If in Rome, do as the Romans...

noslerpartition

Handloader
May 26, 2018
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...or if in Germany,do as the Germans.

Since there are not just US and Canadian hunters on this forum, I thought we might take a look at hunting around the world.

So here comes Germany.
First, you need a hunting licence.

That means either 3 weeks full-time in a school, or more than 1/2 a year with a lokal hunting organisation 2-3 days a week.
That includes:
Weapon handling and some ballistics.
Law
Meat hygiene and processing.
Lots of stuff about the biology of game and non game animals.
Some agriculture.
Trees and eco systems.

At the end there is a full day exam.
Depending on where you live shooting.
Where I live:
5 shots at a roe deer standing, resting the rifle against a vertical pole (25 of 50 possible, which is rather easy, 100m)
5 shots running boar (at least 2 in the kill, 50 m)
15 shots skeet (minimum 5).
Written exam about all topics.
Weapon handling. If you fail there,you are out.

Practical exam. Walk through the woods. Identify animals, trees, ...
See the innards of game, identify organs and potential diseases.
Hunting situations: can you place a safe shot? Is the target in season? ...

Once you have the licence, it gets interesting.
We have no such thing as public land.
All land is leased out or owned by the state. So you have to either lease land (which you can't for the first 3 years), or get in with someone who has a lease (which can be state).
There, you have certain quotas what you can hunt.
Wild boar has no limits in most places and red stag are frequently fought about.

Young have to be shot before old (killing a mum before the kids can cost you the license).
Shots are rather close - we are densely populated in many areas and hikers,dog moms and the next village or street are usually close.

Ah - lead free becomes more and more mandatory.
Our bread and butter game is the roe deer, which is quite small. Depending on where you are, followed or exceeded by boar.

The wolf is back for some time now. Making game careful.

We are allowed to use night vision or thermals for boar at night. Only boar.

Otherwise, legal light is 90 minutes before or after sunset. Which means in many occasions, it is pitch black at legal light...


Well. I guess that it for an overview


Ah,no. There are quite a few driven hunts, sometimes with more than100 shooters and a lot of beaters and dogs

Talking about dogs: following a possibly wounded animal with a dog is mandatory.

We have lots of volunteers with the local associations. And of course the dogs need a few exams, too. This is Germany...
But boy,the do the job!.

I think Australia and Switzerland are very similar - how about you neck of the woods?

Forgot something:
Often, we hunters have to pay for crop damage on our leased land.

Think about hogs in Texas - that can be quite expensive
 
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Very cool, thank you. I tend to chafe against people trying to tell me what to do, but I happen to like that setup quite a lot. Just to be clear, I would not want to live under such a regimen, but I highly value education for hunters. When I was a youth, I attended a week long camp which covered many of the topics you describe, and also things such as wild fire fighting, emergency treatment of injuries, and water safety (swimming test, boating, etc.).

There is no appetite for it, but I would fully support a national program to teach a course like that in schools.
 
Had a lot of Germans come to Alaska to fish. I would guess Germans out number all other Europeans combined visiting Alaska. Some of these folks were also hunters and they were absolutely flabergasted how easy it was to get a guides license in the states much less a hunting license. They shared much of the same information. Personally I would love to see a system like this in place. Sure cut down on white trash sign shooters And the like. I also think that A.O. B. and possession of a firearm should be a license revocation.
 
I don't remember the particulars when I first took my hunters safety course back in 1974 . I took it again with my son when he was old enough to hunt ,the year 2002 . it was a two evening course that was all held inside a school class room . it went over safe gun handling , woods safety , tree stand safety , hunting ethics , things like this . there was no gun handling . there was a quick archery , and muzzleloader segments included in the class . at the end of the class there was a test . if you passed the test you were issued a hunters safety card . to purchase a license you take this card to a local license sales agent . these are usually gun shops , hardware stores ,Walmart . show your card and purchase your license . Pennsylvania has a lot of state owned game lands to hunt on .

I started trapping again , this year . in Pennsylvania to be able to use cable restraints , you must take a class . the class was about 4 hours . it went over the differences between a cable restraint , and a snare . it went over the restraint requirements to be legal . how to use cable restraints . it quickly went over tips on trapping with restraints . discussed ethics . we had to make a set using a cable restraint . at the end of the class there was a test . if you passed the test you were issued a temporary certification card . I'm still waiting on my official card , it's been about 3 months now . cable restraint season is about two weeks away .

in the past , I did some out of state archery hunts . these states would not recognize my first archery hunting class I took in 1974 . so I took a archery hunting class in Pennsylvania that would be recognized in other states . this was a decent class , nothing like you have . it was a one day class that lasted about 6 to 8 hours . it had a segment on blood tracking . it had a proficiency test , where we actually shot our own equipment . they went over tree stand safety . they went over ethics . at the end of the class there was a test . if you passed the test you were issued a temporary card . the official card was to be mailed to me , I'm still waiting on it after probably 20 or 25 years .

once you get the card , you're good for life . when I apply for an out of state license , they want a certificate number , or class number , something like this . my cards don't have the number they're wanting . I use the instructor number on the applications . the one time I hunted Colorado , I stopped in the Meeker office and showed my cards , so they have it on record .

1974

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2002
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2005

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2023

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Lived there for 3 years. Went to class, paid my fee and got my powder license (Pulverlizenz) in order to reload legally. I think it was around 100 deutsche marks then---in 1993. God I am getting old.
Fotis,
You are like a fine wine, getting better with age!

JD338
 
Lived there for 3 years. Went to class, paid my fee and got my powder license (Pulverlizenz) in order to reload legally. I think it was around 100 deutsche marks then---in 1993. God I am getting old.
The reloading course was almost the opposite of the hunting licence for me.

Mostly regulations, I think I loaded one case.

1993 - I started archery back then...
 
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