[Show your guns]

Brno 22F in 7x57 vs. Mannlicher Schönauer in 6.5x54. Brno tried to copy the design but with a Mauser action. They did a good job but now, when I'm able to compare them side by side, I could tell that the Mannlicher action is smoother . The sights are identical,  the trigger group also identical, Brno has a longer barrel (and this is making it well balanced for my size)  and I prefer the bolt handle position of ZB. 

Such a little beauty  

[Infested]

This is how it looks in winter. The meat is not affected but the animal is weakened and a predator will have more chances  to put him down

[Infested]

did you find any ticks on the other side? If that is a tick infestation then you should also found many of them fixed in the skin.

I'm not familiar with the deer parasites from UK but this kind of skin is similar with the ones I have seen in the past. In my case it was another parasite that could be found as larva under the skin during the winter but will exit and fly away when will be warm enough outside. 

Also, ticks are usually infesting areas that are not easy to reach/rub by the animal. It looks weird to me to see this :|

[Show your guns]

The 6.5×54mm Mannlicher–Schönauer is finally in my possession  Tomorrow I need to go to the Police in order to be added in my weapon permit. After that, I will need another week until I could go to take back my permit. All that after waiting for ~30 days until I received the authorisation to buy.

Stupid bureaucracy! Probably this is the main reason here for avoiding to buy a new hunting weapon. What is the procedure in UK?

I will add later some decent photos in natural light...

  

[Let's See Your Phone Shots !!]

[Show your guns]

I agree, but for steel parts is OK and this is very important since you could have problems with many oils when the temperature drops below -10-15C. From time to time I use Tru-Oil but only at home, when the weapon is completely dry.

I just renounced at my lever gun because it was not used enough anymore. It's great at driven hunts but I also go stalking 2-3 day/week and for that it was too heavy to carry. The option to transport 2 guns with me was not so great due to all kind of stupid regulation in our weapons law...  Also, the manufacturer was not so careful with the details. It was OK for an US weapon replica, but I expect more from a gun used by me at hunting. 

[Show your guns]

2 hours ago, Meece said:

Two hours ! WaitIng in the snow. Its a wonder that you didnt get frostbite and just at the moment the action started the scope was frozen up and you couldn't see through it.   how do you handle that sort of situation. Do you rely on hand warmers or what? 

Actually, when is snowing is not so cold  It's enough to have something that will not let water to go trough and some wool clothes under that layer. And good shoes, those are the most important thing (I'm using Meindl right now, satisfied with cold/water protection but I'm not so much about their endurance). 

And no, is impossible to put some protection in situation like this (especially in the mountain areas). The stands of a driven hunt are not fixed all the time and we need to adjust the line depending on the movement of the animals from the last night - the snow is like an open book for reading tracks (that is why a hunt right after a snow fall is very appreciated around here). 

We need to be carefull with the snow to not affect the aiming devices (Once I was using a Zeiss red dot and when a fox came in, I was unable to shoot because I was seeing 2 dots on the screen instead of one :)) ) and, most important, to not jam your gun. The scope is not affected, you just need to avoid snow on the lenses and remember to hold your breath (or exhale with your nose only) when aiming in order to avoid blurring the image with that warm breath.

After the hunt, I'm using a dry cloth to remove the excess of snow/water and I'm letting the weapon to dry before final cleaning (usually with WD40)

[Guilty Of Sending An Offensive Message]

I'm so happy that all the other problems of the society are long gone, and the justice is finally able to take down the "root" of all problems - language

I will leave this here...

Quote

Political Correctness is a doctrine, recently fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and promoted by a sick mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end!

 

[Show your guns]

1 hour ago, Meece said:

There is some really nice stuff there with a European flavor to it from the style of the hat, the sàusages hanging on the wall to the cheek piece on the shotgun and the guns themselves. I have a Mannlicher stutzen Luxus in 243 similar to your stutzen stocked rifle. I love the bearded axe there and the types of gun, they've  got a distinct look about how the way they  are presented.  Again a nice post showing nìce stuff.

Thank you for appreciation. This is the way I'm keeping the guns during the day  in the red stag rut season (~2 weeks). Sure, extra maintenance is required when is fog or the air humidity is too high.

I could not describe how eager I'm to buy the Mannlicher-Schoenauer mod. 1903 in 6.5x54MS, it is my dream rifle from a long period of time (blaming Hemingway for that). The difference between my stutzen and a Mannlicher is that mine has a Mauser action. The post WWII production from Brno tried to copy the successful model of Mannlicher (and they managed to do a decent job).  At the first general cleaning I found out that each part of this rifle has the same serial number (from the action until the last screw, including the stock and the scope mount) . 

Since the weapon was used in harsh conditions by me, I decided to put a new stock on it and preserve the original one in a dry storage. Here is a picture of it after 2 hours of waiting at a driven hunt.

The weapon is still more accurate than I will ever be and it was used by me and previous owner to shot all the big and medium game from Romania despite the "deprecated" calibre   

 

[Show your guns]

24 minutes ago, Meece said:

Nice stuff but I  can't see the Merkel, it's  hidden in the grass.

Nothing special with my Merkel, it's a tough old lady but is a pleasure to shoot.

[Show your guns]

An old lady from '62 (Gebruder Merkel Suhl, 16/70) used for almost anything from quail to wild boar 

My favorite rifle for stalking deer/chamois - a Brno 22f from '49, 7x57

The most used rifle - A Voere LBW Take-Down, 9.3x62

This combination was so effective in both driven hunts and stalking that made me to sell this beauty - a Winchester replica made by Davide Pedersoli, .45-70

 

And I will buy something "new" in the next month - a Mannlicher-Schönauer mod 1903 in 6.5x54MS   

[Cooking an animal hunted by you]

Thanks, guys

The next one is similar with the recipe used for roe deer but I like this more because the backstrap is bigger - red deer backstrap

0. Be sure that you will not have any guests in that day, you don't want to share this with anyone outside your family. Preferable, you will make sure that your mother in law is also away. 2-300 km should be enough.

1. Clean the backstrap and rubb it with salt, dried thyme, pepper and smoked paprika.  If is an old one, freeze it for a few days first

2. Let it rest in the fridge for 1-2 days, depending on the age of the animal. 

3. Open a bottle of  red dry wine - I recommend a Merlot but a Cabernet will be also OK

4. Wash and prepare some mushrooms, a chili and some garlic. Smash coriander and juniper berries. 

5. Drink another glass of wine. Share it if you are not home alone.

6. Add butter in a heated pan, add the smashed garlic and the chopped chili.  Optional, you could add one small branch of fresh rosemary (I prefer without it - too many flavours already).  Roast the backstrap for 1-2 minutes. 

7. Add half a glass of wine, the coriander and the juniper berries. Cook on the other side for another 2 minutes and done. Done with the meat.

8. While the meat will rest, add the chopped mushrooms in the pan. They will be cooked in that juice left from meat. 

9. Put the mushrooms, the chilli and any sauce (if left) in a separate bowl and enjoy!

 

10. If you have no wine left, open another bottle. If so, remember point 0. You will also want the kids away  

 

 

[Amator photos from my hunting trips]

A bear female with only one cub - a rare view in the latest years, usually I see them with 2-3 cubs.

 

5 minutes later, 1 km away

I was able to get close up to 70m but he was on the move to the forest.

20 minutes later...

[The Beauty Of Nature, "add Yours"]

The beaver is back

[Cooking an animal hunted by you]

On 4/13/2018 at 22:51, fireman said:

Fecked if i'd put any bollock of any sort in my mouth ever......

I f you will eat this blindfolded, you will ask for more

 

On many occasions, I have not enough time to prepare the meat myself so I need to send it to a local butcher. He will prepare sausages and salami at a decent price (~1 £/kg) 

Everything was OK for a while, I obtained great products but it was not outstanding until I discovered a small 'secret'. Each time I'm sending a wild boar to the butcher, I'm also sending a sheep to be mixed in the meat for sausages. The result is incredible!

I'm always preparing them with fresh rosemary or thyme and some smashed garlic.

 

 

[Wild boar hunting in Romania]

On 4/13/2018 at 14:31, Ben Holbrook said:

Yes, I agree with you, Romania is certainly the country where you can hunt giants Wild boars. The drive are really thrilling and boars also more than 300 kg come into sight.

Yeah, driven hunting is thrilling, the only part that I don't like about it is the vegetation from the beginning of the season. Boars of 200-300 kg could be seen more often in the plains/hills areas, especially in autumn (when they are doing important damages to the crops) but the ones with great tusks are usually 120-170 kg.

On 4/13/2018 at 18:18, Welsh_red said:

Really like the tusk mount you got there 

Thank you.

I'm buying them at ~20E from an old man who has this hobby.  I'm using epoxy for  filling and fixing the tusks

[Cooking an animal hunted by you]

Wild boar testicles

Well, this is not a common meal. Most hunters will just throw them away right after gutting the carcass but I will always keep them (even in the mating season)

When I took the pictures, I was really hungry and, since this recipe is requiring some time, I also added a tenderloin

1. Clean the testicles and cut them in 2. In the end, they should look like this:

2. Cover the testicles with vinegar and let them rest for 1 hour (young male) up to 1 day (old male). 

Meanwhile, quickly prepare the tenderloin with some olive oil, thyme, garlic and red. Eat the tenderloin and drink the remaining red wine (this will also help you later to ignore the smell of the testicles if they are from an old male  )

  

3. Wash the testicles with cold water. Wash them again.

4. Put some butter in a heated pan, add  salt, fresh thyme, smoked paprika and some smashed garlic and  cook them for a few minutes. Open another bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon  and add half a glass.

5. With 1-2 minutes before end, add some coriander (dried seeds) and red pepper

6. Enjoy and drink what left from the second bottle

[Wild boar hunting in Romania]

As I already explained HERE, the main way of hunting wild boars in Romania is at driven hunts with dogs and beaters. This way of hunting is not appreciated by everyone because some people will consider this dangerous  due to slugs and bullets that could do harm at big distances or due to the bears that could/will appear, especially in autumn, in mountains & hills  areas (2/3 of the country). A bear is usually not representing a danger to someone because they are still afraid of humans (don't know for how long with this exaggerated protection!) but at a driven hunt he is harassed by the dogs and could attack. A female with cubs is even more dangerous. Others will simply want to hunt more or they are looking for a special trophy (hunting a big trophy at a driven hunt is possible, it's something normal to see 1-2 big males until the final of the day, but is a matter of luck to shoot them since they will usually try to escape between beaters or on the flanks)  and will buy individual hunting permits permits.

Here is a young male hunted by me in autumn because I needed some meat (I'm eating meat only from my parents farm or from hunted animals)

Hunting with an individual permit is allowed the entire year for males and is not very expensive for members (200-250E, trophy and meat included). Some gamekeepers will invest more and they could provide some great trophies but the price asked for a big boar will depend on the tusks length (up to 1000-1500E) .

The main methods of hunting are high seat and stalking.

Stalking has less chances of success because they are usually hiding during the day  in thick bush (we have real troubles trying to get them out of there even with small dogs!). I don't know how is this plant called in english but this is one of their preferred for hiding (Hippophae rhamnoides)

Stalking wild boars is very interesting in late autumn and winter (less vegetation) for the ones willing  to walk great distances. Will bring a big satisfaction to the hunter but he will need patience.

Is much more frequent to wait the boars in a high seat or on a natural height early in the morning, in the evening and even late in the night. You will need a good scope for shooting in low light conditions. This is important not necessary for shooting down the animal (it's not so hard to identify the target vital organs) but more for correct identifying it. You don't want to shoot a sow (especially if is not open season) and for sure you don't want to kill a bear by mistake (40.000E fine + ~2 years without your guns!)

Usually, for old males I had to wait for many hours and this was not an easy thing since in winter I had to handle a temperature of -14 - 18C. To good part in winter is that snow will help you with the light (you don't need a full moon with a proper scope). 

This was a ~4 years old male. I had to wait more than 6h but the temperature was OK (it was the beginning of winter)

 

Another young male hunted in this winter. It was really cold and I had to spend a few days.

 

In the plains and hills areas, the wild boars could be really big but I prefer to hunt  in the mountains because the trophies are bigger despite the smaller weight. The chances to hunt are also smaller but..everything has a price.

The next one is also my biggest so far (if I'm considering the tusks). He had only ~120-140 kg, I was waiting for him more than 6 hours in the night but I managed to shoot him in the next morning while searching for tracks in the area.

The tusks are not particularly long (22.4cm) but are wide (31.2mm). This means that he is well above the gold medal

Here is a picture right after skinning the animal (I was also preparing the tenderloins for a quick barbeque but this is another topic)

In conclusion, this type of hunting could get someone nice experiences and [sometimes] big trophies with not so much money if he has time to spend. When the time period is short and the expectancies are high, the costs will increase exponentially. In my opinion, the experience is the most important part

 

[Let's See Your Phone Shots !!]

[Cooking an animal hunted by you]

It's just me or the taste is better if the animal was hunted, prepared & cooked by myself? 

I prefer to keep the recipe simple if I have good quality meat but I will add some more spices when I have meat from males hunted during the rut season.

I will start this topic with something simple - roebuck

1. Hunt a roebuck...or 2

2. Skin the animal and prepare the carcass

3.  Cut and clean the backstrap. I prefer to cut each backstrap in 2.

4. Rub the backstrap with some salt, pepper, coriander (dried seeds), put it in a plastic bag and let it in the fridge for ~6-8 hours. Should be enough for a young animal.

5. Put some butter in a heated pan, add fresh rosemary and some smashed garlic and  roast the backstrap for 1-2 minutes. Add half a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon  (no more! You will need the rest of the bottle after).  Cook on the other side for another 2 minutes and...done. 

 

6. Almost done. Let it rest for 5 minutes after grilling. Otherwise, the juice will flow out of the meat and the steak will go dry. 

7. Enjoy! 

P.S. To be honest, I'm usually not using pepper for this recipe but is a common ingredient. I'm using smashed juniper berries picked by me in the autumn during the red stag rut season

[Amator photos from my hunting trips]

Unable to load all the images at once. The tail of the cow also remained there. The rest of it was dragged in a thick bush 200m away and we decided to avoid going there (obvious reasons :D)

This was a hungry big boy and after his appearance he remained the only one feeding from the carcas

[Amator photos from my hunting trips]

The bad part of the spring in the mountains of Romania is that the bears are hungry. Here is what left from a cow after 2 days..

 

[Amator photos from my hunting trips]

The last one in the group was a young male, fully covered in mud. Weird time for a bath if we consider the fact that the water is freezing during the night in this period of time. Probably he has some parasites to get rid off...

I used the occasion to also bring something "sweet" for the deers (heavy load when you need to climb ~2-3 km)

The good news are that spring is finally here...

[Amator photos from my hunting trips]

Yesterday I had a lovely tour in the nature in one of my favorite hunting areas from Carpathians. I managed to view some animals and also to take a few pictures.

Here is a group of red deer females

[Roe Buck]

12 hours ago, Bosun11 said:

How do you rate em for B,S, & G?

CIC points

...and the promised pictures