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I posted on this last year here under European Big Game Hunting with the caveat that whilst the game may not have been 'big', it is a BIG day in the hunting diary for a great group of friends and with the traditions and quirks it cannot be more European (read German!)

It is the last Saturday every year before Christmas, a woodland walked up and mini driven shoot with a dozen plus guns, a dozen beaters, three dog handlers and a few others assisting in the wings. The main quarry is the woodland hare, but fox, rabbit, pheasant, pigeon and all legal pests (crows etc) are fair game. Woodcock were delisted this year by the 'green politicians' !

I'll let the pictures do the talking with a few notes.

It promised to be a glorious dry day





The guns gathered at 09.00 and were welcomed in traditional style by the hunting horns.






uns





We hunted the woodlands with guns walking and standing on the edges








There were some well decorated traditional hunting hats





And a mixture of side by sides and over and unders in various calibers








This was late December and 15 degrees celcius ! In the afternoon most of us were in short sleeves!
























Waiting ...





And in the third drive the wiating paid off and Anja shot a big old dog fox that ran from the beaters.
He was later weighed at 8 kilos!






Around noon we stopped for coffee, Bockwurst and Christmas cake!





Slowly the bag built up with rabbit and hare







And the game cart filled







After the last drive, we put down a mixed bag of fox, hare, rabbit and a goose. The guns
were thanked for their safe and accurate Shooting, the beaters thanked for their hard work
and the dog handlers thanked for their contribution. And then the horns sounded and the hunt / shoot
was over.









In the evening everyone met in the town bar / restaurant for drinks and a hearty meal. Anja's
fox earned her the title of "Jagdkönigin" and cost her a few rounds of schnapps!

It was a wonderful, traditional European end of year shoot amongst friends !

And as a footnote - with the woods being very near the village and on public lands, there were a lots of cyclists, joggers and walkers that walked, ran or biked past us whilst we were hunting. Some stopped and watched, some had a friendly 'Waidmannsheil', no one had a bad word of criticised. Hunting is braodly accepted in Germany and may it remain so for a long time to come!

Thanks for coming along!


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Looks like nice hunt

We had the same strange weather in northern sweden 15-20 degrees warmer than normal, but now its normal -25c.

Wish I could have been there! Great tradition.

Good times, thanks for sharing, nice pics. Yes too warm here for sure, Waidmannsheil on the year end hunt. I also find that most of the locals support hunting. Sure a few against like anywhere, but most know it is required or they'll just run them all over with their cars

Excellent!

Thanks for posting this. Looks like a good time was had by all.

That is a wonderful tradition. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Question: Are the horns simply "sounded" or are there multiple notes played?

Multiple notes Bill and different regionally as well

Fantastic job of catching the atmosphere, great pictures. Lovely fox with a side-by-side by Anja, the yellow shotshells indicate a 20 gauge, Waidmannsheil!

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Bill,

The horns are a very traditional part of hunting in Germany. On this day for example the horns welcomed the guns at the start with the 'Begrussung' (the welcome) and then the Jagdleiter (the organisor) explained the day, what was fair game and not and what time we would break for lunch and finish. The horns then sounded 'Auf zur Jagd' (the hunt begins or the start of the hunt).

At the end of the day when the game was laid out for all to see the horns sound a different tune / melody for each animal hunted. In this case from top down

- Fuchs tot (Fox dead)
- Hase tot (hare dead)
- Kannichen tot (rabbit dead)
- Flugwild tot (feathered game dead)

And then Jagd vorbei (the end of the hunt).

There are different tunes for all animals (red deer, roe, wild boar, pheasant etc). And these are the same throughout Germany and Austria and also played in certain East European countries.

Also the way the shot game is laid out is very sepcific and traditional eg red deer will come before roe or fallow, hare before rabbit, pheasant before partridge or pigeon. And all game is laid on its right side and in rows of ten.

Very very traditional with respect to the game animals hunted and shot!

Personnaly, I really enjoy the tradition and the horns.


Frank, thanks. Both Anja and I were shooting 20 bores. Her's being a German side by side and mine a Beretta O/U.

It was a great day amongst friends!

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quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
That is a wonderful tradition. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Question: Are the horns simply "sounded" or are there multiple notes played?

Bill, I also play the Jagdhorn, at link is standard "Begrussung". If you search for Jagdhornsignale you can listen to many tunes and all the signals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78BPntQUuXM