Old custom of branch asociated with hunting of nobil animal have their roots from the medieval period in western countries.
The branch of succes, easily wet in the blood from the area where bullet hit the animal it is an element of great hunting pride. This little branch is broken by hand, not by knife.
Game species to which we offers the branch are: red deer, fallow deer, roe deer, chamois,wild boar, muflon, bear and even... capercaille. Some additions from your countries customs?

Here in Slovenia we have many hunting habits that were influenced by Germans and the use of pine twig is one of them. It has many meanings and uses. For instance regarding the protocol of Weidmannsheil by harvesting a game of "high hunt" there are two twigs - the game twig (last bite) and the hunter`s (hunter that harvest the game) twig. The game twig goes to all the hoofed game except the wild boar (wolf, lynx, bear don`t get it either). Things get interesting when the game twig is given to the capercailie, blackcock and hazel grouse which are considered a small game but classified as a game of "high hunt" . The hunter`s twig is given at all the above mentioned game (boar and bear included offcourse ) and it is passed over by a friend (if he is present) to the hunter that harvest the game. One put the twig behind the hut ribbon (always on the right hand side), after the twig is besprinkled with the blood from the entry wound.
Pine twig has also other meanings - for instance if you harvest big game that can not be taken away at the moment (red stag, big boar, bear...) becouse you should leave it in the forest to get a tractor or 4x4...you put the pine twig on the game`s left shoulder (game should always lie on its right side) just to let anyone that may stumble upon dead animal know, that game was taken fair by a hunter and did not just die...Americans use tags for that matter...back to the pine twig - if you hunt with more hunters and must left the meeting point prior your comrades, you put the twig on the ground with the broken end in the direction of your departure (with use of GSM lately this use of twig isn`t so popular lately but there are still places where you dont get a signal for a GSM and there we still use it that way)...twig is also used to mark the place of the game position when the shot was fired but game escaped - there are two twigs - one thrusted in the ground and the other laying on the ground - with broken side pointing the way of game`s departure (this way you are helping the tracker with dog to find the exact spot)...pine twig is also carried on hunter`s funeral - this time behind the hut ribbon but on the left side - once you come to the open grave you take your twig and throw it in the grave...

Those habits may look odd, funny and unnecessary, but once you adopt them they add something to the hunting culture that is common in our places.

I have been wondering about the tradition of the pine bough in European hunting.
Thanks for the post.

Thanks for the summary - it is a great tradition. Can anyone tell me how the Germanic hunting tradition managed to spread to most of Europe? Just wondering if it followed their avant-garde management practices or did it just fill a void? In the UK we 'blood' a new hunter and there may be a few other local traditions, but nothing formal or recognised...

We inherited it by Austro-Hungary or k.u.k. add Germany and Swiss into map...almost half of Continental Europe. However - those traditions are just there - in Italy they are still present in Alpine regions (Southern Tyrol), then the "Romanic" traditions kick in all the way through France and Spain...my understanding - might be wrong.

Mouse, thanks again as always you are a wonderful source of information.

I miss Europe, hopefully I will get to live there again.