Hunting

Deer hunting in Carpathians

Our company organizes red deer hunting (Cervus elaphus, one of the largest deer species) in the Ukrainian Carpathians. Real wild hunting, when animals are not specially grown.

Hunting season: from September to February.

Where to hunt: Verkhovyna district of Ivano-Frankivsk region (Ukrainian Carpathian mountains, near the Romanian border

Types of hunting: driving (the team drives a deer to hunters) or stalk (we are tracing animals). The second type is best done when there is snow and visible traces of animals. It’s physically exhausting. Since hunting is wild, we do not guarantee that you hunt deer. The team will do everything in its power, but there are factors that do not depend on us.

What does red deer hunting in the Carpathians look like:

• driving hunt. Early in the morning, jeep(s) will pick up our hunters from accommodation and take uphill to the hunting area. There you’ll get rifles, we’ll put you on position and the team (people + dogs) drives deer towards hunters. Usually, we do 2-3 drives per day. We make breaks (snack, lunch outdoors). Return in the afternoon. Rest
• Stalk hunt. Early in the morning, jeep(s) will pick up our hunters from accommodation and take uphill to the hunting area. There you’ll get rifles and start tracking a deer with our crew. The process takes hours. When an animal is hunted, you can butcher it, take the meat along with the antlers

License. We hunt legally. License is required. You will buy it. One animal per one license.

Rifles.You can hunt with your weapon. If necessary, we arrange rifles (bolt, semiautomatic, shotgun, etc.).

Trophy (antlers) – if you plan to take a trophy home (abroad), an extra license (document) is required. It is separately paid. If the hunt was unsuccessful, the cost is not refundable. If you want to ship the trophy (antlers) abroad, we organize paperwork and shipping (extra cost).

Accommodation. We give you options. You can stay in a standard hotel, mountain cottages or in the local families. In the evening after hunting, you can have a sauna, massage etc.

Meals. Local cuisine is VERY tasty. Everything is well organized. We are ready to meet all your additional wishes (food and drinks). We cook at home and outdoors, on an open fire. Halal food is possible

Transport. We offer comfortable off-road jeeps for our hunters (Nissan Patrol). If it is winter and lots of snow, we can use snowmobiles. You’ll be taken to the hunting place on comfortable cars. We are ready to meet you anywhere in Ukraine and take to the hunting area.

Other activities. We are ready to offer you a lot of interesting things besides of hunting: horseback riding, fishing, jeepping, buggy …

Your personal guide-interpreter. Our representative is constantly with you. No language barrier. Solves all possible issues.

Cost. 1800 EUR per hunter (three days tour)

Group hunting tour in Carpathians. 7 days. Red deer, wild boar and roe deer

Day 1

Meeting at the airport of Lviv (LWO)
Transfer to Grand Hotel Lviv Luxury & Spa 5*, standard double room (1 wide bed) for each guest
Guests check-in (relaxation time)
Dinner time

Day 2

Meeting at the hotel’s lobby 05:00 am and start move to Carpathian Mountains, moving by cars (comfortable minivan) to the hunting preparation area under supervision of professional trainers and guides. Listen to them and follow as exact what they say
Breakfast (on the way), restaurant or gas station
Hunting 12:00 am, Lunch in the field (during the hunting)
Dinner. During the hunting days, a special cook will be with us

Day 3

Breakfast
Hunting starts after breakfast (time may change according to our success or bad luck on the first day of hunting)
Camping inside the forest and delicious food made on wood fire
River trout fishing then go back to accommodation for relaxation or a tent at the forest

Day 4

Breakfast
Hunting we start after breakfast
Transfer to Verkhovyna. Stay per night in Verkhovel hotel (standard room)
Dinner

Day 5

Breakfast
Horse riding. Two hours, then short break (40 min). Then more 3-4 hours to reach the farm
We stay per night in polonyna – traditional alpine dairy farm. Guests will have separate rooms, normal bed with clean sheets. The traditional alpine dairy farm option is available from middle May till middle September
Dinner

Day 6

Breakfast
Horseback riding (return to Verkhovyna). Road back will take about five hours
Going back to Lviv by car, about 6 hours
Hotel check-in, Grand Hotel Lviv Luxury & Spa 5*, standard double room (1 wide bed) for each guest
Dinner/rest

Day 7

Breakfast
Staying in Grand Lviv Luxury Hotel and have a free day for guests to see the old town and the High Castle and buy souvenirs
Meeting in Lobby, transfer to Airport
Transfer guests from the hotel to Lviv airport, carrying with them unforgotten adventures

Prices in 2021

The cost of the hunting tour includes:
– Transfer from the airport to the hunting ground, during hunting and back
– accommodation and meals during hunting
– interpreter and huntsman services
– the cost of the license for hunting
– registration of documents for the export of trophies
– clearance of import and export of weapons and ammunition
Hunting trophies are paid additionally according to the prefectures.

This amount does not include some meals, namely:
• Dinner day 1 (not included in the tour cost this for guest is an extra charge)
• Breakfast day 2
• Dinner day 6 (Not included in the tour cost this for guest is an extra charge 20 USD)
• Lunch and dinner day 7 (not included in the tour cost this for guest is an extra charge)

PRICES FOR HUNTING TROPHIES FOR FOREIGN CITIZENS

Table 1 Prices for hunting trophies for red deer

Table 2 Prices for boar hunting trophies

Table 3 Prices for hunting trophies for roe deer

Weapons/ trophies procedures

Transportation of hunting weapons across the Ukrainian border
If our guests prefer to hunt with their weapons, it is possible. For registration we need the following information:
passport data, weapon numbers, number of cartridges, weapons license, copies – all this we include in the appendix to the contract.
We sign a contract and our side, through the Ministry of Internal Affairs and customs, submits a package of documents, indicates who / when / where and with what will cross the border. After that, guests can safely pass through customs control.
It is also possible to rent hunting weapons from us (for an additional fee).

Trophy procedure (shipping) 
The trophy itself is paid separately (according to the tables in the description)
Its preparation (cleaning, digestion, grinding, etc.) takes time (from several days to weeks)
Due to bureaucratic red tape, the necessary documents for the export of a trophy (veterinary certificate) may take several weeks
Transport fees (shipping of a trophy) are paid by the guest separately

Hunting wild boar in Carpathians

Previous program: two days and one night (possible to extend)
Animals: wild boars.

Driving from Verkhovyna to the place of hunting (highland dairy farm) by off road jeep.
We reach the place, our crew prepare everything to hunt the deer (they will guide you to the animal, give the rifle and everything you need).
At night hunting the wild boar.
Stay per night in the highland (dairy farm). All meals/drinks included. You can take/cook the trophy
Estimated price: 1500 EUR per hunter
Included: 2 days licence, 4×4 car with a driver, professional hunter assistance, English speaking guide/interpreter, staying in the highlands, meals, trophy.

Traditions bind manly companies. Some men play regularly with their friends football once a week every Friday or visit a sauna on Saturdays. Or they get together every Sunday or oftener for a glass of beer. Generally there exist numerously various clubs according to the interests. One can regard hunting as the oldest men s collective hobbies. In ancient times it was considered a dangerous, but necessary condition of human survival, but in the past centuries it has transformed everywhere to a recreation, hobby and relatively expensive relaxation. Many consider that hunting awakes terrible instincts in the depths of human being and develops a tendency to cruelty. Hunters themselves talk about noble manly friendships and a close association with nature. So or otherwise, hunting exists and the ecologic and moral aspects are always determined by three conditions: where you hunt, what you hunt and how you hunt.

Collective hunting of wild boars

This is the most popular hunting in the autumn. Usually a group of five to 10 hunters (allowed is up to 15) agree to meet at the hunting ground on a agreed date. Collective hunting is a serious affair and it demands discipline. One begins with the instruction which all participants undersign. Important is the instruction as to accident prevention. Written and unwritten rules of the collective hunt are known and need not be repeated here.

The dog-leaders “lift” the wild boars and drive them in direction of the hunters who stand each in their position and wait. No smoking is allowed and silence is observed. The approaching of the wild boar can be defined by loudness of the barking dogs. The hunter shoots from a distance of 50-60 meters, but only that hunter whose area the wild boar enters. All questions are decided by the leader of the hunt.

Today hunting organizations try to orient hunters to use smooth-bore weapon, because a bullet from a carbine rifle flies a greater distance and can injure other participants. Due to aan optimal relation of price and quality the guns of the Russian manufacturers in Izhevsk and Tula are most popular among Ukrainian hunters. They cost ca. 400 USD.

There are hunting sections in every Carpathian state forestry. As a service the forestry offers accommodation, offroad-transport, leadership of the hunt and hunting-dogs, vetinerary services and the preparation of trophies. For our readers that wish to participate in a hunt in the Carpathians we have an additional information with telephone numbers as to a “hunting weekend.”

Pay money for wolves

It is autumn in the mountains – it is not the bright colouring of the mountain landscape, changeable weather and mushroom glades. In the Carpathians from the 1st September to the 26th December the individual hunting of deer, roe and wild boars is allowed. During the 90-ies many roes perished during the very cold winters, but now the number has increased to the previous stand. Special limits for hoofed animals are determined by a commission for each state hunting ground. The period of collective hunting is more limited: from 26stNovember to 26th December. Indeed the individual hunting of male roes is possible from the 1st June. At the end of November the male roe drops his horns and stops to interest the real hunter, who foremost is worried about the trophy – about what he can boast about at home before guests: size of the horns of the roe, fangs of the wild boar, hide of the wolf.

By the way, for the kill of a wolf in the Ukrainian Carpathians one can receive a state reward of 100 Hr., when in Poland for the same act one can land in prison for three years. However to obtain the reward, one has to hand in the hide, which has a market value of 100 USD. Environmentalists are certainly indignant at the financial stimulation for the killing of the “sanitary agent of the forest”. However the head of the administration of the hunting department in the region of Ivano-Frankivsk Yaroslav Oliynyk declared that on the territory of the region presently live ca. 80 wolves. This number is difficult to record exactly, but the region is able to absorb not more than 50 wolves. Besides, the hunt on the known predator is usually executed in passing, in the case that a license is obtained for other game. To meet a wolf and shoot him, is almost incredible, but also illegal. To walk on forest paths with a hunting gun one requires not only a license, but one has also to be accompanied by hunter. If you have entered a forest and you have a gun – you are a hunter only if you have a relevant license. If you obtained a license for roe, deer or wild boar, you may obtain a license for hunting a wolf. It is necessary to underline, that to succeed in wounding a wolf it is very rare. This predator is very strong, clever and well adapted to existing next to people. The hunting of wolf and fox is possible also outside of the season, but only with a separate license for this purpose.

For the largest Carpathian predator, the brown bear, one finally found space in the Red Book of Ukraine. Any hunting on him is forbidden. There are presently on the territory of Ukraine not more than 200 of the “claw-footed” – in zoos and in the mountains.