Thread: Hunting in Austria

Originally Posted by Lauries Hut

In short you pay.
The hunting block is private land.
The farmer or land owner grazes cattle up there in the summer, and he gets paid by the govt for every day the herd is up there. I guess we’d call it a subsidiary. If there is game, then it’s typical to lease out areas for hunting. Gerhards block is approx 200 hectares.
The cattle are down now, as winter snows will come any day, but they aim to keep them up there as long as possible. The animals are kept indoors for most of their long winter, and fed grain, and other stored feed.
This is where kiwi anti farming/meat types generally have no idea when they jump on the anti farming bandwagon, which originated in Europe. Their Euro farming practices are literally the polar opposite to what our farmer's do.

Back to hunting I think it would be reasonable to say it’s a sport, or a pastime for the wealthy. Very different to NZ where basically anyone can get a license and hunt for next to nothing.

It’s very different - interesting in that, even though the land is private, anyone can walk on it.
There are a number of marked tracks, (just the odd red/white stripe painted on a rock) that go through the pasture land, right up onto the high mountain passes. Climbers, walkers, anyone can traipse through. We were watching a couple of Chamois and got bumped by an elderly couple, out looking for mushrooms.
It made me think how poorly the Queens Chain is working in NZ and the difference in attitudes. In saying that our countries our worlds apart.
They have a little hut not 10 mins walk from the road in with four beds. There was beer and wine sitting in the bench. Couple of cans outside in the trough. And a rifle lying on the bed. That’s just how they leave it..
The lock and security on the hut was very rudimentary.

There is a good place...do you speak German?