Hohenfels Driven Hunt

[Muskox]

I drove home last night from Hohenfels, I figured I'd post photos of the hunt.

It was a two day driven hunt, we hunted the 6th and 7th.

They put everyone into lanes and then you fallow your hunt leader to the hunting area, and they put you into the stand.

Was really foggy and cold, and because of this I was concerned about not having a back stop, so I thought I better limit shots to what I could see. Always wise.

My hunt leader for the first day was one of the regional forest supervisors for Bavaria. He put me in a new stand on a big clearing with a 200-300 foot tall hill that made a bowl around the stand. The seat was a normal open and new Kanzel with a roof.

Within a few minutes on the thermal I could see some animals in the fog about 100 meters away that ended up being red deer hinds.

To the left once I got settled a big herd of about 15 red deer with one 8-10kg stag with a broken right main beam came through the clearing about 150 meters away. I put my crosshairs on him and he stopped but gave me the Texas heart shot. So I didn't shoot, then they were gone.

About an hour later the deer I saw with the thermal finally came to the right of the clearing and I shot the trailing hind. Was pretty far back, but because we weren't allowed to leave the stand until 1300 I couldn't do anything about it. We found her dead in a very thick blackthorn thicket 40 meters from where I shot her. Was a hell of a recovery but the young forester came and helped me drag her out. I gave him a new Helle knife I had bought in Finland last year, sharp knife but I have a ton of knives.

A roe buck came out at 12:00 and I thought I center punched him. He ran off. We later found out that there was a black 6 inch trunk stump about 10 feet in from of the buck. I split the trunk and there was a huge area of displaced dirt from the bullet. 10,3x68 RWS with a 200 Grain RWS HIT bullet.

I lost my balance and fell backward out of the high seat. Landed in the black thorn and shredded my pants. I Was sore on Thursday night but I was fine on Friday morning.

The dogs found no blood, and no indication of a hit.

Yesterday was also a great hunting day. They put me 2.5 miles away from my original high seat in a driven hunt seat. These are lower, and don't have a roof. They are also really easy to fall out of, as they normally aren't very well built. The seat was in a reverse bowl of the previous day, but fully timbered. I had the big back stop behind me, and couldn't shoot in that direction.

I had the biggest fluffiest fox I have ever seen in my entire life about 30 yards from the blind. Foxes can not be shot on forest service driven hunts. I don't agree with the methodology, but it's how they do it.

I had no action until 11:00 when a spiker came in from the right. I got set up and hit him well and the bullet entered on the right behind the ribs and broke his left shoulder. It actually dumped about half of his cuts like a zipper. He died behind me and up the hill on the opposite of the road behind me.

I had a couple of hinds cross behind me in my only no shooting zone at 11:30.

At 12:00 I had an adult male wild boar come in from the left. I thought I hit him, but he did not act hit, and he took off.

The hunt concluded at 1300; and I climbed the hill and opened the stag up. A guy came up to help me then walked away so I drug him to the road by myself.

The hunt team leader this day, said that they had to get someone with a dog to deal with he wild boar. That the forest service would take care of it.

I cut the head off the stag and took him home with me.

 

[Muskox]

They found the pig. Not quite as big as I thought.

 

[Red Leg]

Wonderful that such hunts still take place. Way backing in the late seventies I participated in drive hunts and roe deer hunts at Grafenwoehr. Wild boar were our primary quarry during the drive hunts.

 

[Muskox]

I hunted red stags about a month ago at Grafenwoehr.

If I was going to stay in Germany, I would continue to hunt Graf, because the cost is right. Aesthetically the way they manage the hunt is prettier, but the way they operate their hunts isn't as good.

I saw first hand and I personally believe that the forest service on Graf manages things differently than I would like.

My guide did not want to shoot anything from the ground only from the high seat. So we shot nothing. I had 3 opportunities that I could have killed stags on Graf if we were on the ground and could have moved in through the fog. I could see the stags.

I have not participated in the Graf driven hunts.

At Hohenfels they basically said, make sure all your shots are safe and have a good back stop, and play ball.

The other massive upside to Hohenfels is that Grafenwoehr is covered in unexploded ordnance. Every step must be considered. There are hundreds of thousands of old ammo casings everywhere.

Hohenfels forest floor is clean.

If I was going to continue to be here, I would hunt both every year where I was allowed to.

Both experiences were amazing. I actually saw over 200 red deer at Graf and I saw about 30 at Hohenfels.

 

[Red Leg]

I hunted red stags about a month ago at Grafenwoehr.

If I was going to stay in Germany, I would continue to hunt Graf, because the cost is right. Aesthetically the way they manage the hunt is prettier, but the way they operate their hunts isn't as good.

I saw first hand and I personally believe that the forest service on Graf manages things differently than I would like.

My guide did not want to shoot anything from the ground only from the high seat. So we shot nothing. I had 3 opportunities that I could have killed stags on Graf if we were on the ground and could have moved in through the fog. I could see the stags.

I have not participated in the Graf driven hunts.

At Hohenfels they basically said, make sure all your shots are safe and have a good back stop, and play ball.

The other massive upside to Hohenfels is that Grafenwoehr is covered in unexploded ordnance. Every step must be considered. There are hundreds of thousands of old ammo casings everywhere.

Hohenfels forest floor is clean.

If I was going to continue to be here, I would hunt both every year where I was allowed to.

Both experiences were amazing. I actually saw over 200 red deer at Graf and I saw about 30 at Hohenfels.

Back in the day under the then current status of forces agreement, the US military was allocated a certain percentage of game from state forests which included the training areas. There was also an abbreviated hunting license program that took a couple of months to complete. It included a very admirable introduction to German hunting traditions. That, of course, was nothing compared to what a prospective German Jaeger went through, but virtually all the Americans participating already had a good bit of practical hunting and gun experience. It was also challenging enough to keep away those who weren't dedicated to the effort.

In any case, upon purchasing our hunting permit, we were authorized to hunt five roe deer a year, and those hunts were arranged through the outdoor recreation office in Wurzburg. Rarer game were allocated by drawing in which one was automatically entered. The odds were not great on those. Over five years, I was drawn for two class 2B stags. One hunted them in a designated area where there was state quota. I hunted one in the FrankenJura and the other in a state forest in the Alps. A few were allocated from the major training areas as well.

Like many American hunters, I made a number of friends in the German hunting community. A highlight of the fall were the driven hunts held by revier owners who I had come to know in the area (I was stationed in Wertheim). Typical bags were a mix of hare, pheasant, and Hungarian partridge. At least once or twice a year, wild boar would make for a bit of excitement.

I have nothing but great memories of that time. I should note I do make it to Austria for a hunt every few years and I am rather sad to see all the leather and loden disappearing and replaced by synthetics and camouflage. I'll be in Argentina in March hunting red stag and wearing my leather stiefelhosen - someone has to carry on the traditions.