Mehul,

I agree with you regarding the trophysize vs. a good hunt. I was just joking a bit about our scandinavian moose. They are much smaller than the ones found in NA. But just as fun to hunt and eat of course!

Our daughter is definatly a future hunter with both of us parents being hunters!

Erik D.

ErikD,

The size of a trophy does not detract from the pleasure of the hunt. If the stalk was a hard one and you managed successfully, it should count for a wonderful memory. A large trophy is a bonus like winning a lottery - it is thrilling when you win the Lotto but you cannot realistically expect it to happen, ever. In a hunt your effort is very often rewarded and that is what you need to celebrate.

I like the picture of your child before the trophy - another future hunter?

Good hunting!

We use a leashed dog. Or 2 dogs depending on the situation. The 1 extra dog will then be unleashed and trawl the area by itself while the hunting group (in our case 10 people) are in various positions ( we don't use many highseats) usual in a circular or semi circular formation. The size of the area will vary from 1 square kilometer to about 6 square kilometers. Depending on where your postition is, you might be on or right next to a road, or you might have to hike for an hour to get there. Therefore, radio communication is important, so that the leader and dog handler knows when every one is in place etc. Many times, a moose is observed and shot on the way to ones post, so walking quietly is important.

Our group consists of friends and nabours, plus an occational guest or 2.

The toughest part is naturally being the dog handler, as I was much of this season due to the dogs owner going thru a nasty spell of cancer in his upper thigh. We're all hoping he gets thru it OK since he's a real good guy and a good friend. The unleashed dog is let loose, and will try to find a scent by itself. If it does, she'll try to keep the moose in one position, enabling the handler to sneak up, or, if the moose keeps moving, one hopes that they will pass by one of the positioned hunters.

With the leashed dog, you basically zigzag thru the area until she picks up a fresh scent, which is followed. Hopefully this will push the moose past one of the hunters. I had one moose that the dog and I came upon in a very dence part of the forest. Visibility was about 4 meters. Just within my range of sight, a huge shadow suddenly jumped forward and ran off. It was so dense that even at only 4-5 meters I couldn't tell if it was a bull or cow! The wind was blowing towards me the dog and me, so she hadn't smelled it yet. At the mooses movement though she went beserk, and dragged me at a jogging pace thru the pines for about 20 minutes until we hit a road bleeding from all the scratches. The moose had crossed the road unobserved, and was lucky since I had to hold back. Nobody else was in that direction. Other times, when a moose is shot in such a situation, it's important to keep following the track until you come upon the carcass. The dog is then allowed to tug some fur from the moose as a reward.

It's interesting being the dog handler with a leashed dog, but one must realize that chances are next to zero that you yourself will get a shot. You have to rely on the other guys to do that part.



The reason for doing it as mentioned above is simply to be as efficient as possible. With 18 moose to shoot during a rather short time period, only stalking would be litterally impossible. We have considered this as an option for guests though which can be done in a seperate area of the forest while the regular stuff goes on elsewhere.



Erik D.