Where to hunt in Western Europe?

December 28, 2022

Hunting, in general, is not a cheap activity. It costs money for weapons, ammunition, equipment, permits, licenses, roads, and food. So, in the end, the meat comes out golden. Nevertheless, this does not scare many hunters; on the contrary. It gives a unique special chic. So what is so attractive in European hunting that we do not know? Let's find out.

A brief history of European hunting.
Speaking of the history of hunting, we go back to the time of the Assyrian kings, who took pleasure in chasing lions in chariots. From there, we move smoothly to the Roman Empire and are unspeakably surprised by their love of hunting. Roman law automatically rewarded you with the right to hunt if you were a fortunate property owner in those distant times. Laws changed, years passed, and this state gift remained immutable. Roman law was "prolonged" by subsequent rulers, the Merovingians, and the Carolingian dynasties. In the latter case, this family slightly amended the law. The hunting grounds, as well as the whole kingdom, were simply proclaimed the property of the dynasty. By the sixteenth century, the English had already developed three types of game breeding and hunting lands. Medieval hunting developed along with advances in technology. Weapons began with bows, crossbows, the common bludgeon, and slingshot and gradually evolved into firearms. Rules changed, laws were introduced, and weapons were refined. The rules of European hunting remained unchanged for centuries, where several things were required to carry out a hunt. Apart from firearms, a horn to signal other hunters, a horse, a dog, a falcon, or a hawk for falconry. This "gentlemen's" set of the hunter's kit cost the owner a severe penny and automatically "kicked" the poor out of the ranks. This is not surprising. A hardy fighting or fast-moving horse capable of traveling long distances in pursuit of a trophy is, by definition, not cheap. By definition, it is not cheap. In principle, the same as a well-trained dog with a good sense of smell, trained on a driven hunt. They were always in price. Running hounds, greyhounds, alans, mastiffs, kennels, and others prevailed. The prestigious was falconry, where a falcon or hawk was used as a weapon. Training this proud bird of free flight to give his trophy voluntarily to a man was quite a task. And besides hawk and falcon in their pure form, grouse falcon, quail, gyrfalcon, gyrfalcon, the lanner, the falconer, and others. The male deer was named "noble" and hunted according to rank. True, the "nobility" of the hunter was tied with two variants - hounding the "king" of the forest with dogs on horseback with a bow, exhausting and driving him to complete exhaustion, followed by a spectacular killing. For this purpose, entire tracts of "noble" deprivation of animal life were developed. The entertainment was divided into obligatory stages preceding this drama. From stalking and corralling to carcass carving and feeding it to the dogs. But the apogee of the action was the mandatory final performance under the poetic name "the hunted animal." It was when the best of the best hunters came out to the hunted and besieged by the dogs and killed them. Hunting on horseback with a bow was not much different from this drama. It was a driven hunt with herds of deer. Many hunters chased them to a large clearing surrounded by hiding places, where they were slaughtered. Wild boar hunting, which the nobility loved, looked more dangerous. After rounding up and casing the animal, the hunter would kill the wild boar on foot with a dagger. Oh, times, oh manners! There was nothing to be taken from a mischievous wolf except its hide. And everyone was allowed to hunt it without exception. Except, of course, on royal reserves. It reached the point that some counties issued decrees to exterminate all wolves from their territories. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the country's wolf population was threatened. Analyzing the medieval laws of Europe at that time, we understand that hunting was severe entertainment, primarily for the royal family and the nobility. It was profound to such an extent that state laws and decrees were passed to please the "cream" of society. The rules of conduct and entrance to the elite were prescribed, and rules of conduct and admission to elite clubs and conditions for hunting all sorts of wildlife in forests, fields, and swamps. Sometimes it reached the point of absurdity. In some medieval treatises, for example, hunting conditions for the unicorn. Of the unicorn, which is notoriously elusive. The only way of catching it was to be found when it was sleeping soundly in the lap of a virgin.

Where can one hunt in Western Europe?
The love of animal products while controlling the population of beasts and birds is embedded in the code of a group called "hunters." "Control" the people by trapping, harvesting, and shooting wild animals and birds for sustenance and trophies. It can be guessed at once who is in this between man and fauna will be the winner. The beast grumbles and suggests that Homo sapiens cast aside a gun, take a slingshot, and chase to death, let's say, a bear, luring it out of its warm den. Or a rabbit in the field to exhaustion and diving into the ice hole after the beaver. Then, they say, the odds are even. The hunters have their excuse for that. We invented the shotgun to level the playing field. And we remember the slingshot and the bow from centuries past. Our ancestors walked with it. And they were often beaten, maimed, and sometimes cooked for dinner. That's why in almost all places where hunting is allowed in Western Europe, all hunters are trained for their professional skills. They must know how to handle a gun correctly and shoot accurately and skin without damaging it. Though, as you understand, it doesn't make the animal feel cold or hot. This is all lyricism. And we will look at where and how to hunt in Europe. In the fall in Sweden, you can enjoy hunting moose, which has become a massive problem for road drivers and agricultural producers. England is famous for its controlled fox hunt. This country's Parliament has tried to ban this hunting year after year. Proponents and opponents are engaged in constant verbal battles about the harms and benefits of this age-old traditional pastime. And here, you can participate in horse or fox hunting with hounds. This tradition goes back to the Middle Ages when the fox was the most significant British predator, and everyone from small to large took part in its extermination. At the end of the 17th century. The British established the first fox hunting club. Today there are over a hundred such clubs, and their members are nearly half a million. If you wish, you can also hunt deer, which only the monarchs and their entourage could afford to pursue a few centuries ago. In Italy, the hunting season, as a rule, Italy is usually preceded by an advertising campaign of Beretta, the oldest arms concern, reminding hunters and guests of the country that the hunting season has arrived in the Apennines. And without a gun from your favorite company, the season will not go well. However, this is not a threat. After all, on the territory of Italy, according to the law and centuries-old traditions, hunting is a natural right of the man. Of course, with the unconditional compliance with the regulations on hunting. In the Alpine and protected forests, categorically hunting with automatic and multi-loading firearms is forbidden. You can not hunt with a gun from the board of a motorboat, other vehicles, and so on. During the hunting ban (which usually coincides with the period of nurturing and feeding among animals), it is not allowed to carry hunting weapons, even if you have an official permit. In Italy, there are currently more than one million people hunting in seventeen hunting districts. The right to pursue is given only to adult citizens who are acquitted and have the appropriate license. In Germany, more than eighty percent of the three hundred thousand hunting grounds of the state's land area. The rules here are complicated, and you must pay for all the "blunders" and more. Everything starts with almost a year's training as a novice hunter, where you get the appropriate certificate after testing. After that, you can get a license by paying the proper amount. You must remember that passing the exam and obtaining a permit to hunt must solve the main problem of hunting - to find and rent hunting lands, paying an average annual fee of up to two thousand euros. The amount will increase progressively with the rental tower, the purchase of weapons, ammunition, and more. One last thing. Germany is built on a federal principle and consists of sixteen independent states with a police force, parliament, and other attributes. And each state has its own law on hunting in addition to the federal one.

What kind of animals can be hunted?
We have already said that during the moose hunting season in Sweden, you can expect an unexpected experience if you're ready to become a regular meat hunter for a while. During the autumn season, almost nine thousand tons of moose meat are "harvested," or instead shot, in the country, thousand tons of elk, obtaining nearly a hundred thousand licenses to shell the animals. Hunting usually follows a particular scenario. The real action is turned into a holiday. A herd of elk, with cheerful hygiene, whistling and hundreds of hounds drive them to a vast glade, where the hunters are waiting for them or the hunters in the hiding places. And at this point, the real "hunt" begins for a delicacy, for sausages and steaks, calling it all a "renewable ecological resource. And if you are a good or lucky hunter, you will be solemnly handed a spruce branch confirming the fact of hitting a moose. Not far away, a celebration of meat cutting and sharing begins in the same place. Suppose this doesn't suit you, and you decide to hunt in good old England. In that case, you can stand beside the landed aristocrats and help the farmers of cold Albion exterminate the foxes that are causing irreparable damage to agriculture. This tradition is over three hundred years old. Its three hundred years old is attributed to breeding a special breed of Foxhound, which worked well with foxes. The opening of the fox hunting season is preceded by a theatrically staged ceremony of hunters in club costumes with dogs and horses specially prepared for the hunt. If we put aside all the staged tinsel, let us note that the hunters shoot more than fifteen thousand in the country annually out of the existing about three hundred thousand foxes in the country. In this way, the state maintains a certain balance of regulating this natural predator, thereby reducing the harm to agriculture. So if you want, you might enjoy this hunt. And be remembered for a long time. A good starting point for the hunt is Germany. There are indeed subtleties that you need to know. Here, the hunting season is different in different regions, limited to a certain time, and permits specific game issuance. The caliber of weapons is not limited, although, as a rule, hunters use the popular twelfth to twentieth. Game is divided into two types-high value and low value. К The first type includes roe deer, grouse, golden eagle, and eagle, and the second all ungulates except roe deer, small animals, and birds. Hunting for wild boar and fox is permitted year-round according to the approved shooting plan. In a day of hunting, it is allowed to get no more than two animals, not using a crossbow, a bow with arrows, buckshot, and buckshot for ungulates. Rifle ammunition also with certain kinetics. Many other restrictions exist, such as not using various hooks and nets and digging deep holes. Setting traps and traps for big game animals and many other things you need to know when hunting. In this country, several hunting types are prohibited without additional education. These are hunting with the installation of traps and falconry. Hunting for lynx and quail is prohibited. But ducks and other wildlife are welcome. Only after its study in the federal lands, which constantly changes depending on the numbers of certain species. One last thing. If you shoot a female bird that is breeding during the hunting season with the existing, you're looking at jail time. Or a serious fine. Although the legislature, in "saving" the offspring from a possible starvation death, has left a legal loophole to solve the problem. If you shoot the brood first and then the mother, there will be no violation. Against this backdrop, the recent lamentation by the German Hunters Association about the drastic decline in the number of partridges in the Country and a request to protect them at the state level sounds unconvincing.
Spain offers everyone to hunt chamois and the gorgeous Balearic mountain goat, deer, wolf, and other fauna during the season. Understandably, there are definite deadlines and all that. However, The experience is worth a try. And you can start with an organized, driven hunt on a partridge. Impressions will be remembered for a long time. You have to shoot, not choose the target. A group of six shoots up to 1,000 grouse up to 1,000 of these tasty birds. And if we go on to the birds, the woodcock can be hunted in Western and Southern Europe. It chooses wintering places with a temperate climate. This wood duck has taken a fancy to the Islands of Britain, Spain, Greece, and France. The woodcock likes mixed forests, marshes, wet fringes of ponds, and the banks of streams. Hunters appreciate and love this tasty sandpiper and must remember that to hit a bird sitting on the water is to violate the hunter's code of honor. So is shooting the first member of a flying pair of woodcocks, the female. Despite this, in France alone, the annual production of this duck is more than a million specimens. In general, going to hunt in Europe, you should know that you can track all kinds of wild animals and birds. You can hunt all species of wildlife covered by the hunting permit in the country you decide to stay in, except for those listed in the international or national Red List.
Conclusion Returning to the fundamental question of why there are so many animals and so few poachers in Western Europe, the simple bottom line is that punishment is inevitable. These are not just words. For example, there are almost four hundred thousand gamekeepers in Germany alone. Add to this a strict law, including criminal penalties against poachers. And it works. The order is there despite the moderately negative attitude of the majority of the population of this country. And if on a vast urban wooded area in a hospital park, a wild eagle flew to the local rabbits to play hide and seek. And they're cheerfully crowding you for a scenic walk; you can rest easy. That's exactly how it works.