When I was invited to a friends shooting estate in Finland for a fun weekend, I wasn’t really sure just what to expect. 

My good friend Heikki Liettu has been to the UK many times over the past 6 or 7 years and has spent much of his time here enjoying the English countryside shooting.

When I was invited to a friends shooting estate in Finland for a fun weekend, I wasn’t really sure just what to expect.

My good friend Heikki Liettu has been to the UK many times over the past 6 or 7 years and has spent much of his time here enjoying the English countryside and shooting woodpigeon, rook, pheasant and what ever else I can find for him and his good friend Tapio.

On this occasion, the roles were reversed and it was Heikki who was making the arrangements for me and my good friend, Norfolk farmer Ivan Baker.

After a fairly long journey via Amsterdam we arrived at Helsinki Airport to be greeted by Heikki, who had driven the three plus hour journey from his estate to the airport to collect us.

"With temperatures of around zero to plus two degrees and just a couple of centimetres of snow, it’s a far cry from last winter"

Although there was a light covering of snow laying all around, it would seem that Finland is also experiencing very mild weather conditions this winter. With temperatures of around zero to plus two degrees and just a couple of centimetres of snow, it’s a far cry from last winter when they had a metre of snow and minus 25 degrees.

The Liettu Estate has been in Heikki’s family for many years and is one of the few game shoots and probably the biggest pheasant shoot in Northern Europe. The shoot covers several thousand acres of land, which is mainly spruce and silver birch woodland, timber being Finland’s main industry.
The Estate hatches and rears over 40,000 pheasants; around half of these are sold to other shoots with just over 20,000 birds being released onto the Estate.

This shoot is in the enviable position of being located on a peninsular surrounded by water. Much of Finland enjoys very large lakes and the Liettu Estate is surrounded on three sides by water. This means that when the young birds are released into the woodland, they stay there. How many UK gamekeepers can say that?

The pheasant-shooting season finishes at the end of February in Finland, one month later than here in the UK. I guess this is because the winter lasts longer and the breading season starts later in Finland. What struck me was the vast numbers of birds still around the Estate in mid February; the woodland rides were full of pheasants. It must have been an awesome site in November when the birds were at their most plentiful.

"Many members of the team have attended every shoot day without exception for several seasons, again a claim that many UK gamekeepers would love to be able to make"

Heikki explained that his team of beaters/pickers with their well-trained dogs do not get paid. Rather they attend every shoot day to work their dogs and enjoy a day out on the shoot. Their reward is two brace of pheasant and two beaters days at the end of the season. Many members of the team have attended every shoot day without exception for several seasons, again a claim that many UK gamekeepers would love to be able to make.

The first day of our stay was a typically Scandinavian experience with a hare shoot during the morning and a sauna in the afternoon.
The hare shoot was a matter of standing guns in the woodland rides and several beaters with dogs flushing hares from cover.
The afternoon sauna was a case of “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours” - less said about that the better!

"Tapio with Arctic Hare"

That evening we were treated to the best hospitality available anywhere. A wonderful 3-course meal accompanied by far too much wine & brandy ensured that both Ivan and I slept like babies that night.

Unlike the UK, in Finland they shoot game on a Sunday and we were welcomed to breakfast with a typically English start to the day with eggs, bacon, sausages etc, etc….

As we dined more of Heikki’s guests were arriving, all of whom spoke excellent English and did so throughout the day for the benefit of Ivan and I.

"Also I don’t think they observe the old British tradition of “do not shoot thy neighbours birds” quite so rigidly as we do here"

Breakfast was followed by the shoot safety brief, again given in fluent English. The rules of engagement were pretty much the same as one would expect here, with the exception that guns are placed by the host, not by the drawing of pegs. Often you will be placed on peg with a back gun 20/30 meters behind you. Also I don’t think they observe the old British tradition of “do not shoot thy neighbours birds” quite so rigidly as we do here in the UK. If you looked away for a moment, someone had pinched your bird! But hey, two can play that game.

After four wonderful drives and a bag of 186 pheasants shot and gathered, the shooting finished. One has to remember that daylight is short lived in Finland at this time of year.

What happened next was for me the most memorable part of our trip (excluding the sauna). Branches of spruce were laid on the ground and a fire was lit at each end of branches. A number of the shot pheasants were laid on the ground.

The beaters lined up to one side of the birds and the guns lined up on the other side. Our hosts stood between beaters and guns and made a speech thanking both guns and beaters for their efforts and the pleasure of their company.

The guns then walked in single file thanking firstly our hosts and then thanking and shaking the hand of each beater. It felt like a very important tradition and a very special part of the day. It’s a tradition that I would love to see here in the UK.

Our very traditional days shooting was followed by a very traditional dinner of toxic mushrooms that are first cleansed then made into a wonderful mushroom soup, the likes of which I have never tasted before. The soup was followed by roast moose with vegetables, (that’s the moose with antlers, not the one in the plastic pot) followed by a homemade desert. I’m ashamed to say that by the time I had drank the white wine with the soup and the red wine with the moose and started on the brandy with the desert I wasn’t quite sure what the desert was, nor did I care.

"The memory that shall last forever was that of the warm hospitality of our hosts and the other guests that attended the shoot that day"

The memory that shall last forever was that of the warm hospitality of our hosts and the other guests that attended the shoot that day. Also, the warmth of the whole team on the Liettu Estate, My friend and I were treated like Royalty throughout the entire weekend.

Both Ivan and I were left with the firm belief that the people of Finland have an extremely high regard for the British people and this shows from the vast number of  British guns being used, so many people taking so much pride in owning classic British cars and everyone speaking our language so fluently. It's a comfort to know that our Country is still held in such high esteem.

Our sincere thanks to the Liettu family and friends for such a wonderful experience.