Will be in Austria for work in Sept or Oct. Anyone know if westerners are able to hunt and if so what would be in season at that time. Any info on outfitters?

Thanks

Well Chamois will be open ! I'll happen to be there in August on invitation. It will be my first Chamois hunt.

Sept-Oct is pretty much the prime season of the hunting year - depending a bit on what you'd like to hunt. Chamois will be open, although not in the rut, and probably more towards summer than winter coat. Red deer will be rutting - this is the primary season for stags. Roe buck should be open - certainly in Sept. Female animals will also all be open, and if you hunt in the parts of the country where pigs are available, they will also be open.

Austria has a surprising amount of commercial hunting. There are countless places that offer outings for chamois, say. There is no way I could possibly list even a fraction of these. But here is a commercial hunting consultant located in Vienna, who also offers hunting in Austria. (All websites in German only, but contact via mail or phone).

http://www.mistral-jagd.at/

(This is the link to their PDF about Austrian hunting: http://www.mistral-jagd.at/angebote/2007/k04.pdf)

This is a direct contact to either a single hunting area or a group of hunting areas:

http://www.jagd-stjakob.at/

Of late, I saw somebody recommend these guys:

http://www.jagd-eisenwurzen.at/

- mike

P.S. Once you get your hunting arranged, the outfitter will also arrange the necessary licences (you'll probably have to provide a copy of your valid license from home). With the license and an invitational letter in hand, it should be no sweat importing your rifle. Bring something like a .270 Win - 7mm Mag - .30-06 for chamois.

Mike,

Your my hero!

I didn't even know it was possible without using a booking agent.

Looks like 5 days at 70 euro plus 500-800 euro per gams.

I am going to do this in December!

Seth, for chamois hunting November would be the perfect time to go, and even that can get tough at times. The Austrians revere their chamois, and prefer to hunt the bucks when they are in their black(ish) winter coat. From November and onwards, that can be expected to be the case. Futhermore, the bucks rut in November and are thus more visible. However, depending on the weather, November can already be a tough time to head to the mountains. December could be decidedly problematic.

Contact the people you imagine hunting with and clear with them whether December is still realistic. It really depends on where the chamois traditionally stay in what sort of weather, and whether those locations can be safely reached (avalanches, iced up or snow bound roads etc).

- mike

quote:

I am going to do this in December

D99 Where are you going in December ?!

December?

DECEMBER?!?

Could mean 2 m snow and 1000 m uphill ...

I have one buck, taken end of Oct, with Winter gear ( "Zügel" = "trench"? ), for trophy only ( "Krucken" ) I recommend End of August - some spots of snow there, nice, but not problematic ... so if you want to prepare with "skin" ( "mit Vorschlag" ) hunt in late Autumn ... not Winter, otherwise look for August.. Ask, if you may take "Murmel", too - .222 to 5.6x50, perhaps your Guide´s gun ...

6.5 x 68 ist tops, any speedy 6.5 will do, I have also taken them with .30-06 with 150 grs Spitzers, Chamois are NOT big, not hard!

Waidmannsheil! H

Mbogo,

I don't know yet, I emailed the above links in both German and English. Hopefully I will get a reply.

I also talked to www.diana.dk but it's more schillingi.

I have som contacts from some other German hunting magazines I am going to try, and I know another Austrian booking agent. So should have something worked out.

cheers,

Seth

http://www.marcati.at/jagd/en/allgemeines.php

Go there. I hunted there many times and I had great services and unforgettable memories. They hunt free range animals in the beautiful town of Seefeld, close to Innsbruck. The hunting area is very close to the town and it's beautiful and veru rich of game, specially Chamois.The accomodation is in a nice 4 stars hotel.
If you are interested in a real tirol hunt to go there

Succefully hunted both my Chamois and mouflon sheep ( both in winter coats) in Dec in central Austria, close to the town of St. Georg, back in 1989 when I was stationed at La Madalena, Italy. Borrowed a gun from the outfitter/guide so didn't ahve to worry about that part of the trip. Don't recall how high the mountaisn were, but certaily covered in snow and man was the 2nd day og hunting brutally cold, especially the short time spent in the Hochsitz (hunting blind). Took about 14 months to get my shoulder mounts abck from the Austrian taxidermists that was used. They are still great looking trophies on my wall here even to this day.

BPregler

Very fine Chamois hunting in Southern Austria you can find hear www.wasserleonburg.at

I took my first Chamois in August in Austria and it was a little hot. Of course we had plinty of Gosser to cool down with. My second Chamois was in November in the German Alps ( only a stones throw from Austria)but we did not have any problems with the snow conditions. I'm sure that changes from year to year.

The black winter coat makes a much better mount and even if you choose to have a traditional skull mount you will want to save the hair of the main from a winter buck for your hat. A gamsbart is a trophy that walks around with you