Sako: It is the exit wound you see. I was above and behind it when I shot.



Deerdogs: Not an animal we eat here in Sweden, almost as eating fox... The poores crofters cooked them back in the old days. The fur is very nice and the fat can be made into very good shoe-vax, if you have somewhere to boil it as your wife will not want you to do it in the kitchen...

I am keeping the skull, it will look nice on my bookshelf.



DUK: they can be rather big, I am told up to 25 kg but that would be a monster. This was a yearling, rather small.

We seldom see them in the winter here, as they hibernate. Not as deeply as a bear, they wake up and take a stroll if it is not to cold, but usually they sleep.



Bobby: Thanks, new word to me!



Regards,

Martin

August 1 ist the opening day for fox and badger here in Sweden. I spent the evening on a slope opposite an old earth (correct word?) under some cliffs, on the land that cchunter and I lease together. At 9 PM, after just two hours waiting, two badgers came out and I got a clean shot at one of them. Very nice little fellow, and this was my first badger, the first animal killed with my own handloaded ammo - I started handloading this spring as some of you might remember - and finally my first animal with the Sako in 7mm08 I bought this spring as well! Saw a nice roedeer when I went out, so you can be sure that we will be back on the roe opening day on August 16!



Regards,
Martin

Ditnt know you had those in Sweden but beutiful animal tough!
Is it the entry wound on the neck i see there?

Regards

This country has a great many badger, but they are not seen as animals to be shot. Instead cars tend to keep the numbers down.

What do you do with the carcass?

Do you have any recipes?

Nice badger!
We also have those in Portugal but we are not allowed to shoot them!
In certain areas they are so many that it is more common to have a badger coming to the bait, during the full moon hunting period, than a wild boar.

B.Martins

Nice animal. They tend to be big, I guesss up to 12 kgs or so.

We had a social (organized) fox hunt with our local association. Usually these things are only during winter as drien hunts for wild boar, mainly.

Between 100 hunters participating, 28 foxes, 2 badgers and 3 roe deer were shot. Roe were not the main objective but since in season, some were harvested. Hogs were seen but not killed.

Our hare population is quite high this year, hopefully the increased fox hunting will give them a little relieve.

I believe the correct word is "burrow"

In Italy, they are protected animals, but badger stew is not too bad .

Interesting to see that they are protected in so many countries. Here in Sweden we shoot them and trap them, they can do some damage on crops, oat in particular. Many are killed on the roads, I saw some figures suggesting that there are as many killed on the road as killed by hunters.

In which other countries are you hunting them?

Regards,
Martin

Here they are protected animals, but badger stew is quite good - Lorenzo
P.S. I agree with Johan, I don't like Blaser R93 too much

Ooops! A sort of double post...

Bobby,

He was right the first time. The correct term in English is Earth. Badgers live in Earths.

My mistake FB. You are quite right.

My excuse is that I have been bale wrapping non stop for 20 hours!

Now, I thought that only French had an overspecialised vocabulary, when it comes to hunting ( or should I say shooting ? )...

I love these very specific vocabularies, not at least because it is a sign of an old and well developed hunting and gamekeeping culture.

Regards,
Martin

By the way, why are badgers protected in your various countries? Are they rare? Or are they in the arms of the bunnyhuggers?

They can do some damage on oat fields, and might do some damage on partridges and pheasents by eating the eggs. I guess that is why they are hunted over here, but about as many are killed on the roads as are shot or trapped.

Regards,
Martin

Fallow Buck

you are not thinking straight, everybody knows that it's WHEELS that live in burrows

John

Weidmannsheil Martin! Nice shot, and all with your new Sako in 7mm-08! Highly satisfactory. So you managed to get the brass in the end, I take it?

We shoot badgers down here as well - they can do a bunch of damage on a corn field, so the farmers are all for keeping a bit of pressure on the population. Season opens sometime in August, I think. I watched a family of five out for a foraging trip in the forest just last month - season was closed at the time. Great fun to watch, though.
- mike

By the way, the skulls make great trophies. Just cut the head off (not Al Qaida-style but when it�s dead) and put it for some time close or into ant hill. Bleach with hydrogen peroxide when the critters are done. Works best with the big, red ones you find in the woods.

mho: Thanks! I got Winchester brass without any problem for my hunting ammo, and I resized Norma 308 brass for the ammo to use on the range (moving moose figure shooting).

DUK: I did not have patience to wait for the ants to do the job so I boiled it for a while, took off the loose stuff and put it in peroxide. It became perfect! It already sits on a shelf in the book-case where I keep my hunting books.

Actually got a second badger tonight!

Regards,
Martin

Marterius,



congratulations! I still need to get my first one. There are badger on the lease where I hunt but not in my area, my buddies promised to inform me when they show up in the corn fields.



Regarding the trophy, my better half's nerves are a little tense at the moment, there have been way too many strange smelling things going on in her kitchen lately. This might even force me to consider the ant method...

I believe they are hunted w/terriers in France and huge fights take place underground until the team digs out the terrier and catches the badger/fox. This form of hunting allows the team to decide whether to kill the animal or to put it in a box and relocate it...catch and release so to speak.

Most people here who like their dogs would be reluctant to put them into a hole with a badger. They are fierce and dangerous. Still, Dachshund in German means badger dog...

They are protected in some States of the United States as well. They are protected in the State I grew up in, (Wisconsin) with a climate much like Scandinavia. I trapped a couple on my trapline, earning money for college. They were considerable work to release alive while escaping their vengance.

A very agressive animal for its size.