Sakos Afield 2024

[gunner620]

Tony, looks like you're growing some healthy deer on your place. Rewards from heaven are the best kind.

 

[Bucktote]

Tony, looks like you're growing some healthy deer on your place. Rewards from heaven are the best kind.

Thanks 620,
That's two wins in 2 weeks on Tuesdays! Play Lotto ya think?
B/T

 

[gunner620]

Gambler says when you're on a roll ??????

 

[marininsanna]

This seasons seventh black grouse this morning. Still about three weeks of grouse hunting left, before month long pause before tree topping. Weather is pretty much spot on now: little snow so the birds sit on trees more often than on ground. Not so much snow that youd have to use skis or snow shoes. And the temperature around -8 celsius is also pretty enjoyable, you dont get too hot while walking. Only problem is the length of the daylight.

 

[Vida]

Very nice congratulations , had our first frost and snow here today and can't wait for more. Love to take my dog out in the snow in the new animal tracks.

 

[Spaher]

7mm-08 140 gr Accubond Nosler Trophy Grade in a Sako Varmint AII Heavy Barrel & an 8.5 yo Whitetail.
Truck bed with it & a 10.5+ yo 3 drop WT harvested by ranch mgr.with .308 interlock 150 gr handload.

7mm-08 accubond dropped him on the spot. Added daylight field photo for perspective & of 7mm-08 Sako Varmint rifle topped with Leupold 3.5-10x40mm.
So much for the recent obtuse criticism that “(t)hese guns are never used but sit in a safe and grow old, like their owners” and we are just “some old man who can barely shuffle across the room to the gun vault”. (Sako HP). I say Pshaw…

 

[marininsanna]

Crisp -18.5 °C weather today. Got three black grouses, shot and missed fourth one. Still pretty good trip.

 

[Spaher]

Great photo. Congratulations.
By the way, please send us wet & cold weather down south as we need moisture..

 

[Spaher]

Sako L61R Deluxe in 7X57 caliber topped with a Nightforce NXS Compact 2.5-10x32mm scope.
Accubond 162 grain solid base bullet did the trick. It is always a challenging hunt, whether it’s management or trophy game.

 

[Spaher]

Ditto exercise with L61R Deluxe 7x57 doing its job. 8.5 yo management buck. Covered up with Rio Grande turkeys & Javalinas & with their ruckus thought it was just going to be a thermos of coffee morning view rather than a hunt.

 

[icebear]

Spectacular wood on that Deluxe. And the caliber - what can I say.

 

[Vida]

Was out enjoying the last of the snow.

Then the next day it was 15 degrees warmer and all gone.

 

[Bucktote]

Was out enjoying the last of the snow.
View attachment 36888
Then the next day it was 15 degrees warmer and all gone.
View attachment 36889

Looks like two whitetail Does, great photo, snow & deer capture the scene. Thanks for the photos, looks too cold for me! B/T

 

[Spaher]

Vida, great photo. Q: caliber of your Super Deluxe with Zeiss scope, please?

 

[Vida]

Bucktote , we don't have whitetail in Europe that I know of. But the couple pictured are fallow deer , as in this example photo:

I haven't had the chance to taste whitetail deer yet , but the fallow deer is so far the best tasting deer species I have tried.
And Spaher the caliber is .308.

 

[stonecreek]

Bucktote , we don't have whitetail in Europe that I know of.

Oh yes you do! Finnish ex-patriots shipped a group of whitetails to Finland in the 1930's. They have flourished there and I think the estimate of numbers runs around 20,000 today. They also do well there and have some very respectable antlers.

Whitetail venison seems to me very close to Roe in texture and flavor. Most people consider the Axis (chital) deer from India to be about the best venison. American Elk (Wapiti) is also excellent, and I'm told perhaps somewhat less "gamey" than the related Red Deer of Europe. I've never had Moose, but it seems to be a prized meat in Northern climes.

African antelopes, nearly all of them, I consider superior to any of the deer family. American "antelope" (Pronghorn) smells so strong that I've never braved actually tasting it, although many claim it is excellent

 

[icebear]

I've never had Moose, but it seems to be a prized meat in Northern climes.

I ate moose meat on several occasions when I lived in Finland. You could buy moose and reindeer at one of the stalls in the Helsinki city market by the harbor. I found moose to be sweeter and more moist than venison. Reindeer was kind of erratic, sometimes excellent and sometimes a bit on the dry and gamy side.

Speaking of African antelopes, when I lived in Nairobi some of the hotels served game meat. I thought impala was the best. Zebra meat was pretty good too, but I've read that you have to be careful of zebra because of parasites. I never got parasites from game meat in Kenya, but I got enough of them from other sources to call myself a connoisseur of Flagyl (a common antiparasitic). The worst side effect of Flagyl is that you have to swear off alcohol while you are taking the drug. The effects of the interaction are much to be avoided, as one of my colleagues found out the hard way.

 

[stonecreek]

Springbock seems to be the most prized in southern Africa, but I've had Oryx, kudu, and wildebeest as well and all were quite palatable. Haven't had Impala, but I would expect it to be as good as the others. Some say that Waterbuck is not so desirable, but that may simply be a matter of personal taste.

 

[Vida]

I have not heard of the Finnish whitetail , interesting to hear about the history of how they came to be in a certain location. I recently had the chance of seeing a Muntjac deer when on a hunting trip to Denmark. They are considered invasive but I was told that they were brought to the UK by the noble class which used to hunt them in the British Raj and have since spread to continental Europe.

It looked like a newborn deer it was so small.
Moose meat is quite sweet and great for burgers and minced meat with some fat mixed in.

 

[Vida]

I never got parasites from game meat in Kenya, but I got enough of them from other sources to call myself a connoisseur of Flagyl (a common antiparasitic).

Then we know who to ask for recommendations when considering the "vintage and soil" of the latest batch of Flagyl