Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Photos from Finland as requested

As requested in another thread, here's some personal hunting photos from Finland. Most of the time I've been to lazy or too excited to take pictures when hunting so this is pretty much what I've got at the moment. Also, apologies for the quality. Many photos were taken with an old 3.2Mpix Sony DSC-P32 or my Nokia 6630 cell phone camera. So there's really no quantity nor quality, but it's still better than nothing, right?

Just in case someone cares, the following is a copy & paste from the Finnish official hunting website (www.riista.fi) :

Finland is about 1 200 km long and 600 km wide. Finland�s area is 338,145 km2, 69% of which is made up of forests, 8% of farmland, 13% of other land and 10% of water. While most of the country�s forests are part of the coniferous forest zone, those in the southernmost part belong to the deciduous zone, and in the north to the tundra zone.

Finland features countless bodies of water, 188 000 of which are lakes. The archipelagos off the coast of Finland are beautiful, and the islands numerous. There are 81 000 islands altogether in the archipelagos of the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia.

Finland�s northern location and length mean that the living conditions of game vary greatly in the different regions of the country. Only relatively few game animal species can endure the rugged landscape and severe winters. The game densities are much smaller than, for example, in Central Europe. There is great variation at regular intervals, especially in the population densities of small game species.

The main game species are the capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse, willow grouse, northern hare, brown hare, moose and white-tailed deer and, among waterfowl, the mallard. Fur game include the fox, racoon dog, badger, mink, beaver, muskrat and pine marten. Bears, wolves and lynx belong to large predators.

There are around 300 000 hunters in Finland who pay the annual game management fee (i.e. hunting card). Women make up three percent of this number. A total of six percent of the population of Finland hold a hunting card, which is more than anywhere else in Europe when compared to the size of the population.



First time hunting waterfowl in the Finnish Gulf:




Hunting trip to Taivalkoski with some spaniel owners and a couple of my personal friends:











Pheasant hunting on a nearby farm, two seasons:

[img]http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/9572/pheasant8yz2.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/5908/pheasant7ki5.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8888/pheasant6rh9.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/17/pheasant5ds7.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2436/pheasant4ty6.th.jpg[/img]

( wife does 90% of the training, I do 90% of the shooting. I'm happy with that)

[img]http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/1885/pheasant3zy1.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/4357/pheasant2cs8.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4121/pheasant1gm5.th.jpg[/img]

Meltaus, Northern Finland in October 2006. We went for a grouse hunt but stumbled upon some mallards.

[img]http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/4057/meltaus7pm2.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/1236/meltaus6gv3.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/9992/meltaus5lz4.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/6405/meltaus4fi5.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/1935/meltaus3xb1.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6913/meltaus2wx7.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5460/meltaus1zm2.th.jpg[/img]

These pictures were taken just early this week, I was helping out a friend. They raise pheasants on this farm and foxes are giving them a hard time. There's a stand where I spent almost two nights shivering. It's always warm when you start and damn cold when you finish, especially when you can't really move around. My bad.

[img]http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/8792/foxfield1dx7.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9086/foxfield2wl4.th.jpg[/img]

I also took a quick shot in a treestand at another spot, but I didn't feel lucky over there, having no carrion like there was on the other field. Nevertheless, the foxes were being careful and I went home empty handed aside from observing a white-tail and a pair of moose. I'll give it another go late July / early August once the cubs have left their nests.

BTW -- the pictures below were taken around 11pm. It's the midnight sun of the Finnish midsummer. Got to love it.

[img]http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9964/foxfield8we4.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4846/foxfield7si6.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/8722/foxfield6lc4.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/4602/foxfield5wr9.th.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8061/foxfield4hf9.th.jpg[/img]

Thanks for posting!

Have you taken any big game there?

Great pictures. Good looking hounds and beautiful area. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the pics.

Some parts of your country look just like some of the flatter parts of British Columbia (my province) in Canada.

Tell me about the intro of the White Tailed deer and the effect it's had on things if you can - I'm curious.

That is some BEAUTIFUL country! Thanks for sharing! I have always dreamed of hunting forest as pretty as that.

Thanks for the comments!

SU35,

This is supposed to be my first big game season. The thing is, moose and deer permits go to hunting clubs (associations) and you're typically invited to join only if you own land in the hunting area or if you've got friends in the club. Our family lands, what little there are, are located 300 miles away and I haven't bothered to ask if I could join the local club over there. Moose hunting (a highly organized form of group hunting) starts on the last Saturday of September and continues until 15th of December. There's a fixed amount of moose permits which should basically all be used and in the worst case that would mean driving back and forth every weekend for two and half months for a total of 6000 miles. Also, I'm fairly sure that if you don't participate in moose hunting, it's a no-go for stalking whitetail on your own.

Luckily, a friend I met in army reserve sniper training invited me to a group who hunt moose no more than 30 miles from here. They need good shooters but they're asking me so average must be acceptable.

Brian,

I'll get back to you on that whitetail issue. Got to do some reading myself, but I'll gladly do it .

You mean these guys?









lewis

Very interesting. I have done a good bit of hunting in Europe & plan to return. I believe a booking agent was recently discussing moose hunting in Sweden & advised they were called elk & hunted with dogs. Antler size wasn't great but the hunt sounded exciting. European hunting is a totally different culture. Its hard to get used to your guide wearing a suit & tie. They,of course laugh at my redneck speech & at shooting one fleeing animal in the arse.

ruistola,

Finland has a reputation for producing excellent snipers so no doubt your in amoung some of the best around.

Those guys look like Finnish army conscripts (no rank insignia, short haircuts and a strict training formation) rather than reservists. Long story short, reservist training is a lot more relaxed than what appears in the pictures.

ObNote: Apart from the odd TRG-21 or -41, the type of rifle in the pictures is the sniper rifle model 85. It's a rebarreled Mosin Nagant action fitted into the new stock with a bedding block. It shoots the 7,62x54R loaded with a 200gr FMJ. Good for some 1 MOA+ and "minute of person" - accuracy up to 7-800 yards. We've also got some Dragunovs, TRG-42s and a couple of Barrets. Also, should our independence ever become threatened, there's around 1,8 million legal firearms in personal possession (with a population of 5,3 million people) , ranging from .222Rem to .50BMG...

Brian,

Whitetail were introduced to Finland in 1934 when some Finns in Minnesota sent a batch our way. A buck and four does survived the journey and were released at the Laukko mansion grounds. Apparently four more fawns were sent in 1948-1949 by airplane. Two of them died before they could be released and the remaining two didn't really matter as the original deers were already settled and the base was growing in numbers. Some estimates:

1948 : 100
1962 : 1000
1966 : 2500
late 70's - 2000's : around 25 000, stable

They were first hunted in 1970. Currently whitetails inhabit mostly the Southern & Southwestern Finland, probably due to the milder winters. I find no indication of any ill effects due to the introduction of whitetail in Finland, quite the opposite in fact as they've become our second most hunted big game species. Roe deer are less in numbers but doing well.

Welcome to the Campfire & thanks for posting the pictures. It's sure interesting to see what you're hunting over there, so keep 'em coming.. I grew up in NW Wisconsin in a small town with lots Finnish influences, including the name of the town, Oulu..

Some info. on your equipment would be interesting, as well. Rifle brand, optics, ammunition, reloaded or factory ammunition, etc. Sako rifles, Lapua brass and VIhta Vuori powders have a good following here in the USA, so your choices are of interest.

I wonder if they have a reputation for being deaf too? Those guys need some earplugs.

Brent

thank you so much for your photos and words.
finns universally seem to get excellent idiomatic english instruction.
finland remains one of the three countries i most want to visit some day. the other two are scotland and ireland.

Laying around in a circle aiming guns at each other, I suspect they are dry firing, or I hope so....

You're joking right?

I think it's very obvious they are just getting their equipment ready and maybe doing some dry firing. They sure are not at the range.

Love the pictures, thanks for sharing them!

Once again, thanks for all the comments. On equipment:

* Toz M8 .22LR single shot bolt action. Manufactured late 60's. Lapua Standard Club ammunition is good for 1-1,5 MOA (150yd) . Fitted with a Bushnell Banner 6-24x40 mildot for less-than-serious .22LR sniper competitions and getting cheap trigger time at the range.

* Monte Carlo side-by-side 12/70. Manufactured in 70's IIRC. My go-to shotgun. Maybe I'll buy a pump action for hunting at sea later but currently I feel just fine with a SBS.

* Weatherby Vanguard in 30-06. Fitted with a two-part Picatinny rail and Sako Optilocks. This is my go-to / carry rifle, still missing dedicated all-rounder optics. (S&B 1,5-6x Zenith Flashdot , perhaps?) I've been using factory ammunition so far.

* Jyri Jalonen custom action #1, heavy 27�" 6.5-284 Lothar Walther barrel, Lauronen Varmint Laminate stock, Versapod & Optilocks. Often found with IOR 2,5-10x42 MP8 / IL , FFP reticle and 0,1 mrad clicks but it's currently fitted on the Vanguard.

* Jyri Jalonen custom action #2, Sako TRG-42 profile 27�" .338 Lapua Magnum Lothar Walther barrel with threads for a muzzle brake / silencer (currently has a brake), uses Sako TRG-42 magazines.
Custom stock fit for my measurements still work-in-progress by stockbuilder A. Valonen ( he manufactures prototypes for Sako, among other things ). This gun is missing a dedicated tactical scope, I'm thinking S&B PMII (L/P DT ?) 3-12x50 or 3-12x56 FF Hensoldt. They both have their merits and the jury's still out on that one.

* Norinco 1911 .45ACP just for sh*ts and giggles. Because a) everyone needs to own at least one 1911 and because b) everyone needs to own at least one .45ACP.

For my target rifles I use exclusively Lapua brass, Vihtavuori powders ( currently N560 but planning on testing N165 and N570 ) and heavy-for-caliber Lapua Scenars. This is pretty much a logistics issue for me, nothing more. Whether it's optics, rifles, or ammunition, I always look at the results, not place of manufacture. As long as Finnish components work for me and I have easy access to them, I will keep using them.