Norma moose hunt Norma/RUAG PM

Standing in the mist-shrouded forest and slowly sinking into the boggy ground was not a new thing for me as I’d hunted moose in Sweden before! After an hour or so I heard a single shot to my right; wow that wakes you up! Then the radio squawked - ‘moose moving onto stand 10!

Hey that’s me! The mist was thick and suddenly I saw a huge shape about 100m to my right; time to get my game head on. Safety on, rifle ready and scope at x1 power; the shape resolved itself as a running moose, a cow, sadly not allowed as it was just bulls and calves, well at least I’d seen one!

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

Suddenly a bull appeared following the cow; game on! He was going slower and about 100m out, and I could see his head thrown back and his antlers. The dense, misty forest did not offer any clear shots, but as luck would have it he stopped for a look around in a gap in the foliage. All I could see was the rear of his head and a bit of shoulder with the neck filling up most of this ‘window of opportunity’, which would close in a few seconds. I raised the Schultz & Larsen chambered in 358 Norma Magnum (wow what a calibre) placed the cross in the middle of the neck and squeezed. You never hear the shot or feel the recoil in these situations and I don’t think he felt anything either, as he dropped like he’d been poleaxed down through the sight picture. I flicked on the radio: “stand 10, bull down!”

Norma’s moose hunt, is a much talked about event and one I had been trying to get on for a few years and I think I know who tipped them the wink and for that Phil I am eternally grateful! The trip also coincided with a factory visit to this most prestigious of ammunition manufacturers, which I will detail next month.

LAID BACK

Over the years Norma has helped me out with ammunition, cases and bullets for various reloading and shooting projects and have proved to be the good guys! Also they are mad keen hunters and shooters from the production line right up to the head office. This really comes across in the field as there’s no BS, just sportsmen and women enjoying a common past time. The laid back nature of Norma comes across in the invite, which I have paraphrased a little: ‘This is an invitation to the Norma moose hunt. Sometimes the weather is really bad, sometimes we freeze something terrible, sometimes all you see is forest, sounds like fun to you? We cook our lunch in the forest, sometimes we get a moose, sometimes we don’t, but a moose for the shooter is also a moose for the team and everybody is happy’!

The guest list was like the league of nations: Russians, Poles, Estonians, Germans (well they get the hump if they aren’t invited), Slovakians, Fins, Danes etc and yours truly. I was the only journalist as the rest including an Estonian lady were the Norma representatives in their respective countries.

The Russian brought a butt-load of vodka and was very generous with it, I admit to imbibing a bit too much that evening. The next day was the factory visit then it was off to the woods for the hunting. Norma supplied all the equipment radios, ear muffs, a super Woolpower vest and the artillery. I really got lucky as one of there guys said, ‘here Pete’ handed me a Schultz & Larsen bolt-action in 358 Norma Magnum, a cartridge I had never used before!

POCKET MAGNUM

I had a quick check zero and it was shooting cock-on at 100m so I was happy. I ran the ballistics on the 358 to discover a mighty cartridge indeed. This belted, ‘pocket’ magnum runs a 250-grain Norma Oryx at a seemingly modest 2700 fps for a massive 4000 ft/lbs + yet feels like a 30-06 in the shoulder. Awesome!

The hunt is sort of driven and as with events of this type you get allocated a peg to stand on with the moose hopefully being moved by special dogs (Jempthunds) that are a spitz-type. I had worked with them before in Sweden back in early 2000 and they know their job! They just locate then push the moose towards the guns; well that’s the theory! You get dropped off on the sides of long forest roads then just wait and hope. The weather was unseasonably mild and I never needed my thermals or heavy clothing, though we did have some rain.

TRUE GENTLEMAN

The ground is wet, or perhaps never dries out and it’s like walking on a foot deep water-logged mattress and you sink in with every step. We got two stands in on the Friday afternoon with not even a sniff of moose, but it was good to be out and as always expectation was high. I was much more moderate on the hospitality that evening and woke bright eyed and bushy tailed on the Saturday morning. We drove to the forest and were told we would be walking and we set out and I have to say that ground was really causing me problems after a bit. Norma’s MD was with us and I told him and he asked if anyone would want to swap pegs with me? The two Poles Mariuz and Jakub Rubis from a compnay called Knieja in Krakow were father and son and the father very kindly let me take his stand. Oh god I thought I know what’s going to happen and it did!

Back to the plot, just before I got my bull, the first shot I heard turned out to be the Estonian lady, who was on her first ever moose hunt. She also got a bull, which ran then dropped a few hundred yards away. Her shot doubtless spooked the cow and the other bull. When the hunt finished I went over and found my beast. As I thought, he had dropped dead on the spot with his neck broken and he was a big bugger at 350 Kg, not massive as they can get, but a lot bigger than my first one. His antlers were the classic palmate shape, not huge but respectable. The large tine on the rear right one was missing, probably lost in a fight with another bull, but I was very happy.

I did feel a bit bad as in theory it could have been Mr Rubis’s animal as he had let me swap stands. However the Finn I was bunking with said, who knows what might have happened as nothing is certain in hunting, which is undeniably true! Regardless of the situation, I had made good shot, standing unsupported at 100m and dropped him quick and clean, which as always pleased me immensely. However, I still felt I had to put the record straight and that evening with his son translating I told the rest of the people what happened. Saying I considered it as much his trophy as mine and thanking him and we drank some vodka – nostrovia! He was very good about it and I think we parted friends!

TINY TANK

So how do you drag 350 kg of dead moose off the hill? Well Norma have a little tracked carrier much like a towing drott. It’s essentially a little donkey engine, with wide rubber tracks supporting a cargo cage. You don’t sit on it but walk in front and steer it with a long tiller, like the old electric milk carts of my boyhood. Given the awful ground this thing pretty much goes anywhere and I stayed behind to see it in action.

It was funny to see it chugging up into the forest and in 10 mins we were at my beast, which had been gutted to save weight. The pile of pluck was huge! The tractor was backed up and a wire rope place over the animal’s head and it was winched in, not completely as you can see 75% was still lying on the ground. Once secure, the tiny tank dragged brother moose back to the trailer. Without it; all you could do would be to chop the animal up into portable pieces. Inside 30 mins we had recovered both animals – amazing.

We carried on hunting with no success, though I was not bothered as I had been lucky and would probably have not shot another animal instead letting it go for someone else. Sunday was a repeat of the same with another of our party getting a calf. Again, as with my animal waidmansheils all round and like they said on the joining instruction: ‘but a moose for the shooter is also a moose for the team and everybody is happy’!

DOGUPINE!

It was that day I saw another strange thing; one of the Norma guys brought his Jempthund and it seemed to be wearing a yellow vest. Sensible I thought as it can be easily seen, it was then I noticed the whole of the back was covered in 2” steel spikes. I asked him why and he said that this area of Sweden has the highest percentage of wolves in the country and they will attack pretty much any animal and his last dog was literally eaten down to the bone my them. They go in and bite the back so the armour gives the hound a sporting chance to get away. Wow, it’ a whole different world out there!

So we packed up handed back in our gear and said goodbye; what a great few days I had so a big thanks to Norma for a great hunt and a brilliant time and to Mariuz and Jakub Rubis for their very kind gesture, which I will always be grateful for! Next month I’ll take you behind the scenes at Norma and that too was eye opening!