I spent this saturday in the forests of Rakkestad. A beautiful corner of Østfold, with a LOT of moose.
"Are you guys ready?" 20 men were standing outside a white building at Haraldstad farm in Rakkestad. They where all dressed in dark green, some with bright red hats. It was seven o clock in the morning, but these guys were wide awake. It was time for that one time a year experience, where they were going out to catch the kings of the forest.
"Ida you can go with Svein and the dog!" said the boss of the team, Kjell. I jumped in a car with my sony camera and started filming. The fog was covering the fields like a white blanket as we drove towards our starting point.
"Pekka", a moose dog jumped out of the car when we got there, happy to finally get started. We just got up the first hill when the action started.
"Female moose up to your right", said Svein, and I saw the dog run like crazy towards the moose that came out of the edge of the forest. Just a little glimse, before it ran away. Then an ox came out on the left side. They were chased away by the dog, towards some other hunters who were sitting further away. The radio came on "one moose shot!"
We had only been out for about ten minutes.
Pekka got tired after a while, and started to get more interested in a cat at a nearby farm instead of moose. Svein, his owner started to swear and and got his dog back in place. After some guidance and a hard tone from his owner and boss, Pekka finally understood it was moose he was hunting for. And then - the most crazy moose experience in MY life happened.
Suddenly, Pekka appeared on the GPS running towards us. I was filming as one moose appeared maybe 50 meters away. Then another one. Then one more. It was one female and her two kids, running TOWARDS us. Big moose legs in high speed ran towards us on the little path and we jumped aside. They passed 2,5 meters away from me!! Pekka followed, happy and eager as only moose dogs can be, following three moose at a time.
Pekka and me, with one of the moose he managed to catch for us. He started biting the fur as soon as it was dead.
A danish hunter caught a big moose with some nice horns. I am trying to take credit for it. (All I did was film and look at moose all day)
The hunters ended up catching three moose. A bit grotesque you think? Well for these hunters, this was a great day!
My dad has been hunting on the team at Haraldstad for many years. One of the moose still had the tongue left in it, and my dad rushed over to get it. He usually cooks it, cuts it in pieces and puts it on his sandwich. Mmmmmm!!!
It was a long day with walking in the forest with Pekka and the two hunters. On the way I found huge mushrooms called kantarelles. Look how beautiful, AND delicious!! Now my plan is to make a film for the hunters with the highlights of the days hunting. There was so many cool moments, so that will be an easy job!! Thanks for an out of the ordinary day - hunters at Haraldstad!!
