Hunters stalk urban elk just outside Helsinki

Annual elk and deer hunt extends to urban forests

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By Jukka Perttu
     
      Mauri Närhi and Matti Ropponen stand watch in hunting towers looking for passing elk (Alces alces - known as "moose" in North America) and white-tailed deer in the Kalajärvi forest area in Northern Espoo. Nearby the traffic of the Vihdintie highway passes by, and jets taking off from Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport can be heard in the background.
      It is 8:00 in the morning on a rainy Saturday as Närhi and Ropponen, both dressed in red, peer out over the nearby marsh. They are part of a group of 12 hunters.
     
Only one member of the group, Heikki Vilpas, has a gun. Each of the other members has a VHF transceiver to keep the whole group informed of what they see.
      An hour passes, and the elk stay hidden. Finally the voice of Heikki Vilpas comes on the VHF: "Deer."
      There is no shooting, even though the group’s licence would allow it. They are going after the bigger white-tailed deer and elk.
      At 9:30 it is time for a break. There has not even been a sign of any elk. Fortunately the rain thins out. Members of the group roast sausage on a campfire, and drink warm coffee. Although no animals have been shot yet, everyone is in good spirits.
     
A new chain is set up near the Juvanmalmi industrial area.
      Matti Ropponen waits, sitting on top of a small cliff with a rifle in his lap. He waits and waits. Then he hears two shots from the east. Someone has been lucky.
      The group take care to shoot from towers and from the tops of cliffs to make sure that the trajectory of the bullets is toward the ground. This minimises the risk of accidents caused by stray bullets.
      Noon approaches, but no elk are to be seen in Juvanmalmi. The members of the chain emerge. The hunt is over. The hunters are left empty-handed, but spirits remain positive. Tomorrow they will try again.
     
In the afternoon the head of the hunt, Ilpo Korhonen, continues on his own. He manages to bag a young white-tailed deer.
      Hunters on the other side of the Vihdintie highway are more fortunate. Kai Mettinen first gets a white-tailed deer buck in Rosbacka, near the Vantaa city line, and later Stig Masalin gets a bull elk near the border with Nurmijärvi.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.9.2004
     
Note: Licences to shoot about 68,000 elk nationwide have been granted to Finnish hunters this year. In the previous two years the cull was about 85,000 animals. For more information on Finnish elk hunting, see the link below:


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Warning to elk: men with guns! Warning to motorists: beware frightened elk! (29.9.2003)

JUKKA PERTTU / Helsingin Sanomat
jukka.perttu@hs.fi