Beautiful bird! Do your dogs point or flush?
Hi Ridgewalker!
Both dogs are barking dogs. The Nordic Spitz is very versatile breed, mainly used for hunting birds but also for moose and even bear. The Nordic Spitz finds capercaillie (or black growse) from the ground or from a tree. Normally it moves around 500 meter from the hunter. If you are lucky, bird stays in a tree and dog starts to bark it under the tree. Hunter sneeks closer carefully, even by crawling . Capercaillie (especially female, wich is brown) is not so easy to find from the tree. Small caliber rifle or combi gun is very popular for that kind of hunting. Sako L46 (7x33) or Tikka 222 Rem + 12/70 are quite famous still here. I like to carry 308 Win Tikka or Merkel B3 combi during birdhunt, because you may get lucky and your dog find a bear. I love to stay 3-4 days far away in wilderness at bird or bear hunting trip, sleep under tarp and cook with open fire.
Jämthund is also barking dog. It finds moose or bear by following the tracks and may go even 10-20 miles behind the moose or bear if the game would not stop. Jämthund barks and moves around moose or bear and tryes to keep it in place. Hunter sneeks closer noiselessly, taking notice the direction of the wind. I prefer approach in sidewind. Sometimes moose or bear may hear or smell you and runs mile or few. Jämthund is quite "hardy" and it won`t give up and reaches moose again and the play is on again. Bear may go so far and so fast if it smells the hunter that normally the game is over in that case.
My favorite gun for that kind of hunt used to be Marlin 1895 (450 Marlin loaded with 350 gr FP North Forks) and I still pick it up if hunting in deep bushes. When hunting in more open area, for example in fjells, I take my Howa 1500 (.375 Ruger, loaded with 300 gr Woodleigh), or, when production starts in Sweden, 270 or 300 gr North Fork. I really trust that bullet, I may post some pictures of North Forks that have done the job in moose hunting. My son have FN BAR Mk II (9,3x62 loaded with 250 gr North Fork) and it is really nice gun, light and fast to shoot.
