Best German Hunting Clothes as a Hunter
The German hunter has adopted a practical attire because of the controlled nature of the hunt and long-standing customs. The coloring of German hunting clothing provides maximum camouflage and maintains a semblance of uniformity throughout the hunting fraternity. Green is the predominant shade worn by German hunters, although varying shades and combinations of green, brown, and gray are common.
The formal dress is composed of green suit (or Trachtenanzug) white shirt and green tie or bolo tie. When attending another hunter’s funeral, all hunters are expected to wear a black tie.
More recently, German hunters have began to modernize their clothing. Today you will see many hunters wearing surplus military clothing, as well as modern orange jackets. Camouflage suits or jackets like Real Tree or Mossy Oak are also popular.
Hunting in a Sitting Position (Ansitz)
The second situation is when you become the hunter and are either sitting at the edge of an open field or sitting in a stand (ansitz). Even here there are two different environments as a hunter. One is you are participating in a drive hunt and will sit anywhere from one to five hours. The other is where you go into a stand an hour or two before sunset and stay until an hour or two after sunrise.
Jacket
The big difference here is that you are not moving around and generating extra heat. The jacket in this environment needs to keep you warm. It has to be insulated well enough to keep the heat in and the cold out. It should also keep the wind out, in other words be windproof. If you are sitting on the edge of the field there is nothing worse than having the wind blow through your jacket. If you are in a stand that is protected from the wind that may not be as much of an issue. However, if you intend to go on invited hunts throughout Germany and Europe there is no guarantee that you will have a protected stand.
The jacket should also be waterproof. Let’s face it, this is Germany after all and you will hunt in the rain. Unless you are hunting in your own revier then you will be participating in an invited hunt. This means to hunt you need to get a reserved slot to hunt on a first come first serve basis. This usually happens more than a week before the hunt, sometimes it can be a month or two in advance. Therefore, you will not be able to forecast whether to hunt or not when it rains.
If you are sitting in a stand and hunting wild boar sound or the lack of it are very important. Pigs eyesight is poor but their hearing and sense of smell are great. You need to have a jacket that is not noisy when you move around. Check the zippers and look at how the pockets are fastened to see if they will make a lot of noise or not.
Something else to consider in this modern age of hunting is that there are jackets that can help control your scent. This could be important while sitting waiting for those piggies to come by and say hello. If they are downwind from you and smell you they are going to be saying bye, bye before you even hear let alone see them
Safety Vest
If on a drive hunt you are going to want to either have a jacket with hunter orange or a safety vest. You need to be clearly seen by anyone else who is hunting. You may be seated within 100 meters of a hunter on both sides in a line at the end of a field or forest. You want to be sure that if the other hunter is tracking the animal with his sites that he sees you.
Pants
You may want to wear thermal underwear as well as pants as a hunter in a sitting position. They will help insulate your body from whatever you are sitting on as well as keep your legs warmer while sitting in the open. You could have a long wait for the drivers to reach your point so it is better to be prepared than to wish you were warmer for the rest of the day.
As a sitting hunter you are going to want to wear pants that are waterproof and can keep you warm. If it rains, you are prepared for it and can stay dry inside your clothes. You are also going to want the pants to be windproof as you may be out in the open at the end of a field or forest where the wind blows the strongest. You may think that 40 degrees is not cold but when you add wind chill and time not moving to stay warm it can cool you off quickly. Always better safe than sorry.
You are not going to have to worry about brush or briers as you will probably be dropped of from a footpath or the road. Something to consider, though, just like above is that wild boar are going to be driven to where you are sitting or standing and that can be dangerous. You will have to choose whether you want to invest in cut proof pants or not. The advantage here is you will not have to be walking very far in them so the extra weight they add is not a disadvantage when wearing them, plus most will be wind and waterproof as well.
Hat
As a sitting hunter you can wear one of the more formal hunting hats with an orange band of material that goes around it. You will not have to worry about it getting knocked off; however, having a brim will make it easier to stay dry while sitting in the open and to keep water from going between you and the front site when aiming in.
Gloves
In this case the gloves need to keep your hands warm and dry. Your shooting glove should either allow you to easily pull the trigger or come off quickly and silently so you can shoot the game as it approaches. In the Marine Corps they teach fight like you practice and practice like you fight. The same should be applied here. Before going on a hunt with new gloves be sure to practice using them on the range, too. This will make for a better shooting experience on hunt day.
Footwear
Boots for the sitting hunter are much easier to choose as your main concern is just keeping your feet dry and warm. You do not need to worry about weight as you will be doing very little walking, if any.
Socks
Here again socks are not as important, just be sure that they will keep your feet dry and warm while sitting waiting for the drivers to flush the game.
Ear Protection
Sitting in the wind all day without ear protection is not a good idea. You will need to have a hat that has fold down ear protection or ear muffs. Another consideration as a hunter is to wear sound suppressors which can then also be used to protect your ears from the wind. They even make sound suppressors these days that allow you to control the normal tones that you hear while protecting your ears from the loud gunshot when you fire your weapon. As I already have hearing loss from the service I found having sound suppression head gear great for the range. I could hear everyone talking and protect my ears at the same time.
Conclusion
This should give you a general idea what to have and/or look for before you go hunting in Germany. The time of year that you hunt and what German state you go hunting in all make a difference, as well.
Coming soon will be a recommended gear page just for hunting clothes to be used in Germany and wherever else you like to hunt.
In the meantime, what experiences have you had as a hunter in Germany? Is what I’ve said accurate? Do you have any further suggestions?
Let me know in the comments below!
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