Photography:
Gytis Vidžiūnas
Estimated read time: 9 min.
To us, hunting is many things – a passion, an escape, a way to care for nature. It is also a fantastic opportunity to explore our wonderful world and meet incredible people. And while filming the product video of the newest Pulsar Merger LRF XL50, we got to experience all aspects of it.
We flew out to Kristiansund in the West of Norway, right off the coast of the Norwegian sea, where we were greeted by Erik Aspen Bakke, representing Teno Astro, Pulsar distributor in Norway, and Andrea Lysvold, a huntress and our ambassador from up North, the Lofoten Islands.
Counterintuitively, our product videos are, first and foremost, about people and nature – the devices are merely a tool to experience the latter better. So, with this in mind, let’s get to know our characters better – and enjoy some pictures from the behind-the-scenes of shooting the video.
Getting acquainted with hunting
Andrea Lysvold, going by the name of Lofoten huntress on social media, is only 26 but already has quite a bit of hunting experience under her belt. Although it all started quite unexpectedly: “I just wanted to get the license to be able to shoot. No one in my family hunts, so it wasn’t until the actual course that I started getting interested in hunting. From the day I got my license, I got completely addicted and have been actively hunting ever since. Other than being a huntress, I’m a mom to my amazing 4-year-old son.”
Erik’s story is quite different – in his case, hunting runs in the family. “I grew up in a hunting family. My dad hunted all the time during fall. We lived in the North of Norway, and I was basically brought up on wild grouse and hares. Spitting shotgun lead pellets on the dinner plate was a daily thing. Strange I’m not dead with all the ‘lead poisoning’ we read about.
When I was a little older, I joined my dad’s hunts, and here, where I live now, I have hunted roe deer with him and my uncle since my teen years. I remember my dad and uncle handing me a shotgun and shells so I could go target practicing when I was 9 or 10 years old. That way, they could talk in peace.
I did not start actively hunting red deer by myself until I moved here, close to Kristiansund, 20 years ago. My uncle took me red deer hunting (as he owned the grounds), and eventually, I got a spot on the hunting team. Now, most of them are retired or have passed. It’s just me and one more on the hunting team. She does not live here but comes now and then during the season. So, I do a lot of hunting by myself. But we do have good communication and cooperation with the neighboring hunting grounds, so it is not completely alone all the time.”
“The best thing about hunting in this area is probably nature. It’s very varying, from mountains to forests to fields and the sea. And when up in the mountains, you always have nice views down to the fjords and out to the Atlantic ocean.”
Erik Aspen Bakke
Hunters’ community
Friendship and cooperation is a common narrative that comes up whenever we are talking to hunters. Having common interests is always the key to maintaining life-long relationships, and mutual activities bring people closer together. Erik admits to loving sharing hunting tales with other hunters, practicing at the range together, and helping others – or receiving help – to skin and slaughter the prey.
To Andrea, friendships also brought one of the most important things in life – an opportunity to travel. “I started hunting in Lofoten, but I have always been a very curious person, so I wanted to learn all types of hunting and started traveling to visit friends I made online. After a while, I had friendships in many different countries and places, and I love traveling to hunt. Most of these friendships came through social media. But the privilege to be on teams of like-minded people, like the Pulsar family, also helps to meet many talented people. Not only have I been hunting with them, but I also learned a bunch of valuable lessons from them.”
Behind the scenes
Of course, it is through the Pulsar family that Andrea came to film in Kristiansund, too. She admits to having been very happy to be invited, although probably none of us could have foreseen the challenges we were about to face. Norway has a reputation for having harsh weather, but what we encountered was beyond it. Even Andrea admitted it was challenging – and she comes from the Arctic Circle!
But that didn’t ruin the overall experience: “It was my first production like this, and I loved it. I learned so much and had so much fun meanwhile. Plus, Kristiansud has a big red deer population, and they are amazing animals to hunt. To be able to hunt them in a beautiful place in the west of Norway is a dream.”
Hunting around Kristiansud
“Hunting in the North-West of Norway is nice, as we have all kinds of animals as well as all kinds of nature. It’s most common to hunt red deer and roe deer, as they have the biggest population and do the most economic damage to farmland. But it is also possible to hunt moose, grouse, seal, fox, goose, mink, marten, and sometimes lynx. I might have forgotten some species,” begins Erik, and we would think he works for the local tourist department had we not witnessed all this variety ourselves.
“The best thing about hunting in this area is probably nature. It’s very varying, from mountains to forests to fields and the sea. And when up in the mountains, you always have nice views down to the fjords and out to the Atlantic ocean. And you can see the mountains and terrain across the fjords. I would also argue that the horrid weather is good for hunting. All the rain and wind will camouflage the hunters’ movement,” continues Erik. And while he tried to put us off by describing the local weather – strong winds and all kinds of precipitation – his stories about living in the area still sound incredibly appealing: “It is a more relaxed place to live. I can go straight into the forest and up to the mountain from my backyard. We can take walks on the road without seeing cars, have easy access to water (as we are surrounded), and can fish whenever we want. We also take trips with our boat, and in summer, we can go swimming pretty much everywhere. It is safe, and everyone knows everyone. I have spots where I can shoot my guns, and nobody would care or react at all.”
If not fishing, practicing, working or spending time with his kids, there is a good chance Erik will be out hunting red deer: “Mostly, it is morning and night hunts in lower grounds or on fields, either from our hunting tower, or laying in the edges of the fields. I also hunt in the mountains, which is probably the hardest, as the deer are very cautious in the mountains because it’s normally very quiet there.”
Thermal vision as the game-changer
While usually he has only a couple of hours of daylight to hunt, Erik extends this time with the help of thermal vision: “My selfish aspect of liking thermal is that I can hunt whenever I want, no restrictions or obstacles because of light. And that is worth gold when you have a day job and several children at home.
We do not have a lot of time before it is dark here in this part of Norway. Hunting starts in September, and the light is okay, but it gets darker faster every day. Move a couple of months ahead, and it will be dark at 5 pm. With normal optics, we can hunt only under the full moon at that time. Except, of course, in the middle of the day. But the animals are in the mountains, and people work. But with thermal, we can actually hunt all the time. I don’t have to worry about daylight and twilight anymore. That is a big game changer and helper for hunting teams in Norway.”
Personal practicalities aside, the Norwegian hunter stresses that ethics are the biggest benefit of thermals. “Here, most red deer are shot in the twilight. And that is also when most animals are hurt by bad shots and poor judgements. Therefore, I see thermal vision as a more animal-friendly tool than normal optics. You will have better and safer shots in poor visibility. Another factor is less stress on the animals. You can hunt and shoot animals in the middle of the night when they suspect no danger and are calm, thus, again, more ethical.”
Meanwhile, Andrea only had a few days to test thermal in Kristiansund, but she’s been an avid user of the devices up North, in the Lofotens, where she found them extremely useful: “For example, where I hunt moose, this season was super hard, and the team couldn’t find any animals.
When I brought the Merger, we could spot the moose at the mountaintops and were able to plan the hunt a bit better. Using a thermal still doesn’t do the hunting for you, and stalking and hunting are still challenging, especially in an area like ours where the terrain is very open. You have almost nowhere to hide, so stalking is hard. Thermals are an amazing tool for this but also in the case of wounded animals. They help make the search process much shorter. It’s also safer – when you look through the Merger in a vast terrain, you will be able to spot all of the other hunters and dogs at large distances, thus getting a much better view of the entire situation.”
Unprecedented detailedness
Of course, the Merger Andrea is speaking of here is the Pulsar Merger LRF XP50. During the trip, she also had a chance to test the new XL model with an HD sensor: “The XL is even better [than XP] and the details and view you get from this device are just mind-blowing. You are able to spot animals at such a great distance. I never get tired of looking through them. The quality amazes me every time.”
Erik agrees: “Merger is without a doubt the best device to look through. It is fantastic to use when you are in position, whether it’s on the ground or in a hunting tower. Very comfortable to look through over time.”
The comfort, of course, comes from the dual eyepiece and great ergonomics, while it’s the aforementioned sensor that’s mostly responsible for incredible detail recognition. We can’t wait for you to test it yourself, and in the meantime, we invite you to enjoy the gorgeous Norwegian sceneries – through thermal and digital – in the video.
“The XL is even better [than XP] and the details and view you get from this device are just mind-blowing. You are able to spot animals at such a great distance. I never get tired of looking through them. The quality amazes me every time.”
Andrea Lysvold
Before purchasing any night or thermal vision device, please make sure you adhere to the local legislation and only use it when it is allowed. Our ambassadors come from various countries and travel a lot, which allows them to test different devices. We do not encourage or support the illegal use of our devices in any events. If you wish to learn more about export and sales restriction policy, please visit the following link: Export and Sales Restriction Policy.