Landed today in Stockholm after a week-long business trip to the U.S. Did unfortunately not have any time for hunting, but did visit Springfield Armory in Springfield, MA as well as the Cabela's in ME and the Bass Pro Shop in MA. On top of that, I was able to get my monster ram and several hides from last year's hunts home - as checked baggage! Anyway, my daughters really got excited when they saw the ram as can be seen below....

Beautiful family you have there MIke. The Ram turned out nice, Those horns are sweet.

Great mount, wonderful family. Keep the articles and pics coming as they are always a good read.

Great pic, beautiful kids, nice ram!!
Is that a rug from it on the floor? Looks like it matches.

Thanks gentlemen!

@Vance: yes, I made a half hide out of the ram as well. The wool was about 4" or about 10cm thick so it was a real handful. It soaked up all blood when I shot it despite one very large hole on each side.

Wonderful mount and great looking kids!!

Why Don't You Angle For Setting-Up The First Scandinavia District Stores(Sweden/Denmark Region) For Those Sports Outfitters. With The New Euros Your People Now Have Plenty Of $$$ To Spend. You Could Run-The-Whole-Show Out Of Malmo(Such A Beautiful Town)* * *

LONG LIVE SWERIGE!!!

Most excellent!!

I'm looking forward to the next time you come back to the area! Hopefully we can meet up...and if I have some extra pocket money, maybe we can go to Everett and shoot something.

That is a GREAT, GREAT Four Horn!

Mike that mount turned out nice! Your daughters look pretty happy to see it! Good luck with your future hunts!

Beautiful 4 horn ram. Your lovely daughters seem to be about the same size as my 2 grand daughters. Best wishes for your continued hunting.

WAY COOL ram Mike!!!

The youngins are cute!!!

[quote=J. E. Markel
Why Don't You Angle For Setting-Up The First Scandinavia District Stores(Sweden/Denmark Region) For Those Sports Outfitters. With The New Euros Your People Now Have Plenty Of $$$ To Spend. You Could Run-The-Whole-Show Out Of Malmo(Such A Beautiful Town)* * *

LONG LIVE SWERIGE!!! [/quote]

J.E., thanks! The idea is interesting but there are some immediate impediments:

a) bowhunting is not legal here yet (will probably become legal in the near future though, which is unfortunately not the case for handgun hunting), and

b) hunting with dogs is de rigeur for almost everything, especially moose hunting.

This means that half or more of what Cabela's etc sells (camo and scent-lok clothing, bow-hunting gear, all forms of scent-killing items, decoys etc) does not have a market here. If you hunt with dogs scent control and camo is not that necessary after all. And to my mind the bowhunting community's part of annual sales at places like Cabela's is very large.

So I doubt that such big stores would want to go in here given these limitations. But we sure lack such stores here anyway.

Dan, would love to, almost made it in April, will hopefully be back in the area - hunting or not - next year.

Nice trophy, great picture. You goota love the family hunting photos.

That photo is worth a thousand words....

"O CONTERE MON FRERE"...

You Could Be The First To Introduce Into Europe The 10 Gauge Bore "Goose Gun" As A Tool More Specially Designed For Downing The Largest Waterfowl:

http://goosehuntingsweden.com/

http://www.zoo.ekol.lu.se/waterfowl/GooseInv/goose.htm

http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=72822

Plus:

http://www.Fishinginsweden.com

The Variety Of Deep-Trolling/Down-Rigging Gear(In Particular) Available From American Outdoor Sports Retailers Is Absolutely Mind-Boggling.It Might Improve The Deep-Water(Winter Season?)
Trout And Pike Fishing In The Inland Lakes Especially.

Moreover:

http://www.huntingreport.com/hunting_article_details.cfm?id=1194

Sweden Has A Subsantial Reindeer/Caribou Population Which It Appears Is As Yet Mostly Being Utilized By The Sami/Lapp People Way-Up-North. There We See A Sport Which Requires Considerable Stealth-In-Stalking That Might Facilitate The Opening Of A Potential Market For Camouflage And Scent-Maskers. There Also Is A Potential Market For The American-Designed Long-Barreled Magnum-Chambered Rifles Which Might Prove Better-Suited Than The Skandinavian Traditionals From "Sako,"Husqvarna","Tikka",Etc.

Uh...

Should I Dare To Mention Polar Bears?

J.E.,

thanks for many inspiring ideas. However, the reindeer population we do have is a semi-domestic variety; they are herded and slaughtered like cattle, and not hunted. The Lapps do this for a living and have a constitutional right to do it.

And the only polar bears we have are inhabitants of some of our zoological parks...

What A Truly Sad Shame...

Maybe Someday Stockholm And The Lapps Could Be Persuaded To Allot A Block Of Terrain Suitable For The Establishment Of A Gigantic Nature Park Where Controlled Hunts Could Go On By Seasons. It Would Be A Beautiful Thing To Re-Introduce "Ice Bears" To A Part Of The Arctic Where They've Evidently Been Gone For Several Centuries. They Make For Big Tourist-Business In The Norwegian Islands. Believe-It-Or-Not Reindeer/Caribou Have Amassed A World-Wide Following Amongst Hardcore-Huntsmen To Such An Extent They Even Run Up To Places Like This To Bag Them.
http://www.safarinordik.com
It Couldn't Be Terribly Expensive Or Demanding To Establish Just One-Or-Two Wild Herds Out There. We've Worked Some Miracles Over Here Recently By Re-Establishing The American Elk In A Few Places As Far South As Tennessee(Where They Were Hunted To Absolute-Extinction More Than 200 years Ago)* * *

P.S.

I Just Corrected That Last Post Link http://www.huntingreport.com/hunting_article_details.cfm?id=1194 So Just Click Away.

'Win...

Brainstrom 101:

You Could Start-Up A Hunters' Imports Business On Your Own Just By Ordering A Small Lot(20-30?) Of These Reasonably-Priced "Old Warhorses" To Vend "In Your Own Sweet Time". You Might End-Up Blowing "Beretta" Out Of The Swedish-Market For Good:

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model_SP-10.asp


The Marketing Angle:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=449238

Just Show These To The Dealers & Customers While Hinting That Those Monster 10 Gauge Hollow-Point Lead Slugs Would Be Perfect For The Moose Hunt. Do You Think There's An "Alg" Even In Alaska That Could Swallow A 766 GR. Projectile At 1280 FPS?

Calls:

http://www.wingtipsdown.com

If Your Huntsmen Could Just Supply High-Resolution Recordings Of The Feeding/Nesting Calls Of Your Various Goose Species You Can Be Certain These Guys Will Build A Perfect-Imitator. Just Look Though The List Of Links On Their Site* * *