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| Beaverhunting in Norway |
| 2010-06-28 |
The quest for the beaver-trophy in Finnskogen....
Friday April 23rd.
Finally I am at the airport to check in my luggage for the long awaited Beaverhunt with Novahunt just next to the swedish border in Finnskogen.
The flight from Frankfurt is on time and I arrive in Oslo-Gardamoen at 13:25. I need to hurry up as my train to Hamar leaves at 14:05. My Winchester Model 700 in .243 win. still needs to go through customs. Here I want to mention that I never went into any other country bringing a firearm, with that little problems. I had to fill in a form and show my weapons permit, which in total took less than 5 minutes.
Arriving at Hamar trainstation, I meet Mona. She will be my hostess in the following days and brings me deep into Finnskogen into an old renewed farmhouse that is absolutely stunning. There I meet my collegues Marcel and Dan-Eirik. MaxHunt and his filmteam are also present. Before dinner we meet our hunting guides Knut and Bertil.
The plan for the next morning is to post on a little river where the guides have found a lot of beaver action in the past days. Marcel, MaxHunt and me will be shooting and get a cameraman each.
Saturday April 24th.
At 04:00 am. we wake up and are all ready to go at 04:15 am and leave for the hunting area. After a 25 minute drive I jump out of the car with my cameraman and take my post. I can see plenty of felled birchtrees, the beavers have done an amazing job at. It is freezing cold and I am happy to have a traditional reindeerskin to sit on, which keeps me warm from below.
The mating season of the black grouse and the caipercaillie is at its peak during this time of the year, so we can hear the birds everywhere.
Unfortunately we do not see any beaver this morning and come back to our Lodge, where a delicious breakfast is waiting.
During the day we catch up some sleep we lost while sitting on reindeerskins arround the campfire the night before. It is always fascinating how much hunters have to tell to each other. We take a late lunch, where mooseburgers with bacon are being served. For sure the best burgers I have ever tasted. Maybe the fact that they were cooked on the open fire made the difference.
In the evening we go out again and everyone takes their stand. In the background we hear the Capercaille and Black Grouse singing their mating melody. Suddenly I hear some noise behind me and see a huge Moose-Cow feeding just 20 meters from us. It was an experience of a lifetime seeing this big and majestic animal so close. Unfortunately, I did not see any beaver this evening but my hunting friend Marcel had seen a beaver just 3 meters in front of him as he came up in the river, but when trying to get the rifle up, spooked the animal.
Arriving back at the Lodge, we are served an outstanding dinner, with ingredients out of the forest and the sea. After sharing some of our hunting experiences again, we all fall into our beds happily as we know that the alarm clock will ring at 04:00 am. again.
Sunday April 25th.
We are up and going by 04:20 this morning and looking forward to a sunny hunting morning. It is however ice cold and everyone is happy to have the reindeerskins with them as they keep you warm really well when sitting on it.
On the way to the post, I can see a Capercaille and several Black Grouse sitting on the fields while performing their mating rituals. When we get out of the car, we really feel the cold and decide to put on some more jackets to keep us warm.
When I get to my stand, I really see that there was a lot of beaver movement in this area, as many birch trees were freshly felled by the animals. After 30 minutes I suddenly see a movement on the left. There is a beaver sitting in the water just 15 meters away from me. I tell the cameraman where it is so he can film my shot. When he gives me the ok, I take aim a little below the back of the beaver and let the .243 win. speak. Already in the shot I see, that the bullet hit way too low, meaning that there was about a meter of water in front of the animal. After a moment of frustration having missed that shot, I think about how this could happen. As tought so many times during my hunting license, I did not aim a little higher on a short distance like this to compensate the difference between the scope and the barrel.
My hunting friends had again seen beaver but did not have the chance to take a shot. Back at the lodge we again have an awesome breakfast and are happy to take a nap after eating again.
In the evening we go for our last hunt of this hunting trip. I decide to take the post from this morning again as I hoped that the beaver would come back again. We can again see Black Grouse and Capercailles during their mating rituals but however can not see any beaver. My two hunting friends had again seen some beavers but just could not shoot one. To give an absolute stab in to our „experienced hunters“ heart, a 14 year old norwegian boy shot a beaver right next to us that evening. Of course we were happy for this young fellow as it was his first animal he shot and his smile was bigger than anybody could imagine.
Overall we had an awesome trip, with a lot of animals seen but we just had bad luck or in my case bad skills in being able to take one. I would have never thought, that hunting a beaver can be that demanding as they really see and smell very well. We will definitely try again as we all would love to take a beaver trophy home with us.
If you would like to go on a beaver hunt in Norway, please contact us here, we have many interesting areas available for our customers.
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