Von Trapp Family Bans Hunting Near Lodge

The hills won’t be alive with the sound of gunfire this year.

At least not around the Trapp Family Lodge, home to the family who inspired the 1965 movie “The Sound of Music.” For the first time in its 35-year history, the ski lodge has banned hunting on 1,100 acres closest to it. The family left another 1,100 acres open to hunters.

“People have the perception it’s dangerous,” said Johanes von Trapp, general manager of the lodge and the youngest son of Maria von Trapp, the governess portrayed by Julie Andrews in the musical dramatizing the Austrian family’s flight from the Nazis prior to World War II.

However, no one can recall any tourists being killed by hunters at the Trapp Family Lodge.

The number of hunters has grown each year, and the fall hunting season now lasts until Dec. 15, around the time the lodge’s cross-country ski center opens.