Hello and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Any tip where to g for a good Stag hunt?
Not driven.
How is France? Austria?

Thank you for reading.
All the best.

Chris Rogers at the Euston Estate. Stunning free range English Reds.

Poland has good stags and is not too expensive.

There's some great hunting at very good prices here in Portugal & Kiri of Athina Hunting Tours who posts as Fallow Buck here on AR will be able to give you details.

Thank you for the information.
Portugal, hmmm, sounds interesting.
Free range game?

quote:

Originally posted by 9,3x62moose:
Any tip where to g for a good Stag hunt?

Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, Bulgaria...plenty of space there.

Please define the meaning of "good Stag hunt":

Season, way of hunt (stalking, hard, easy...), terrain, trophy expectation, time limits, budget limits...?

quote:

Originally posted by 9,3x62moose:
Thank you for the information.
Portugal, hmmm, sounds interesting.
Free range game?

Yes, all free range.

A couple of informative links for you here and here.

ADDED

The stag in the first link would be considered no more than a good representative of the species. There are plenty of far bigger stags in the hunting areas.

Thank you shakari for the links. Looks interesting.

Mouse93, thank you. Well, I do seek free range game, stalking, do not mind hard terrain.
For the hunt, thinking of time, I am thinking of 5-7 day hunting.
For me, the experience around the hunting is important to.

Painting it with broad brush:

Stags do vary greatly in size - the biggest is Carpathian/Danube type you will find in Central Europe - further you go toward west - the smaller they get (30% in size).

On terrain - from wast centuries old oak forests of swampy Danube lowlands through Steep Alpine Mountains to Gentle British Isles...

Culture - Germanic strict oriented Central European through more relaxed Romanic Western parts to Scottish...pick your style.

Time - prime time is Rut Time - so are prices...tho worth every Penny - Rut time is a Must if you wan't to make the best out of Red Stag hunting!

Trophy expectations - up to you tho IMO - good trophy starts with 180 pts - Strong Bronze Medal (CIC scoring system) stag's age preferably 10 years old or more...(peak age of a Stag is between 10-14 years).
Serious business (price and availabilty) starts with Strong Gold Medal of 220 pts or more - speaking of antlers weighing 11kgs or more...

What ever you choose - do them all if you can in no particular order (I am biased toward neighbouring places first tho so I'd start from E to W.

Here is a "typical" CE report (Bulgaria) you may expect in Hungary, Romania, Croatia...

http://forums.accuratereloadin.../8321043/m/995107149

Scotland

http://forums.accuratereloadin...=850106737#850106737

and everything in between...have fun and pick well!

9.3,

Portugal was need a beautiful place to hunt along with some excellent trophy quality. The Iberian reds are a separate subspecies but the antler size is very good indeed.

The uk also has some excellent red stag stalking. Euston is great, I was there a couple of weeks ago, but they are booked out on trophy reds for the next couple of years. Quidenham is closing this year and we don't know what the final situation is for the stalking. There may be a couple of other options in east Anglia or the south west.

Personally for a five day trip I would suggest the Portuguese hunt as the best value for money in terms of trophy quality versus cost. You will look at a lot of stags and once your stag is in he salt you can try for some boar or a management stag or two.

I think Anders may be joining us this year so you could make a small Norwegian team?

Rgds,
K

Hi mouse93

Thank you for the reply and links.
Well, I am more for the German/Austrian style, central Europe. The hunting trip to Bulgaria was very interesting.
How is the deer hunting in Germany/Austria?
When it comes to trophy, I am hoping/looking for a stag in the 7-9 Kg size.

Fallo Buck.
Thank you for the reply. I will read some more about Portugal, and its hunting.
Can a deer be also in a combination with a driven boar hunt?

Hi 9.3,

Yes you can do a combo hunt. It needs some advance planning as dates for the drive hunts are set early, but we can check those when they come out in the spring.

K

If you might be interested in free-range Scottish hill stags, I recommend Mike McCrave--you will have a wonderful experience, and he also provides activities for spouses/sigficant others.

Check out his website: http://www.huntingvacationscotland.com/

Hi - not sure there is a bad place for stags these days. Better management and more habitat means there are more big red deer than before. I have done the Central European hunts and the Scottish hunts and can highly recommend BOTH. I believe Poland offers good pricing on the 7-9kg stags you're after. After you have the big head on the wall, come up to Scotland and shoot 4/5 stags for the same price and enjoy the hill stalking!

Don't be fooled by that charming Scottish expression of 'The Hill' ....... I've been up a few and can tell you that they're not hills, they're fucking great mountains!

Joking aside, I hunted Glen Afrique (did I spell that right?) some years ago and although it was a wonderful experience and I treasure the memories, climbing that bloody mountain damn near killed this short legged PH and I wouldn't or more accurately, couldn't do it nowadays!

Glen Affric - a nice estate that still uses garrons (ponies) to extract beasts from the hill.

Hello all.

Oh yes, I know something about the Scottish hills....Hmm, as you say shakari, they are not "hills"!
so, yes, one day, soon, I like to go there for stag to.
But, I like to go to the east first, maybe Germany/Austria or even more east.
Have heard a lot good about Poland, so maybe not a bad idea.
Have you hunted there Boghossian?

I'm afraid not, only Czech republic and Slovakia. I understand Poland is better value than either of these countries but haven't checked recently.

Hello.

Thank you for the reply.

Any tip, info on the Chech republic or Slovakia?
How about the Scottish hilss, hunted them?

Dear all

Scotland for sport (you have to work very hard for your trophy)

Hungary for an exciting rut with strong and plenty stags

Germany in winter for driven and good stags

France, if you want to hunt on horseback (not commercially available - have to know the local nobility )

don't know about the other countries.

have fun

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Glen Affric - a nice estate that still uses garrons (ponies) to extract beasts from the hill.

What B E A S T S ?

Thank you for the information.
McStern, you know of a good place in Germany?
How about Hungary?

A good sunday to you all.