The second hunting trip

Sunday, May 11, 2014 



The Second Hunting Trip, written by Steve.  Kat had told me that I was going on a "gentlemen’s ride" with her Uncle Petr and some of his friends.  I was a bit concerned as drinking Plum Brandy and beer is a daily occurrence in Moravia.  Back where I come from, drinking, driving and guns are not usually a good combination.  Uncle Petr had told some of his Czech friends that I was a good American guy and that I had only one "tragedy “and that was that I didn't drink.  I tried to explain to him that the medicine that I take for arthritis causes a bad reaction for me when I consume alcohol but he did not seem to understand and offered me more Brandy (to make the medicine go away). 

 

I am sure that it is 5 O'clock somewhere, but at Uncle Petr's Chateau in Moravia it is 9:30 in the morning.  I am getting ready to mow the yard in preparation for the family reunion that Uncle Petr and Aunt Jarak are putting together.  Uncle Peter insisted that we have a beer before we get to work.  Mine is non alcoholic.  The Gentlemen’s Ride is two days away.   

      So the night before the hunt, I am trying to visualize what this gentlemen’s ride/hunting trip will be like.  I can see me in the back of a Skoda car flying down the road at 120 kilometers per hour, full of drunken hunters with rifles hanging out the windows taking pot shots at road signs.  Under normal circumstances I would hop out of this car at the next available opportunity, walk home or call and get a ride.  Here, I have no cell phone, no one, including the police speak any English and I have no way of finding my way back to the Chateau if this did happen.  It just doesn't get any better than this.

      The Gentlemen’s Ride begins:  Kat drops me off at Uncle Petr’s house and she tells me that I will probably be out with the guys until the early hours of the morning.  As I kiss Kat goodbye, I am somewhat regretful that I did not upgrade my life insurance policy before we left America.  Uncle Petr has arranged for one of his friends who speaks English to be with us for the hog hunt/gentlemen’s ride.  Kat had told me that this friend would be there in about 10 minutes. 

       So me and Uncle Petr, who speaks less English than I do Czech (I know three words) sat in a small room for 45 minutes and stared at each other while waiting for Michel to show up.   We attempted to communicate using hand signals and the three words I knew, but I could not thing of anything exciting to say about (zub, ahoj, dekuji), tooth, hello and thank you.  Fortunately, after what seemed like infinity, Michel showed up with a friend of his named Lukas.

In the center of the photo is the bait corn for the hogs. Michal and I are ready in the shoot house, now all we need is some hogs.

       Michal was born in the Czech Republic, his father later moved the family to Canada for a few years and then back to the Czech Republic.  He and his brother own a car dealership nearby.  Both Michal and Lukas were very nice and by all appearances good hunters.  Michal showed me his Remington 30-06 caliber rifle with a night vision scope and a new $15,000 thermal imaging scope that he had purchased for another rifle.  In parts of Europe hunters are allowed to hunt at night time, unlike in America where usually you can only hunt alligators, raccoons and hogs at night.  

      Uncle Petr finds it totally absurd and unbelievable that in Tennessee I pay $60 for an annual hunting and fishing license and can go whenever I wish to.  In Europe, people wishing to hunt have to complete several educational courses in a year's period, pass all kinds of tests related to animals, plants and firearms before they can even apply for a hunting license.  The same goes for applying for a fishing license.  Once you get the license there is another procedure to go through each time you go hunting, depending upon whether you are hunting on private or public land. 

       Upon completing all of the above mentioned red tape, applying for the license, application being accepted, getting the license, applying to hunt in a specific area, paying a game warden for the hunt on that day, and suddenly,  just like that, 1 1/2 years later,  you are ready to go hunting.  If by chance you get a legal size deer or hog, then another government regulated procedure begins to claim the animal for your use.  As Petr and Michal are explaining this unnecessary and over regulated procedure to me, I can hear echoes of the song "God Bless America, land that I love..." playing in my mind.   

You can see the corn off in the distance.  Michal and Uncle Petr suggested that I shoot the hog in the head if we see one.  Michal’s 30-06 caliber rifle with the night vision scope will have no trouble reaching this distance.   

      Fortunately for me, Uncle Petr is a certified Game Warden and he and Aunt Jarak are the largest land owners in the hunt club, therefore I am able to circumvent the above procedure.  It is a good thing too, because the training manual that they are required to know is as big as an Orlando phone book.  I just could not quite understand how knowing the breeding habits of the "crooked tooth flying squirrel" was going to help me in hog hunting, but what do I know, I am just an uneducated American.  LOL.  

      It is really sad to see, not how many liberties and rights we take for granted, but, rather how much freedom Europeans have taken away from themselves in their pursuit of a socialistic society.  The amount of regulation on the simple act of going hunting or fishing is just a small example of the multitude of hurdles that the citizens over here have to jump over every day just to go to work, play, own things, or even just to exist.  Kat's mother had to go see a psychiatrist and other doctors last year in order to get an electric wheelchair.  

       The politicians over here are kind of like the Democratic politicians in America, just multiply their liberalism times 10 and add in some steroids.  They don't have much to do because they have already achieved their socialist utopia.  They spend most of their time reminding citizens how great they have it here, doing massive amounts of damage control to cover up the damage they create with their laws and in their spare time create new regulations and taxes to control any personal freedoms that they may have missed in the past.

      Sorry about the diversion from the gentlemen’s ride/hog hunt.  It’s just that I felt compelled to explain the absolute disbelief that Uncle Petr had when I told him that I paid only $60 a year to go hunting and fishing in America.  He could not believe that the average citizen in America could hunt or fish without taking a lot of courses and paying a government authorized official to go hunting with them.   Michael relayed this information to Uncle Petr who is one of the certified Game Wardens in the Morava.

      Much to my surprise, Michael and Lukas were the only ones going on the hunt.  Uncle Petr stayed home while the three of us went hunting.  Prior to leaving I asked Uncle Petr and his friends many questions about hunting and they asked many as well.  Through Michal’s interpreting we were able to share our thoughts and experiences about hunting and other topics.  Apparently the politicians over here are just as corrupt as some of the ones we have back home.  Some things never change.  

     There is not enough room on the blog to relay everything we chatted about but here are a few observations that I made.  The Czech people who hunt are very passionate about hunting, anyone willing to go through the aforementioned procedure would have to be.  I admire Uncle Petr, Michal and Lukas for over coming these obstacles and carrying on the tradition of hunting in a country where such things are not easily accessible.  I will think of them often when go hunting or fishing in America.  

       The hunting methods are very similar to what we do in America, save the night time hunting.  I am not sure what the reasoning was that led Europeans being able to hunt at night.  In America, most animals can only be hunted during the day time, presumably, it is sportsmanlike to give the animal fair chance of survival and allow them time eat and rest without the 24 hour stress of being pursued. 


        My host were surprised when I told them that America has too many wild hogs and that many were considered feral and were often killed to protect property and other wildlife from over consumption of the available food in the land.  Europe is over developed and does not have enough available forest to support much of its wildlife.  Many hunters, land owners and Game Wardens here have to raise their own "wild life" and release it later for hunting.  Uncle Petr raises deer and pheasants on his property.  Again, it is very admirable how Uncle Petr and his friends overcome these obstacles to claim their right to hunt/fish and makes me appreciate the vast and fertile forest of America and the freedoms that we have.  

This is a deer I saw the night I went with Uncle Petr.  The night I went with Michal, I did not bring the camera.  Off course, a trophy buck showed up on the night I did not have the camera

      So, after much discussion I hop in Uncle Petr's SUV with Michal and we head out to the same shoot house that I was in a few days earlier.  Michal, like Uncle Petr took much care making his way undetected to the stand and in general not contaminating the hunting area.  Lukas had driven to another stand and was testing out Michal's new thermal imaging scope.  Upon getting close to the stand, Michal realized he needed something from the truck and returned to get it.  I continued to the stand and spotted two deer eating the bait corn.  I stood quietly and watched them until Michal returned.  After a while, the deer left and we climbed up into the shoot house.   

       Michal had offered to allow me to use his rifle (equipped with a night vision scope) to shoot any good sized hogs that we may see.  I initially declined his generous offer, telling him that he had paid much money and gave much effort in order to be here for this hunt.  He told me that he had already shot some hogs earlier in the season and insisted that I should take the opportunity.  I agreed and was grateful for the opportunity to hunt in the Czech Republic.  

       I positioned myself the best I could for a shot towards the bait area and tested out how to use the night vision scope.  The shoot house windows were not the right height for me and it was straining my neck and back to look out them, but a hunt is a hunt and I tried to adjust.  After about one hour, it was starting to turn to dusk and I spotted a trophy deer walking down the trail.  Michal texted Uncle Petr about the deer.  Deer season was only 5 days away and I had to stand by and watch this trophy buck eat off of the bait pile for 10 minutes.  After a while the deer moved on and that was the last animal we saw for the rest of the night.  


      About 10:30 p.m. we left the stand and drove back to Uncle Petr's house.  Uncle Petr had waited up for us and we hung out in his hunting room for a couple of hours.  He had snacks and drinks for everyone.  The other guys shared some beers and brandy while I drank my non alcoholic beer.  We talked about hunting and a mix of other important topics.  All in all, it was a successful hunt as far as I was concerned.  I got to go hunting and hang out with some great people, I didn't get killed in a Skoda car crash or otherwise maimed for life, didn't get arrested in a foreign country and gained a new appreciation for hunting in the Czech Republic and America.  Thank you Uncle Petr for the experience and thanks to Michal and Lukas for your hospitality.  I hope to return the favor someday when you come visit in Tennessee.