A living legend of its time "Adlerkönig" (King of Eagles), Leo Dorn (b. 1836 - † 1915) was a German alpinist and hunter . He was the jaegermeister of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, whose hunting grounds he managed, and was known as the "Eagle King", having personally hunted over 77 golden eagles in his life, which were declared a vermin to be dealt with during his time. He was a foremost mountaineering guide and many of the German ornithology works have been based on his shared knowledge.
Esteemed Bavarian writter Ludwig Ganghofer describes Leo Dorn in his work "Bergheimat" :
"In order to succeed as an eagle hunter, he is a fervent love of pastoral work, such rich experienced hunter, possesing such an iron health, thay defyis storm and bad weather. So is Leo Dorn, the top hunter and gamekeeper of Allgäuer hunting reserve belonging to the prince regent of Bavaria. Thorn is a specimen of the splendid human race of our mountains: a tall, broad-shouldered figure, limbs cut out of stone, sunburnt fists that span the grinning man's fingers as if with steel screws, a healthy face with a snow-white full beard with a sharp flush crooked hooked nose and sparkling eyes whose youthful look does not show the seventy years that Leo Dorn wears on his broad, unbowed back. Tilted and funny sits his weathered felt hat, whose bent brim is pierced by a long eagle feather. Year after year, in the snow or heat, Leo Dorn walks in the same light lodenjacket and short lederhosen with bared knees. And the feet are nude in the heavy nail shoes.
When Leo Dorn tells of his eagle hunts and their hardships, as he killed most of the eagles in the harsh of winter, when the snow covered the mountains in winter - then there is not a single word in his chatter that sounds like poetical Latin or exaggeration. Short and honest, he stays with the truth and smiles happily to the words of the overwhelmed nonbelievers. You shudder, but you also laugh often and warmly. Because even the most serious adventure in the mountains always has its funny side. And the Allgäu dialect, which loves the diminutive form, sometimes gives Dorn's descriptions an original contrast between form and content, a hint of involuntary humor." ~
