Deer catcher
The hunting gun or the hunter's side gun is a stabbing weapon around 30 to 40 cm long that is used for hunting . The deer catcher is similar to the drunkard .
history
Historically, the deer catcher was used to intercept deer hunted by parforce . It is considered the weapon of honor for the deer-friendly hunter. The hunting rapier developed from the hunting sword , but is shorter than this. In the beginning it was used purely for hunting and later to this day only worn for representation and as a uniform component , this is also reflected in its various designs. The development began with the “iron hunter catcher” and shows two forms: the German hunter catcher with handle and the slightly shorter, French one without handle. The blade was sharpened on both sides, later only on the tip. While hunting swords , hunting swords and hunting sabers were historically mainly used by horses, the hunter was only used on foot. From the Baroque onwards, the craftsmen increasingly replaced the iron parts of the vessel, which were not shiny for practical hunting, with brass or silver parts, some of which were gold-plated. Stag horn and occasionally ivory could also be used as material for the handle. In the Rococo , the hunter's catch - with elaborately crafted vessels - was often a representative part of clothing. Incidentally, deer hunters are now only part of hunting and forest uniforms.
Hirsch catcher with ivory handle, 1672 to 1678
1750s
Blade with engravings, 1750s
Mid 19th century
German specimen with knife, 1890s
application
Due to the length of the blade or heavier can larger with the hunting knife, bowl game , especially red , fallow deer , but also wild boars are intercepted. With a prick from the front in the heart, the hunter killed the animal that was caught and / or wounded. Endangering the dog from another shot was thus avoided. The hunting catcher is carried on the left side of the body in a weir hanger. On the outside of the leather sheath there is a small hunting knife, the knicker or neck catcher. The hunting hunter is rarely used today, and hunters are not trained for it. In the hunting operation, for today kill shot in the Nachsuche usually handguns ( pistols and revolvers ) with appropriate ammunition calibers used.
Many practitioners reject the hunting knife in its classic form: In principle, the weapon is suitable for interception due to its design, but the (too) narrow blade, which has too little potential for injury in the chest, heart, lungs and large blood vessels, is criticized to ensure the animal dies as quickly as possible. For the same reason, bayonets are also rejected as "hunting substitutes".
A modern interception knife has a blade that is over eight inches long, strikingly wide and is symmetrically ground with two edges. The so-called leaf catch is carried out .
A Abfangmesser for small game and small game is the nicker .
Hunter battalions sometimes also used hunting weapons as a military edged weapon .
literature
- Gerhard Seifert, Der Hirschfänger , Schwäbisch Hall, 1973, Journal-Verlag
- Martin Stiegler, European hunting catcher , Berching, 1994
- Rolf Selzer, The early royal Saxon infantry fascine knife M / 1845 , 2006 online PDF
- Ilse Haseder , Gerhard Stinglwagner : Knaurs Großes Jagdlexikon , Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-1579-5
- Herbert H. Westphal, Hirschfänger - On the historical development of hunting sidearms, private print, 931 pages (book on demand) Berlin and Horn Bad Meinberg 2015
Web links
- Deer catcher in the "German Historical Museum"
- Board of Trustees for the Promotion of Historical Weapons Collections: Hirschfänger