What would you consider the top 5 indigenous (sp?) euro big game species/hunts.

This is my pick in no specific order partly based on experience:

1. Moose, bayed by a spitz dog, hunted the same way for thousand of years, can even be found on rock carvings. Only difference is the spear is changed for a rifle.

2. Red deer, stalking roaring stags on the hill in Scotland or in central europe. Must be exciting.

3. Roe deer, stalking summer bucks. Can, as far as I know, be done in almost all european countries.

4. Capercaillie, not actually big game, but this big grouse just got to be considered. On ski in deep snow and 30 below zero or on the lek (where legal) or with baying spitz dog, all done with a rifle of course. Must have been a common species in central europe as many old castles have paintings showing hunters shooting Capercaillie with baying dogs or on the lek.

5. Brown bear, the only dangerous european big game with the possible exception of wild boar. Of course bayed by a spitz dog or Laika.

I guess chamois would be fun too and rein deer and wild boar and...

[ 08-06-2002, 00:12: Message edited by: PCH ]

In order from most to least important to me would be . . .

1) Cretan Ibex (Sadly, Not a huntable species but it tops my top 5 anyway since my family is from there)

2) European Bison (a Wisent in Poland, Bulgaria or Belarus would be a great hunt in winter!)

3) Red Stag in Scotland during the rut (a nice 12 pointer of course)

4) Brown Bear

5) Wild Boar (with a spear and dogs)

Any opinions?

JohnTheGreek

1.Stalking a Red Deer stag during the rut with a elkhound in a leash Somewhere in the western part of Norway.Much more exciting and difficult than red deer hunting in Scotland.

2.Moose stalking with a elkhound in a leash somewhere in Scandinavia.

3.Reindeer hunting in Norway.

4.Grouse hunting in the Norwegian mountains.

5.Wolverine hunting with a Laika.Somewhere in Scandinavia.Very difficult indeed.

1. Capercaillie or woodgrouse. I think this is my favorite hunting.
2. Moose
3. Roe
4. Red deer
5. Grouse with pointing dog.

Johan

Interesting. Are European brown bear the same as our brown bear? Over here (at least in Alberta) wolverine are never hunted, just trapped for fur. How large do red deer and scottish stags get? I get to europe to work sometimes and I never really thought of hunting there. Hmmm. I obviously am missing out. Can anyone hunt there? Thanks - Dan

Dan,

I am clearly no expert on European hunting as I live here and have never hunted there but I have some contacts for a couple of species that might interest you. In terms of antler growth and body size, the Red Stag is a neat critter that is bigger than a Mulie but smaller than a North American Elk. Check out http://www.strathdee.com/scotsport/red.html for some great deals on these critters (they also offer Muntjak and Roe Deer). You also might look to www.goodhunting.net as they have some neat opportunities in Belarus for European Bison. I can't wait to take one of these things!

Regards,

JohnTheGreek

[ 08-06-2002, 06:21: Message edited by: JohnTheGreek ]

This are my top five:
1) hog hunting with dogs ( battue)
2) red deer
3) Mufflon ( wild sheeps)
4) roe deer
5) racoons

because that is what i got in my "revier" ( district)

Olaf

[ 08-06-2002, 12:20: Message edited by: OlafD ]

1.-Spanish Ibex
2.-Chamoix
3.-Boars with dogs (monter�a)
4.-red deer in rut
5.-roe deer

Gonzalo
Spain

Are we speaking about pure hunting or about trophy hunting? Because, by my opinion, there is a big difference about the two hunting philosphies. In the second case I think that the first five trophy are:
Brown Bear, possibly hunted in a driven hunt, but normally hunted from super confortable blinds;
Moose,
Red Deer during the rut, wherever you can. For the trophy the East European countries are better, honestly speaking.
Roe Deer, same consideration made for the Red Deer.
Wild Hog same consideration made for the Red Deer.
I repeated East Europe many times, but it is caused by a natural law, from South to North and from West to East dimensions of animal and tropies increase in dimension weight and quality.
The original Italian hog has a maximum weight of 100kg(+/-), an Ukrainan hog 300kg. The same is for all the animals except the ones like Moose, Bison, Reindeer that don't have a continental diffusion.
pure hunting?
wild boars,
red deer
roe deer
bears
the fifth?ohhhh all the other of course
bye

Hjortejeger – Where in Scotland did you go Stalking?

My top five is:
Rutting sika stags in the forest
Summer roebucks
Winter muntjac
Winter red hinds
That’s it.

I am shooting driven mouflon, roe and reds in October so my list may change .

First of all iam not a trophy hunter.
I have not hunted Red stag in Scotland,but spoken with people and of course seen films.I would like to go there sometime.
The biggest official measured(not necessarily the biggest of them all!!) norwegian Red Stag was 202.5kg/453lbs(carcase without head and antlers, heart,bowels,lungs etc and legs cutted right under the "knees".Weight after 1week)
If you want to see some hunting (most red deer hunting)and nature photos just take a look at my brothers homesite http://home.no.net/etrulss
BTW iam the one with the Laika

[ 08-06-2002, 16:07: Message edited by: Hjortejeger ]

Red deer in the Alps during the rut ( Been there, seen that, did not shoot one )
Gams - . - ( got that )
Moose ( although better trophies in Kamtschatka )
Iberian Ibex
Damwild
a real good Mouflon
Birkhahn, shot with rifle ( got that )
a good driven hog hunt ( did some not so special ones )

For shotgunning there are lots of top choices also.

Hermann

1, Moose , Norway(social, daylight, campfires, friends )
2, Red deer, Norway ( wilderness, challenging )
3, Roe deer, Norway or UK ( stalking, solitude )
4, Reindeer, Norway ( High mountain, great nature, yet to try, but I will !!)
5, Wild boar in Poland ( another future hunt to be planned for my 35 Whelen )

Thank you for the information John. I'm definately going to try this my next time over. - Dan

dan belisle,
The american brown/grizzly bear( Ursus Arctos horribilis sp?) is the same species as the european brown bear (Ursus Arctos). But they count as different sub species. The Alaska brown bear is considerably larger than the Scandinavian bear but if the inland grizzly is bigger I am not so sure. Also does your bear have a reputation of being much more aggressive than ours. Still people are mauled by bears in Sweden every year.

The same is true with euro moose (Alces Alces) and your american moose (Alces Alces Canadensis I think it's called anyway).

Steve M,
I wouldn't necessarily agree that body weight and antlers increase in size the way you describe. Habitat, available forage, gene pool, age of the animals and which animals you shoot is more important. In general are you correct about animals being bigger in the north, it's called Bergmanns rule, if I remember correct, and is explained by the fact that bigger body mass means less energy consumed per kilogram to keep the aniamal warm.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PCH:
[QB]dan belisle,
The american brown/grizzly bear( Ursus Arctos horribilis sp?) is the same species as the european brown bear (Ursus Arctos). But they count as different sub species.

That's true, also the Kodiak ( ursus arctos Millstaedteri) is a brown bear.

Olaf

Thanks fellows. So if the brown bears there are smaller then the coastal browns (kodiaks) they would be about the size of an inland grizzly, I take it. Approx. 400kg, give or take. Which countries in Europe have these bears, and the red stags as well? I may have to arrange my next job around this info. Or maybe we could swap a hunt or two. Thanks again. - Dan

Dan,
I don't know the bears availabilty of Northern countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, I know that huntable bears and red stags can be found in Romania (5000 +/- bears counted), Bulgaria and Slovenya. The classification repect the quality.
The problem is the different hunt season for bear and red stags.
For Bears there are two hunting periods, the first during the Spring (March-April, the best), the second during the Fall (October-November).
For Red stags THE PERIOD is about the third week of september, during the rut.
If you need more info e-mail me. I was in contact with the best local organizators in Romania and Bulgaria.

PCH,
it's Bergmanns rule in fact, and generally speaking is valid, with all the limitation that you put, and on which I agree "in toto".
But it exist. Russian brown bear is a little bigger than Romanian one, but the Kamtchakta brown bear (it is of the same family +/- of Kodiak) is bigger than Russian.
Italian red stags and boars are normally lighter than Danubian, and I can tell you that don't have feeding problems.
And it is the same for roe deers, except for the area of Parma, where Hungarian roe deers have been introduced by Napoleon I widow.

Happy to find hunting expert like you.
bye

Dan.
Just to fill in what the other guys have said.
Sweden, Norway and Finland have exellent moose huntig. Red stag / deer is also exellent both on the Norwegian west coast as it is in Scotland / England. Roe deer is plentifull in all Scandinavian countrys ( Denmark, Sweden and Norway ).Rein deer can only be huntet in Norway.
Castal seal can also be hunted in Norway.

Bear ar huntable in Sweden and Finland, the Norwegian bears are only huntet when they start killing livestock. Licens for such hunt is issued by the officials.

Fallow deer are huntet in Sweden and Denmark, and Finland got a healty whitetail deer population.
Beside, the lynx are huntet in Norway and Sweden ( also Finland I guess ) together with wolverine.
Lots of bird and small game.
Hogs are also hunted in Sweden and Denmark, and in a small extent in the south east borderland in Norway.
In Norway ( and also Sweden I belive) the right to hunt belongs to the landowner ( privat / state land ).
It can be rented, but price has increased considerably the last years.

The Scaninavian countrys have a 10,000 year long strong hunting tradition back to when the rein deer hunters followed the melting ice rim northward at the end of the last glacier period.
They finally populated Scandinavia.

This is by no means a complete list, but show some of the hunting oportunities we have in the northern part of Europe.

Regards

When it comes to Brown bear in Scandinavia they are generally a lot smaller than Kodiaks and noticeably smaller than the inland Grizzly. Bears in Sweden vary a lot in size but a fully grown Swedish brown bear is generally between 100 and 300 kilograms wich is more like an American Blackbear or a tad over that size.
When it comes to my top five...
1. Moose, hunted with dogs, both driven and bayed.
2. Driven Wild Boar
3. Lynx, tracked in the Swedish snow
4. Scandinavian Brown bear, hunted with dogs
5. Stalked Roedeer

Thank you gents. Where I work we have European projects every so often, and this info will help me decide which ones are good choices (if you can get your employer to pay for sending you to your hunting grounds, yay!). - Dan

HI

I have to get my two cents on this one
1. Ibex in the Swiss alps
2. Mufflon in Central Europe
3. Red Stag in Hungary or Alexander forest in Russia
4. Gems in Karpatian mountains or European Alps
5. Wild Rein deer In Norway
6. Roe buck in Poland

Oops, I got six and not five. This is what I would choose if money wasn't a matter.

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Pre rut woodland fallow bucks

Arable roe stalking

Stalking up to a barking muntjac

Bayed moose

and yet to be experienced Sitting up for moonlit boar

No particular order.

not necessarily in this order:
-spanish ibex
-chamois
-boar in "monteria"
-red deer in the rut
-roe deer
regards,
Montero

Hello all,
I was just wondering what a muntjac was?

...And here comes my list:
1.Moose
2.Roe deer
3.Whitetail deer
Those are species that I hunt in Finland. And below is few animals, that i'm intend to take down in future. Maybe in Poland...
1.Red deer
2.Wild boar
3.Muflon

Cheers
MH

For Johan,
red Stalg in Romania is better, and maybe a little bit less expensive.

For 1894, you wrote "Sitting up for moonlit boar" in a snowy land.

And can be Mountjack considered autocton and European? I know that it is Asian, and it has been introduced in England. In fact is possible to hunt it only there. I see this hunt as a AAA-ranch (texas? I don't remember but sure in USA) african trophy hunt.
It is not the same, by my opinion. It could be the same but I feel as there is something missed.

bye