Moose hunt in Estonia.

Just got back from Estonia hunting Moose with some friends from Finland. We had a great time even though I was not lucky enough to get one.
We flew to Helsinki from Gatwick with Norwegian air I took 2 rifles in my case 30.06 for me and 270 win for my friend as he does not have a large cal rifle. No problems with the airline and I would recommend using them.
On arrival we were met by Maati who would be hunting with us,we then went on to the port to get a ferry over to Tallin. We all took advantage of the rediculasly cheap duty free booze as in Finland it is 8 euro a pint , in Estonia it 2.40 euro so we all bought 24 cans each @ 10 euro per pack plus a bottle of Scotlands finest.
The accomadation was very good clean and very comfortable,we all had a room each. This was a massive hunting lodge that had been biult by the members and it doubled as a dance hall ,wedding receptions etc,View attachment 34173.We had supper and then to bed. The format for the hunting day was ,morning stalk,driven hunt,evening high seat and then lamping on the way home.
Early call and we were taken indavidualy in vehicles by local hunters to try and find moose or wild boar. The area the club hunts is 30,000 hecters massive blocks of forestry broken up by massive fields with absolutly not a fence in sight.(Trufflehunter would approve) I was instructed to be ready to get out and get a shot asap as they dont hang about. After about 20 minutes we rounded a forest ride to see a cow and calf but by the time I had my hand on the door catch they were gone but a good start to see moose.
No more sightings for me but on the radio we hear of a moose being shot so we go to them to help. It was Maati with a big bull moose with a poor head only 2 pionts but he was so happy as he had been trying for a moose for 15 years! We winched it out and then went back to the lodge to prepare for the driven hunt were we met Riamo who had bagged a small wild boar.View attachment 34174
First drive and our numbers were swelled by members of the hunting club as you can imagine 5 guys cannot cope with driven game. After about 20 minutes someome came in a truck to pick me up as a moose had been located by the dogs and my friend Tommi had obviously wanted me to have a good chance of a shot. We found the dogs via gps and i was put on a forest track with forest either side pretty soon a massive bull moose could be seen coming towards me on my right in the trees, 30 yrds from me it turnede across the track, up comes my rifle , cross hair on its neck , ......cant shoot..... 2 hi vis jackets 200 yrds on the track behind the moose. Gutted but i would get another chance? not likely .
Afterwards I was congratulated on not taking a dangerous shot and at the end of the day no beast is worth the life of a man.
So next drive and my friend Graham bags a massive cow moose 30 yrsd running with a shot in the neck from my 50 year old Parker Hale 270, the Speer 150 grn Grand slam doing a great job.View attachment 34180 One of the local hunters also bagged a calf.
End of the day we all retired to sauna biult in the lodge and drank a bit of beer.
Then we went to a high seat but nothing doing ,on the way back it was dark so we had a bit of lamping after about 10 minutes i noticed eyes, woooe i say,s what the f**k is that! Racoon dog my giude said shoot it. 100 yrds out in the lamp never used my 30.06 in the lamp on such a small target...BOOOM got my first Racoon dog.

So dinner, sauna,beer, bed.
next day lashed down with rain same timetable but driven day stopped short after lunch I was taken to a spot where the dogs had located a moose but when we got there it had crossed a river and the dogs didnt fancy it .
Third day was much the same but no rain however no animals came forward for the guns and nothing was seen at the high seats.
So that was it and I have to say it was a good experience Estonian people are very friendly and up for fun , they worked tirlessly to try to find moose for us and the accomadation and food was fab but 3 days of roast wild boar is enough.
This trip was organised by my friend Tomi through Baltic Trophy run by Yani and Vesto . We were very impressed by this company and they worked very hard to see that we wanted for nothing. I will be going back,as there is a moose with my name on it.View attachment 34175 Dining room with members of the hunting club.
Tusker.
 
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ha ha i bet he is you will get yours next time, atb wayne
I have booked to go back in 2 years but this time I am going in the rut and experience the guys calling them in. i cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the company of these guys in Estonia and the effert they made to make our hunt a success. I would love to go and hunt Lynx with the them but at the moment it would clash with the biusiest time of the year for me.
i have to say I was weary before we went as I was reading about the guys who got ripped off in Finland.
Tusker
 
no it sounds fantastic i bet in the rut would be awsome and lynx would be great also, is that similar hunting using dogs or is that sat out ,atb wayne
 
no it sounds fantastic i bet in the rut would be awsome and lynx would be great also, is that similar hunting using dogs or is that sat out ,atb wayne
They hunt Lynx with dogs, they need the snow so that they can track them.
Tusker
 
Nice read, well done. Looks like the opposite of that other moose story ("we all had a room each"...). ;)
Thumbs up for the high visibility jackets and good that you did not fire :thumb:. Diana will reward you later for that.
 
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