Guidance on hunting Europe

[375Fox]

Couple of thoughts, as I've just returned from a six-year stint with the military in Germany. Although Red Leg's observations are correct, our collective hunting experiences are limited, I've picked up a few tidbits from the Stuttgart, Germany hunting community and my own very recent experiences.

Even with airfare, lodging and travel expenses included, you can easily take a massive red deer in Eastern Europe for way less than $10k. My suggestion would echo the previous advice: take half the money and spend it traveling Europe, and you'll still be able to take a trophy you'll absolutely love (maybe several animals) for the remaining half. Not a month ago, I shot a 137 CIC point red deer in the Czech Republic for not quite $2k, including services of the agency, lodging, meals, tips for the guide, rifle rental, preparation and shipment of the trophy (to Germany). A silver medal animal, up to 199 CIC points, would be about $5500 USD, all those previous costs inclusive, and I'm confident the more experienced European hunters would tell you a silver medal animal is huge, absolutely huge. I have used St. Hubertus Hunting Tours (https://www.hubertushuntingtours.com) twice now; I've hunted for black grouse in Austria and the Czech for red deer, and been absolutely blown away by the quality of the hunt - these folks have some top-notch outfitters across Europe and I've been very pleased. St. Hubertus will arrange for a hunting/tourist combined trip, too, in some very high quality European castles, spas, hotels, etc.

However, if you really have interest in a cost-effective, quality hunt AND cut out the middleman, I suggest dealing directly with the Lesycr Czech forestry agency (located just across the border from Dresden, Germany). I hunted with the agency for my red deer (arranged by St Hubertus). Their prices are something close to rock-bottom for Europe, as this is a government agency. www.lesycr.cz - ask to hunt with Dalibor. (the attachment is in Czech but nothing a good translation app like www.deepl.com can't solve). Prices are the lowest for red deer I've seen in Europe and you can easily arrange for lodging in comfortable hotels nearby. Guide service is extremely inexpensive, and rifle rentals, transportation, licenses, etc are all arranged/included. Prices for red deer are below:

155,00 – 159,99 ................................................................... 1183-1362 € (1 bod 35,8 €)
160,00 – 164,99 ................................................................... 1363-1632 € (1 bod 53,8 €)
165,00 – 169,99 ................................................................... 1633-1902 € (1 bod 53,8 €)
170,00 – 179,99 ....................................................................1903-2562 € (1 bod 65,9 €)
180,00 – 189,99 ................................................................... 2563-3340 € (1 bod 77,7 €)
190,00 – 199,99 ................................................................... 3341-4263 € (1 bod 92,2 €)
200,00 – 209,99 ................................................................. 4264-5942 € (1 bod 167,8 €)
210,00 ................................................................................................................. 5943 €

If my orders had extended another year or two in Stuttgart, I'd have absolutely made at least one, if not two more trips to hunt another red and a fallow.

For an American you need to be careful how you book if you’d like to get your trophies home. The local gamekeepers and hunting organizations are honest and generally very good hunters but don’t know anything about international shipping and there is often a language barrier to some extent. The European agents can handle your licensing and shipping home.

 

[V.Veritas]

X4 on @HUNTROMANIA.

I have hunted a red stag this September with Marius and it was an exceptional experience.
My buddy collected a red stag and roe deer. Now he wants to go back for fallow deer and chamois.
I would rather go back for another red stag myself. Hunting them during the rut it's quite addictive.
Maybe over the holiday I can put together a hunting report.

 

[Northern Shooter]

I’m also interested in hunting Europe. Ibex, Mouflon, Chamois, Boar, Red Stag and brown bear.

 

[Red Leg]

X4 on @HUNTROMANIA.

I have hunted a red stag this September with Marius and it was an exceptional experience.
My buddy collected a red stag and roe deer. Now he wants to go back for fallow deer and chamois.
I would rather go back for another red stag myself. Hunting them during the rut it's quite addictive.
Maybe over the holiday I can put together a hunting report.

View attachment 650611

Great stag. What class was he?

 

[chui1]

My suggestions for a 10k budget in Europe:
Beceite Ibex + Aoudad in Spain.
Red Stag + Mouflon in Bulgaria.
Most likely you will go home with 2 great trophies in the bronze medal range.
I would prefer this approach to 1 gold medal trophy.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

Spain is well withing that budget
Great hunts and great holiday
I have hunted many countries accross europe incl, poland, scotland, germany, austria, czech, spain
If you need some contacts pls email me stuart@tallyho.co.za

 

[Sideshow]

Living in the UK and having just come back from travelling across the states. You guys over there will find Europe a lot cheaper to just travel around than the US. My wife and I could not get over how expensive it was. $200 US a day on food alone made the eyes water and that was not even flash Harry meals. So yes cheaper here. In Germany now for Christmas.

 

[Doubleplay]

Living in the UK and having just come back from travelling across the states. You guys over there will find Europe a lot cheaper to just travel around than the US. My wife and I could not get over how expensive it was. $200 US a day on food alone made the eyes water and that was not even flash Harry meals. So yes cheaper here. In Germany now for Christmas.

Most people here(not all) doesn't have clue how expensive this country has become.
There's a lot better value in Europe and specially in Africa even with the inflated prices for Americans.

 

[Northern Shooter]

Most people here(not all) doesn't have clue how expensive this country has become.
There's a lot better value in Europe and specially in Africa even with the inflated prices for Americans.

As a Canadian that sounds really crazy as American hunts are generally viewed as an affordable alternative to what we have domestically.

 

[V.Veritas]

Great stag. What class was he?

I don't know. I did not have it scored.
Maybe I should, now that I'm thinking about it.

Cheers.

 

[Arañuel]

In 10k you can make many hunts in Europe.
I recommend you come to Spain and take 1 beceite or south east ibex ( what you prefer ) + one mouflon.
Cheaper option is making some red stag + roe deer you can find in very good prices in most of the European countries

 

[Sideshow]

We have a lot of German hunters come to England for Roe buck.

 

[Northern Shooter]

Can someone please explain the appeal of hunting roe buck, it appears to be a deer species smaller than my dog, with punitive antlers.

Is it the terrain they live in? the challenge of the hunt?

 

[Red Leg]

Can someone please explain the appeal of hunting roe buck, it appears to be a deer species smaller than my dog, with punitive antlers.

Is it the terrain they live in? the challenge of the hunt?

Yes.

With respect to body and trophy size, they are considerably larger than the tiny ten, which are a fascinating challenge in Africa. Many Americans treasure the experience of hunting the Coues Whitetail subspecies of the American Southwest. They are diminutive compared to a typical whitetail. A roebuck's antlers are considerably taller than the horns on a chamois and the body is about the same.

Most of the hunting for them in Spain and central Europe is spot and stalk with shots off the sticks out to 250 yards or so at a target area the size of a grapefruit (my favorite way to hunt them). In Germany and Austria, most of them are taken from high seats like whitetail in much of the US.

They fascinate me, and I will be off to Hungary in April to hunt them, and to Croatia the following year.

Two nice Spanish roe deer.

Moreover

 

[dogcat1]

Hunted Europe several times. Love it and am set to go back in 2025.
There is about anything you could want from ibex to stags to boar. Great fun. Reasonable prices and great people that love Trump....

 

[UKHunter]

Can someone please explain the appeal of hunting roe buck, it appears to be a deer species smaller than my dog, with punitive antlers.

Is it the terrain they live in? the challenge of the hunt?

Size isn’t everything

They are a beautiful deer species and unique antler shape.

Get on YouTube and look at some videos of people calling them in during the rut and then tell me it doesn’t look like fun.

 

[LivingTheDream]

Can someone please explain the appeal of hunting roe buck, it appears to be a deer species smaller than my dog, with punitive antlers.

Is it the terrain they live in? the challenge of the hunt?

I cant describe but it is probably one of my favorite hunts. Maybe it is how these little guys carry themselves, but it is a very fun hunt.

 

[cajunchefray]

I cant describe but it is probably one of my favorite hunts. Maybe it is how these little guys carry themselves, but it is a very fun hunt.

As an ole Cajun cook, how do they taste? Any special preparation methods?
I missed a free hunt for roe deer and red stag in CZ many years ago due to work schedule conflict. Still looking to correct that.

 

[375Fox]

Can someone please explain the appeal of hunting roe buck, it appears to be a deer species smaller than my dog, with punitive antlers.

Is it the terrain they live in? the challenge of the hunt?

It’s the hunting itself although I find the trophies themselves very impressive as well because every one is very unique. If you hunt them during the two best timeframes it’s a great hunt. The spring hunt I’ve found is slower paced and a really pure hunt being out in nature in early spring and seeing a lot of wildlife. The rut hunt in July/August is very fast paced and exciting. The deer are rutting hard and move and come into the call. Watch some YouTube rut hunting videos. These were taken in 4 days during the rut.

 

[Lee M]

This is a great thread as i am looking to hunt Europe in the next few years. Likely split with vacation to see some sites and culture with my spouse thx to all who posted.