Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game East Meets West, Take 6: Back to the Mountains

Paolo was awesome! He received us warmly, took us around town, and told us some wonderful anecdotes about Hubertus over beers. He then led us back to his pad, where his wife had laid out an amazing spread for lunch. That pepperonata was friggin' amazing!

Ready & I specifically asked him how to tell the male Chamois from the females. He responded in a dead serious tone, "wait for them to pee." We were sure he was yankin' our chains, but he explained that they're furry enough to hide the sheath on the males, and the only other somewhat reliable sign is whether the bases of the horns are round (male) or elliptical (females), which is kind of hard to discern from 800 yards away through a spotting scope.

And you've probably noticed how Ready slipped in a line about, "gams". I was lost, too. Turns out that's what Deutch speakers call Chamois. Everything has 2 names. Hell, when I climbed up to the ridge, there was nothin' but kilometers for miles & miles around.

To get from the Paolo's to the hunting area, we had to pass through Mittersill. The town's traffic circle has an interesting sculpture:





Perhaps that explains why we also passed by this:





Yes, I had to have Ready explain it to this country boy. And as the natives say, "He who Laufs last, needs a penicillin shot."

To get caught up with the thread, I need to point out that Ready left out the part about Henrik (sp?), our host/guide/jäger-watcher/mack daddy of Salzburg province. He showed us up to the cabin, and had us check zero on our rifles. I'm sure I committed a major breach of protocol when I suggested we fire from the windows of the hütte, using the windowsill as a rest. We 'Mericans are resourceful, though, and it worked like a charm. However, decorum prohibited us from documenting the act in photos.

Afterward Henrik whipped out some exceptional homemade soup & dumplings that his wife had made us:



along with some some of his very own pine cone obstler (schnapps) that was absolutely killer. (pictures forthcoming). It was the trip of a lifetime, and we hadn't even hunted yet!

FC