Like foresters, huntsmen strive for a deep understanding of their hunting grounds. They observe the cautious game and interpret their tracks.
All activities on the hunting grounds are called game keeping. This includes measures to improve the living conditions of all living creatures in the ecosystem, not just animals that can be hunted according to the law.
To give a few examples supplemental feeding (baiting) reduces damage caused by game in cultivated areas or plantations. Others keep the numbers of stray dogs and cats as well as originally foreign predators, such as raccoons or raccoon dogs at bay. Damage prevention also includes all measures against accidents with wild animals on the roads of the hunting grounds.
The legislator has regulated the practice of hunting for decades by strict provisions, among them by granting hunting licenses. It supports game keeping by defining hunting and non-hunting seasons as well as the obligation to keep dogs on a leash during the breeding and rearing seasons in spring.
Illustration:
Salt lick and feeding on hunting grounds in eastern Lower Saxony with red deer (red deer hinds, antlerless deer and calves and a stag with newly sprouting antlers), raven and cranes (in the background). Photo: Peter Burkhardt