Hunting in the German countryside 2023/24 season.

**Socrates** · 18-05-2023, 17:36

In Germany, the hunting year traditionally kicks off on 1. May when we can start hunting roe bucks. This date is however not set in stone due to the roe deer having an affinity for young saplings. Many municipalities have allowed hunters to start hunting roe in April already. If you consider that the roe buck season last until end of January, then the hunting pressure on the bucks are immense.

This is the first year that I have the opportunity to sit for roe buck.

The land owner took me around the property yesterday. It's important that I know where the property boundaries are, which high chairs I can use, and where the backstops are.

I'll be leaving the rifle at home the first couple of outings. I want to get a feel for the property first. The season is long, and I am in no rush to ruin a perfectly good hunting oppertunity by shooting a buck early.

I made some changes to my hunting gear. The first of which was switching calibers.

Recoil is my nemesis. The 30-06 is about as much recoil as I can handle. I shoot it well enough, but I don't particularly look forward to shooting it. It's great for pigs, but I'm not shooting pigs. I'm shooting roe and possibly later foxes and badgers. I don't need a 30-06 for that.

I managed to get a almost new 243 Winchester barrel for a really good price. It's an absolute pleasure to shoot it. Mounted to the barrel with a Innogun Zero mount is a Steiner Ranger 4 3-12x56. The Steiner Ranger 4 has become my favorite scope. It cost half the price of the Zeiss V6, but I can not spot the difference between the two scopes in low light. I found a load shooting 0.67 MOA at 3340fps with Barnes TTSX 80gr. That will do very nicely.

If there is an opportunity to hunt something bigger than roe, I can just change out the barrels.

The grouping below was shot after removing the 243 barrel and attaching the 30-06 barrel and scope. I've tested this to my satisfaction. It's been like this every single time. In future I'll trust the mechanism to maintain zero. I won't be driving through to the range to check the zero every single time. It will allow me to change calibres on short notice.

The second change was buying a decent pair of binos. The entry level Steiner 10x42 Observer binos was my choice. They come with a 10 year warranty which gives me peace of mind. I have been very happy with them so far.

This is the Kanzel I was sitting in this morning. It's 10m off the ground.

The view from the windows.

My "shooting" kit for this morning. The binos and the wind checker would be the bare minimum I would be comfortable with.

**Messor** · 18-05-2023, 19:40

Your hunting season start in your summer?

Anyways, that be a good group and good shooting, all the best.
And good for acknowledging the bite of the old six, it's on the limit for most.

**oafpatroll** · 18-05-2023, 20:10

I love peering through the window you provide into how hunting and shooting g works ina place I've never been. Please keep on keeping in with it and the very best of luck for the season ahead.

**Socrates** · 18-05-2023, 23:44

Originally Posted by Messor

Your hunting season start in your summer?

Anyways, that be a good group and good shooting, all the best.
And good for acknowledging the bite of the old six, it's on the limit for most.

Jip, but only on roe buck and "Schmalreh" (female roe that is between 1 & 2 years old) till end of May. There are similar arrangements for young deer of the bigger deer species.

Pigs are open the entire year, with the exception of a female pigs that have piglets to care for.

Red, Fallow, Mouflon, and sika are open from 1. August till 31. January. it only starts getting cold round about October. August and September can still be bloody warm. So it does make the handeling of the carcass tricky if you are not set up for it.

I'll be investing on one of those in the next couple of months.

https://www.gamecooling.com/gcshop/W...schraenke.html

Selling carcasses to butchers is one of the revenue streams the lease holder relies on, to offset the cost of the rent and possible cost arising from crop damage . So most lease holders have decent cooling facilities to hygienically store the shot deer and pigs.

I've given up on trying to find a "softer recoiling" load for the 30-06. I'm sticking to 150gr lead free bullets leaving the muzzle at 2900fps.

The only minor detail that may frustrate me at some point down the road, is that 243 Win is not legal for pigs. So my ideal calibre would be a minimum of 6.5mm but below 7.62mm, that shoots a 120gr + lead free bullet, as close as possible to 3000fps. It should do that with 22Lr like recoil once a silencer is attached. :)

**TStone** · 19-05-2023, 06:15

Originally Posted by Socrates

I've given up on trying to find a "softer recoiling" load for the 30-06. I'm sticking to 150gr lead free bullets leaving the muzzle at 2900fps.

I doubt whether you will hunt anything in Europe that this load won't handle effectively out to 400m.

**Messor** · 19-05-2023, 10:31

When you have the time to play order a couple of boxes of 130gr Barnes TTSX for your old six, it will still reliably kill anything walking around in your area but will recoil even less.

**BBT** · 19-05-2023, 17:36

Originally Posted by Socrates

Jip, but only on roe buck and "Schmalreh" (female roe that is between 1 & 2 years old) till end of May. There are similar arrangements for young deer of the bigger deer species.

Pigs are open the entire year, with the exception of a female pigs that have piglets to care for.

Red, Fallow, Mouflon, and sika are open from 1. August till 31. January. it only starts getting cold round about October. August and September can still be bloody warm. So it does make the handeling of the carcass tricky if you are not set up for it.

I'll be investing on one of those in the next couple of months.

https://www.gamecooling.com/gcshop/W...schraenke.html

Selling carcasses to butchers is one of the revenue streams the lease holder relies on, to offset the cost of the rent and possible cost arising from crop damage . So most lease holders have decent cooling facilities to hygienically store the shot deer and pigs.

I've given up on trying to find a "softer recoiling" load for the 30-06. I'm sticking to 150gr lead free bullets leaving the muzzle at 2900fps.

The only minor detail that may frustrate me at some point down the road, is that 243 Win is not legal for pigs. So my ideal calibre would be a minimum of 6.5mm but below 7.62mm, that shoots a 120gr + lead free bullet, as close as possible to 3000fps. It should do that with 22Lr like recoil once a silencer is attached. :)

Why not try a pachmayr slip on recoil pad? , it should dampen the recoil a bit

**Socrates** · 19-05-2023, 18:25

Originally Posted by BBT

Why not try a pachmayr slip on recoil pad? , it should dampen the recoil a bit

I have decent suppressor on it now, and it tames the recoil quite a bit. It also something between the ears. I'm working on getting beter with it, and I've made a couple of decent shots with it already . I just shoot the 243 much better, and I am much more confident with that setup as a result.

**Socrates** · 19-05-2023, 18:52

Originally Posted by Messor

When you have the time to play order a couple of boxes of 130gr Barnes TTSX for your old six, it will still reliably kill anything walking around in your area but will recoil even less.

I've tried that about a year ago, but I did not get a decent velocity increase over the 150gr. If I'm shooting 130gr from the 30-06, I would like to get at least 3100fps, but Newton is a fickle bastard, as less bullet weight but more velocity won't make that much difference in terms of recoil.

I would have had no problem shooting 130gr TTSX at lower velocity at roe. Wild boar on the other hand is another matter entirely. I want something that will pass through, and I'm not entirely confident that a 130gr ttsx 30cal bullet traveling at moderate velocity, will punch through a big pig every single time. Two holes to bleed out off is better than one, as far as tracking is concerned.

**TStone** · 19-05-2023, 19:32

Originally Posted by Socrates

I have decent suppressor on it now, and it tames the recoil quite a bit. It also something between the ears.

I do believe that a lot of it IS between the ears. But it is also a matter of what you are used to. I spent yesterday sighting in a .375 H&H and then practicing with a .416 rem mag for an upcoming buffalo hunt. Today I went hunting blesbuck with a 7x57 with a suppressor, recoil of the 7mm felt like a .22 rimfire.