Powerful Specialist

In the Alps, red deer hunting has become a real challenge. In many areas, intensive tourism has had a strong impact on the red deer's way of life, as it has not been possible everywhere to steer mountain hikers, bikers, or ski tourers onto nature-friendly paths. This becomes a particular problem for wild animals when such sporting activities begin early in the morning, when it is still dark, or continue late into the night. In addition, the red deer's paths to their former winter habitats at lower altitudes are blocked or no longer exist due to construction and settlement.

The regulation of red deer populations in the Alps, demanded by both forest owners and nature conservation associations, leads to additional disturbance of wildlife in the mountains. It is therefore crucial to keep the disturbance of wildlife by hunting to a minimum. However, we do not consider the lifting of closed seasons or even officially ordered culling pens, as have been set up in the past, to be effective, let alone in line with animal welfare. Every year, many experienced hunters prove that there is another way. With their instinct for animal behavior and precise knowledge of the terrain, they do everything they can to avoid exposing the game to unnecessary stress during the hunt.

In late summer 2025, we had the opportunity to explore a very special hunting ground in the Lechtal Alps, accompanied by a leaseholder and professional hunter. As we learned there, it is not only the altitude of up to over 2,500 meters that makes hunting so challenging, but primarily the extreme steepness of the grass-covered slopes above the tree line. The dense forest below is just as steep and, as it is only accessible by a few paths, it serves as a winter refuge for red deer. From early summer to the onset of winter, however, the game is drawn to the steep, treeless areas where neither humans nor livestock stray.

Hunters can only reach these areas on foot, which usually means a two to three-hour climb. In narrow valleys, the ascent is made on the opposite side, as this is the only place from which there is a good view of the areas where the red deer are currently grazing or moving. However, the advantage of being able to reach the hunting stand unnoticed by the game is offset by the disadvantage of a usually very long shooting distance. But this very circumstance can also be advantageous when it comes to bagging game.