Austria vs Texas (pic heavy)

I know this forum is for hunting in Texas, but because the animals we hunted are familiar to everyone - I thought I would post on here. My wife and I have been talking for quite a while about hunting fallow deer and mouflon. I know there are a million ranches in Texas that offer both of these animals, but we wanted part of the hunting experience to be seeing these animals in their native land. So, after a little research, we booked a hunt with reputable outfitter in Austria (he has a booth every year at DSC if anyone is interested).

We staid in a hotel in a little town called Puchberg. The first two pictures are from the hotel.








My wife and I were both successful with our hunts. Here are a few pictures of my ram:








Here are a few pictures of my wife's fallow:

WOW!!! Very nice animals. Sounds like a great trip. That Fallow looks H-U-G-E!!!

Those are very impressive trophies, especially considering the location.

The pictures don't do the fallow justice. The palms are cupped and they just don't come out well in the pictures. It is quite impressive in person.

Congrats on some great animals and pics.

How long was the mouflon and how much did the skull of the fallow weigh?

That's how they measure those animals in Europe anyway for the tailkickers.

CIC measuring system makes the B&C's look easy.

Best fallow in the world are in Hungary and the best mouflon on are in the Czech republic.

Austrians generally have very good everything except roe deer.

The mouflon was a hair over 90 cm (35.5 inches) and the fallow was 4.2 kg.

Waidmannsheil, nice animals by the way.

Those are some great animals taken in a country that I would love to visit. If you dont mind me asking though I know huting in europe is very expensive, what was the cost of the trip.

Thanks, Roo Basher - you know your stuff.

bghunter - this hunt was a pay by the size hunt (in Euros), so its hard to give you an exact feel. Average mouflon are between 80 cm and 90 cm and the price range is around $4,800 - $5,800. The fallow deer was $3,800. The cost of the hotel and food for the week around $1,700, but my wife and I don't drink. Honestly, the hunt was amazing! If you are even thinking about it, you should do it!

Those are very nice animals. Those main beams on that fallow are very long. Congrats!

The greenery in his mouth is in honor of the animal I believe.
Nice touch, great animals.

super trophies, and it sounds like priceless memories, congratulations

You know from the looks of the trophies and the prices it really is not as bad as some I have seen. Either way it is a trip of a lifetime and the fact you could take it with wife is even better.

I have been fortunate to go to Africa and New Zealand with my wife and even though she does not hunt I love travelling with her and she enjoys the trips.

Now the beer part is where I think my bill get out of hand in Germany, as and my wife like good beer

Very nice!

Can you post who the outfitter was?

Two terrific animals, by the way. Most Fallow in Texas are scrubs compared to the ones I see coming out of Europe.

Congrats bud on some nice animals!

Very nice!! That Mouflon is a true beast! Congrats to you both

Nice RAM and fallow

Tremendous animals!! Thanks for sharing the photos....

Congrats on two beautiful animals. Thank you for sharing your trip details and photos with us. That's a dream trip for sure! Baker

Any ram over 85 is a nice old ram, and a FOUR POINT TWO KG FALLOW IS FREAKING HUGE!

I have hunted in Germany, Spain and Italy never Austria. He may not score well as you say, but his true numbers are through the roof.

I have cold sweats thinking about a fallow buck that big.

Waidmannsheil Jaeger! Kapital Damwild ein Kapital Muffelwild.

Congratulations.

Awesome Mouflon and HUGE fallow!
I think I need to go there now...lol

Klemens Bugelnig
Hunting in Austria, Miesenbach

[quote=Roo Basher]Any ram over 85 is a nice old ram, and a FOUR POINT TWO KG FALLOW IS FREAKING HUGE!

I have hunted in Germany, Spain and Italy never Austria. He may not score well as you say, but his true numbers are through the roof.

I have cold sweats thinking about a fallow buck that big.

Waidmannsheil Jaeger! Kapital Damwild ein Kapital Muffelwild.


[quote=Roo Basher]

You know you have a good trophy when the first thing out of the guide's mouth when he looks through his binoculars is "there is a MONSTER fallow - we need to shoot him". The mass and length of the main beams is truly impressive. (This is only the second animal my wife has shot - beginners luck.)

I will say that Klemens' main focus is Red Stags - and we saw some absolute monsters. We saw one stag that he estimated to be around 15 kgs. I'm guessing he would have scored 440 - 460. The CIC #1 stag was shot off his place. His operation is second to none for Red Stags!

After our hunt, we got to spend two days in Vienna - my wife loved it. Salzburg is around a 3 hour train ride away (Vienna was an hour away). In speaking with the outfitter, I get the feeling that a lot of the American hunters bring their wives. Even if they don't hunt, there are plenty of things to do. The hotel has a spa as part of it - it was nice to spend time in the pool and steam rooms during the day or evening.

Awesome sheep!


I wanna go now. Thanks for putting this up

Do they allow archery hunting there? Was archery hunting a possibility?

I assume archery is an option. The blinds were definitely for rifle - they are set at the end of large fields or across a small ravine. We walked along the logging roads on the property and were able to get fairly close to some red stags. The outfitter seems fairly flexible, so I assume yes, but I don't know for sure. Those on the forum that are familiar with European laws/rules might be in a better position to answer than me.

I know that archery is not allowed in Germany but allowed in France. You need to do some research to be sure.

Great animals!! Looks like a wonderful trip.

Here's a link on bow hunting in Europe. http://www.europeanbowhunting.org/index....0&Itemid=83
It looks like Austria is in the ban column.

Congrats! Beautiful Trophies, I would love to go over there some day!

tell us about the mouflon hunt.

what it tough, easy, challenging, exciting, etc?

Congratulations.

Have always wanted to hunt in Euroland...

Bow is not always an option in Europe.

Austria and Germany it is illegal. A ton of other areas it is illegal.

I'll expand later.

Awesome looking animals

Physically, the hunt is very easy. I was on a stone sheep hunt in northern BC in August, and this was nothing like that. While the mountains are very steep, the forest is too thick to spot much from a distance. We hunted both from blinds and spot & stock by walking on the logging roads on the property. It was very exciting due to the number of game on the property - ton of Red Stag. In fact, we got within 80 yards of a MONSTER stag by walking the roads. Both the fallow and the stag were not too spooked (don't get me wrong, once they spotted you / smelled you - they ran), but they were not as skittish as the mouflon. We were close to the fallow rut, so the bucks were with the does. The mouflon rut is later in the season, so you would see batchelor groups separated from the ewes and lambs.

I honestly got lucky on my mouflon. We were sitting in a blind in an area with a ton of fallow and my ram walked in all by himself. The mouflon I saw on the trip didn't stop and graze like the deer, they just kind of eat and keep walking. So, my mouflon walked out, then started walking to the edge of the ravine. I shot him facing away from me - he didn't give me another shot angle. From the time we saw him to the time I shot him was about 10 - 15 seconds. It was only 150 yard shot, but it all happened really quickly. It was pretty exciting.

were you hunting on private land? is it high fenced/low fenced? how much land did you have to hunt?

I shot a mouflon in 2006 in the hill country and it was a blast. ever since then I've been researching hunting for them overseas

It was private land. The property was about 5,000 hectares (around 12,500 acres). It was high fenced on 1 1/2 sides to separate the property from a piece of public land. (Austrian law is not so good for property owners - the high fence was more to keep people out than animals in.) We probably only covered 1/2 to 1/3 of the property during the hunt. We did not see the low area where the boar and Roe Deer were. The higher ground had chamois and Alpine Ibex - we drove through it (just to see the land), but did not hunt that area either.

that is awesome. are chamois and ibex naturally occurring their or were they brought it?

that is a whopper mouflon congrats again.

how were the people towards americans?

That is a very valid question - especially on the ibex. The outfitter said that the animals were native and the high fence doesn't really effect their habitat. (The fence is on the lower part of the property.) The neighboring public areas have a lot of ibex. The outfitter has been managing the property for over 35 years. Their trophy quality comes from management.

The guide and the hotel staff were as nice as they could be. Both spoke English very well. In Vienna, people were really nice. The small town, Puchberg, where the hotel was located was a little different. Some of the shops / restaurants were OK with English speakers - others were not. We went to one place for lunch and the owner basically said 'if you can't read German, you can't eat.' All part of the experience!

Alpine ibex were wiped out of Austria, Germany and Switzerland in the 1800's. The Swiss government sent game wardens to poach Ibex in Italy in the Gran Paradiso in the 1920s and bring them back to Swizerland.

As the Italians would not allow another nation to have any.

These original stolen Italian ibex are the grandfathers of all Alpine ibex in the world.

The Swiss, Slovenians, Austrians and Germans have since traded back and forth to share the ibex and now everyone in the Alps has them.

As for how the Germanic tribes treat Americans, I would just say that on several occasions in Texas I was not allowed entry into a bar with a non-Texas ID. No one has perfect hospitality.

UTCB
PM sent
Looks like a fantastic hunt

Congrats!

Hey Roo Basher, I wasn't being negative toward the culture. The whole reason I posted on the forum was to let people know what a wonderful time I had there. I do hope to go back someday. I just wanted to give realistic expectations to those people who were considering the trip.

I never meant to bash Texans either, everyone has bad days in customer service and hospitality.

People have their Shangri La and don't want it invaded by outsiders. Texas, Austria wherever.

I love the German world, I have had some wonderful memories over in that region.

X2 both are HUGE!!!!

Good post on hunting in Austria

Beautiful memories plus an added bonus 2 great animals.

What a FALLOW! Congrats to you both and thank you for sharing your experience and harvest.

Truly amazing!

Beautiful stuff mate, a mouflon is one of my dream animals, awesome stuff.

Congrats on great trophies and Austria is on my bucket list! Thanks for sharing your pix... Beautiful!!
Diane

Great posts, would love to hear more about hunting Red Stag in Southern Germany and
Austria.

one must remember the Europeans invented sport hunting.