Stamping point 103 / Luchsstein

In 1893, a memorial stone was erected northwest of Lautenthal to commemorate the killing of the last Harz lynx.

On March 17, 1818, the rid­ing forester Speller­berg shot the last Harz lynx near Lau­t­en­thal. The event was pre­ced­ed by an eleven-day hunt involv­ing around 100 beat­ers and 80 hunters in two stages. The lynx had escaped at the end of Feb­ru­ary after sev­er­al days of stalk­ing and one missed shot. A good two weeks lat­er, the hunt­ing par­ty gath­ered again. The tracks of the big cat were dis­cov­ered in the snow near Lau­t­en­thal. Anoth­er dri­ven hunt was set up and the lynx, which had been star­tled by the beat­ers, was final­ly brought down. 

Ini­tial­ly, the stone stood at what was thought to be the site of the event. In the 1970s, the stone was moved to the near­by for­est path. 

From the start­ing point at the Stern­platz park­ing lot between Lau­t­en­thal and Seesen, you can reach the Luchsstein via a wide, sign­post­ed for­est path. In com­bi­na­tion with the Tränke­bach­hütte HWN 104 and the Lageswarte HWN 102, this makes for an inter­est­ing hike. 

Silhouette of trees and hills at night