Driven hunting: excitement, joy, and centuries-old traditions

Christin: In Germany, hunting is closely associated with tradition and hunting customs. This is also the case with the driven hunts. These usually take place in November and December.

The planning starts many weeks beforehand. The part of the hunting ground that is to be hunted is determined. Then it is decided where the hunters will be lined up, and the stands are inspected and prepared locally. Finally, a plan for how and when to bring hunters to the stands in order to create as little disturbance as possible is made.

Krzysztof: Autumn is preparation for the driven hunting season. What does it look like for a statistical Polish hunter? Checking weapons, zeroing optics, buying ammunition, and preparing sandwiches, tea or coffee on the hunting day. Of course, in short, the most important thing is the atmosphere and safety during the hunt itself.

Driven hunting is often eagerly awaited by hunters. One of the first outings is the so-called St Hubert’s hunt which takes place around November 3rd. It is a very special hunt, often preceded by a field mass. Very often, it is the first driven hunt of the season and a great occasion to meet. During driven hunting, we are allowed to use only weapons with a classic rifle scope, and when hunting from the ground, the magnification of the scope cannot be greater than 3x.

Riccardo: I have a long experience in driven wild boar hunts here in Italy. I did it everywhere, and it’s curious to see how many differences there are going from one region to another.

Generally speaking, the hunt starts around 10.00 A.M., but before, from 6.00 A.M., trackers are quite busy finding wild boar tracks assuring the presence of the animals inside the area chosen for the game. 

There are many ways to track. The first is with a specialized dog on the leash that is able to smell the tracks of the animals: not only fresh tracks but also tracks from the previous night. However, it’s very difficult to train a dog to be so reliable. Another way is using trackers that, watching the ground, are able to understand if the animals left tracks while entering the area during the night. 

Tracking animals is typical of the middle of Italy and where the driven hunt is made up of only a few hunters because the area of the hunt is small, and you are quite sure to have the animal inside. 

In Italy, we can also use a mini driven hunt (called “girata”) during the pest control action: the girata is made with only one dog and 12 hunters max. We organize girata when it’s impossible to make a typical driven hunt because the area is too small or due to safety conditions (houses or streets near the grounds, etc.). Tracking animals before girata is imperative. 

When you have many hunters (from 50 to 100), you can cover a bigger area being quite sure to find animals inside; when this is possible, tracking animals is quite useless because it’s not easy to check all the game area covering it with trackers or a few dogs before hunting.

Riccardo: A thermal device could be very helpful for trackers before the hunt. At the beginning of the season or when the weather is dry, it’s impossible to find the tracks, and it’s not easy to track animals before the hunt with a dog because dogs don’t work so well in dry conditions. Thus, hunters are forced to prepare for a driven hunt, not knowing which animals are inside. Sometimes, the chief chooses a smaller area because if there are no animals inside, it’s possible to move all the hunters to another area easily. But that’s a big waste of time.

“Saint” thermal device is very, very helpful in these conditions because trackers can go around during the night looking for wild boars instead of finding tracks early in the morning. At the beginning of the season, animals are quiet and calm, and if you spot them during the night (many hours before the hunt), you can be sure also to find them during the day.

On the contrary, if the season has already started, trackers can start the research early in the morning, before sunrise, when wild boars are still active in the open grasses. Thanks to a high-end spotter like the Merger LRF XP50, Helion 2 XP50 PRO, or also the Axion 2 XG35 or even the Thermion 2 XP50 PRO (used as a spotter, of course), you can cover a wide area, spotting animals very very far and counting them easily.

Christin: With a thermal imaging camera, I can scan my surroundings when nothing happens. A thermal device with a rangefinder is definitely worthwhile here. This way, you can directly determine the distances in all directions so that you can take them into account for a possible shot. In addition, a thermal imaging camera is very helpful to see where a dead animal is lying and also for a possible later search.

Krzysztof: Before our driven hunt, the master of the hunt often checks the area to make sure the game is actually there. For me, hare hunting is a special type of hunting. It provides an incredible amount of emotions and the best meat for a festive paté. Being the master of the hunt, it is worth observing the fields at night to make sure where the hares or pheasants are. It is ideal to use thermal imaging binoculars such as the Merger LRF XP50, thanks to which we can easily count and identify the game at night so that we can hunt them effectively the next morning.

Christin: The day of the driven hunt starts early in the morning. All participants meet at a designated place. Everyone wears signal-coloured clothing (usually bright orange) so that they can see each other easily. You greet each other, your hunting licenses are checked for validity, and you can exchange information with others. Then, the hunting guide gives a speech in which he or she first explains the procedure and reads out the accident prevention regulations.

Then it is explained in detail which permits the hunters have received, i.e., which game may be hunted on that day. Then the groups are announced. The hunters gather in groups in which they are lined up at the corresponding stands. Each group sets off at a predetermined time to occupy the designated part of the hunting ground in a sensible order.

In each group, there is a local expert who places the other hunters of his group at the corresponding stands. This person also knows what to look for at the individual stands and where the shooting ranges are. He tells and shows all this to the shooters when lining up on site.

As soon as the hunter has taken his stand, he may also shoot. As a rule, the shooter stands on a raised stand. However, it is also possible to stand on the ground. You are not allowed to leave your stand during the driven hunt (usually between 3 and 5 hours). Safety is a top priority here.

When all the hunters have taken up their stands, the beaters and dog handlers drive together into the hunting area. Together, they then walk through the forest and thicket in a so-called “chain of beaters” to bring the game to their heels so that it moves in the direction of the hunters. In doing so, they draw attention to themselves by calling out, among other things. The dogs work in the thickets and in hard-to-reach places.

Krzysztof: In Poland, driven hunting occurs in two different configurations. One is the classic hunting from the ground, and the other is the so-called Swedish hunting method, which actually is not connected to Sweden or the Swedish hunting style. 

Hunters stand up on one side of the forest or other terrain, and drivers set up in front of them at a very long distance. After the hunters and drivers are dispersed and the drivers start to walk into the cover, the most important thing, the hunt itself, begins. The hunters are waiting for the game that is about to appear in front of them. As the drivers get closer to the hunter’s line, the tension increases. According to older hunters, the fox always appears first, followed by the wild boar. Of course, this applies to hunting, in which we expect exactly this game. 

The hunt in which we expect feathers looks different from the hunt in which we expect big game. The rule itself is identical, but the terrain and the type of weapons and ammunition used affects the way of the hunt. For example, we will shoot the birds with pellets and the boars with a bullet. Nevertheless, the rule of classic driven hunting is always the same – drivers and dog handlers on one side of the cover and hunters on the other. 

The Swedish is a type of hunting where hunters take up places on hunting stands. Drive hunting from the stands is mainly used in large forest complexes. We expect mainly deer or wild boars. The rules are similar to what Christin described, including the hunter being obliged to stay on the stand. 

The drivers also behave a bit differently than in the case of classic driven hunts from the ground. This is due to the fact that the positioning of the hunters’ lines is also different. Stands create a closed space, and drivers move from the line to the center of the hunting area, forcing the natural movement of the game. Often these are the so-called silent drives – the game is not scared but moves calmly. Such hunting has many advantages. First of all, the way animals move is much more balanced. They move slower, giving the hunter more time to select and properly assemble the shot. Hunting is more effective, the shot is more accurate, and we gain much fewer gunshots compared to the classic driven hunt, in which the hunter often has much less time to place the shot accurately. The principle of the maximum magnification in the scope does not apply to this driven hunt method. The hunter can freely set the magnification to the one that will suit the area and game.

Christin: When the driven hunt ends, no more shooting is allowed. As a hunter, I may now leave the stand again and will be picked up by the person who parked me.

The hunters, beaters and dog handlers gather again at a meeting point; the captured game is collected and broken open at one point and taken care of. When all the game has been taken care of, the “track is laid”. This is also part of the hunting tradition. Here, the game is presented in an area (usually) laid out with fir or spruce greenery. There is a clear arrangement of which game has to lie where and who has to stand where.

Another hunting custom is that the track is blown by the hunting horn blowers present. Each game species has its own signal, which is then blown. Afterwards, the hunters who have bagged a piece of the game are given their quarries by the hunt leader.  

Finally, all participants meet for the “Schüsseltreiben”. Here, they eat together, drink a beer and again, there are hunting customs. For example, a hunting king is appointed and sometimes a hunting court is held.

All in all, such a day is associated with many exciting and joyful moments, and tradition and hunting customs always play a major role here.

Krzysztof: There is always a great stir after the cover is finished. We discuss what was shouted, and we congratulate ourselves on successful shots. When we have a hunter who obtains his first game of a given species, the hunting baptism ceremony takes place. In such a situation, if there are signallers during the hunt, the signal Hunting Pass will sound. During the baptism ceremony, all hunters take off their hats. Baptism is very symbolic, and it is done with the blood of the game. If the hunter acquires a predator, the baptism is done with little or no blood. The ceremony is to make a cross on the hunter’s forehead.

Darzbór!