How vikings hunt

Cheesy title, but something different for most of you I suppose. This is me hunting at home, it's a fantastic experience if you keep your brain attached. It's a fairly potent environment, so some small how-to pointers is included.

Skiing for ptramigan with a 221 Fireball (legal max for this hunt). Rifle is a factory Remington 700 221 Fireball with sufficient precision and a compact "scabbard scope" Leupold mk 5 HD 3,6-18x44 (?) Gunwerks G7 FFP reticle.
So far all of the cold weather problems associated with rimfires is gone and accuracy is reliable. Feels really good to have accuracy under control and not be dependent on what ammo batch my local retailer stocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxMx...ature=youtu.be

At around the 6:45 mark it had ridiculously good camouflage. I didn't see it until you shot it

Awesome vid as usual Thomas :thumbsup:

What are the details on the muzzle device. Could not see if it was a brake, micro can or some form of snow protection ?

These birds blend fantastic. They dig themselves into the snow and allow themselves to snow in.

I normally use a silencer, but that's not legal here. So I had friend make a combined thread protector & snow stopper. Works surprisingly well, any snow just falls into a "ditch" and can easily be removed as opposed to snow in the barrel which require a cleaning rod.

Great video Thomas, thanks for taking the time to share.

What does their taste compare to?

Great vid.

I met a self-declared viking girl once. Seemed more like it was me that she was hunting though..

Nice clip Thomas, very different environment than I’m used to.. where’s all the tussock?

Making these films have become part of the hunt now.

Taste? Aargh, my tastebuds was molested by my mother's cooking, so I'm bot very sophisticated when it comes to food. But it's a soft and sweet gamemeat, not too far from duck. You need to be a little careful with what vegetables and drink you choose or it can be a little too rich/sweet for some. It's super nice in small portions, much line a dessert would be.

Northern girls are... different. They do hunt down able men.

Dam I was looking forward to seeing some Scots running screaming through the hills;)

I just returned from a Muskox hunt in Greenland last week & while there hunted ptarmigan & Arctic Hares, had bad luck on the birds as gun froze, but got a couple of Hares .

-38 with -53 with the wind chill factor !

Thank you for posting & well done on your hunt & filming such !

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Originally Posted by Sideshow

Dam I was looking forward to seeing some Scots running screaming through the hills;)

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No, I'm a 1000 years late to that party :D

Yes, I use FMJ and there's very little meat damage. Lapua, Sako, Norma all makes FMJs espescially suited for eating game.
-38 is getting savage. Had that the last day previous year. Things get a little complex then.

Thankyou for sharing such a great video
The landscape is so beautiful and the conditions you hunt in make our winters look very mild
What maximum range are you shooting ?

Nice work, those birds sure are hard to see in the snow.

How far do you shoot them , or how close do you have to stalk them?

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Originally Posted by Gfootey

Thankyou for sharing such a great video
The landscape is so beautiful and the conditions you hunt in make our winters look very mild
What maximum range are you shooting ?

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I shot one at 190 meters just to see if the rifle could do it. I am legally limited to .22 cal 55gr and 22 Hornet or 221 Fireball case, so ballistics/ winddrift is simply horrible under normal conditions. Rimfires are common, with 22 LR it get's very difficult quickly. 17 HMR or 22 Magnum is a good step up in performance, but rimfires can be very sensitive to lower temperatures and many simply lose precision when it approaches -30.

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Originally Posted by berg243

how much effect does the extreme cold have on ballistics compared to a warm day?

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With centerfires, much less than rimfires. At 100m with rimfires, the daily variation (meaning the change from morning to just after lunch) can change POI with " 1 bird height" or more.

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Originally Posted by Mooseman

Nice work, those birds sure are hard to see in the snow.

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Next film will have some clips on how well they blend once you have wind/ snowdrift.

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Originally Posted by Friwi

How far do you shoot them , or how close do you have to stalk them?

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On this trip I shot them as close as 10 meters (single bird), as far as 190 meters (single bird). Most birds are shot 80 to 120 meters, 50 to 100 if you are using a rimfire. I really like the 221 Fireball as it gives me those extra 30 meters reach I simply did not have with the 17 HMR. I was simply unable to achieve any reliable results at 110-120 with 17 HMR, with 221 Fireball those 100-120 meters shots are perfectly doable.

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Originally Posted by Russian 22.

At around the 6:45 mark it had ridiculously good camouflage. I didn't see it until you shot it

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They are AMAZINGLY well camouflagued. On a stalk (which I managed to capture on film) I approach a group of 4 birds feeding/ resting and shot one at perhaps 90 meters.
4 birds jumped up, but didn't fly so figured I underestimated the wind, held stronger and shot another two misses.
As this was going on, a sleeping bird put it's head up 6-7 meters in front of me (they sleep under the snow) and I shot that one (hugely thanks to reticle design).

After collecting this bird, I reviewed the film to try and see if I could spot bullet strike and figure out if ot was poor windcall or bad shooting. My position was a bit weak on collapsing snow so I was unable to fully call my shot as I would on a firm surface.
Turns out I made a perfect shot and the bird was lying there, only there were 5 birds feeding not 4. Even at 90 meters I was unable to see the dead bird (lying in plain sight on broken snow) through my 10x Leica binoculars, but the high zoom of the camera showed me the bird.
I almost skied away not bringing that bird.

So yeah, these birds CAN be very demanding to see if the light is wrong. Aging eyes doesn't help either.