First Beaver! =)

For the last three hunting seasons I have desperately been trying to get my first beaver, I have came close and had the cross-hairs on them but just never had the opportunity to pull the trigger.

A good friend of mine, Jon-Anders who has already shot several beaver invited me up to his parents cabin in Finnskogen with the hope of trying to get me my first beaver. We drove up on the Friday morning and with the intention to do some scouting early afternoon and then hunt in the evening. For the scouting we headed straight to an area where the beavers had previously built a dam, upon arrival the damage to the trees was unbelievable, they were literally destroying the place with birch trees laying in all directions.

A panoramic photo showing the damage!

Scouting trip over we decided to return to this area and post overlooking the beaver dam close to some chewed branches from the beaver, unfortunately that evening was a no show and we didn't see any activity. We returned to the cabin and over a couple of beers decided to do a long scouting trip the following day and walk the whole stretch of river we were permitted to hunt.

Awoken early the next day and after a hearty breakfast we got ready and made our way to the lower end of the river, immediately we saw beaver sign but unfortunately nothing fresh, after countless more sign and a few kilometres we eventually located a great area with some very fresh chewing and lots of tree damage. We marked the area and continued up the river to the very limit of the terrain, although still lots of beaver sign there was nothing fresh. We both knew the place we identified earlier was the hot spot so headed back and marked the spot and the entrance from the road to make finding it easier later in the evening. Excited for the evening hunt we headed home to a fantastic moose steak dinner, the perfect fuel for an evening beaver hunt :-)

That evening we headed out about 18:30 and arrived at the area about 18:45, carefully and quietly we stalked into the river making sure not to potentially scare any beaver which may already be there, nothing was seen so we unpacked and got everything ready for the hunt. We had been sitting there barely half an hour when Jon Anders spotted something coming down in the rapids on the left hand side of the river, at first we were both convinced it was a log but then it suddenly made an erratic movement to the right and we could see it was a beaver. I immediately went prone and rested my rifle on some small birch trees felled by the beaver, I watched the beaver in my scope and waited for it to present a good shot, slowly it began swimming towards the area where we spotted the freshly chewed branches but then as it seemed it was going to climb out the water, it stopped and turned round and looked back towards myself and Jon Anders, we were both totally silent and the wind was perfect so there was no way it could have detected us. After what seemed like a lifetime, the beaver made its way to the rivers edge and slowly started to climb out, I waited for it to get clear out of the water and then placed the cross-hairs right behind the shoulder and took the shot. The beaver flopped forward to the shot and then lay motionless, my first beaver lay dead 40 meters away with a perfectly placed shot from my Tikka T3 Varmint in 6.5x55.

Gun made safe we both ran over to recover the beaver and upon arrival found it dead at the waters edge with a perfect shot tucked right behind the leg and to the center of the chest, I lifted it from the waters edge and placed it on a large rock for some photo's.

The beaver laid out and the shooting position by the small fallen trees in the background.

Yours truly! A Happy Hunter =)

And now the moment you've all been waiting for, some footage from my Contour Roam action camera, unfortunately there is no zoom so there is no close ups but I've tried the best I can to zoom in using some editing software.

Watch in High Definition (1080P) for the best viewing experience! =)

For the beaver hunt I was using my 6.5x55 Tikka T3 Varmint with home rolled Sierra 85 grain Varmint bullets and a velocity of 1000m/s, these do not exit the beaver and ensure the pelt is good for tanning.

Here is a pic of the ammunition, I use them for both beaver and fox.

Caliber 6.5x55 - 85 grain Sierra Varmint - Velocity 1000 m/s

The beaver was a young animal probably about 2 years old and weighed 15-16KG. I have skinned the beaver and this will be sent off for tanning and turned into a nice rug, the skull will be boiled out, bleached and mounted, I will post some pics when it is finished.

A BIG thank you to Jon Anders for making this trip possible and helping me get my first beaver, a memory I will never forget.

Large Game Shooting Test ..... Taken & Passed! =)

Our local rifle range opened on Monday so myself and my friend Jon Anders made the trip after work to check our rifles before our planned hunting trip to Sweden for wild boar, (information and pic's will follow after the trip!). I had previously sighted my rifle in with Prvi Partizan FMJ so I needed to make some adjustments to suit my hunting load of 200 grain home rolled Lapua Mega, as it turned I was only shooting a couple of centimeters out so the adjustments were quick and easy allowing me to sight in my rifle with 3 shots. Whilst at the range I noticed the hunters large game shooting test was available to take and as I had plenty of ammunition left after the quick zeroing session, I paid the fee and made my way to the shooting stand. To pass the shooting test you have to get five shots in the kill area of a animal shaped target at 100 meters, my target was a reindeer, there are no markings on the target to show the kill zone and you cant see your results till after all 5 shots have been taken. I loaded up my Sauer 202 Classic XT with 5 rounds and took my sitting position to take he test, you are permitted to do it lying prone, sitting or standing.

Five shots later, here are the results:

As you can see my shots are slightly to the right, this is because the kill zone is centered around the front shoulder and I like to shoot just behind the front legs to avoid destroying the shoulder, it's not my best group but it's not bad either and as it's a pass, it's one less thing to worry about before the start of this years hunting season.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for a report on my Wild Boar Hunt in Sweden at the end of the month. 

First Adder 2013

Whilst scouting for fresh beaver sign with a friend we stumbled across this little guy just laying out in the open. It was a cold evening and there was still ice on the lake with snow in places so he wasn't very active and just lay there hissing so I took the opportunity to get a couple of pics on my iPhone.

Second Shooting Competition

Met my friend Jon-Anders and a friend of his Eilert at Frogn Hunting & Fishing club's shooting range today to participate in my second shooting competition ('jaktfelt' in Norwegian). The weather was overcast upon arrival but conditions were wet and icy due to heavy rain the previous days, luckily for us though the rain held off during the shooting competition.

For the competition I was using my Sauer 202 Classic XT in 30-06 with my A-Tec Maxim Sound Moderator, for ammunition I was using Prvi Partizan (PPU) 150grain FMJ, really cheap ammunition but they perform very well in my rifle shooting into an inch at 100 meters.

Below are some pictures of the targets used during the competition, these are not the targets I shot at, just examples for the shooters to familiarise themselves with before the competition.

Stage 1 was a badger at 73 meters and was a sitting stage, here I scored 5 hits all of which were inside the bulls-eye giving me a score of 25 from 25 :-) great start!

Stage 2 was a roe buck at 150 meters and was also a sitting stage, on this post I scored 5 hits of which four were in the bulls-eye so a score of 23 from 25.

Stage 3 was a fox at 85 meters and this was a standing stage, here things went down hill and I pulled a couple of shots, only getting 3 shots in the target area and only 2 shots in the bulls-eye for a score of 13 from 25.

Stage 4 was a squirrel at 50 meters and sitting, here I again got 5 shots all in the bulls-eye for a score of 25 from 25.

Stage 5 was a crow at 40 meters and this was another standing stage, here I improved greatly on my previous standing stage and scored 5 shots in the target with 4 in the bulls-eye for a score of 23 from 25

Stage 6 the final stage was a wolverine at 80 meters sitting, here I scored 5 hits with 4 in the bulls-eye again for a score of 23 from 25.

This brought my total for the event to 132 from a possible 150 and placed me in 2nd place from 41 participants shooting within my class, so a great result :-) My friend Jon-Anders placed 8th and Eilert came in at 10th.

I have won a prize for my result so will post a pic up of this as soon as I receive it :-)

Thanks for reading!

Great Knife..... Eka SwingBlade

I have been using the Eka SwingBlade for three years now and I can honestly say it is one of the best buys I have ever made. The knife incorporates a gut-hook and you can simply switch between the knife blade and the gut-hook with the press of a button. The addition of the gut-hook prevents you taking an extra tool into the field and although you can use a knife to cut open the animal when field dressing/ gralloching, the gut-hook blade with a blunt tip reduces greatly the risk of puncturing the stomach and causing the contents to spill out. The gut-hook is also great when skinning, a small incision allows you to enter the tip of the hook under the skin and then slide it down under the skin making long effortless cuts and due to the blade cutting from the skin out, you are not slicing hairs and covering the exposed meat with hair.

I have now skinned dozens of animals with the Eka SwingBlade and it's always the first knife I reach for. The handle is very comfortable in the hand and the rubberised grip doesn't slip when wet or covered in blood, the moulded index finger groove on the handle also helps to hold the knife in the hand away from the blade.

The Blade is made of Sandvik 12C27 steel which holds a good edge for a long time, I also found it easy to re-sharpen.

The knife retails in Norway for approx. 350 NOK (£40 or $60) and come in a variety of colours.

Eka SwingBlade:

Blade length: 100 / 80 mm

Total length: 215 mm
Blade thickness: 2.9 mm
Handle: PROFLEX™
Total weight: 134 gram
 

 

 

Images from Eka website: http://www.eka-knivar.se/en