One-Million-Shot Shotgun
When F3 shooter and Blaser Academy coach Rasmus Bjergegaard came to Isny this year, he had a special request in mind. His first F3 was to get a very thorough service but without a complete make-over because he loves it the way it looks. “The aged wood, e.g., reminds me we have been out there for quite some time together”, smiles Rasmus and adds, “before I got my F3 nearly 20 years ago, I had already started shooting competitions and tried another F3 shotgun beforehand, to make sure we would make a good team. So, regarding the potential of that gun, I was already convinced. But when I got my own, it was a completely new level and since then, I took my F3 everywhere.” Not only did Rasmus won the Danish National championships three times in a row with the F3 but he also took it around the world, hunting pheasants in Denmark, partridges in Spain or wood pigeons in Great Britain and Ireland.
As a coach for more than two decades, Rasmus knows that shotgun shooting is foremost about one’s mental attitude and at one point he became convinced, that the F3 fitted him best. In fact, they made such a good team, that “when I missed, I did not blame the gun but looked instead where and how I could improve. That is also the reason why I kept the F3.” And it was a busy life for his F3, indeed. Rasmus estimates that it made around 1 million shots so far, with the first barrels and no end in sight!
When he cut down on shooting competitions in order to combine shooting, coaching and family life, he took his F3 to coaching lessons instead of competitions, generously entrusting it into clients’ hands to, for example, experience its outstanding balance or crisp trigger and to become a better shot, too. The author was also lucky enough to shoot with the F3 of Rasmus a couple of years ago and the smoothness of the action and the wood made already for a good feeling, even before shooting!
Being in tune with your shotgun provides the shooter with the necessary confidence to be able to win any given day. So the good feeling when having a shotgun in one’s hand, cannot be overstated as it is the basis for the necessary mental strength. “If you look at the top 20 shooters, all of them could certainly make it onto the podium, but mental strength decides who will be there in the end”, says Rasmus and adds “if you don‘t see a world champion in the mirror, you won‘t become one.”
He has set his mind on reentering shooting competitions in 2026, this time together with his son, Simon. Training will start autumn, because the first rule for Rasmus is: No preparation, no registration. When training, Rasmus proceeds very systematically, not favoring a special technique but finding the right technique for a certain target. “First of all, I train a particular clay for a week, shooting 1000 shots using e.g. the maintaining lead technique. The following week, I choose a different technique for the same clay, which I shoot 1000 times again. In the last week, I then compare the documented results of the previous weeks and concentrate on the technique that gave me the most hits”, explains Rasmus.
Curt Anton has been hunting roe deer for over 20 years, but nothing could have prepared him for this moment. Together with Felix, he experiences the hunt of a lifetime. This is not just a hunt, it is every hunter's dream come true on the historic grounds of the Trolle Ljungby estate.