Catch shot (hunting)

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In the hunter's language, the catch shot is the shot that is fired in order to kill seriously injured or not immediately fatally hit game . The catch often comes at the end of a search or after a traffic accident in which game was injured and therefore has to be relieved of its suffering. The capture shot is an almost painless and the fastest type of killing, because when the projectile penetrates the brain stem , all reflexes, breathing, heartbeat and consciousness are immediately suspended.

Legal position

Legally and in terms of hunting, the catch shot in Section 19 Paragraph 1 No. 2 lit. d of the Federal Hunting Act and other laws and ordinances. In Switzerland , the catch shot is regulated as “shooting sick and injured animals” in Section 3, Article 8, within the framework of the Federal Act on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (Hunting Act, JSG) .

In Germany, according to Section 19 of the Federal Hunting Act: “Objective prohibitions”, the use of shot , posts , chopped lead, bolts or arrows to catch hoofed game and seals is prohibited. Hunting experts like Bruno Hespeler and others criticize this regulation. A shot shot from a very short distance on the carrier (neck) of a deer is immediately fatal and the danger from projectiles or projectiles that ricochets off or flying in an uncontrolled manner is lower compared to a full projectile, since the mass of the individual granules of the projectile can convert rather little projectile energy over greater distances .

Common catch guns

For this purpose , hunters use bolt- action rifles , but often also a special catch gun (usually a large-caliber utility pistol or a revolver ), i.e. a handgun . The ammunition for a catch shot must ( according to the Federal Hunting Act ) have at least 200  joules of energy at the muzzle in order not to unnecessarily prolong the suffering of the animal (in Austria: at least 250 joules). This energy is indeed achieved by weaker cartridges, but it has been enforced in hunting practice to use stronger caliber of self-protection reasons for the hunter because just injured wild as an adult, male, wild boar (in the jargon boar called) very dangerous can be. These include calibers such as .38 Special (+ P), 9mm Para , .40 S&W , .45 ACP and .357 Magnum (300–750 Joule). In many federal states, the safe handling of a revolver, for example in the .357 magnum caliber or a pistol in the corresponding caliber, is part of the content of the hunter test .

Often projectiles with a high stopping effect such as hollow point structures are used; usually always bullets with high deformation and lower penetration. The hollow-point projectiles were banned until the introduction of the new weapons law on April 1, 2003, which is why soft, semi- jacketed projectiles were used, which also have a high stopping effect . The full-jacketed bullets that are often fired from pistols are less suitable, which is why hollow-point cartridges are becoming increasingly popular for hunting.

In trapping , in order not to cause excessive damage to the skin of the skin for fur extraction, and because of the small animals, small calibers such as .22 lr or 6.35 mm Browning are used. Shotgun cartridges for handguns can also be purchased for this purpose.

Controversy: Pros and Cons of Short and Long Guns as Catch Guns

The use of the handgun for the catch shot is not without controversy among the hunters. Attention is drawn to the increased danger that results from the short-barreled nature of the handguns, as well as the increased need for training. Furthermore, handguns for effective calibers have a dead weight of up to two kilograms. For these reasons, many hunters prefer the repeater , mostly in the form of a socket with a relatively short barrel, for the catch shot. Long gun ammunition exceeds the energy of handgun cartridges many times over , for example the 8 × 57 IS (3600–4100 joule) cartridge has about three to four times the energy of a powerful revolver cartridge.

For these reasons, the opposing side points out the danger of a short-range capture shot with long-weapon ammunition, which develops a fragmentation effect that is no longer controllable and creates a large danger area around the piece of game being shot - even in the direction of the shooter by rebounding projectile fragments.

Dog handlers and search specialists therefore often use lever action rifles in handgun calibers or, outside of Germany, forearm rifles (“pump guns”) with sentries . Both types of weapon are very easy to handle , have a low risk of "penetration" (overpenetration) and do not endanger the shooter or other hunters and dogs with a catch shot at close range.

Release of the catch shot

With hoofed game , the catch is usually fired on the carrier (neck) or the head (head), on the one hand to cause death quickly and in this way to spare the animal longer suffering, on the other hand to destroy as little game as possible .

Another possibility to finally kill injured game is to use cold weapons (for example when intercepting or nodding ). The use of cold weapons for this purpose is restricted because of the danger posed by injured game. Catching is preferred by dog ​​handlers to protect the hunting dogs during the hunt and is the only way for falconers to catch them . Since the nodding of hoofed game requires a lot of practice, it is usually no longer considered to be hunted .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rae Klaus Nieding and Andreas Lang: The catch shot in the focus of the law (accessed on November 30, 2009) ( Memento from February 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ [1] accessed March 13, 2016
  3. ↑ Hans Joachim Steinbach: Handgun - For the catch shot , Deutsche Jagdzeitung, (accessed November 30, 2009)
  4. ↑ Haseder p.268 Keyword leadership (2)

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