Hi guys

What do you think is the hardest big game hunt in Europe?

I don't mean by reference to cost or limited populations but actual difficulty in acquiring a specimen...

I have limited experience but certain areas of Scottish/Irish forestry are virtually impenetrable thanks to trenches dug by heavy machinery and hundreds of horizontal tree trunks/stumps masked by grass...making hunting really challenging. Add spooked animals being shot by forestry officials and sika deer are probably my most challenging hunt thus far.

I imagine that hunting chamois and mouflon can also be rather taxing...

All views welcome!

Sika have developed a reputation for being hard to hunt in Ireland. They are also reputed to be the toughest animal for the size around.

I have seen a few travel amzing distances when well hit, and a lot further when badly hit.

Wild boar unless driven, because they are so cunning and nocturnal. Also searching and the the hauling out of the woods at night is not always a pleasure.

I find Sika Deer hunting is very similar to hunting whitetail in the US - certainly a challenge.

I gotta agree with DUK though. for European game getting a Wild Boar, say within a week of hard hunting is not a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination, they are simply so unpredictable. Driven Hunts another topic altogether but sitting at night mixed with some forest stalking during the day will make a believer out of a Nimrod. I stalked a sounder of Piggies from about 500 meters away once - in the snow & at night, awfully exciting.

Chamois are certainly a matter of being fit enough to get where they live which is normally pretty high up the steepest side of a BIG, rocky mountain - unless someone is very lucky. Early in season or the November Rut also makes a huge difference. I had a Client who had to return for a second week-long stint at a Chamois. He hunted hard the initial week on the Heels (sometimes far-r-r behind those Heels) of a German Berufsjäger until Diana finally cooperated and that was early season.

Personally, I was back in the Hut after 3/4's of an hour with a Gold Medal specimen but that was in the middle of the Rut and my poor old Buck fixated on his Girl-Friend and not on us - big mistake - for him.

Lynx by the number of given slots.

Brown bear, cause they also are large predators like us.

Wild boar, by all rights.

/C

Cool, keep it coming guys! I like to keep the dream box full of potentially challenging hunts.

I suppose a lot of it is terrain, there are certain areas where sika come out of the forestry onto the open hill and can be shot from afar, the same animal is a ghost outside when hunted just a kilometer away in the bush.


I would love to try stalking boar, are they any less nocturnal at certain times of year?

G

Hunting and taking the shot,is the easy part.
It's getting the ba****d out and into the bak of the Land Rover is the hardest part!!

Physically: I'd say the hardest thing is to be a beater in a driven hunt. Dense and wet, almost swamp-like forests here. (Especially hard these days, the winters are mild and the water doesn't freeze.) And some of the drives can be pretty darn long. But it is a great way to be right in the middle of the biggest action.

Game-wise: Haven't had the pleasure myself, but I've heard that Wolves are worthy adversaries. Without snow it is impossible to know their location as they move huge distances in a single day. They are cunning as hell, too.

I think the hardest big game hunt in Europe is tracking wounded boars!

Remembered here is another one, Reindeer ie Caribou hunting in Norway,

pack it in, pack it out, long trips and long waits,

Different type of hard though.

/Chris

You can always set you own limitations on any game, one of them is certainly to hunt particular specimen - it took me 3 years for an old roebuck and a chamois...

quote:

Originally posted by Monastery-Forester:
I think the hardest big game hunt in Europe is tracking wounded boars!

Agree - one shot (grazed) high on the back or hit in the snout might be just an never ending story aka mission impossible.

I have only ever hunted deer, and can only offer an opinion on those and by far and away the most difficult for me has been Sika. They move through the furrows of forest plantations, where you have trouble crawling, as if they were on a race track. They are extremely wary and when the shot is made, just like Claret Dabbler said, they are capable of covering incredible distances before they realise they are dead. They are a bit like a 6.5X55 tougher than their size would suggest, way tougher.

John

I've gotta toss my two centimes into the ring and say that the Dachs, or badger, is the most elusive where I hunt. They are the ones I get to dream about.

Yeah Yeah, I know,.... you guys have been shooting about a hunnert a year, but.... I ain't got one yet!

I've harvested lots of Roe- & Red deer, Wild Boars, 3 Fallow deer, 1 Moose and 1 Chamois. Of all, the latter was the hardest to get. Of course, their biotope (high Alps) makes in very demanding in terms of fitness.

Good shot, André.

God jaktlycka till dig, "waidmansheil" that is.

Best regards Chris

Wolf in Spain?

quote:

Originally posted by Husqvarna M98:
Remembered here is another one, Reindeer ie Caribou hunting in Norway,

pack it in, pack it out, long trips and long waits,

Different type of hard though.

/Chris

Yes I agree, The reindeerhunt is mountainclimbing in some areas, you got to walk for several hours with a backsack who wights 20 - 30 kg, and whwn you got up on the tops you can start to look too find the reindeer, and you must often wait some hours to find them, and the next job is to sneek into them and shoot one, after the photosession the hard works starts, taking care of the meat, a big bull weights around 80 - 90 kg of meat, this meat you got too carry in your backpack down the mountain.
I do this every year, and i said too my selv what in hell are I doing this? I`m often so tired that its hurts in the body, and knees. Whwn I`m down and the backpack is off my shoulder, it`s all forgotten.


The meat got to be taken care off


Very tired after 4 hours walking down from the top of the mountain after shot this bull:


I also hunt Sika in Scottland, a very fine hunt, I shot this in oktober 2006 in westcoast of Scotland:

This was a very pleasant hunt and a nice trophy

Norwegianhunter

Check your mail box - you have PM waiting!

Rgds Ian