ROMANIA: Brown Bear & Red Stag

[Brod]

What happened with the red stag hunt?
We are still awaiting the full story.

Damn. I was hoping that was forgotten and I could quietly slip away. I'll work on it...

 

[Troubleshooter]

Waidmannsheil! That is a massive bear; no ground shrinkage there! Well done.

 

[skydiver386]

I've got a hunt booked with Marius next year for Stag, so I'm waiting anxiously to hear your Stag part of the hunt report.

 

[Oldwavy]

That bear is really impressive, and this report is fantastic.

 

[Green Chile]

Fantastic. I have been waiting for a hunt report on this offering as I am strongly considering a brown bear hunt in Europe. Love your photos and your report style. What else happened after that?

 

[Brod]

DAY 2
Travel Day

We checked out around noon and loaded up for the road trip. Our nine-hour journey to Oradea, which included stops for lunch and dinner, went quickly. We traveled from the northern edge of Romania near Ukraine to the western edge near Hungary. It rained on and off the entire way, but traffic moved along at a good pace. Between jet lag and the Jack, I was still in recovery and a bit on the quiet side but, that was okay because Marius made up for it. Did I mention he likes to talk? I was amazed by how many times he could be in the middle of a deep conversation or sharing a story when the phone would ring, he would talk for ten minutes, then start right back in where he left off with our conversation. Often, I had forgotten what we were even talking about but, he never did. Kind of funny, I thought. This had to have happened half a dozen times.

During our conversations, Marius asked how I preferred to hunt stag; high seat or sound and stalk. I replied which ever gives me the best chances. He thought maybe we would high-seat the morning due to the rain then make a plan from there. I said that was probably best anyway as I have a pre-existing toe injury still in the healing process, so if odds were equal, the high seat would save some wear and tear on it.

Marius explained the hunting might be tough due to all the rain which tends to shut the stags down. At this time there was a super storm passing through Europe causing all kinds of flooding and destruction. We were now on the edge of this. However, there was one hunter already in camp, @Dutchtrapper who was able to collect his first stag over this morning’s hunt. This made me hopeful that the rain concern wasn’t much of a concern after all.

I also learned we would be hunting on two different properties. The lake area (which later I learned didn’t have a lake) and the mountain area. (which later I learned didn’t have a mountain)

I was beat by 9:00 PM when we reached Oradea and checked in to the hotel. Marius asked if I wanted a drink. With a 4:45 AM expected hunting departure, I opted for the bed instead. I set my alarm for 4:00 AM and stumbled into bed.

DAY 3
3.1 miles

4:00 AM wake up and I felt great and full of energy. Gear on, boots laced and out the door by 4:30. We loaded up and drove about 30 min to the lake area. After meeting the ranger, we put on our rain gear and started walking down a dike a good hour before sunrise. The plan was to walk in the dark on this dike a couple hundred yards and get into a good position before first light. We were hearing stags in 2 or 3 directions. By the time it was light enough to see, only one was still roaring. He was 600+ yards away and walking in the wrong direction.

We slowly creeped along the dike which had decent cover on each side of the road for a mile or so. We saw some hinds and a couple small stags but nothing mature. We then slowly walked back stopping here and there along the way. We did see a wild hog and her piglets crossing the dike which quickly scurried off.

Not hearing a stag for a couple hours now, we headed back to the truck. It was then I realized I may have made the wrong choice in footwear for this terrain. My Courtney’s were worthless; slip-sliding all over these greasy clay soil roads and were already thoroughly soaked through. They would not completely dry out until I was back in the States. Checking the weather app, it did not look good for the near future with more rain on the way.

We got back to the hotel by 10:00, had breakfast, dried out and got some rest. We then met for lunch at 2:00, got our gear back on and traveled back to the lake area at 3:00. Tonight, we would be in a high seat which sat on the edge of a field and forest. The drizzle let up but, we weren’t seeing much for game. We saw a roe deer early on then a group of 7-8 hinds and small stags came out into the field.

We were back to the hotel by 10:00 PM, had some snacks and a few beers, and in bed by midnight. This would be the same basic routine each day. We never really slept more than 4 hours at any given time. It wasn’t hard to adapt but, I felt for those guides who would live this routine for many weeks on end.

DAY 4
3.2 miles

More steady light rain as we head back to the lake area. Extra early this morning as we walk in the dark for close to an hour. I really had no sense of direction or where we were headed and found this a bit frustrating as I continued to slip and splash in puddles along the way. We finally stopped walking and 20 minutes later I could start to see my surroundings. We were in the area where the 600 yard away stag was yesterday. Standing in brush on the edge of a large field in front of us, we could hear 2 stags, one directly in front maybe 300 yards away and one to the far right perhaps 500 yards away.

Ten minutes later, we could start to see shapes. Each stag had a group of hinds with him. The straight-ahead stag was about 200 yards out. With the lighting, I could make out which one was the stag but that was about it. Marius whispered he was a good one. The group started moving to our left and quartering to. Five minutes later, and a little better light, the stag stopped at 170 yards. I was quickly on him but my stance was a bit awkward on the sticks and I rushed the shot. As I squeezed the trigger, the crosshairs dropped when I heard the shot. Immediately I felt it was not a good one. However, we all heard a crack after the shot, which surprised me. Leg maybe, I thought? The hinds ran off to the left and the stag took off full speed to our right, and was quickly out of sight. He couldn’t be hit in the leg the way he ran. 30 seconds later 8-9 hinds ran past us, right to left which must have been the other group which was to our far right earlier. Marius asked how I felt about the shot. I said, not good.

The ranger walked to the far right end of the field next to the marsh to look for blood. Marius and I went to the point of impact to do the same. We spent the next three hours with no luck. None of us could find any blood but, all three of us, as well as a guide which was with Dutchtrapper some distance away, heard the crack. I felt terrible as I should have taken my time on the shot. We made a plan to come back to this area this afternoon to see if he would return. Marius felt that if he is not dead, he will try to get back with his group of hinds, even if injured.

Speaking of injuries, back at the hotel I noticed my left toe had taken a beating today. Walking around all day in wet boots was really doing a number on it.

We returned at 5:00 and set up on the edge of a cornfield which was adjacent to this morning’s field. The ranger felt this group of hinds would be in this field first before the open green field.

The cornfield was about 200 yards across and we were focusing on the dike on the opposite side. With about 30 minutes of daylight left, we saw movement on the dike of a stag. Marius said he was a good one but he walked back into the trees just as I located him. We didn’t get a good enough look at him to tell if he was the same one from this morning. With the scope focused on that spot, I was entertained for the next twenty minutes with several hinds and small stags milling about and eventually entering the corn. The big stag never came out. Just before dark, we heard a roar from vary far away. Two minutes later, another roar then a shot. Congratulations @Dutchtrapper We packed up for the day and went to go see his nice stag. (see his hunting report)

Back to the hotel, we celebrated his second stag with some wine, cheese and meats. At midnight it was time for bed. On the way, I slammed my right foot into the bed post which was quite painful, but I soon fell fast asleep.

 

[Brod]

DAY 5
3.6 miles

Up at 4:00. I looked a look at my toes to find the 4th was black and half of the 3rd and 5th were black. I taped the 3 together which felt better, took a couple advil and laced up my wet boots. (back in the states the x-ray would show a spiral fracture on 4th and fracture on 5th toe) Later, Marius would joke that it was the stag from the mornings shot that cursed me.

This morning would be a repeat of yesterday. We would walk in the dark to the same spot, slipping and sliding in the rain along the way. Nothing came out into the field today. We decided to loop around and slowly work our way back. We did find a few hinds but didn’t see or hear any stags.

This would be my final hunt with Marius as he had other hunters in another location that he needed to check in with.

One interesting sight I noted was each small village seemed to have 1 or 2 of these really cool stork nests. They had already migrated South for the winter though.

This afternoon the rain stopped, and the sun was trying to find its way through the clouds. I was picked up by a guide and was told we were going to the mountain area which seemed like a great idea to me. A fresh start.

Here we met up with the mountain ranger and hopped into his famous Toyota, noted by previous AH hunters as a truck from Mad Max. This go-anywhere, do-anything vehicle was a work of art. With that said, riding in this thing up and down hills after 5 days of rain was worthy of a price for admission. It was just fun. I was laughing so hard at one point that my side ached.

After 4-5 hill climbs and valley crossings, we arrived at a high seat deep in the forest overlooking a beautiful valley. It was so nice just to see the sun. I really liked the spot, but we didn’t hear or see anything until just before dark. Behind us maybe 100 yards we could hear the stag but he wasn’t moving. We got out of the high seat and tried to make a move on him in another opening, but we ran out of daylight.

DAY 6
2.1 miles

This morning we headed back to the mountain area. The plan was we would park at the top of a hill, then walk down to the valley to engage any stags in the valley. We started walking about an hour before light down the rut filled, greasy clay road. Even taking baby steps, I managed to slip and fall twice in the 1.5 mile trek. About half way down we passed a stag to our right roaring but, we were headed for the 2 or 3 we could hear at the bottom. We reached the end about 15 minutes before light. It was then that the ranger said we had a problem. The stags we were hearing were on the hillside on the other side of the valley, just across the property line. As the sun came up we watched two beautiful stags with six hinds slowly walking further away. We turned back to look for the stag we passed on the way down. Like others before, he was quiet once the sun came out. We waited near a clearing for more than an hour then headed out.

For this afternoon’s hunt, I was picked up by the game ranger of the lake area. We went back to the cornfield from two nights earlier. With my knowledge from then, I positioned myself to cover the entire dike and stayed behind the scope, at the ready. We saw 30+ pheasants and 6-7 roe deer but didn’t see or hear any red deer.

Back at the hotel, this would be my final night stay here. Since my flight was at 6:00 AM the morning after next, I would hunt one final morning then transfer the three hours to Cluj in the afternoon and stay over there. By this time my feet were in pretty bad shape, and I was contemplating just staying in tomorrow. I decided I would wait and see how I felt in the morning.


DAY 7

4:00 AM was wakeup and the wet boots were laced up one last time. Outside I met two new hunters in camp from the US. The three of us would all be hunting the mountain area this morning. I went with the mountain ranger to a high seat in a new valley for one last Mad Max ride.

We were setup 20 minutes before light and could hear stags in a couple directions. As the sun began to rise the valley started to take shape. With a layer of low fog, the valley looked magical. The stags we heard earlier were now very distant. Through the fog, the ranger noticed movement and got my attention. I looked over but didn’t reach for the rifle and he quickly understood. We watched the 10-point stag slowly pass by us, left to right, at 50 yards then disappear again into the fog. It was the perfect ending to my hunt.

An hour later, we met up with the two new hunters on the other side of the property. They had each shot a stag this morning. I wondered to myself how some guys get all the luck. Then I remembered my bear, and smiled.