Mike, beliebe me, it was a Birkhahn... ;-)
But you are correct with The Bodenbalz!
In my case, the Professional Hunter who guided me, decided to take the
Hornet because of the distance....
Both, Auerhahn and Birkhahn can be hunted with Gun or Rifle.
Auerhahn is more complecated because you have to "jump" "anspringen" to the big bird as he is singing a special part of his "Song" and does not hear anything!
As with Birkhahn you have to be on the Balzplatz in time. This places are on the tree frontier (?) and often you have to cross snow covered mountain pines because it's only allowed to shoot Black Grouse only in May for 15 days.
In former times it was possible to hunt them on the plains, especially Moor. That was nice too but of course not at all exhausting....
Nevertheless, you have deep knowledges of the german kind of hunting!
Best Regards,
Wolfgang
