The good thing is that the Drückjagd season has started. Drückjagd is a shoot comparable to a battue, only it's not in the field and for hares and game birds, but in the woods for hoofed game (mainly wild boars). The drivers move more slowly and not as noisily as those at battues, so as not to disturb the game to an undue extent because it must not pass the guns at high speed. Dogs are important, specifically to flush the incredible clever boars who stay put and let the drivers literally walk over them. But dogs are not so easily fooled. In Germany, the traditional dogs used for flushing are usually Deutsche Wachtel (a Spaniel-type dog, but with the necessary "sharpness" to hold tight to and even kill hoofed game, if required) or braque-type dogs (hounds), called Bracken, although here in East Germany, due to the relative poverty and dearth of dogs, all sorts of gundogs are used, even those that are considered pure field dogs.
Not too long ago, the value of smaller dogs like Dachshunds and specifically terriers was discovered, who flush and (in case of the fight-and-not-flight animal wild boar) attack the game with much more zeal and are, being small, not so easily injured.
Last Saturday we (that is I and my little Jack) attended a Drückjagd in the Greiz-Werdauer Wald, which is one of the larger interconnected forest areas in Germany.
The meeting was scheduled for 08:00 and driving started at 09:00 and lasted, as usual, two hours. The terrain and the cover are not as difficult to tackle than terrain and cover I have seen at similar events in the West. I took part as a driver although I hold a shooting license but I would very probably not shoot anything anyway and going with the drivers is more fun (and even more so for the dog) than to sit somewhere stationary in the woods, waiting for game that will probably never come.
It was a wonderful morning. We saw lots of game (wild boars and red deer), mainly because little Jack did such an excellent flushing job. The weather was too warm for the time of the year, but it made things easier for me and improved the general spirit. The hospitality of the host and owner of the hunting ground, the state of Saxony, was great as always.
The "hunting bag" was a bit disappointing, though, as the forester representing the host justifiedly remarked. The above picture is from a more lucky event. I just took it from the Internet for illustrative purposes, and the same applies to the picture from another Drückjagd below.
And finally I don't even have a picture of my wonderful and wonderfully brave little dog in action, so I add one which was taken last year at the same occasion. The terrier with the white face is his son Jeremy who has found a great new home in the meantime where he won't be able to commit, as he clearly intended, patricide.
I know it's not a terrifically good picture. Yes, that are two tired, dirty terriers in signal coloured coats, but it's all I have.
Coming Saturday, we'll attend the next Drückjagd as well. I and (to a lesser extent) Jack are frantic right now about improving our shape. I hope there will be some time left for blogging.
