ROMANIA: Hunt With Marius Of HUNTROMANIA

[Hookboy88]

I am nearing the end of my stay here and will update this thread as time allows. Great Hunt and great time over here. Shared the Hotel with a few members from this Great Forum also. I always enjoy the chance to meet AH Members and put faces with the usernames. I will leave y’all with some teaser pics for a little bit.

 

[Capebreton Redneck]

Looking forward to your report. I Roe deer hunt is on my wish list.

 

[Doug3006]

Very nice trophies sir!

 

[Hookboy88]

Well I will try and get this started.

I just booked my own airline tickets and flew Lufthansa. No real problems there. Kept Marius updated on the way and he was there to meet me at the Airport. We were going to wait about 2 hours on WAB to arrive so Marius took me to a very nice mall close by and we got something to eat while we waited.
WAB arrived and of course had the expected problems with his rifle that Marius had already informed him of.

We hit the road and were off the hotel. It was very nice and DutchTrapper was there waiting for us when we arrived. We all talked a little and then with it being late we went to bed. I didn’t sleep very good due to the excitement.

The next morning we were up early, had coffee and were off! I hoped in with WAB and his Ranger who dropped me off on the way with the Ranger I was hunting with. When I excited the vehicle I could hear stags roaring already. I was given a Blaser R8 in 9.3 x 62 to use and as WAB as already pointed out don’t expect to get a chance to shoot it beforehand.
As we waited for the sun to raise I could make out 4 different stags roaring. Once the sun was up and visibility was good I noticed we were overlooking a huge corn field and while we could hear the stags roaring we couldn’t see them in the standing corn. We seen some females. Then Went for a walk along the edge of the field. We ran across about 30 wild hogs that were down in the corn feeding. We also heard another stag roaring. As we walked back the Ranger pointed out one stag in the corn. I could only see one side of its antlers and as I was getting set up it seen me and ran off. Then we spotted another smaller stag that I passed on.

Back to the Hotel and had breakfast and talked to the other hunters and got a game plan for the evening. All the food was very good.

 

[Hookboy88]

 

[Hookboy88]

I attached some photos of the Corn field and Hogs from the first morning.

 

[Hookboy88]

That evening we headed to another agricultural field to hunt. We had just got settled in and the weather was very hot. My Ranger communicated with me the best he could that the stags would enter the field as the sun went down. We set down on a hill over looking the field and had been there only a few minutes when a big stag ran across about 300 yards away. It never slowed down and I was unable/unwilling to take a shot under those conditions. We attempted to cut it off and ran around the field using some standing corn as cover but never seen it enter the other field.

I did almost get ran over by a Red Deer female that jumped out of the corn. I could have reached out and touched her.

That evening as we were walking around we topped a hill and there was a real big stag standing about 50 or so yards away in the corn. I was not expecting to see it and was not ready. Had the rifle over my back and while I was fumbling to get set up it took off. That ended our evening hunt and we headed back to the hotel for a good supper and some
Sleep to start all over again.

The next morning we headed to a more mountainous area and the weather was a little cooler. I was with a different Ranger who drove an older Toyota truck I believe. It had a homemade bed, big mud tires and a roll cage on it. We Americans jokingly started calling it the Mad Max truck. I am not sure if the Rangers knew what we meant by that but in short time they were also calling it the Mad Max truck.

We drove a very long ways and right as a sun came up we parked on top of a mountain. We walked around and soon heard two Stags roaring. We couldn’t see either one but dropped off the mountain we were on and started towards the one Stag roaring below us.

As we were walking I looked over and seen the Stag crossing an opening a very long ways off. Too far to shoot. I grabbed the Ranger and pointed it out to him. We watched it enter some trees and dropped of that smaller mountain we we were on and headed to the base of hill we had seen the stag on. We set up with me on the sticks and the Ranger took same branches and began to thrash them about to see if the Stag would come in. After several minutes, maybe 20 or so we heard stag roar on the other side of the hill. We walked up to the top and cut through an orchard just barely moving listening to him roar from time to time. Right as we were about to top the hill we knew we were getting close and were bent over trying to peek over the top but the stag roared and we noticed we were very close! We were right up on him. Then through the trees the ranger seen his antlers moving back up the hill. We followed and I was walking sideways in an attempt to get any shot that presented itself. After about 50 yards I stepped to the edge of a clearing and was still looking towards the direction of the Stag. He entered the edge of the clearing at same time and i immediately fired off hand at about 40 yards. The Stag jumped and reacted good and I knew I had made a good hit. He turned and ran back downhill. We immediately followed and found a blood trail a blind man could have tracked. We found my Stag 100 yards away and he was laying in a little road expired. It was a very exciting and fast paced hunt. I was very pleased to have gotten to stalk to him while he was roaring and get so close.

 

[Hookboy88]

 

[Hookboy88]

He was a 6 x 4 and covered in mud from a wallow. Even his antlers were muddy.

The Ranger went and got the truck and I stayed with the stag. The Mad Max truck had a hand winch. We attached the cable around the neck and laid a board down. The ranger cranked the wrench and I helped guide push and we were able to get him loaded up.

I spent a couple more outings chasing Roe Deer around another farm. It was not the best time of year for Roe Deer but we soon several nice Roe Bucks and I was finally able to connect with one I was very happy with.

The area was very beautiful, the people were very friendly and Marius was a gentleman. It is a hunt I hope to do again one day.

 

[Hookboy88]

I did hunt Roe Deer one day in the mountain area. Only seen females but had a nice long stalk through some beautiful country that morning.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for a great hunt, and thanks for sharing !

 

[Hookboy88]

There where two more Americans from Michigan hunting as well an American from Wisconsin. And of Course WAB who has also written about his experience.

I won’t go into any details about their hunts as that’s their story to share, but I will say everybody got a stag.

There were no lack of Mature Stags in the areas we hunted.

I honestly would recommend just renting a rifle if you’re an American. I only seen good quality guns with good quality scopes being used for loaners while over there. Blaser R8s etc.

When hunting Roe Deer I did use a Remington 783 in 243 with good quality glass on it.

If anyone has any questions please ask. I would like to be as informative as possible about Romania.

 

[WAB]

Congrats again @Hookboy88! Glad the trip home was smooth.

 

[375Fox]

Congratulations and thanks for write up. I really enjoy hunting in Europe. I think the way the game and areas are managed makes it a better hunt than many elk or deer hunts in USA. The pricing is very fair as well often better than US.

 

[Datchew]

Can you give more info on the complications of bringing a rifle and the odd inability to test fire before the hunt?
Is the latter just tight schedule?

 

[Hookboy88]

Can you give more info on the complications of bringing a rifle and the odd inability to test fire before the hunt?
Is the latter just tight schedule?

I can not attest to the bringing the rifle in. I have been twice but rented a rifle both times.

The inability to shoot the rifles I BELIEVE is due to limited places you can legally shoot a firearm.

 

[Hookboy88]

Congrats again @Hookboy88! Glad the trip home was smooth.

Congratulations to you too! Hopefully one day we can share a hunting camp together again

 

[375Fox]

The inability to shoot the rifles I BELIEVE is due to limited places you can legally shoot a firearm.

How close to town were you hunting? I’ve been told this on every European hunt I’ve done but we always found an area to bend the rules. Usually I wouldn’t worry if it’s the guide’s personal rifle though. Seems like yours and WABs rifles shot where they needed to.

 

[WAB]

How close to town were you hunting? I’ve been told this on every European hunt I’ve done but we always found an area to bend the rules. Usually I wouldn’t worry if it’s the guide’s personal rifle though. Seems like yours and WABs rifles shot where they needed to.

They did shoot fine. I’m torn on whether to try to bring a rifle next time. I had the 4457 and the letter of invitation. The problem was in Bucharest. They are supposed to issue a permit that is waiting for you on arrival. It appears that their system went down and these permits were not ready. Luckily Marius was able to come up with rifles for us on short notice.

 

[Hookboy88]

How close to town were you hunting? I’ve been told this on every European hunt I’ve done but we always found an area to bend the rules. Usually I wouldn’t worry if it’s the guide’s personal rifle though. Seems like yours and WABs rifles shot where they needed to.

We were not hunting close to town. I am sure if I asked Marius he would have found a way to accommodate my wish of shooting the gun.

I spoke to one European Hunter and he told me he sighted his gun when he went over. He drove but did tell me that there’s very specific places where you can just shoot in the country.