Your first hunt in Europe: everything before the first roar

04:30 · Slovakia · September

The alarm goes at half past four. Somewhere down in the dark valley, a stag is roaring.

That morning is a couple of hours' flight from most of Northern Europe, and plenty of hunters have still never gone. It's rarely the hunting that holds them back. It's everything around it: the rifle on the plane, the paperwork, and what the trip actually costs.

Heming Hunting hosts foreign hunters in Slovakia and elsewhere in Central Europe. We went through the questions first-timers ask most with Roman Valent, CEO and hunting guide at Heming.

Your guide

As a foreign hunter in Central Europe you hunt with a guide, and with Heming you get one to yourself. The guide knows the ground and the animals, chooses which animal you take, and tells you when to shoot.

What the day looks like depends on what you're after. Red deer in the rut are mostly hunted from a high seat with short walks in between, and the guides call the stags in. Heming calls it suitable for everyone. Chamois hunting is a mountain day. You leave early, climb until you find them, and stay out until it's done. The warmer it is, the higher you go.

Practise for the hunt you're actually going on. For deer, that means shooting from a rest, off a bench or sticks, not just lying prone at the range. Chamois shots are typically 200 to 350 metres and often at an angle, so practise long shots up and down a slope. Heming recommends .308 Win, .30-06, 7x64 or similar for fallow deer, and for chamois a flat-shooting calibre with a scope of at least 12x.

And you can always say no. If the shot is too long or the angle is wrong, tell the guide and try to get closer.

A package on Hunta is four days and three nights, with two hunting days and up to six outings. Accommodation, full board, transport during the stay, local hunting permits and an English-speaking interpreter are included.

What it costs

The price in the listing is the package price. It covers one animal up to a certain trophy size. If yours is bigger, you pay a set amount on top, and the listing shows exactly how much.

Talk to your guide about trophy size before you head out, and you'll know what the hunt costs before the first shot.

Trophies are scored with the CIC system, the international points standard, and the score is recorded in a hunting protocol. A male chamois is bronze from 100 points, silver from 105 and gold from 110.

The rifle and the paperwork

To bring your own rifle you need a European Firearms Pass, issued by the police in your home country, and every firearm you bring has to be in it. Fees and processing times vary from country to country, so apply in good time.

Heming reports the rifle to the airline for you. You send the type, calibre, number of cartridges, and the size and weight of the case. The rifle travels unloaded in a locked hard case. The ammunition goes separately, ideally in its original packaging, and usually no more than 5 kg. Keep paper copies of everything, plus a PDF on your phone.

For two hunting days, renting is often simpler: €200 for rifle and ammunition at Heming, and nothing to carry.

Heming arranges the local hunting permit. You send your documents in advance, and Heming tells you what they need. Check, too, that your hunting liability insurance covers hunting abroad.

When to go

Right now the mouflon are in the rut, and the chamois rut starts in November. If it's the roar you're after, September is the month, so now is a good time to plan next year.

Heming's advice for the chamois hunt:

Do not rush the shot, find a stable shooting position, and avoid getting caught up in the excitement of the hunt.

Listen to your guide. They know this ground and these animals better than anyone.

Heming Hunting's trips are on Hunta. You send a request without paying anything, and you pay Heming directly. See Heming's trips

Sources: Police in Norway (politiet.no) and Sweden (polisen.se): European Firearms Pass. Heming Hunting: trip pages on Hunta and heminghunting.com, business conditions, and the blog post on flying with a firearm. Photos: Heming Hunting.