Well, it was my first here in Germany anyway. Talked the wife out of a kitchen pass for the weekend to go on a drive hunt (drueckjagd) a couple of hours up the road. Drove up early on Saturday. Got there just in time for breakfast at the GastHaus. Then we all loaded up for a quick drive to the hunting area (revier). There were probably 50 hunters with about 15 of us Americans included. They like us to come for this hunt because we are mostly all military and will make the long walks to the hard (steep/muddy) areas for our stands. I think they like us too because we tend to shoot pretty well. Man, Saturday was GORGEOUS! Where we hunt there is in nice hills with a bunch of color left on the trees. Little German towns in the valleys all around. It was sunny and about 50 degrees all day. For the morning hunt I only had a glimpse of a couple hogs running through the trees with a dachsund right on their tails... there was a lot of shooting but none by me. At lunch we were treated to beverages, soup (suppe) and brats. The was a big bonfire and there were 9 pigs of various sizes and 1 fox laid out on the pine boughs (strecke legen). After about two hours we headed out to another part of the revier. Once the drivers and dogs went in it got fun fast. There weren't enough dogs or drivers to really get the pigs moving so they would just run to the edge of the trees and circle back in. Shots were fast. I didn't get any shots that afternoon either but did see a terrier (don't know the breed) hanging on the back of this pig with the pig turning in circles and squealing like the sound track for "Deliverance". Then the pig shook off the dog but the dog wasn't having any of that and jumped right back on! Yes, ladies, your terriers have big cojones and aren't afraid to get right in the thick stuff after a big old pig... Well anyway the driver came running up and kicked the pig right in the side and grabbed the dog as the pig took off running. He didn't make it... he went over the hill and someone put a slug in him. That evening at the strecke legen we laid out 8 more hogs and another fox. After that it was back to the GastHaus for the SchusselTreib. We all ate and drink together and told lies and stuff for a couple of hours. Sunday morning we were going to another reveir to hunt.
There were only about 40 this time. More dogs and more drivers too. It was cold and rainy (imagine that in Germany...). It rained ALL day. Thank goodness for GoreTex!!! I stayed dry and fairly warm. LaCrosse boots, my BDU Goretex parka and pants worked wonders. We spread out on our stands and waited for the hunting horns to blow. Then the dogs and drivers went to work. It didn't take long for shots to start up but they were all on the other side of the hill. The shooters in my area just stood there with nothing to do except count raindrops for about an hour and a half. I tried to keep my scope dry and even resorted to pulling out my shirt tail to blot the lenses and then I put the caps back on. Wasn't long after that a dog hit a trail in the woods immediately to my front. I wasn't too hopeful but figured I better pull the caps off just in case. Within a second or too I see two brown blurs headed directly at me and top speed. One was a hog and the other was the dog. This one was coming straight at me. It was just running not charging me or anything like that but if I hadn't shot it, it would have knocked me flat on my butt. I've tested out on the running targets here to get my license but I've never shot any running game with a scoped rifle. So I planted my feet and shouldered my little Tikka .308 Lite Stainless. The view through the Nikon 2x7 wasn't what you would get through a Zeiss or Swarovski but it was good enough. I took my shot and the pig went head over heels. About that time I heard a much bigger "boom" from my left and saw dirt fly where another hunter took a shot with his .375 H&H. The pig got up and tried to move toward the dog that was circling him so I put another round in his neck to finish him off. that dog was really upset at the dead pig. He spent the next 10 minutes growling and tugging and pulling at every part of the pig. Wasn't really trying to eat it but was just letting it know that it had lost the chase. The first shot hit the pig at about 25 yards or so and the finishing shot was at 10 yards. He wasn't big... just a yearling boar (frischling) about 70 or 80 pounds but he was moving fast and coming straight at me. I'm happy with the shot I made and my first kill on a running big game animal with a scoped rifle. We moved to another part of the revier for another hunt. After the horn sounded the game was on. I never saw anything but the shooters to my left and right both killed pigs. The old guy on the right used his 16 gauge drilling with slugs to take two frischling. The guy on my left was the same guy from before with the .375. At one point he was working that bolt hard and fast. I knew why when I saw what was on the ground about five yards from his stand. He had been right on a game trail and a really nasty looking boar (Keiler) of about 225 pounds had taken three rounds from the .375 before he decided to lay down and quit. Granted one of the rounds was a leg shot but at least it slowed him up for the other two. This guy was all black and nasty and covered in mud. His cutters were about 6 inches long once they cut them out. Razor sharp too. I'm not sure this guy would have made the next shot or two if the boar was running full speed. I think he shoots the .375 for the "Wow!" factor. But then again big calibers are common here. Lots of 8mm's and 9.3's are carried here. I see a few .45-70's too. Semi-auto and pump shotguns with slugs have become pretty well accepted on drive hunts within the last 10-15 years. Many wear red-dots. I hope my wife doesn't find out that I didn't need to buy the two new rifles here... turns out I had a perfectly acceptable 11-87 with a red-dot at home in the safe as well as two Marlin 1895's. What is funny is how many different guns were being carried. I saw semi-auto shotguns, pump shotguns, double barrel bird guns with slugs, an old 98 Mauser with a taped up stock and a cut down barrel, various drilling and bochbuchsflinten (combination guns), as well as a bunch of $3-5000 Blaser R93's, Heyms and Sauers. I was one of two carrying a stainless/synthetic. Not that I wouldn't have rather carried a Blaser with a Swarovski scope but... the kids have to eat you know? I would have hated to carry a nice rifle like that on a day like that anyway. I had a couple of comments on my Tikka. They realized that the stainless/synthetic was the way to go on a day like that too. So anyway, that's my story... ya'll have fun.
Waidmansheil!,
ngh
