Hunting, hunting and more hunting..
October 13th, 2011
Now it is finally rest day. We have been on various adventures for five days in a row, so now we’ll take a break for a few days. It is needed by both the dogs and their master. What have we found? There has been a really mixed bag: Roe deer, red deer, elk, fallow deer, wild boar. Exciting and fun.
Saturday: Invited by dog trainer and friend Andrei Timofejeff for a driven hunt in southern Scania. This hunting place has an opposite model that I can not stop admiring. Their little hunting lodge is served with breakfast for us dog handlers (!) So it’s a little strange that we sit and eat breakfast whilst the hunting members go through todays plans outside. You can truly notice their appreciation for us dog handlers and to be honest, without us the hunting wouldn’t be as successful. A battue which takes roughly 2 hours to cover and we are all assigned a specific area to cover. No “chain-drive” but we are entering from all directions in order to cover it thoroughly and make the game move. Nelly picks up track immediately and runs away with a bunch of deer while Diva finds what we suspect are wild boars. However, none of the game passes any shooters and this happens over and over again despite good work from the dogs. Luckily there are other talented dogs that present game elsewhere. When the day is over, there are a few fallow deer on the parade. The photo of the deer is from the hunting. We thank Andrej and everyone involved for an enjoyable hunt.
Sunday: Buddy hunting again with my hunting mentor Timo. We will “only” hunt possibly two battues that we didn’t have time to go through last week. Now, we wanted a dog with a short drive so it was Nelly who had to take on full responsibility. The battue “Vasa forest” is both loved and hated. It’s tough because it’s full of bushes and shrubs and now still with a lot of leaves. But I am, as known, a little crazy, so the more exciting for me as it usually holds wild boar. When all shooters are in place, I let Nelly off, and she picks up tracks instantly. From the barking I hear that she is not after wild boars and I get it confirmed on the radio by them telling us that there are red deers running out of the battue. 5 minutes later she is back and we go on again. Now she picks up fallow deers who fool us and slip out just behind us. Well, we’ve barely begun with the battue. A hundred meters later, Nelly picks up again and now I hear that there are wild boars. From the sound of her bark it has to be. She runs among these boars just in front of Timo who unfortunately did not get clean shot. The wild boar goes away, but not far. In this terrain, the wild boars have the odds on their side. Nelly loses some power in her search after the intensive encounter with the wild boars, and it takes 5 minutes before she is out on full search again. Now she picks up red deer again and I’m wondering where the wild boars are. At the same time a large boar chooses to leave the battue and Mikael gets him. After a while, we have contact again. I look at my gps and see that she stands completely still 70 meters away from me. I sneak in and see Nelly her pointing position to an uprooted tree. A branch brakes when I approach and wild boars go off again. A little frustrating but this is usually how it works here in this battue. Now, it takes a little while before anything happens. On the radio I hear deer going out, wild boars coming in etc. so there is much activity. Now I come up on a hill and I see Nelly stands 40 meters in front of me. She has only time to bark once before she makes a full turn and comes running towards me avoiding a charging wild boar. This pig is irritated and they come straight towards me. I raised the gun instinctively. A few meters ahead of me Nelly turns and I shoot. The shot is good and once the shot hit it Nelly turns and gives the now dead wild boar a bite.
Now, some strength and power has found Nelly and she is doing some really good work. She is barking at bay and I try to find a good position in the high grass but the next shot hits the wild boar in the gut. The reality is that we have some tracking ahead. Absolutely a fatal hit but still we need to track it down. We gather at the cars and I thank Nelly for a good job and now she can rest. Now we take Diva because she has the sharpness that may be needed for stopping a wounded wild boar during tracking. Timo goes with me and we can see plenty of blood, so we expect a dead search. The wild boar has gone over a large ditch and out of a pasture towards another forest. We have a little trouble with an angle that is just at a game track where they recently ran. So after reading Diva I choose to go back a bit on the track. Now it appears that she really got hold of the track and it feels that we are close. After 100 meters more the boar is found dead and it feels good. It was a quick death but it had still run 300 meters. The hunt is over and after a briefing with Timo and later with Anders it feels that even today have learned something.
Monday: Really bad weather so perfect to inspect some dens and then introduce some game for our little jagdterrier Affi. After having inspected a number of dens the foxes just appear to be missing it enough for today. I look for some hares to let Affi get her second hare ever. Its a little fun to hear her first barks while running after the scent. A call with the manager at Barsebäcks mansion says that they shot their first moose but it entered a battue he and asks if I want to take on the mission to track it down. Of course. I’m near. We arrive at the location and now it’s already dark. No direct shot location, no hair, no blood. Hmm. Well, Maja has just turned six months, clearly marks that she has something in her nose. We also see tracks from the hoofs. Nettles are cursed as I sting myself in both the face and hands. She uses her nose first in the wind and goes a little wrong, but then she is focused and tracks straight to the elk that are around 40 meter into the nettle jungle. The shot hit the liver. When we get there Maja is stiff as a stick, and lying down like a cat before its attack. Great fun to see her work in her first sharp tracking on moose. But we have really prepared ourselves for such scenarios. More on this later with pictures and video clips.
Tuesday: Moose hunting in northern Scania. Wet and soft are words. It’s tough to walk on the marshes. Completely new insight for the northern hunters who walk on the really big marshes. The dogs have a tough time as well. Especially Diva, marshland is not her terrain. Luckily, we reach the more arid areas, and then the drives start. Diva drives a moose going east, but beyond our reach. Timos Vilma drives a moose right to shooters but it gets suspicious. The wind is right for the shooter. So what happens? Well, there’s something that’s really important when you hunt. And that is to be quiet. RADIO DICIPLINE means do not talk unless you really have to. Elks with their ears big ara parabols are really sensitive to noise. Since it was forgotten “this time” the moose turns back and runs away. In the second last battue we get in contact with a “cow” and two calves which were not permitted this time. The shooters get some roe deer instead. In the last battue I let Maja run a bit with Diva because I consider that the game density is so small that it does her good to get a little run in the woods. The fina end and we are tired. But exciting though rough terrain. Thanks also here.
Wednesday: IInvited by Marko and Jan in Svalöv area. We have time for three battues and there are drives after drives. Calle his wachtelhound is familiar with the area and the dogs perform nice drives. Timo had Ville with him for the first time after the injury with the wild boar. But he can still perform. Multiple drives and Timo got to shoot thanks to Ville. Nelly ran around with a lot of deer. Diva ran nearly a marathon today and this was also rewarded by a shooter who shot a buck for her. A lot of roe deer in the battue and several were shot. We thank you for the mission, but now we are tired.
To rest …..