Brod
AH veteran
In July of 2016, through political pressure, the Romanian government closed the brown bear season. Eight years later, after 270 attacks, 27 deaths, and millions of euros spent in damages, they announced a limited reopening of brown bear hunting. Apparently, there is a need for hunters after all.
INTRO
Last year, I read several hunting reports here on Romanian Red Stag with @HUNTROMANIA that interested me. After speaking with a couple of the authors and then speaking with the owner Marius, I knew this would be a good fit for me. I booked for a 2024 late September stag hunt during the roar. Since I already had an April Argentina Red Stag hunt booked, 2024 would be the Year of the Stag for me. (see previous hunting report)
From the day of my Argentina return, I began counting down to Romania. As I patiently waited, with only 45 days to go, I heard the news that would change my world. Romania opened Brown Bear hunting!
I immediately contacted Marius to put a change order plan together however, there were some challenges. First, the best areas to hunt brown bear aren't necessarily the best places to hunt stag and the ideal stag areas have very few, if any, bears. Second, Marius primarily spends September on the West side of the country with the stag hunters and then migrates to the East side of the country for October and November bear hunting.
Marius spent the next couple days reaching out to his network of rangers looking for areas of prime bear habitat, who had an open bear tag, who had seen or had evidence of large bears and, and who were located within a day’s drive of his primary stag areas. Marius then notified me he had a great area in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania lined up where some large bears had been seen and wanted to know if I was still interested in this hunt while including some photos.
I wired the additional funds.
The plan was set, and flights were booked. I would be Marius's first non-resident bear hunter in 8 years and I couldn't wait for the trip to begin. To make this work logistically, I came in about a week earlier than my original stag hunt was scheduled for. I would be in Romania for 9 days with a travel day at beginning, end, and somewhere in the middle, if the first part of my trip would prove successful. The primary focus would be brown bear then, we would relocate and give the red stag a go at it. I was a little concerned about getting too far in front of the roar with these dates but, brown bear was my focus regardless, and this was our only option with the last-minute planning. Hearing some concerns about rifle importation, I elected to rent from Marius. My rental for the week was a Blaser R8, 300 WM with 220 grain bullets.
INTRO
Last year, I read several hunting reports here on Romanian Red Stag with @HUNTROMANIA that interested me. After speaking with a couple of the authors and then speaking with the owner Marius, I knew this would be a good fit for me. I booked for a 2024 late September stag hunt during the roar. Since I already had an April Argentina Red Stag hunt booked, 2024 would be the Year of the Stag for me. (see previous hunting report)
From the day of my Argentina return, I began counting down to Romania. As I patiently waited, with only 45 days to go, I heard the news that would change my world. Romania opened Brown Bear hunting!
I immediately contacted Marius to put a change order plan together however, there were some challenges. First, the best areas to hunt brown bear aren't necessarily the best places to hunt stag and the ideal stag areas have very few, if any, bears. Second, Marius primarily spends September on the West side of the country with the stag hunters and then migrates to the East side of the country for October and November bear hunting.
Marius spent the next couple days reaching out to his network of rangers looking for areas of prime bear habitat, who had an open bear tag, who had seen or had evidence of large bears and, and who were located within a day’s drive of his primary stag areas. Marius then notified me he had a great area in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania lined up where some large bears had been seen and wanted to know if I was still interested in this hunt while including some photos.
I wired the additional funds.
The plan was set, and flights were booked. I would be Marius's first non-resident bear hunter in 8 years and I couldn't wait for the trip to begin. To make this work logistically, I came in about a week earlier than my original stag hunt was scheduled for. I would be in Romania for 9 days with a travel day at beginning, end, and somewhere in the middle, if the first part of my trip would prove successful. The primary focus would be brown bear then, we would relocate and give the red stag a go at it. I was a little concerned about getting too far in front of the roar with these dates but, brown bear was my focus regardless, and this was our only option with the last-minute planning. Hearing some concerns about rifle importation, I elected to rent from Marius. My rental for the week was a Blaser R8, 300 WM with 220 grain bullets.
