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Hunting & Fishing Hunting in Germany

nnn66

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 6, 2006
194
2
Texas
My wife's family live in Germany, so I go there to visit every year and will be going this year during June and July. She just told me that she talked to a friend whose brother is a hunting guide and he wants to take me hunting while I'm there this summer. She has no idea what sort of hunting it is, so I'm wondering what animals are hunted during June and July in Germany? Anybody know anything about this? I know that firearms are prohibited there without the proper permits, so I'm not even considering taking my own gun. Sounds like a good time to me....I just wish I knew more about what species are being hunted during the summer. I'm guessing there are probably some members on this forum from Europe, so maybe somebody can give me a clue. If not, I guess I'll just wait until she talks to her friend again and get some more info.
 
Awesome oppurtunity! If I remember correctly Germans have to go to school for a year or so to earn a hunting license. It's a sport of wealth and very deep traditions. You'll prob hunt boar and roe deer at that time of year. I would get his info and call or email him to find out the logistics, for instance trophy fees.
 
Don't let the whole idea of permits throw you off of what could be a great hunt.

Germany has fantastic hunting opportunities, and we do have members from there, and members that have lived there as well.

You will have an awesome time when you go there, if you should choose to do so.

If you need some help then send me a PM, or just look around for our Deutschland members.
 
I have hunted in Germany many moons ago. Most German hunters are members of a club. If you own forest land in Germany you have to have a Forester on staff. That Forester will know the exact amount of game on your property and which game needs to be culled. Most German hunts are drive hunts where drivers will bring the game to the hunters in cleared areas.
If you want a hunting license in Germany you must take a course which takes about a year. I did not have to as I was a member of the military and had an invitation from a German Military unit which came out of wining a shooting competition.
I don't know how things are now but in Germany hunting has always been a rich mans sport. Game is considered a delicacy in Europe and vension on the menu is often the most expensive thing on the menu. Wild boar is also considered very upscale fare and also commands high prices.
Let us know if you were able to make a connection in Germany.
 
Yes, I was aware that a hunting license in Germany requires that you take a course and also is quite expensive from what I understand. I asked about this last year when I was there, so I didn't think there was much chance that I would ever be hunting there. In fact, I went out riding horses with a guy who owns a large sheep ranch and I saw some Red Stag while we were out there. I asked him about hunting as I saw numerous hunting stands on the property and he told me he had it leased to a rich Bavarian who comes each year to hunt.

Because I was aware that a hard to obtain license is required, I was quite surprised that this guy is willing to take me hunting. I have no clue how I am supposed to get around that requirement, but if it can be done, I'm more than willing to participate! I have never met this person. I was just told that he owns land and is a hunting guide and has offered to take me hunting. Who knows, maybe I'll just be going along as an observer. That would be ok too.
 
My son is now stationed there and said it cost the Germans in the area of 2k for the hunting class/license etc.
He said throught the military its $200 and he already signed up for the next classes.
I lived there in the 60s and hunted w/the german guys I met as a military brat. I shot a small wild boar when I was 8yrs old with the great help of a one armed german guy named Peter (lost it in WWII) who worked on the farm we rented a house from in Denzen. He still had his 8mm mauser and it pretty well laid me out and he laughed like a crazy man as he held it on the pig for me. Amerikanish kil der hog is what I recall him saying or close to that. He used to scare us kids running after use w/ a pitchfork also when he was mad (5 other brothers I had) with his wanting the arm back der amerikans shot off in der Buldge fight. The he would laugh at us running to mom.
 
Yes, I was aware that a hunting license in Germany requires that you take a course and also is quite expensive from what I understand. I asked about this last year when I was there, so I didn't think there was much chance that I would ever be hunting there. In fact, I went out riding horses with a guy who owns a large sheep ranch and I saw some Red Stag while we were out there. I asked him about hunting as I saw numerous hunting stands on the property and he told me he had it leased to a rich Bavarian who comes each year to hunt.

Because I was aware that a hard to obtain license is required, I was quite surprised that this guy is willing to take me hunting. I have no clue how I am supposed to get around that requirement, but if it can be done, I'm more than willing to participate! I have never met this person. I was just told that he owns land and is a hunting guide and has offered to take me hunting. Who knows, maybe I'll just be going along as an observer. That would be ok too.

That would be worth it too. The Stag are pretty, and big too. Plus Germany itself is a great experience. Just going there is quite an adventure. Just be cautious of the pigs.
 
I have hunted Germany a couple of times.

If he is willing to risk his Jagdschein (German hunting license) by allowing you to handle a firearm without proper licensing that is his issue. You can get a visitor license that is only good for a week by asking him to do it for you. The price is something like $30 euros and he'll need a copy of your American hunting license, and American hunter safety cards.

I shot a wonderful old roe buck with 9 points (they normally have 3 per side).

The beer and pork are amazing, as are the women. But sounds like that's not your issue.
 
I had not heard of the visitor license. I will gladly pay 30 euros for that! I'll have my Texas hunting license with me, but that's all I'll have as I'm too old to need a hunter safety card here in Texas. You have to be born after 1971 to need that in Texas. I'm really not too overly concerned about whether I'll be hunting while I'm there. It's just something that was brought up a couple of days ago, so if it happens that will be great and if not, then it's no worry. I have plenty of other things to keep me occupied while I'm there. Yes, I already have the woman part covered and there is a cellar full of beer and a mother-in-law who is a great cook, so the pork and beer are a sure thing. In my past visits, I've grown quite fond of Hackepeter, so I'm looking forward to that as well.

Now I guess I need to get busy on my German language skills. I don't use it often enough to be very fluent. My son speaks perfect German because his mom speaks only German to him and nobody in her family's Dorf speaks any English, so I better get back to work on my Rosetta Stone!

Thanks for all of the replies here. If I can pull it off without violating any laws, I'll be very excited to have a chance to hunt, but if it doesn't work out, I'll be happy to just hang out and have a good time there.
 
Probably a roe deer, wildboar, fox or hare. He would be a member of a revier (leased hunting area), and have to shoot 20-40 roe deer per year.
 
Keep us updated on your hunt! We are very blessed here in the USA that hunting is not a rich man's sport.
 
"so I'm wondering what animals are hunted during June and July in Germany?"

We have a federal hunting law and each state a state hunting law with small differences. So no guarantee without knowing the state in which you will hunt.

In general:
Rotwild (red deer), but only Schmaltier and Schmalspiesser (red deer in her/her second year)
roe deer: Rehbock (roebuck) and Schmalreh (female in her second year)
wild boars: all variants
rabbits and foxes


We have a licence for foreigners who want to hunt only a few days but I don't know what it costs or what you need to purchase (e.g. copy of your hunter safety course certificate). Your friends should ask the local hunting administration.

You can bring your own rifle (bolt action is no problem, AR-15s and similar are complicated) but for just a few days I would not recommend it. There are a lot of Remington 700 and Savage rifles used by German hunters...
 
What an opportunity, hope you are able to make things work out. I have spent a lot of time there and seen many Roe buck but none of my contacts were hunters. Definitively a rich man's sport unless you have friends. Even if one could go as a "guest" hunter it would be worth the experience.
 
you need permit a) a permit to hunt in a certain area (usually the owner of the land, or the guy who rents that permission from the owner0 and b) a valid hunting licence.

a) on hunting in a certain area: you can easily get invitations to boar hunts at egun.de, where you pay like 30 euros to nothing per day to hunt as many boar as you want to. (we recently did exactly that. where 30 euro even including staying in the local hunting flat of the owner). especially check out thueringen and hessen. the timber-associations (?, not sure if that's properly translated) will give you permit to hunt in their area any boar + all female deer for 50 euro per week (did that last year in thueringen)

b) a short-time guest hunting licence for 4 days costs 15 euro. the 1-year guest hunting licence costs 60 euro.

in total, half a week of hunting should cost you not more than 50 to 100 euro for all licences and such.

oh: usually shot boar must be tested for trichina. most of the local butchers can do that. your local guy should be able to tell you which pieces of meat he prefers for that (usually midriff + muscle from anywhere on the leg) it takes a few minutes and the test costs 10 euro.
 


What Fenris said!

This might help, it's german though.
.pdf concerning Visitor Hunting Licences in Hesse
Website from a Bavarian county authority, same topic.
[ps]You can change the language to English on the right side panel via google translate in the latter link.[/ps]

btw: Hunting isn't really a rich man's sport in Germany.
You have to be dedicated and willing to pay atleast 5k per year on lease and equipment (high stands &c), thats about it. Spending much more is possible of course.
Most hunters I know are either farmers and their relatives or normal employees.
Most hunting is done from high stands inside 150m. Driven hunts are special occasions during corn harvest and in autumn and winter, 4-8 times a year perhaps.
 
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Thanks for all of the feedback on this thread. Good info! My wife and son are already in Deutschland and I will be over there in a couple of weeks. She said she has talked to her friend again and that her friend's brother and his friends are "arranging" something for when I get there. There are no other details, so I guess it will be a surprise hunt! I'm assuming that these guys will know exactly what I need to do in order to be legal, so I will trust their judgement and just have fun with whatever it is. It will be August before I am back home with computer access, so I'll report back here at that time and tell you guys how it went. Thanks again for all the good input!
 
NNN,
I hope all goes well for you, I have one bit to add:
It sounds like your son is of age where it's time he took a hunter's safety course; you should take one with him. It's great father-son time, he won't feel left alone, and will do better on the test portion(which are easy if you just sat through the curriculum). I had one from my home state as a 5th grader(they gave it in school), but I took it again when my son was ready. You stated you don't need one in Texas(due to age), but if that was the only thing that prevented you from hunting once you get to Germany, isn't it better just to do the thing? Anyway you have it if/when you want to go to another state that requires it. Besides, nobody knows everything, and it's a good refresher of sorts.
That said, I'm envious of your trip, so here's a +1 for letting us know how it went!
Huey
 
This is my first attempt at posting to a forum from my phone and it's not that easy, so bear with me If my spelling gets weird.
I'm finally leaving for Germany in a few hours from now. Every time I talked with anyone over there recently, they tell me of non-stop rains and flooding, so I don't know how that will affect the plans for hunting. I'll just wait and see how it goes and hopefully I'll have some interesting info to share with you guys when I get back in late July. Thanks for all the helpful advice you guys provided on this thread.
Wow!...I'm not too skilled at typing on a phone,,,that was hard!
 
From my experience they like hunting naive Americans who marry their women and take them away,,, be careful.

Animals seem docile there compared to here so you should bag something, the German people are great people, my favorie country to go to in Europe, eat well don't drink too much (yeah, right...) and have fun, I miss that place and the people there.