Australian Hunter

Archduke Franz Ferdinand his assassination started WWI but he was also a keen hunter

There is a story that is still told today by the hunters of Carinthia (the eastern Alps of southern Austria), lovers of the Pirsch (deerstalking). It is the tale of a legendary trophy, a great pale grey chamois, stuffed and shown in the Salzburg Haus der Natur (Museum). It is said that this beast was, like all white game, marked with the seal of invisibility, protected by the Salinge Frau (wild or white alpine woman), who lives on the slopes of the Austrian Alps.

This exceptional chamois was killed on August 27, 1913, by one of the most famous hunters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Archduke Franz Ferdinand von Osterreich-Este, born in Graz on December 18, 1863. But woe unto him who touched the white game! Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie died less than a year later, courtesy of the bullets

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