Grendel bird hunting

[Roe]

I have finally been out hunting with my Grendel.

In northern Sweden you will find truly old forests with decent wild grouse populations.
We hunt these with spitz dogs. This kind of hunting is basically 6-7 hours of walking in the forest with the dog doing sorties around you.

When the dog spooks a bird, it usually settles in a nearby tree and the dog will bark at that tree. When that happens, the hunters sneak in using cover and before we break line of sight with the dog we are low crawling into position.

Then we find the bird in the binoculars (they can hide extremely well) and maneuver into a position where we can fire through a keyhole. This part of the hunt is usually 20-30 minutes and range is usually 40 to 120 meters.

It is a difficult hunt to film, so I pieced together several clips to one story. You'll get the idea...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZFGtHQ63Pg

Unfortunately, I had three misses. Investigation found a loose picatinny that would hold zero for a short while before moving. Further investigation revealed a gunsmith job wildly out of spec. Major problem for me as I'm departing for my deer stalking shortly, but as an emergengy measure the rail is re-machined and permanently bedded in Loctite now and the 'smith will have to deal with that when the rifle is returned.

Strong stuff according to this video https://youtu.be/bM4IGweHT2k

[am4966]

Looks like fun Roe, can't wait to see your stalking video.

[LRRPF52]

Great video again. Scandinavia is beautiful country for sure. Sweden has more elevation and relief than Finland, but the vegetation is the same.

I always Loc tite scope bases on bolt guns with Loc tite 271 (one of the Reds), and ring screws get Blue Loc tite. I prefer larger screws for the scope base(s) on a bolt gun, perfectly in line with the action.

[BigStickSmoker]

Wow, thanks for sharing. That looked like an awesome experience.

PLUS, the bonus of brats on a stick over an open fire. Yummy

[lrgrendel]

Beautiful countryside. Looks like you could have caught some trout there as well!!

[jawbone]

gorgeous environment! excellent video editing to capture that atmosphere. i thought i could smell those brats. great next level coldweather tips, too.
and many thanks for that epoxy test. definitive, as far as i'm concerned.

[Roe]

Thanks for that guys. This type of hunting is very nice, especially since interior Sweden is significantly dryer than coastal Norway, even if both locations is around 67-68 North. It is just plain nice not being stormed or rained on, and making a fire is a matter of breaking dry twigs and showing them with a matchstick. Fire at my location usually require special skills. And yes, it is nice to have some proper meat bratwursts on the fire instead of the local offal that passes for hotdogs at home.

I have been out shooting again. Mostly to check if my emergency repairs hold (they did) and to regain confidence in the rifle which was important as I only have travel documents for the Grendel. (3 misses on game really messed with my head).
This film is a little long and at points overly basic, but it is meant to show some basic procedures for new shooters interested in LR shooting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H70y6o2n5X8

[...] great next level coldweather tips, too.[...]

Thanks. One of the more common things I see on the internet is the lack of distinction between coastal winters (wet & difficult, not very cold but can be dangerous) and the interior winters (cold, COLD but easy if you have your routines).
The short version of the differences is blocking water from your insulation (coastal/ membrane shell) vs getting humidity away from your body/ clothes quickly (inland/ no membranes). Both require that you actively protect your insulation.

In Scotland I have a "soft" version of the coastal climate. Wet, but not really cold and I must still dress up/down all the time according to activity to avoid humidity buildup (and in effect greatly reduce my hunting efficiency, have reduced sleep/rest quality and basically being unable to hunt hard enough). Also the dogwork will be very different, he will now follow me closely and support my senses as opposed to letting the dog take much of the lead.

[am4966]

The loctite will hold, here in the states we use it alot on our rifles. For me I use the blue on the screws for the rings, and for other areaa of the weapon where a party needs to stay right for accuracy reason I tend to use Green loctite to bed the barrel, free float arm(depending on design) red if all else fails.

Roe I've been curious how do you go from country to country? In the videos it appears to put just boat yourself around and then I know you use a truck for hunting.

[GSPHunter]

Hey Roe, great video. I have some Russian friends who would try to tell me about capercaillie hunting, and all I could think of something like fall turkey hunting back in Pennsylvania.

Thanks. One of the more common things I see on the internet is the lack of distinction between coastal winters (wet & difficult, not very cold but can be dangerous) and the interior winters (cold, COLD but easy if you have your routines).
The short version of the differences is blocking water from your insulation (coastal/ membrane shell) vs getting humidity away from your body/ clothes quickly (inland/ no membranes). Both require that you actively protect your insulation.

In Scotland I have a "soft" version of the coastal climate. Wet, but not really cold and I must still dress up/down all the time according to activity to avoid humidity buildup (and in effect greatly reduce my hunting efficiency, have reduced sleep/rest quality and basically being unable to hunt hard enough). Also the dogwork will be very different, he will now follow me closely and support my senses as opposed to letting the dog take much of the lead.

Your video and this comment got me to thinking about how good modern synthetic clothing has become. A few years ago I drew a late September Elk hunt on Afognak island, so I broke down and bought a good pair of hunting pants. Climbing through alders and devils club in pouring rain you couldn't help but get soaked to the skin. It really amazed me how quickly everything dried out the minute you gave it a chance. Here's a good article on the subject, but I'm not sure I need to prove my gear to this extent :-)

http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/...sur-1737644998

[Roe]

Thanks for that GSPHunter, that webpage was aqtually quite good with sound advice. I was a little surprised the journalists (considering the page) wasn't familiar with "rewarming drill" considering it's been institutionalized for at least 30 years to my knowledge (https://forsvaret.no/en/education-and-training/coe-cwo).

Outdoor equipment really moves forward in quality. Myself I am in my second renewal of my gear. First big round was around 2009 and had a dramatic reduction in weight and waterproofness (replaced a lot of my military gear with modern sports equipment). Before that I more or less used what I was given for 15 years. The second round is slowly ongoing, but it's the newest generation membranes and bulk reduction via better sleeping bags etc. Actually lot of fun, sort of a midlife crisis. I use http://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/ as a "navaid resource" as they sort their gear by weight.

The loctite will hold, here in the states we use it alot on our rifles. For me I use the blue on the screws for the rings, and for other areaa of the weapon where a party needs to stay right for accuracy reason I tend to use Green loctite to bed the barrel, free float arm(depending on design) red if all else fails.

Roe I've been curious how do you go from country to country? In the videos it appears to put just boat yourself around and then I know you use a truck for hunting.

Thanks, that's reassuring. I think I'm using Loctite 243 on my own screws (it's what's available locally).
Since I live in northern Norway, going somewhere hunting usually means 5hrs flying/1 hr car (deer), 6 hrs car/ 1-2 hrs boat (birds), 1 to 7 hrs car/ferry/boat (shooting various places). So basically expensive to travel anywhere as everything becomes a mini-expedition and it's a major logistical headache coordinating it with work/family.
Since traveling anywhere is both expensive and time-consuming I simply spend the extra hours and go somewhere the hunting is good and I have friends (by my standards anyway, the areas I hunt are not sensational in any way).

[81police]

not even gonna lie, one of the coolest videos yet!!!!! Thanks for sharing, hope you post more!

[Roe]

Thanks, will do. Next week I'm off hunting deer with the Grendel so hoping to catch enough material for 3-5 videos.

[Klem]