At the 79th State Hunter Day of the Lower Austria Hunting Association, the general assembly chose the previous board of directors Christoph Metzker with 99 % as the new state hunter of Lower Austria. He follows Josef Pröll, whose 13-year term and commitment by LH deputy Stephan Pernkopf was recognized in a laudation. Mistelbach’s Deputy moves to the board. District hunter Andreas Berger. After his election, the new state hunter Christoph Metzker excluded the life of 2025, which is intended to show and honor the achievements of the hunters for game and habitat. For the musical accompaniment in Moment In Litschau, the hunting horn players of the hunter round Groß Siegharts made.
Deepen cooperation, sharpen voice for hunting and strengthen young forces
“For me, hunting is more than just the territory. It is about responsibility, cooperation and about making our work visible on the outside,” emphasizes the new state hunter Christoph Metzker. He is particularly concerned with the structure of young officials: “Youth is the future of hunting. We have to transfer and enable them to help them.” At the same time, Metzker wants to intensify cooperation with partners- from agriculture and forestry to communities to science: “We only manage the challenges of our time together. The Lower Austria hunting association will actively approach partners, promote and build dialogue- in the sense of our motto ‘obliged to wild’.” In addition, the performance of the hunters should become more visible. “We take responsibility for nature, game and habitats. We have to confidently show that with clear communication and topic leadership with everything that affects nature,” says Metzker.
Habitat price 2025: proud to show what has been achieved
In order to combine these three areas and to get the services of the hunters in front of the curtain, to distinguish the best projects and to learn from each other, the Lower Austria Hunting Association expresses the life of 2025. “This shows how diverse, responsible, responsible and future-oriented hunting acting today, be it biotope networking, protection of endangered wildlife, hunting educational work or the coexistence of hunting, agriculture and forestry and leisure use. We want to make projects visible that have an exemplary character, and show what craft is hunting, because one thing is clear: hunting needs more than ever!”
The life of 2025 is a result from the Catalog of measures of the focus “Future.LEISTRAUM”. Hunters, hunters in Lower Austria and project partnerships of hunting with other natural user groups or schools can participate. September 15, 2025 is submitted. Subsequently, an independent jury of specialist jury selects 5-10 projects for the final round, in which the public votes on the best three projects as part of an audience election. The life of 2025 is endowed with a total of 4,500 euros.
Laudatio: extraordinary commitment to hunting
Already in the committee meeting on April 22, 2025, Josef Pröll announced his resignation as Lower Austria’s state hunter. In his laudation, LH deputy Stephan Pernkopf emphasized the achievements of Josef Pröll in his 13-year term and appreciated his commitment to hunting in Lower Austria: “The hunt is not only lived, it fulfills above all important tasks for the cultural and natural landscape of our homeland, the wildlife and thus also for the generality. Strong, self -confident advocacy, which is committed to optimal framework conditions. Stephan Pernkopf thanked for the constructive cooperation on behalf of the state of Lower Austria.
As a gift, the Presidium of the Lower Austrian Hunting Association presented the highest award of the Lower Austria Hunting Association, honorary membership and the honor in gold.
In his last hunting policy speech, Josef Pröll emphasized that the Lower Austria hunting association is modernly positioned in the structures, internal and external communication or in the numerous projects for wildlife and habitats. Last but not least, the performance of the hunters, which in the current Annual report of the Lower Austria Hunting Association: “We were able to increase the members to over 37,000 and the proportion of women to 11 percent. They are ambassadors, tackers and craftsmen for hunting and an important lever when we implement the measures from the focus’ future.
More pictures are on the Website of the Lower Austria Hunting Association available.