Employee Story Hunting
Game in the Forest
Hunting is an age-old activity – at one time it was crucial to survival. And a matter for the men. All this has changed radically – now, more and more women are grabbing their guns and setting out deer-stalking. Among them is Bettina Jux who, in her day job, is assistant to Kurtz Ersa CEO Rainer Kurtz.
Even as a child, I was fascinated by the forest with all its flora and fauna. As an active member of the scouts, I was often involved in building camps in the forest or hanging up nesting boxes. It was the contact with active hunters and nature conservationists that led to me getting the hunting bug at 36 – initially just because I wanted to find out if the roe deer really was the hart’s mate and because of increasing opposition to factory farming. Today, ca. 20% of participants in the hunting courses are women.
The first steps are
always the hardest
I did the course required for obtaining a hunting licence in the Dr. Fellmer Hunting School in Wertheim. There is a good reason for calling it the “green degree”, as the subjects range from farming and forestry to a knowledge of different species of animals, to the laws relating to wildlife and hunting, firearms laws and techniques and nature conservation.
The material covered is very extensive: I spent many an evening studying and many weekends in the hunting school, in the training grounds or at the firing range. Shooting with a rifle or shotgun takes a lot of practice. An important part of the examination is hitting a moving boar disc, shooting the fall-flat hare and hitting a buck target. But it is only after you pass the written, oral and practical examinations that the real learning begins!
I took my first steps as a guest hunter with the experienced huntswomen Karin Fellmer. Once you have taken everything into consideration, such as the direction of the prevailing wind, or the preferred location of the game at a specific time, and settled comfortably into the raised hide, peace descends and you get to see things that remain concealed from the normal visitor to the forest: badgers, foxes, wild boar and roe deer roam up close.
In contrast with individual types of hunting, such as the raised stand, late autumn and winter is the time for the driven hunt. The aim is to bag the quota of hoofed game – i.e. the ungulates that may be hunted – but also to prevent the animals being constantly disturbed. Inseparably coupled with the hunt itself is the obligation to care for the game: The task of the hunter is to ensure a healthy and stable native game population, protect endangered species of wild animals, maintain their habitats and ensure effective forest management. When we speak about hunting, we also have to mention the kill itself. Killing an animal is not easy, and never should be!
