Not a UK stalker, i hope that is OK

[Karhumies]

Hello.

First of all I am not a UK based stalker, however i have been using this forum as a treasure trove of information for a few years now. Despite living in Finland i dont actually speak Finnish yet, originally i am from the Netherlands.

Primarily my hunting consists of ambush hunting roe deer in dense forest and shooting brown hare on farmers fields and rats around their feed silos. i also hunt small predators for bounties, its currently 10e per tail on any mink or racoondog. Ocasionally people hire me to bow hunt deer and hare plundering their gardens (they chew the bark off fruit trees and uproot berry bushes during harsh winters)

I also hunt wolves, brown bear, moose and white tail deer whenever i manage to snag a permit or join a hunting party for the season.

last year i developed pigeon fever as well, in fact i just added a SxS with shortened barrels for them (cyl/cyl) since the local landscape forces me to intercept them in dense forest or decoy in small clearings, very close range.

I am a full time hunter subsisting on meat, pelts and pest control + bounties, supplemented with lake fishing (nets)

My uncle was a lifelong Hunter in Schotland and being taken on a bird hunt as a child in the lowlands actually sparked my passion for hunting.

My interest in this forum is that alot of our equipment and available bullets etc overlaps and you brits have alot of old knowledge and skill that frankly is lacking in Finland where most hubrnb revolves either around GPS trackers and almost military levels of organisation (driven hunts of The 21st century) or a guy with a rifle sitting still in a bush for 6 hours. At least in my region.

My favored Caliber is the 6.5x55.
my favorite shotgun is the husqvarna 310AS.

Currently i use:

a husqvarna 310as from 1913 in 12/65

a Baikal mp153 with a red dot and pistol grip in 12/89 (used mostly with tungsten for driven roe deer and as a slug gun)

a Sauer drilling in 12/70 and .243 win

a Sako Vixen 222

A CZ550 in 6.5x55

and a Vepr RPK with LPVO in 308 win (bear, moose, reservist training/military preparedness)

I heavily favor fixed 8x56 glass paired with binoculars but i have a 6x42 on my 222 and an lpvo 1-6 on my Vepr

 

[webley701]

Welcome to the forum & thanks for your interesting introductory post.

 

[Mike L]

Hello and welcome

 

[Karhumies]

Glad to be here, i was not entirely sure foreign Hunters would be welcome, in my understanding brittish deer stalking is professional affair.

to elaborate more at this skill gap i mentioned.

Finland has since olden days been a vast forest with very Limited agriculture, small rye fields, some larger farms along the coast but still surrounded by dense Wood. our landscape is changing however. My fellow hunters in tje southwest who i visit regularly more and more find themselves stalking big white tails on extensive grain fields, forests are being cleared for lumber, swamps dried out for more farm land. The country is modernising.

This is not a sad modernisation, plenty remains and good care is taken not to disrupt the balance too mutch. But suddenly the Hunter who Stalked the spruce brush with a valmet find himself staring at his quarry across an open field. The moose Hunters and roe drives have to contend with Farmers and their fences. Swamps filled with hazel grouse become dry heath.

Taking a shot past 100m is generally considered long range, even my handbook mentions this. Yet i now find myself shooting foxes with the 6.5x55 at 300 meters.

 

[webley701]

Glad to be here, i was not entirely sure foreign Hunters would be welcome, in my understanding brittish deer stalking is professional affair.

to elaborate more at this skill gap i mentioned.

Finland has since olden days been a vast forest with very Limited agriculture, small rye fields, some larger farms along the coast but still surrounded by dense Wood. our landscape is changing however. My fellow hunters in tje southwest who i visit regularly more and more find themselves stalking big white tails on extensive grain fields, forests are being cleared for lumber, swamps dried out for more farm land. The country is modernising.

This is not a sad modernisation, plenty remains and good care is taken not to disrupt the balance too mutch. But suddenly the Hunter who Stalked the spruce brush with a valmet find himself staring at his quarry across an open field. The moose Hunters and roe drives have to contend with Farmers and their fences. Swamps filled with hazel grouse become dry heath.

Taking a shot past 100m is generally considered long range, even my handbook mentions this. Yet i now find myself shooting foxes with the 6.5x55 at 300 meters.

I’m sure that anyone with an interest in stalking or any other form of shooting is welcome - even better if they are from overseas (such as yourself) as they often bring a fresh view to things & can help pass on their own sporting traditions.

Regarding your mention of not yet speaking the Finnish language - I imagine it’s far from easy to learn. What language do you use in Finland then?

 

[Fosbery Holster]

Welcome, great introduction.

 

[Karhumies]

I’m sure that anyone with an interest in stalking or any other form of shooting is welcome - even better if they are from overseas (such as yourself) as they often bring a fresh view to things & can help pass on their own sporting traditions.

Regarding your mention of not yet speaking the Finnish language - I imagine it’s far from easy to learn. What language do you use in Finland then?

jag prater svensk

 

[pendle]

Welcome from North Wales
I use 2 x 6.5x55 I can not fault them
Tikka 695 and a RWS titan 6
Overseas members are very welcome

 

[Karhumies]

Welcome from North Wales
I use 2 x 6.5x55 I can not fault them
Tikka 695 and a RWS titan 6
Overseas members are very welcome

I started out with a 30-06 and most here use a 308. 6.5x55 to me just gives the best allround balance in performance. I am a 1 bullet per rifle kind of guy so 30-06 turned out rather overpowered for 95% of my hunting while 6.5x55 is just powerful enough for 5% of my hunting. So it makes more sense for me. And between 308 and 6.5x55... Controversial opinion? 6.5x55 seems to do everything better exept for 150gr and up yet with 150gr bullets it seems to be the 6.5x55 that makes an exit wound on the moose and drops them. That balance of weight and frontal area on the 6.5 just punches far above its weight without blasting tunnels trough a roe deer. I like to use bullets like the Tarvas in it unless i am stalking a big brown, then the Fox classic hunter gets loaded.

No hate on 308 tho, my second most prized gun and for sure most expensive is in 308 and would likely send any UK authority screaming to the Hills.

We do enjoy some freedoms here in the high north

 

[T.eddie]

Welcome from Essex UK

 

[kenbro]

Welcome interesting Sir.
I see you practise at the range as well.
What do you do in your spare time…….
Ken.

 

[Karhumies]

Welcome interesting Sir.
I see you practise at the range as well.
What do you do in your spare time…….
Ken.

load more ammo to continue hunting and practising. Tan pelts, teach my daughter how to skin rabbits, sometimes i get to play guitar or brew some beer or cider. free time and work overlap when i feed the Kids venison and pay petrol with pelt money. Fortunately i love what i do. Currently i am working up to a 500m brown hare shot next season. just to see if i can do it. Hare is what we eat primarily. Deer meat is rather valuable

 

[pendle]

I started out with a 30-06 and most here use a 308. 6.5x55 to me just gives the best allround balance in performance. I am a 1 bullet per rifle kind of guy so 30-06 turned out rather overpowered for 95% of my hunting while 6.5x55 is just powerful enough for 5% of my hunting. So it makes more sense for me. And between 308 and 6.5x55... Controversial opinion? 6.5x55 seems to do everything better exept for 150gr and up yet with 150gr bullets it seems to be the 6.5x55 that makes an exit wound on the moose and drops them. That balance of weight and frontal area on the 6.5 just punches far above its weight without blasting tunnels trough a roe deer. I like to use bullets like the Tarvas in it unless i am stalking a big brown, then the Fox classic hunter gets loaded.

No hate on 308 tho, my second most prized gun and for sure most expensive is in 308 and would likely send any UK authority screaming to the Hills.

We do enjoy some freedoms here in the high north

I also have a tikka T3 .308 this past season on roe and fallow I have used 6.5x55 one of which has a day / night scope on. When I stalk away from home I always take two rifles
This year it's a 6.5x55 and .22.250

 

[Karhumies]

I also have a tikka T3 .308 this past season on roe and fallow I have used 6.5x55 one of which has a day / night scope on. When I stalk away from home I always take two rifles
This year it's a 6.5x55 and .22.250

Been considering a 22-250 instead of my 222rem. Since i exclusively use that rifle to snipe crows, gulls, rabbits etc from farms. I used an old 6.5x68 for a little while but even reloading that thing is a financial deathtrap, takes 70 grains of powder to do what the modern 6.5x55 does with 46 grains and you end up loading 81 grains of n570 to actually get the potential from that beast (1150m/s with if i remember correctly an 85gr varmint bullet)

Welcome
Interesting lifestyle.
Looking forward to some write ups from you.
Your English is excellent, don't worry about Finish its almost as impossible as Dutch

stuk minder moeite mee, al verstoan zie mie naait aaltied

 

[VSS]

Welcome!

 

[StoatallyDifferent]

Tervetuloa!

 

[Nimrod1960]

Welcome
Interesting lifestyle.
Looking forward to some write ups from you.
Your English is excellent, don't worry about Finish its almost as impossible as Dutch

 

[webley701]

jag prater svensk

 

[Karhumies]

Here is my moose rifle in all its glory,about to mount a vixen 1-6x24 but the picatinny rail has been a pain to find. find it i did tho, in belgium of all places ( we have valman rails but my gun takes SVD rails as well wich are superior for bigger cartridges.

the heavily modified and accurised Vepr 308 RPK

 

[bullet chucker]

Welcome to the site.

BC,