dave2

Hi Dave----wife/daughter are visiting my son in Berlin and took a 4 hr train ride to Prague.

The noticed what looked like the elevated deer hunting stands we have in WI all over the agriculture areas...

Do you know if those are hunting stands? I thought it was difficult for the "average" person to obtain guns and more difficult for anyone to hunt in Germany....

Was hoping you could shed some light on the subject.

Thanks, Tim

They still over here? Where are they now?
Yes, those are hunter stands. Takes a bit to get a hunting license here then a good bit of if's, and's, and but's and fees etc to hunt. Long winded story to just tell you enough to confuse you.. Maybe Ralph Bauer will remember enough and chime in to clear it up.
The stands are there for hunting and counting... Hunters are responsible for an area. They report how much game is there and are told a minumum of what needs killed. Let the place over run and crops get wiped out, and the hunters of the area get a bill... More to it than that but it's real close.
They may have noticed that there are about a gazillion bike paths, walkpaths, roads, etc bordering and thru fields and woods. These are public and have bikers/hikers on them at any given time. The stands not only let the hunter see better, but puts a stray bullet in the ground instead of bubba a mile away....
How do they like the visit??? Amazing that a country so small with so many people can have so much open land... Especially up where they are is just flat out boonies.....

Hey Dave. If uncle teddy could have moved every last living soul on the planet to the US we would have about 3 people per acre to show for it. (Land acres). Just some totally useless trivia.

between 500 and 600 people in my town. If you border it on google planimeter, it is 165 acres... I still shake my head... You can be in flat out boonies and still be within 30 minutes of a hospital in a lot of cases.....

Just different...

They are in Prague as I write this, than back to their base camp in Berlin until Sunday AM. Then over to Nice, France for 3 days before they come back to the States.

They have mentioned all of what you say....the bike paths EVERYWHERE, complete with their own stop light system....everyone has a bike...

They were also amazed at how much open ag land there is...and they are loving the trip so far.

Tim

Good!! Gonna have plenty to tell the grandkids about.. Hope they take a bunch of pics and post them somewhere...

8N Dave didn't cover even half of the hunting stuff over there.

After they go through a lot to even own a fire arm....

1. A hunter has to go through training and qualify with their gun. Much more training than here in the States.

2. Have to carry insurance for hunting.

3. They have to have written permission for private land and most often have to pay for hunting rights unless they own the land. Quite often being required to hunt under the supervision of a hunts master. They may also be required by the land owner to pay for whatever they take by the pound of KG for them.

4. If hunting public land there are many more rules.

I hunted one year in the Baumholder area after I got to be friends with a German national farmer who rented an apt to one of my soldiers. He really like the fact that I would sit and talk with his father who was captured by US forces in North Africa and was a POW in La for the remainder of WWII. He was the only German WWII vet I met who would admit to an American that he had fought against US forces. The rest I met all claimed to have only fought on the Russian front.

Anyway getting licensed to hunt in Germany through the US Rod and Gun club was a hassle and the insurance for deer hunting was about 100DM. About 50 bucks at the time. All to shoot a deer about the size of a large dog! Them Roe deer are pretty small.

Rick

When we were over there last fall after talking to my friends there about hunting and guns I came away with the feeling that I could lay one of my guns on my car with a box of shells and someone might steal it but would not know how to use it. Still is a great place to visit.

Can someone tell me, what are " boonies"? Not a word I have heard in England. Thanks, Phil

(quoted from post at 12:20:44 08/10/12) Can someone tell me, what are " boonies"? Not a word I have heard in England. Thanks, Phil

Click to expand...

The older guys can tell you more exact where it comes from, but just a general name for places where there are no (hardly any) people, improvements, etc... Just God's country....

Boonies is short for "boondocks", which means a wild or rural area. But the origin of that word sent me to my dictionary.

It derives from the Tagalog word Bundok, which has the same meaning. And what is Tagalog? The language spoken in the Phillipines.

Thanks for explaining " Boonies " for me. There seems to be everything on this forum. Phil

(quoted from post at 08:30:15 08/10/12) 8N Dave didn't cover even half of the hunting stuff over there.

After they go through a lot to even own a fire arm....

1. A hunter has to go through training and qualify with their gun. Much more training than here in the States.

2. Have to carry insurance for hunting.

3. They have to have written permission for private land and most often have to pay for hunting rights unless they own the land. Quite often being required to hunt under the supervision of a hunts master. They may also be required by the land owner to pay for whatever they take by the pound of KG for them.

4. If hunting public land there are many more rules.

I hunted one year in the Baumholder area after I got to be friends with a German national farmer who rented an apt to one of my soldiers. He really like the fact that I would sit and talk with his father who was captured by US forces in North Africa and was a POW in La for the remainder of WWII. He was the only German WWII vet I met who would admit to an American that he had fought against US forces. The rest I met all claimed to have only fought on the Russian front.

Anyway getting licensed to hunt in Germany through the US Rod and Gun club was a hassle and the insurance for deer hunting was about 100DM. About 50 bucks at the time. All to shoot a deer about the size of a large dog! Them Roe deer are pretty small.

Rick

Click to expand...

Doesn't sound like a bad system. Much better than Michigan's - most years at least 1 person gets shot by another hunter, and lots of livestock gets shot. Hunting around here is mostly pay to hunt now. Only state land is free, and it's pretty much over populated come hunting season. One farmer here posted all his land after a holstien cow came in with a arrow in it.

(quoted from post at 12:06:32 08/11/12)

(quoted from post at 08:30:15 08/10/12) 8N Dave didn't cover even half of the hunting stuff over there.

After they go through a lot to even own a fire arm....

1. A hunter has to go through training and qualify with their gun. Much more training than here in the States.

2. Have to carry insurance for hunting.

3. They have to have written permission for private land and most often have to pay for hunting rights unless they own the land. Quite often being required to hunt under the supervision of a hunts master. They may also be required by the land owner to pay for whatever they take by the pound of KG for them.

4. If hunting public land there are many more rules.

I hunted one year in the Baumholder area after I got to be friends with a German national farmer who rented an apt to one of my soldiers. He really like the fact that I would sit and talk with his father who was captured by US forces in North Africa and was a POW in La for the remainder of WWII. He was the only German WWII vet I met who would admit to an American that he had fought against US forces. The rest I met all claimed to have only fought on the Russian front.

Anyway getting licensed to hunt in Germany through the US Rod and Gun club was a hassle and the insurance for deer hunting was about 100DM. About 50 bucks at the time. All to shoot a deer about the size of a large dog! Them Roe deer are pretty small.

Rick

Click to expand...

Doesn't sound like a bad system. Much better than Michigan's - most years at least 1 person gets shot by another hunter, and lots of livestock gets shot. Hunting around here is mostly pay to hunt now. Only state land is free, and it's pretty much over populated come hunting season. One farmer here posted all his land after a holstien cow came in with a arrow in it.

Click to expand...

In this area, only folks you see "walking around" hunting is bird hunters and when there is an organized drive to help thin an overloaded area. Also, there are only 6 or 7 hunters for our surrounding land (covers about 2300 acres). Each has their responsible area and can invite as they see fit but are responsible for anything that happens (to include crop/property damage by wildlife to an extent).
There is no trapping other than live traps and no relocating (allowed) of trapped pest animals. Poisoning like the famous flybait and coke will put you under the jail. Hunters hunt at first and last light and by night (hogs), shoot from a stand in most all cases, shoot to kill the first shot, and don't cause danger to others. If there is an organized drive hunt, it will be for a specific area and in the newspaper well in advance and there are signs and sometimes flag guys/gals on all roads leading in to the area.

Still room for idiots to slip in, but overall pretty safe. Animals are at an acceptable population, look good because they are culled (uneven antlered buck or a deer with an odd look, color, etc is taken out). Fox are shot on sight as are stray pets (unless the guy knows and can catch them).
It's funny, we make the chore loop and the animals just watch us drive by but let em hear one of the hunter's cars and they are gone.

As to the license itself, was just an ad in the paper, 3 solid months of all day weekend classes, 1 attempt on the test, and a couple other little things for just under $5k (converted)..... Fishing license is pretty tuff also and expensive with it's own set of rules and such... Sure, American soldiers and civilians can go thru a rod and gun club for a watered down version, but you then get to associate with watered down escorts and areas that noone else wants to use....

This in no way covers it all, just a outsider look atwhat happens locally...