent.

Morten

Congratulations on a amazing driven hunt!
Very good report!

Vould have been intresting to bring a own dog for shure!!

To the best of my knowledge, the genuine wild cat (felis silvestris) and wolf (canis lupus) are protected species in whole E.U...

While one may assume the responsiblity of shooting a wolf (to protect hunting dogs comes to my mind), I see no reason to post pics of it in plain view of the anti-hunting public...

quote:

Originally posted by Andre Mertens:
To the best of my knowledge, the genuine wild cat (felis silvestris) and wolf (canis lupus) are protected species in whole E.U...

While one may assume the responsiblity of shooting a wolf (to protect hunting dogs comes to my mind), I see no reason to post pics of it in plain view of the anti-hunting public...

Andre,

The wolf is a legal species to hunt in several EU countries. I know that you can legally shoot wolves in Romania and export the skin with CITES, no problems.

Regarding the wild cat, I have no info on that. It was the beaters that shot the cat and I thought that they would know the laws in their own country. I will check that...

Great hunt!

You can legally hunt Wolf and wildcat in Romania. You need permits to do it legally, of course.

quote:

Originally posted by Caracal:
Great hunt!

You can legally hunt Wolf and wildcat in Romania. You need permits to do it legally, of course.

Thank you Dennis, good to have this sorted out

Both wolf and wild cat was legally shot. Period!
Ahlen, if you want me to send you the skin of the cat, just let me know.
Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by huntromania:
Both wolf and wild cat was legally shot. Period!
Ahlen, if you want me to send you the skin of the cat, just let me know.
Thank you!

Marius! I would really apreciate that, also the skull if possible

.
A fantastic write up and great pictures. Thanks so much for posting / sharing. I really enjoyed reading this!!
.
Lots of bearskin rugs there to enjoy!


Ps what do they do with the bear carcass?


Pps Andre, Did you enjoy reading the report ? If so why not say so as well in addition to your comment on legality ? IMO this was a great well written and pictured very special report and after all this is a hunting website !

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
.
A fantastic write up and great pictures. Thanks so much for posting / sharing. I really enjoyed reading this!!
.
Lots of bearskin rugs there to enjoy!


Ps what do they do with the bear carcass?


Pps Andre, Did you enjoy reading the report ? If so why not say so as well in addition to your comment on legality ? IMO this was a great well written and pictured very special report and after all this is a hunting website !

Thank you Charlie,

The did special brown bear sausages of the meat.

I did indeed enjoy the story. My remark meant no criticism but merely expressed my concern regarding exposure to the non-hunting public. I didn't know wolves were legal game in Romania (I still have doubts regarding felis silvestris, though...).

quote:

Originally posted by Andre Mertens:
I did indeed enjoy the story. My remark meant no criticism but merely expressed my concern regarding exposure to the non-hunting public. I didn't know wolves were legal game in Romania (I still have doubts regarding felis silvestris, though...).

According to this publication the legal quota for 2012 was 402 Wild cats. I have not found any quotas for 2014

http://www.alkawildlife.eu/download/p1771.pdf

Gentlemen

Allow me five words ; " Marius is a rising star".

And You hunters did indeed a real good job.

I can't still imagine that such good hunt could still exist and so close to us at that.

incredible

Congratulations! Really a great hunt

P-A,

Glad I stumbled on this hidden jewel of a hunt report. Well done! Looks like an incredible adventure. Doing a driven boar hunt in Europe is definitely on my bucket list. Congrats.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
P-A,

Glad I stumbled on this hidden jewel of a hunt report. Well done! Looks like an incredible adventure. Doing a driven boar hunt in Europe is definitely on my bucket list. Congrats.

Thank you MJines,

yes this was somewhat of an adventure!

Anyway, I have booked one more week of this hunt next year and if you are up to it you are most welcome to join.

I will bring my wife and sons to Dande this coming summer for some hunting and fishing with CMS, I hope to meet you again in a CMS camp.

/ P-A

Be careful what you offer, you never know if someone might take you up on the offer!

In my never ending quest to hunt during the worst weather in Zim, I will be there the end of February next year. Since you and Emma have done October, you need to try June or July, much more enjoyable.

Mike, what makes you recommend June and July ? Compared to first 2 weeks of August ? As you know I was in Dande first week of October and found that most enjoyable.

Morten

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Be careful what you offer, you never know if someone might take you up on the offer!

In my never ending quest to hunt during the worst weather in Zim, I will be there the end of February next year. Since you and Emma have done October, you need to try June or July, much more enjoyable.

Ha Ha! Mike, I will try to lure you to Romania so that we can enjoy your cigars

Yes, Buzz and Myles recommend us to come june-aug so that the heat is not to hard on my kids.

Looking forward to your trip report.

/ P-A

quote:

Originally posted by The Norwegian:
Mike, what makes you recommend June and July ? Compared to first 2 weeks of August ? As you know I was in Dande first week of October and found that most enjoyable.

Morten

Morten, just cooler. First part of August should be nice too. I can tell you that late February and late November are not wonderful periods temperature wise. October might be fine in the beginning but there is a reason they call October suicide month! Bottom line is that May though September would be the nicest weather wise, in my view.

P-A, I could not bring enough cigars for your group. When you travel, you take an army!

Mike,

if I look at the weatherforecasts these days for Dande, I see the same temperatures as the first week of October when I was in there. I see some more cloudy days and occasionally some days With rain - is it the humidity that makes the real difference ?

Morten

Fantastiskt!

Hoppas vi far se nagon filmsnutt snart!

BR

Nice Bears,thanks for the detailed report

this looks awesome. after a couple of spanish monterias I have been itching to go for driven boar again, and romania sounds perfect.

Wow,amazing!! Nice Pictures and Writing. Next bear in august I hope Congrats P-A

This is a really stupid decision by the Romanian government!

https://www.theguardian.com/en...-wild-cats?CMP=fb_gu

That just sounds like a barrel of fun Congrats to you and your friends.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by P-A Åhlén:
This is a really stupid decision by the Romanian government!

Stupid is as stupid does - it's just politics man...coming from Brussels what else to be expected?

quote:

Originally posted by mouse93:

quote:

Originally posted by P-A Åhlén:
This is a really stupid decision by the Romanian government!

Stupid is as stupid does - it's just politics man...coming from Brussels what else to be expected?

Did Brussels tried that few years ago in Slovenija ...?

Brown bears, wolves, lynx and wild cats are fully protected here now.
Minister does issue a tight quota of bears and wolfs to be shot each year however, but the pressure from Brussels is on nonetheless.

I wonder when Brussel Sprouts will put wild boar into a Carnivora status
What a bunch of girly men and EU is turning into a dictatorship
In Czech Republic now, you cannot legally borrow rifle for a hunt
Go figure...
Is that EU trend as well?
Jesus H Christ, what a fucked up world we are living in

http://www.huntingreport.com/w...te.cfm?articleid=798



Romania Bans Bear and other Predator Hunting

(posted October 07, 2016)

On October 4, Romania announced a ban on all sport hunting of predators, making it illegal to take brown bear, wolf, lynx and wild cat. The ban appears to be immediate and permanent. We already know of one hunter whose hunt has been scuttled at the last minute, and we are sure to hear of more.

All predator species are protected under European law, but hunting for bear and other species in Romania has continued with large quotas since Romania joined the EU in 2005. Romania did this by using a loophole in EU law that allowed for control hunting of animals that have proven to be a danger or nuisance to humans. In practice, this meant that hunting associations responsible for certain areas could count bear populations within their areas and apply for a quota each year. Romania holds over 60% of the European brown bear population.

The Guardian reported on Wednesday that the practice has come under fire from animal rights groups and some conservationists, who maintain that hunting groups overstated the number of predators and the threat posed by the animals in order to secure higher quotas. The government now proposes to institute state-controlled culling in areas with conflicts between humans and predators. Bears and wolves may also be transported to other areas within the EU.

The ban is expected to cause a strong negative reaction from Romania’s outfitting industry as well as rural villagers and farmers who will be affected by higher predator numbers. Bear hunting in Romania has been a major draw for international hunting travel over the last 10 years with hunters regularly taking SCI Gold Medal bears scoring over 400 CIC.

Look for more information in the November issue of The Hunting Report. - Justin Jones, Assistant Editor

Get important news bulletins like this sent directly to your email 24 hours before anyone else sees them, plus unlimited access to our database of hunt reports and past articles, a special expanded electronic version of our newsletter and more! Upgrade your Hunting Report subscription to Email Extra today. Click here for more information.

Stupid decision banning hunts in biggest population in europé.
All people cant be as stupid as we are sending bear poo to france for DNA tests. What are the lack of value now doing for the Romanian bearpopulation? Then Ceauchescu lived bearhunting was banned for everyone but him creating this huge population.

Movie of a bear walking on the roof tops in a village.

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article23702423.ab

Unfortunately, it is true! For the moment the bear, wolf and wild cat hunting is suspended. I am positive that the hunt will re-open in the spring, but right now, we don't have anything sure.