Carpathian chamois hunt booked with HuntRomania

[MontanaPat]

Well I pulled the trigger yesterday and sent Marius a deposit for a Carpathian chamois and wild boar hunt for Nov 2026. I know many on here have hunted various species with Marius and wanted to get some opinions from those who have been there. The hunt is primarily for chamois and I'm wondering your recommendations for physical conditioning, how difficult did you find hunting in the Carpathians for chamois? I'm in good shape for being 66, will be 68 by the time I do this hunt. I hike and elk hunt in the mountains of Montana where I live but wondering if I should do anything extra to get in shape for hunting chamois there?

I'm also curious about payment to the outfitter, in your experience did you pay the balance of your hunt to Marius at the hunt conclusion or did he ask for payment in full prior to the hunt? I wired a deposit to him but doing wires to Romania was kind of a pain, my bank was not used to sending wires to Eastern Europe, especially in Euros vs Dollars so with all of the fees it gets pricey. I would rather pay him at the hunt conclusion but didn't know if I should be prepared to do so in Euros or if he could accept payment via credit card in Euros and let my card do the conversion? Paying the CC fees would be cheaper then the wire costs probably. Just trying to figure out what to expect, I can always ask Marius as well but thought I would check here for prior experience.

Lastly, did you take your spouse and do any touring in Romania following the hunt? My wife will go with me, looking for touring suggestions based on your experience.

Thanks
Pat

 

[375Fox]

Final payment will be between you and him whatever you agree. For my fallow deer hunt I paid a small deposit, full payment for days and 2 base level fallow deer prior to hunt, then wired the additional trophy supplement after returning to US. Outside of South Africa I’ve never seen an outfitter accept credit cards. How much did your bank charge? My one bank is $40 international wire and the other is $70.

 

[375Fox]

Also you don’t need to convert to euros you can ask for a final bill in USD. My bank will only transfer USD. Also, Eastern Europe or Western Europe is the same process. It’s all EU and comes with an IBAN very easy international wire. No swift codes or intermediary banks to complicate the transfer. I’d suggest a different bank. It takes me under 5 minutes to do online. Just need name, address, and IBAN number then answer the phone call from bank to confirm it’s you.

 

[MontanaPat]

@375Fox thanks for the info on your experience, very helpful. Good to know I can ask for the final billing in USD vs Euro, makes it much easier doing the wire transfer. The deposit invoice he sent was in Euro so I asked the bank to send him Euro so first I got hit with a crappy exchange rate they were using and then a $50 fee for the wire. I've wired money several times previously to Spain and other places and it was easier than doing this one to Romania. It seems every time I go to my bank they have different or increased wire fees. It was always easier in RSA to just give them a CC and get decent exchange rates on the conversion from Rand. In Botswana we just paid via check upfront to a US person who helped the outfitter with payments.

I'm sure I will have some extra charges to settle as I want to take a good wild boar while there so that will be an extra trophy fee.

 

[Russ16]

As far as fitness I’ll be hunting chamois in Romania in November and can give you a report then.

I’m not going with Marius but nearly did. I almost regret not selecting him based on the interaction here. I’m going with the hunting consortium. But it was a difficult decision. I’m very likely to book something with Marius in the future.

 

[Rimbaud]

I'm hunting chamois later this year with a different outfitter. We will be at a maximum elevation of about 8500 feet. I was told to wear 9" or 10" mountain boots. To prepare, I ruck with 35 pounds to 65 pounds in my pack a few times a week. I also got some collapsible trekking poles as I was stunned on a recent climb by how handy they were. For my European hunts, I have paid a deposit so the outfitter can secure licenses, reservations, etc., and then wired the balance for the trophies and incidentals. Look forward to reading about your hunt.