First weekend

Just came back from a superb weekend filming reindeer hunting here in Norway. Followed two brothers on their first time hunting theese magnificient animals. Both got lucky and shot their animals during theese two days.

First out was this great buck which should score for a CIC gold medal.





We only had one license for one big buck. The other license was for a smaller buck. Still a very nice animal.



The two brothers with their trophies!



I must say I'm very happy with the footage I got. I will put out some teasers as soon as I manage to edit. At home right now drying clothes, charging batteries and getting ready for another go tomorrow. This will be a busy month getting enough footage for a DVD.

Second weekend

My plan was to film during the week as well, but due to different other work I couldn't go. Stubberud and me went to the mountains in search for a simle (female) and two calfs this weekend. The weather wasn't great. Woke up on Saturday morning, complitely fogged in. It rained and was quite windy. After a while thunder and lighting struck around us with great force. In the middle of the day the fog suddenly lifted and what a sight that met our eyes. A small herd of reindeer was grazing only a 100 yards away. Stubberud shot a calf and the herd went away. While doing the gralloch, the female came back to look for her offspring and Stubberud took her cleanly as well. All captured on film. Here's a couple of snapshots.







On Sunday we tried to get the last calf. Unfortunatly the animals had moved out of this area. We only saw some big bucks. Most of the day was used to bring down the rest of the meat from Saturday.

30 th of August

Mr. G's brother Stian is also an experienced hunter, but he's actually never shot a reindeer. He wanted to do something about that, so on Tuesday we headed for the mountains. So far our filming and hunting has been in an area called Norefjell-Reinsjøfjell. But this time we went to Hardangervidda. Norways biggest wild reindeer area.

Stian looking for a herd of 300 +, that had been seen earlier in the morning. Here we have the beautiful mountain called Gaustatoppen (1883 meters above sea level) behind us.



No matter where and how much we glassed we couldn't find them. But after some hours Stian spotted 2 females and 2 calfes. We managed to get into position at a measured 69 meters. We were trying to get a calf from this little herd.



After a few minutes Stian got a good shot in, and the calf never moved.



Perfect situation. Perfect shot. Perfect day!
The 30 th was my birthday, and I couldn't have wished for a better gift.

5th of September

I've been out filming/hunting for four days now, and the conditions have been less than optimal. A lot of fog and changing winds have made it difficult. But yesterday we had a change of luck.
Mr. G's brother Stian and I had a succesful day. Only two hours into the hunt we stalked into a herd of appr. 50-60 animals. He was looking for a big buck. The fog came and went as we crawled into position 200 meters from the animals. We had to wait in position for several minutes (that seemed like hours) before the fog lifted enough for a clear shot. After the shot the buck followed the herd for 50 meters before piling up. What a nice buck!



This was Stians last tag. I recently bought an additional three tags (one female and two calfes), so I decided it was my turn if more animals should show up. Just as we were about to start the gralloching another (or the same?) herd came running towards us. I slipped in a round and crawled into position. This time Stian controlled the camera and managed to get decent footage. After three weeks behind camera it was actually nice to pull the trigger



Stay tuned

Well done mate.

Great pictures Anders! How old was the big one?

Do you ever wait for the antlers to colour up before hunting them? Or does the weather become too unpredictable then.

Congrats to the brothers, and to you with footage! Looking forward to see the DVD!



Nils-Ole

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Great pictures Anders! How old was the big one?

Do you ever wait for the antlers to colour up before hunting them? Or does the weather become too unpredictable then.

Not sure how old. I'm not good at aging them, and I haven't looked at the teeth yet. Would guess in the 8-10 year category.

We seldom wait for them to colour up. We hunt the bucks early in the season, to be sure that they're not into the rutting phase. In rut you can't use the meat. Some are still in velvet. Some have lost the velvet and are partially white, while others have coloured up nicely. The blood will eventually make the antlers brownish. Some hunters choose to colour them using caliumpermanganat.

Thanks guys!

Great bucks! cant wait to see the footage weidmannsheil to the lucky hunters!

Trying to put out some footage at the moment. Just not sure how to share on AR. Think I need to upload to youtube, then share it from there.

Just watched it on FB Anders.
Fine shots and great bucks!

Here's some footage, if I manage to get this uploading right

<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U5KN-ptot0M" height="345" width="420" />

That didn't work well. Okey, I surrender.
Here's the video on YouTube.

Any reason for using moderators out in the wilderness ?

Nice hunt ,enjoy the meat !

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Any reason for using moderators out in the wilderness ?

Nice hunt ,enjoy the meat !

Not really. The only reason I can think of is to protect your ears. Personally I would rather bring a couple of earplugs. One needs to save as much weight as possible

Wery nice Anders!!must get that film when it comes......

anders that first one is truely a beauty. Congratulations to the hunters.

Thanks guys!

John, hopefully it will be ready before end of 2011. So you can order it as a Christmas gift for yourself

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Any reason for using moderators out in the wilderness ?

Nice hunt ,enjoy the meat !

The reason for using moderators is seldom to prevent sound to reach the surrounding but to decrease recoil, increase precision and of course reduce harmful noise.

@ Goldeneye!

Totally agree, and it works perfect for me

Nils-Ole

Anders

Congratulations! The video "teaser" looks great, can't wait to see the whole film.

Glad the season started well for you

O

Anders,

Congrats on a successful hunt and a great teaser, looking forward to see the finished DVD.

Thanks Orvar and Jonathan!
Update from this weekend at top of the post

Very nice Anders!

So do we get a teaser for the second part as well?

Think I'll have to give this reindeer hunting a go, looks like a fantastic experience!

Congrats Nils-Ole!

Thanks Geir!

Nils-Ole

Maaaybe, Jonathan
Or maybe we need to save some material for the dvd

Another updated posted, guys!

Thanks for the update - those calves look tasty!

What carcass weights do the big bulls reach?

They sure are tasty!

Carcass weight of bulls vary a lot from area to area.
In Norefjell-Reinsjøfjell, which is one of the areas with the biggest reindeer in Norway, the normal weight for a big bull is 80-110 kilogram.

On Hardangervidda, 60-80 is more normal. Surely more than enough when you have to pack them out

Congratulatins Nils-Ole, a fine double you got your self there, and good eating as well

But it sure look wet!

Thank's Arild!

It was wet for sure, very wet!

The trail I used, crawling closer to the herd, had turned into a small stream.

@Anders Congrats! Way to go mate!

Nils-Ole