German rabbits or hares called "Hasen" are supersized; about double the size of our puny bunnies. On the other hand, German deer or "Rebock" grow to about half the stature of the white-tails back in Pennsylvania. Behind the 6901st barracks beyond the barbed wire fence was an orchard that sloped rapidly off to the east. The diminutive, but brazen Rebock enjoyed feasting on apples in the early morning. The Germans also boasted another larger breed they called "der Hirsch" (the stag).
Young Fehr was neither a hunter nor a successful fisherman probably because his dad had died when he was only six years and mom did not indulge. So it was strange that he joined the Rod and Gun Club. The Rod n Gun was only a block south of the barracks and thus a couple hundred yards closer to get a Parkbräu than to haul ass all the way over to the EM Club, or later, down to the NCO Club.
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Culled from distant conversations in the Rod n Gun are stories told to the new member about hunting in Germany. Not just any German national could obtain a weapon or a license to hunt. Due to a loophole built into the Status of Forces Agreement after the war, the victorious American GIs prudently claimed one spoil - they reserved the privilege of being put on a fast track to obtain a coveted permission to hunt. The hunting culture in Germany was quite distinct from the American experience of just buying a license, a firearm and then traipsing off into the bush, or that prerogative of an American farmer casually knocking off a white-tail casualty and racking it up for crop damage.
First, a "Jägermeister" or master hunter held dominion for hunting purposes over a large territory encompassing private lands. This aspect would never fly either in the states where private property rights reign supreme. Ain't nobody gonna tell me what I can or cannot shoot on my own land! Der Jägermeister knew every game animal in his territory, even each oversized "hasen." A hunter had to take an apprenticeship for many years including doing service as a game driver. The Jägermeister would try to trick a novice with gun safety situations or flunk an aspirant for merely rolling up his sleeves when field dressing a deer. A hunter doesn't roll up his sleeves; he is not a butcher! One must absorb the German hunting etiquette and culture.
The Jägermeister drew up an "Abschuss" plan or shooting plan to decide which and only which animal need be culled from the herd. The diseased buck, the one with malformed horns indicative of genetic defects, would be hunted to improve the herd. And only that one would be removed; not the deer with the grandest rack! It was very prestigious to be a hunter in Germany. Incidentally, there were never - well, maybe something like once in 50 years-- any incidents in Germany with hunters shooting other hunters - a departure from the wild west American mentality.