A group of us made a visit to Hungary last weekend for a driven hunt.

We had been there in January of this year and were keen to see what the forests were like earlier in the season.

We weren,t disappointed. Some were,like the 2 eejits who booked their flights for the following week !!

Still they might have even better luck than us this weekend.I hope so.
Ray,I will never print your full name on this Forum.

We were collected from Ferighy airport by our coach and made an unrequested pitstop at a petrol station to get some beers for the journey.
I think they are beginning to know our style.
The next morning after an early breakfast we set off in the coach to the first forest.

When we disembarked from the coach we were greeted by a large mountain range covered in forestry.This was it.
After the safety briefing we set off for a short drive in various ATV,s
We then faced a steep climb up the increasingly steep face of this forest.
Cohannon had joined us and was I think regretting the last beer or 6 of the night before.
As we travelled higher we were dropped off at various posts and shown our shooting angles.
We followed instructions and loaded our firearms as soon as at our posts.
After settling in and getting our breath back,mainly getting our breath back,gunfire started.
Shortly a flock,herd ? of mouflon appeared on the ridge above our line.The hunter to my right moved which they clocked and after some dalliance went back over the ridge
All was not lost as some red hinds and calfs came over the ridge above me.As I was wearing a blaze safety vest and hat I felt like I stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.
Still I stayed still and a hind and calf trotted down diagonally towards me.
I was tooled up with an old Mannlicher Schonauer stutzen I had bought some years ago in Denmark but because of the vagaries of Irish firearms law had only managed to import it a couple of weeks prior.I had seen Cohannons some years previously and decided one was a necessity of my life[308]
Anyway I am glad to say we both did our parts of the deal,first shot in anger.

It was a long drive and very exciting.red deer and mouflon appeared above us regularly but were reluctant to come over the ridge. One did.


This is,I think,a proper firemans lift.
The guides collected us from our posts and we made our way back down to level ground picking up other hunters on the way.
There was a lot of laughter and high spirits on the way down.It had been a good long drive.
Reaching the vehicles we had a bit of a wait and a small glass of home made palinka. Don,t rush out and buy a bottle !
We made our way to a clearing where we had lunch and the animals were gralloched,an interesting combination.

After lunch we had a 20 minute hike along a trail to another drive. This drive produced some shooting,tantalisingly just over a ridge from me. A beautiful Mouflon ram came belting over the ridge and passed right by me.
We came back to the clearing for the parade.




There were 34 animals on the parade,14 of which were boar.The rest being mouflon and red deer.

One of this group won this trip in a raffle the Wild Deer Association of Ireland ran for a charity earlier this year.
Here I would like to thank Nagyvad Hunting for donating the prize and Claret Dabbler and Cohannon off this forum for buying tickets.
Thanks guys.

Sunday dawned and John Nelson did not forget the end cap off his semiauto as he had the day before.Still he took it well,like a man.
This hunt was over a range of undulating hills interspersed with fields. The animals seemed more adept at finding the gaps in the lines.

We had 3 drives this day,one long one in the morning and 2 shorter ones in the afternoon.
9 animals greeted us at the parade and 3 more were later brought in.
A total of 46 animals for the 2 days,16 of which were boar.The rest were red deer,mouflon and one roe.

Time to start saving for another trip !

Sounds like a great trip! How many guns were there?

Also - stick up a pic of this Man-licker.

Looks like you all had loads of fun.

So what was the consensus? Jan or Nov?

Rgds,
K

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
Looks like you all had loads of fun.

So what was the consensus? Jan or Nov?

Rgds,
K

Hmmm difficult to say without a bit more experience. The Hungarians advise that -1 to-3 Celsius is better for boar as they group up and late December,early January as the best time.

Seriously considering a trip in January.Anyone interested ? This cost us just short of 1100 euros a head + flights,drinks and tips.The average barbill was 65-70 euros. I know,a bunch of lightweights

I would be there in a flash if I wasn't starting a new job on 4 Jan...

Great trip Angus, despite the trek up Heartbreak Hill after a night on the sauce. Your little Mannlicher sings a sweet tune and is definitely a keeper. January might be a bit optimistic for me but I would love to go back in November. Keep me posted.

Phew ! Photobucket changed a bit in the last week which took a bit of figuring.

Still there,s a bit of gun porn for you Gabe. !