A few years ago hubby and I had planned to visit the Jagd und Hund Messe. We had taken Friday off and planned to make the 3 hour drive in the morning and come home the same evening, The evening before the weather forecast was looking grim. Despite lovely weather that we were enjoying the weather overnight was to turn icy and frigid with heavy snow and ice. We Briefly considered staying home, and then we had an Idea… what if we left after work and booked a hotel? I did a quick search found a reasonable priced hotel and packed a bag in a hurry. We arrived in Dortmund well before the nasty weather and had a nice evening and dinner out. The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, checked out and headed to the expo. Jagd und Hund is the largest hunting expo in all of Europe. 7 halls of Hunting goodies. Everything you need and lots of things you don’t. This turned into a tradition… the next year we planned right away to book a hotel… Now several years later, we have booked the Hotel from Wednesday to Friday.
This year we left Friday morning after the kids were out of the house and got on the road. We were in Dortmund by noon, and the very nice people at the Hotel Unique allowed us to park the car in their hotel parking. We jumped on the underground and headed to the expo. Our plan was to spend 2 or 3 days at the Expo. We generally window shop the first day and then go back after sleeping on the thoughts to buy anything we still want. Generally I can save the cost of the 2nd day of tickets by talking myself out of buying things I don’t really need.
This year my focus was on 2 primary things new binoculars and a new rifle. I’ll share more about those topics in a later post.
All in all the Expo was precisely what is to be expected. Lots of food themed around Hunting and wild game. All the big hunting department stores are represented with large stands of various items. Most of the gun makers are also there to share information about their new products and what not. And lots of companies trying to sell hunts all over the world.
All in all it was a lovely couple of days and we enjoyed ourselves. I did find it slightly disappointing that a lot of the smaller shops seemed to be missing this year. The large companies with the big brand names were well represented, but the smaller clothing companies (who actually carried hunting clothes to fit girls that have curves). Seemed to be missing. Perhaps we missed a hall.
Another highlight of the expo are the stage shows, everything from cooking, to hunting dog showcases, falconry, hunting horn demonstrations… it all adds to the feeling of community in the hunting world. It’s a great alternative to hunting for the weekend and we thoroughly enjoy the event every year.
Keep watch over the next weeks, and I will share details of what I bought. Challenges finding a rifle and the best deal I got at the show. Hope you come back to read more.
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