VIENNA’S
IMPERIAL HUNTING STORE
Joh. Springer’s Erben – Trophies and Hunting Trips
Austria
is known as one of the top hunting destinations on the globe, with
a special hunting tradition stretching back centuries. With strict
game management and hunting still on private lands, world record trophies
are still taken every year at the countries top estates. Hunting game
animals was once the sole province of kings and nobles. Until the Austrian
revolution in 1848, big game hunting in the rocky mountains and glens
of the Alps where mighty stags, wild boar and great horned mountain rams
roamed was the exclusive privilege of aristocrats. 
The great castles
and palaces of Europe are often filled with the trophies bagged by royalty.
The Emperor Franz Joseph and his nephew the Archduke Franz Ferdinand
(until he was bagged by a Serbian anarchist to begin WWI), were passionate
hunters. Even Emperors had to have someone to outfit their hunting adventures
and .in the imperial capital of Vienna, Johann Springer served the need.
Joh. Springer Erben was established in 1836, manufacturing custom rifles
and shotguns for the ruling families of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Joh. Springer company stopped making guns in 1955 and is now a retail
business, but is still an outfitter of European hunting trips,
It
certainly isn’t the largest gun store in the world, quite small
by western standards, but and the main store of Joh. Springer’s
Erben in Vienna on Josefsgasse may be one of the most enticing, a hunter’s
and gun collector’s wet dream. Between the walls of modern and
collectable guns which the Joh. Springer company offers for sale are
a collection of great animal trophies, a legacy of their worldwide base
of hunter customers, rather a zoo-like menagerie and everything for sale,
even the tiger (he's historical with his legal papers). Even if you're
not prepared to get your antique hand etched Joh. Springer
over-under through customs and home security, and just want to
take home an authentic Austrian
hunting hat, a scarf or
a tie, the Joh. Springer Erben
Handels
store
is worth
a stop, located around the corner from the Vienna Marriot (see Vienna
Marriott Stadtpark).
Hunting Trips
Should
a hunting excursion (Jagdreisen) be in your travel plans, Joh. Springer
arranges a
range of hunts in
Austria and nearby Croatia (see Trakoscan
Castle) and Czech Republic.
Whether once in a lifetime trophy hunt quest, a couple of days in the
country
on a vacation or business trip, hunting day trips can be organized including
hotel pick up service. The hunts take place exclusively on private hunting
grounds. Wild Boar, Red Stag, Alpine Ibex are the main attractions for
Austrian hunting. Winter weekend hunting packages including lodging,
licenses, dogs and gun loaders are offered in November and December,
Pheasants in the Czech Republic for €720 and Boar in Croatia
for €860 inclusive, both about 30 minutes across the Austrian border
from Vienna. But no more tiger hunting, sorry. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Joh.
Springer's Erben
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SEE ALSO:
VIENNA COSTUMED ORCHESTRA - MOZART CONCERT
THE KAISERGRUFT EMPEROR'S TOMB
VIENNA'S GIANT FERRIS WHEEL & THE THIRD MAN
GREICHENBEISL AND THE ZWOLF APOSTELKELLER
