Chris Farris

The term "trophy" when referring to game has several meanings. To a new hunter a trophy could be the first deer harvested whether it be a doe or a spike. To the veteran hunter it could be anything larger than previously harvested. Some go by width others judge a trophy by how many points it has. Up north, trophy status could be determined by how much it weighed. With horned species it seems to be centered around how long each horn measures.

On this trip to Austria I learned about another measure of trophy status that has nothing to do with horns, antlers or weight. It has to do with respect.

I was fortunate to draw a class 1 male, which meant that I would be hunting a mature male Chamois. Game animals in Austria are very tightly controlled and not many permits are issued a year. They know almost exactly how many animals are in a specific area and how many can be harvested. The area I was hunting seemed to have a descent population. The first day my guide (who did not speak English) and myself had spotted several Chamois but they were either the wrong sex or too young. The next day we spent the entire day from sun up to sun down walking up and down the mountains in the rain and did not see a single animal. Fortunately the forecast for the next day was in our favor and so was luck because we stumbled across the ultimate class 1 male. The sun had already went behind the mountain and the light was fading when we spotted an unusual Chamois that had only one horn. My guide communicated to me the best he could that this was a very special animal in a very excited fashion. We decided to stalk and take this trophy quickly. We were on different mountains that faced each other and both of us were coming down so I knew we would meet in the middle. With the light fading we had to set up and make the shot from about 250 meters. The shot was good and down he went. My guide was beside himself and could not wait to get a closer look. He broke off a branch and gave me a piece and put a piece in the Chamois mouth as his last meal. I was supposed to wear my piece on my hat as a sign of being successful. There is a lot of tradition in Europe and a lot of respect for the animals that we do not see in the U.S.

Once we got back to the cabin we were able to speak with someone that spoke English and German. They told me that a mature male is usually 7-8 and the one we took was 12-13. He had fallen off the mountain at some point in his life and broke off one horn but managed to survive. They were so impressed with the fact that this guy had lived 12 years after suffering such a major injuring.

Never once the entire time I was there did anyone talk about how long the horns were on any Chamois, they only spoke of how mature the one they shot was. At dinner all the guides wanted to see this Chamois in person because they could not believe how old he was and that he only had one horn. Some German hunters joined us for dinner and had a Roe deer head on the table with them that they had harvested that day, it had the branch in its mouth and was displayed on a fancy serving tray. Seemed odd to me but normal for them.

Respect and admiration for surviving so long in the wild is the Austrian measure of a trophy. Just goes to show you how different things are in other countries.

Chris used:

• Talley Lightweight Aluminum 1" Scopemount