Hi,
In the interests of reviving this forum, I'd like to share my recent hunt for stag in the Czech republic. The rut was amazing and I was fortunate to be given a chance to cull a mature male from a herd with great trophy potential. The hunt included stalking and the use of high seats...as a side note a tractor was used to accompany us to the high seat as the game is used to forest work being done in a tractor.
The last morning, the appropriate animal was spotted from a high seat and shot at a range of 200m with a 7x64 and S&B cutting edge ammo. The first shot clipped it's lungs (low) and a quick follow up was just a plain miss. I then gathered myself and placed a shot at the base of it's neck which caused it to collapse. He was around 6yrs old, with 11 points and weighed 150kgs.
Please feel free to post pics of any other stags shot recently!

[ 11-25-2003, 16:48: Message edited by: Boghossian ]

I don't remember if I already put to you the question, but, I would like to go to Czech republic, and I need some contact and info... can you help me?
thank you,
bye

Dam+#@����*&�#@ to me,
I sent the mail before the congratulations.

Waidmannsheil Boghossian, Waidmannsheil.

If it has been for you like for me it has been an incredible emotion.
I had an unforgettable afternoon in Romania, the day after I hunted my bull, having a bull at fifty meters during its rut, while it was challenging the other bulls. It has been more exiting than the hunt. Why? Because I was so close at it, at the right distance .
I shooted mine in a very close way to your: from a hight seat, with a 7x64, at about 200 meters, it took me three shots, two good and one not influent, but it did not reacted when hit.
It got the woods, and got the first stop loosing a lot of blood. If the Romenian hunter was less anxious to finish, probably the bull should remained there, dead, instead his fast and precise blood tracking make the bull run in the wood.
I can definitively stopped it after another run of 250 meters.
Next time I'll use a 9.3x62. I'll have to wait, to have it more close. for a very quick end....
bye

Hi,
Yes I felt intense emotion when I had to wait for a correct shot, and was really glad he decided to turn within minutes...felt like bloody hours!
The animal really "takes" the bullet well, but the guide explained that when they stretch their neck forward, it is a sign of a good hit. The last shot was necessary considering the vitality of the animal as I am positive it would have recovered its senses if I had approached any closer for the finisher. I recovered the first bullet (the core only) under the skin of the ribs, and the last bullet remained in the guts.
The hunting area I used was arranged by local friends and doesn't really sell hunts to foreignors.
I can easily recommend hunts in the Czech Republic as I have seen a few hunting areas and ALL have great management/trophies. OK, you won't feel like you are in the wilderness if you hunt the flat areas, BUT if that is what you need there are mountain hunts in Monrovia that are very difficult. The hunting areas nearer to Prague are generally alternating between woodland and meadows, with lots of very ancient oak and beech trees.

I hunted in Slovakia in late september and had the good luck to shoot my first stag. This is a picture of the stag lying in front of the hunting cabin.



I shot him after about five hours of stalking in the morning and 10 minutes (!) in the afternoon. He was estimated at 12-13 years and about 186 points. I used my 375 H&H but he still managed to bolt about 50 meters downhill before collapsing.

[ 11-25-2003, 00:03: Message edited by: Wachtel ]

WOW, you can really see the maturity in your stag with longer tines and main beams.
I too will be hunting in Slovakia next September in the hopes of getting a better trophy.
Can you tell me how the hunting is conducted there and how the terrain is?

Where I was we stalked, but a friend of mine who hunted Slovakia a couple of years ago was only allowed to hunt from high stands so I guess this varies.

The terrain was very steep, at least in my view, Sweden is much flatter It took some effort to stalk up and down those mountains, where I was the altitude was about 1000-1400 meters.

I remember the smell as if it were yesterday, do any of you know if this is just urine or musk glands, or a combination of the two? My stag had a urine stained underside and my hands stank for 2 full days after the hunt!

[ 11-26-2003, 01:22: Message edited by: Boghossian ]

Boghossian and Wachtel

Congratulations on your fine red stags.

I too would be interested in info on good hunts in the Czech Republic. I visited it last year but unforunately at the wrong time of the year.

Want to go back again.

Boghossian,

The smell comes from the wallows that the stags frequent during the rut. His wallow will usually be a wet/muddy scrape in boggy ground which, he will urinate in. If you imagine what the average pub toilet smells like on a friday, then a couple of months worth of rutting stag will be....ripe? Old Spice for deer!!!

FB

Hi,
It truly is pungent, I was stalking and smelled something; was about to mention it to my dad when we jumped a huge stag about 20m away...
The property contained many big deer, and you can really get good sightings with the rut at its peak. When I shot my stag, there was the biggest male on the property in the same field...unfortunately he is a "future stag" and his 20+ pt rack is still out there!
BTW I am against selection based on antler quality as I find it is a reduction in a herd's genetic makeup to remove all animals of a certain class, besides I doubt it is effective as many years after this selection is put in place, stags with unshapely antlers STILL emerge as the genes for "poor" antlers remain in the population of hinds and cannot be distinguished.
In my view the only reason for the great antlers in Eastern Europe are, great genetics, winter feeding, selective harvest of older individuals only.

[ 11-27-2003, 14:36: Message edited by: Boghossian ]