CROATIA: Croatia For Pig & Deer

Boarded about 10 hours ago at DFW, just landed in Madrid. We should be boarding for Dubrovnik within the hour. The wife and I are doing a short 3 day hunt. She’s chasing a “trophy class” wild boar. I’m after my first roe deer. After the hunt we’ve got 6 days scheduled touring the country to include a day of fishing in the Adriatic off the coast of Split.

More to follow as the week progresses

I am following your adventures. Keep us posted on daily basis.

If I may add a teaser, red deer rut is now in full swing.

Add on a red stag to your list.

Good shooting!

Warm barrels and happy hunting

After looking at several different outfitter options we booked this hunt with Mike and Lisa @ “the hunting lodge” in Croatia. https://thehuntinglodgecroatia.com/

Other options were either largely non responsive to emails or there were pretty substantial language barriers. Lisa was almost immediate and thorough with every response though and there is no language barrier at all. It turns out she and Mike are Dutch, but their English frankly is as good or better than mine

We chose a rough path for our first day.. roughly 10 hours to Madrid, a 2.5 hour layover, then 3 hours to Dubrovnik, followed by a 5 hour and 45 minute drive north to Jasenak, where the lodge is located.. this was on purpose though… once our hunt is complete we will drive only 1-2 hours a day as we zig zag back south catching all the sites and won’t have any drive at all on our departure day as we will end our trip in Dubrovnik.

We arrived at the lodge last night in the middle of a pretty substantial storm.. whether or not the storm continues and how hard it continues to rain will dictate whether we hunt at first light. The schedule calls for us to leave the lodge at 5 AM to begin our pursuits.

When we arrived about 830pm there was a large spread of great local snacks available, as well as soft drinks, water, and local beer and wines. The lodge itself is extremely nice and super comfortable. The bedroom and bathroom have good amenities and are very well maintained.

Mike and Lisa have owned the lodge and have hunted here (50,000 hectares) for the last 6 years. Prior to that they owned a hunting business in Germany for a little more than 10 years..

They are partnered with WTA (Worldwde Trophy Adventures) who actually books the hunts and does most of the coordination. We worked with Roger J at WTA. We’ve never used a broker before, but our experience with WTA was positive. We were given very clear direction and guidance in obtaining Croatian hunting licenses, on what to expect in Croatia, etc, and Lisa from the lodge stayed plugged in the entire time…

More to follow… in sn hour we’re scheduled to depart on the first day of hunting. I’ll try to get pics of the lodge when we get back and hopefully will have a few pics of the days hunt as well…

Following with interest.

Good luck, can’t wait to read about your success

mdwest said:

Other options were either largely non responsive to emails or there were pretty substantial language barriers.

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Yes, this is what I wrote about on forum about Croatia few times.

They (we) dont know communication.

There is about 600 outfitters or clubs, each of them can offer hunt, arrange permits and paperwork for hunter.

But, then... go find them on internet?
No.
They dont even have web pages., with few minor exceptions.
Less then 1% of clubs are traceable on internet with some public signature

Huntinge agencies then usually fill the communication gap.

Anyway, I am excited for your adventure, please keep it coming.
Looks like a great start.

Hunting roe deer at the end of season, and having short time for tusker boar, can be challenging.

Good luck Brother! Keep us posted….

Following!!! Keep us in the loop.

Wish you the best of luck !

Bottom line up front.. If Croatia isnt on your short list of places to visit and hunt, add it now... this country is incredible..

the people are INCREDIBLY FRIENDLY.. the food is OUTRAGEOUSLY GREAT.. the scenery is simply BEAUTIFUL.. and the game is EVERYWHERE...

All of that said.. this is going to convert from what was intended to be exclusively a hunt report, to an "outdoors" report lol.. as the hunting concluded after just 1 day and there really isnt a whole lot to share

The long and the short of it is.. it rained HARD all night long the night of our arrival and continued to rain in the early morning when our hunt began.. we chose to hunt from a stand/blind in an attempt to try to stay at least a little dry but didnt expect to see much due to the weather..

we were wrong.. within an hour of the sun coming out, despite the rain (moderate at the time) a really nice female roe deer came out of the woodline.. and 5 minutes behind her was a very nice, mature buck.. I watched them for about 5 more minutes hoping to get a shot lined up... the buck finally gave me a nice broadside shot at about 125 yards.. so I took it...

I hit the buck, we watched him to the "death lurch" that deer do when youve got a good hit to the boiler room.. and then surprisingly he took off like a rocket... we gave him about 15 minutes just to make sure he was dead before leaving the blind... that was our mistake..

because the bottom dropped out and what had been a moderate rain became a thunderstorm that lasted for a couple of hours that made me think animals were about to start lining up two by two and assembling for passage on the ark..

We tried to search for the deer, but the storm was way too bad, so we agreed to search again as soon as the weather let up.. after lunch the weather improved, but it was still raining (lightly).. about 2 hours was spent looking for the deer including use of a dog.. but we had zero luck.. no roe deer recovered..

ZERO blame placed on the outfitter or the guide.. Veti, our guide was outstanding.. truly a great guy.. I'd hunt again with him any time.. personable, friendly, and super helpful in every possible way.. and I am confident his dog was well trained and working hard.. I just think hours upon hours of pounding rain saturating what was already super wet and soggy earth was too much.. and its possible the deer maybe got hit further back or low or something and was able to make it a little further than the typical 20-40 yards? I looked like a good hit.. and it felt like a good hit... but.. for whatever reason no deer...

Hell.. maybe another critter made off with it? the woods are teaming with brown bear (more on this later), lynx, jackals, and a handful of wolves, not to mention sounders of pigs roaming everywhere... The hunting gods simply didnt favor us that morning..

So with the morning hunt done and the afternoon burned waiting out a storm and searching for a deer, we decided to try to thermal hunt for a european wild boar..

we went to a blind/stand/high seat that was about a 10 minute drive from the lodge and set up over a bait pile.. we arrived at the stand about 45 minutes before dark..

I have to say, Veti is serious about his gear.. top shelf equipment all the way arround.. iRay thermal on the rifle, an iRay thermal handheld for spotting, a spare Pulsar thermal that he loaned me so that I could also spot.. etc etc..

Not long after it got dark a young, but large framed brown bear came to the bait (veti estimated 3 years old).. he was super cautious and would come into view for maybe a minute or two, the walk out of view.. then come back.. then leave again.. over and over and over again for literally a little more than 2 hours.. needless to say, no pigs were coming into the bait as long as teen aged griz was hanging around.. so we left the blind at about 10PM and returned to camp..

Once back at the lodge, we sat with another couple we were sharing camp with.. the hunter had bagged a beautiful, ancient red stag earlier before sundown.. we were just chatting, snacking, and hanging around, when Mike (the lodge owner/outfitter) came inside and asked "do you still want to shoot a boar tonight?" My wife nodded "yes".. .Mike explained that he had just seen a large sounder crossing a field, headed to an apple orchard less than a kilometer from the lodge, and that he thought me might have a chance of catching them in the orchard if we hurried..

Less than 5 minutes later we were down the road from the orchard.. we got out and stalked into the orchard (maybe a 600 yard walk/trot) and then Mike set up the sticks.. Mike is tall (I'd guess he is about 6'3").. so am I (6'4").. as we peered over a slight incline and tall grass we could see 20+ pigs wandering around and eating at about 100-130 yards... My wife is short (5'3").. she could only see a couple of small pigs... she decided to take what she could see as we werent hunting for "trophies".. and were really only chasing a hunting experience in Croatia.. A shot rang out and she dropped a small pig (I'd guess he was about 60lbs)... What I found surprising was how different croatian pigs reacted than texas feral pigs.. Whenever I have shot into a sounder of feral pigs at home they take off in every possible direction, squeeling wildly.. its total chaos..

When my wife shot the juvemnile pig in this sounder the alpha female let out a very loud sound that was almost like an exhale/hiss.. took off immediately, and all the other pigs followed directly behind her.. no snorting , no grunting, no squeeling.. and once they were maybe 50 yards into the woods (im estimating based on sound), she let out a couple of additional loud exhales almost like a rallying cry to make sure everyone kept together.. then they continued to move out of the area..

it was honestly a pretty cool and remarkable experience..

anyway.. because it was now midnight, and the ground was still muddy and soaked from an entire day of rain.. and the pig wasnt exactly a "trophy" we didnt stop to pose for any trophy type pics.. but.. heres at least a pic showing what the terrain is like.. and a pic of the pig delivered to the skinning shed


Edited to add: It looks like Im having difficulty uploading pics from here.. will upload some when I get back to DFW next week

Sounds like a good trip so far. I’m looking for a mountain mouflon next year and considering Croatia

UKHunter said:

Sounds like a good trip so far. I’m looking for a mountain mouflon next year and considering Croatia

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You are from uk. Contact artemis hunting, uk. Owner is croat tomo svetic. He has his own hunting area in croatia. Good reputation.
He organizes hunts in uk, far east, and croatia.

A couple of pics… let’s see if this works. One headed to the pig stand before nightfalll.. and one of the juvie downed porker in the floor of the skinning shed

With hunting wrapped up and unexpected free time on our hands, we reached out to @mark-hunter to see if he might have time to link up.. his home town is only about 90 minutes from The Hunting Lodge.. we were able to arrange to have lunch with him the next day and spend some time in the afternoon... WHEN you go to Croatia (seriously... GO.. its that wonderful here).. dont miss an opportunity to spend some time with Marko.. we had a great afternoon...

He is a wonderful host, and took us to have what was one of the finest seafood meals I have ever eaten.. everything at the restaurant was fresh catch, right off the boats.. its the sort of place you'd never hear about on a tourist website like trip advisor, but was filled with locals all having a great meal.. the Croatian wines paired with each of the 4 courses we ate were equally delicious..

After lunch Marko escorted my wife and I for about a 2 mile round trip walk up the promenade along the coast and then through the city.. Rijeka is a beautiful port city full of life.. We've now been here 5 days and the afternoon spent with Marko was one of the highlights of the trip..

After about 5PM we headed back to the lodge, had an excellent dinner, then headed off to sleep..

The next morning we headed to Brijuni... Our outfitter told us that Brijuni had been a place where Tito spent a lot of time, hunted extensively, and that they had some great old Roman ruins, wildlife running around everywhere and that it was a "must see".. so we went to check it out.. It was about 3.5 hour drive from the lodge, but not too terribly far from where we had a hotel already reserved for the night in Lavron.. You take a ferry to the Brijuni islands, and then rent a golf cart to get around (if you want to)..

Its a pretty cool place to see.. there were indeed fallow deer everywhere.. as well as peacocks (apparently Tito had a thing for peacocks)... and a small zoo with zebra, an elephant, and other animals all on the island.. We got a couple of miles of walking in and really enjoyed getting out in the park.. it was a solid recommendation..

pics are from the time we spent with Marko

Thank you @mdwest, but I must say the pleasure was all mine!

I am only sorry you didnt let me know earlier, then I would organize some barbeque at my place.



This is photo from internet but I think this is exact spot where we had lunch.
The owner of restaurant is most famous lady sommelier in Croatia.

Our former president sometimes visit there, even during time while he held the office, to enjoy quiet meal and seafood.

In those few restaurants in the village I was selling fish in my younger days.

I am glad you enjoyed Brioni island and national park.

For those who dont know, Brioni Park was summer residence of Marshall Tito.
He received many famous high ranking guests, world leaders and movie stars from all over the world there.



And at that time, since his affection to animals and passion for hunting was well known, many of world leaders where presenting him animals from their countries.

This formed the small zoo in those years.

The elephant "Lanka: was gift of Indian president Indira Gandhi, for example

After "Lanka", most famous animal is "Koki", Tito's parrot with whom many politicians and celberities took picture.



There was a botanic garden, and plants were grown and plated around in a planned manner.

I think when the infrastructure was designed it was meant to be a garden of entire world with samples of plants and animals from noumerous countries.

Sadly, I remember when I visited there 2 years ago with my wife, to see 4 or 5 empty bear enclosures. Bears not replaced, for example.

There is also old roman village and ruins on the island worth noting.

Now, it is below its former glory, animals in zoo were not replenished, it is in some decline, but still it kept its old charm.

The office of president still has summer residence on the islands, but those are not open to public.

Fallow deer are a problem there.
They have no natural predators. Till few years ago, they were managed properly, and hunting was possible to organize with several reputable hunting agencies.

Then new park management decided to stop hunting, and fallow deer population became too large. They just grow in numbers.

Anyway, I am glad you enjoy the visit!

Wish you good stay in Croatia for the remaining days here.

mdwest said:

Boarded about 10 hours ago at DFW, just landed in Madrid. We should be boarding for Dubrovnik within the hour. The wife and I are doing a short 3 day hunt. She’s chasing a “trophy class” wild boar. I’m after my first roe deer. After the hunt we’ve got 6 days scheduled touring the country to include a day of fishing in the Adriatic off the coast of Split.

More to follow as the week progresses

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Roe Deer! I thought you were hunting red stag? Tough time of year to make that happen and then to lose that one. You are absolutely correct, Veti, Mike, and Lisa are great folks. And yes, a real rain storm will absolutely erase scent.

@mark-hunter is an absolute treasure of information and help for anyone visiting Croatia. Sadly we weren't able to connect with him on our trip but his advice was much appreciated.

@mdwest we are glad that you enjoyed the trip with your wife. We were there exactly 4 years ago. The mouflan hunting was incredibly memorable. I hope to do it again one day.

A totally different type of hunting with dogs was on the agenda da the next day… we headed to a tiny mountain top town in Istria went truffle hunting…

This was an extremely cool experience… our dog, Lilly, was an 8 year old that had more energy than a 1 year old.. When let out of her kennel she spun and jumped like wild for a full 10 minutes before she calmed enough to go hunt… this dog LOVES truffle hunting…

Walking down the road to get to the part of the forest we were to search it was hysterical watching her snack on the local fare.. she’d jump up into fig trees and snatch low hanging figs and she’d steal entire strands of grapes right off the vines…

The moment we entered the forest everything either Lilly changed though… it was time for business… and she’s very good at her work… within the first 5 minutes she turned up a black truffle the size of a golf ball… 15 minutes later another one… a few minutes later another… this went on for an hour… ultimately finding approximately 500 euro in black truffles (the least expensive of the several varieties in the region)…

After hunting, we were taken back to a restaurant where we were served a 3 course lunch with everything prepared with truffles…

Afterwards we headed to Plitvice national park… a long drive.. but one well worth making… the scenery between the two locations is breathtaking…