INNOVATION SINCE 1992 – FROM LAPPMARK TO PRO HUNTER

It began with the Lappmark suit in 1992: An extremely hardwearing suit, designed for professional hunters and to withstand the rugged Scandinavian landscape. In 2005, we continued the philosophy behind the original suit by creating the Pro Hunter range as we know it today. On the occasion of this quarter centenary, we talk to Kaj who has worn the Lappmark suit throughout all the 25 years.

Interview with Kaj Filrup

Kaj Filrup is a hunter. Since he acquired his licence over 35 years ago, hunting has been a passionate focus for both him and his family. Their little Swedish hunting consortium consists exclusively of three generations of Kaj’s family, who all cherish togetherness, nature, hunting and life’s enduring values. In the early 1990s, Kaj purchased a Härkila Lappmark hunting suit, trousers and jacket, with GORE-TEX® membrane, from a Copenhagen retailer. Like the rest of the family, these garments have followed him through thick and thin in all the thrills and spills of hunting. I meet Kaj and Arkas, his yellow labrador, for a walk and breakfast at his hunting cabin in the middle of 90 hectares of beautiful Swedish forest and fields. It ends with a long chat about family life, traditions and, of course, hunting. Kaj warns me from the off: ”Now you’ve got me going! Once I get chatting, there’s no stopping me.”

How did your hunting life begin?

”The story is that my now departed wife and I lived on a lovely tree-lined farm in Ballerup near Copenhagen. We had fenced in about a hectare around the property and we kept sheep, ducks, geese and turkeys. Everything under the sun. The foxes, however, discovered it too, and the geese especially had a hard time. So my wife started to niggle at me. She was always one to encourage me and she reckoned I should get a hunting licence to put an end to the fox problem. Hunting was absolutely not in my blood, and neither my parents nor grandparents had ever hunted. Nothing much happened for the first couple of years but, on a New Year’s trip to our home-from-home in the Swedish countryside, a neighbour turned up with a pair of freshly felled deer. He reckoned that, since I now had a hunting licence, I could join their party and shoot some game next year. So it was; I went home and signed up for hunting lessons. In the first years, I shot a lot of pigeons on our little property in Denmark. An incredible number of them flew over. Then, of course, I also shot loads of foxes. Including those I trapped, I quickly got more than a hundred foxes. There was a time when my hunting mates called me ”Kaj the fox”. The skins were often tanned, and I also had a couple of ”Davy Crockett” fur hats made, which I wear when it’s cold. However, the hunting bug soon caught on. Just the year after me, my eldest son Dan also got his hunting licence and then, in the following year, Dan’s wife and then my two other sons. My wife also got her hunting licence when she discovered that, whenever we were all together as a family, we spent the whole time talking about hunting. She realised she might as well ‘join the club’. I never actually managed to get her out on a real hunt, but at least now she could always take part in the discussions. In 2000, my eldest grandchild, Christian, also got his licence when he turned 16. More grandchildren have followed on since.”

You have one of the first Härkila hunting suits. What’s the story behind your Lappmark suit?

”I’m the sort of person who always needs proper gear, no matter what it is. When I find something that fits me perfectly, though, I stick with it. That’s how it’s been with both my rifle and my hunting clothes. My Lappmark suit was my first proper set of hunting clothes, and I’ve had it since the beginning. I bought it from a retailer north of Copenhagen in the early 1990s, a couple of years after I got my licence. He warmly recommended it, saying it was the world’s best set of hunting clothes. The suit has been with me, almost all my hunting life. I’ve been incredibly happy with it, and the fit is amazing. The shopkeeper also talked me into buying a pair of braces. He said they’d go with the suit, and I haven’t regretted that either. After all these years, the suit is still 100% waterproof, but I have taken good care of it. It has all the pockets I need. Loads of pockets. Deep pockets. I actually wear it all year round, except for the really hot days in the Swedish buck hunt in August. This set of clothes makes for a good hunting companion: one you can rely on!”

How did the opportunity to hunt in Sweden come about, and what does it mean to you?

”In 1992, my eldest son, Dan, and I, along with our hunting mate, agreed to try to get our own hunting grounds in Sweden. I put an advert in the local press, and we got three responses, one of which sounded really promising. An area of about 90 hectares, just 30 km from our farm. After a viewing, we took up the offer. Later on, my brothers and a nephew came on board, and since then we have had 6-7 in the consortium. Just the family. We get on amazingly well together, and for me it’s a privilege to have three sons and now also two grandchildren to go hunting with. It’s incredible. Spending time on something we are all fond of and getting to know each other in a different way. I have always loved being out and about in the countryside and, as far as hunting goes, more than anything I enjoy the sounds and impressions at sunrise and sunset. It was when we started hunting in Sweden that I became seriously aware of the need for some hunting clothes that were durable and could be used for different types of hunt. It is asking a lot of clothing to both keep you warm and dry in a hunting tower and withstand the rigours of dense scrub and rocky pine forest. To my mind, my Lappmark suit is up to the job. In addition, it is also quite silent. When I go out walking with non-hunters, I am often the first one to notice the animals around us. However, my grandson, Christian, he’s now better than me these days. He’s the one that spots them first, the cheeky beggar. However, it’s all been drummed into him since he was only five when we started going out hunting as a family. To be honest, I reckon he’s the best hunter of us all. I like to think I’m the runner-up”, says Kaj with a laugh.

What sort of hunting or game do you prefer?

”Roe deer. I’ve shot a lot of roe deer. I must have shot 75, if not 100, in my time. Rifle hunting, though, is definitely what does it for me. I do enjoy stand hunting, and I’ve got the temperament to sit still and quietly. Maybe that’s also why I’ve shot so many foxes. Other than that, of course, I’m really into our Swedish moose hunt, which is a very special event. Although it only lasts a few days on our small-scale hunting grounds. My greatest hunting experience was actually also with a moose, and that wasn’t even what I was hunting. I was actually on a buck hunt down in the marsh one time in August, and suddenly this moose cow turns up about 20 or 30 metres from the tower. At that time, there was a salt stone on a rock just below the tower, which the moose went to lick. At one point she lay down so close that she actually nudged the tower I was sitting in. She lay there for about 20 minutes chewing the cud before getting up and returning whence she’d come. Never for a minute did she notice me. This was a moose that I neither could nor wanted to shoot, but it was still a fantastic experience.”

What does hunting and your place in Sweden mean to you and your family?

”It’s meant the world to us. We began building the hunting cabin in the summer of 2000, and we made it entirely out of recycled materials we got from a local property that was being completely refurbished. I bought a large circular saw, and my wife and I just sawed up all the timber to the correct dimensions. Together with roofs, doors, floors, windows and a full kitchen, we drove it all up to the hunt in Sweden. We were hard at it that summer, and in the first week we had raised the walls and roofed it to keep the rain out. The rest of the work on the cabin took place over the following years. None of us like sitting still, so over the years we’ve added a veranda, an outdoor kitchen and loads of other things. In the family, we try to get up there once a month in the hunting season, but we have also now started to go during the rest of the year since wild boar have started to come into the area. Both the cabin and location here are superb. Every time I’m here, I think about how privileged I am and have been in life. Getting on well with my family means the world to me, and I think what we have is quite unique. A lot of that is down to the hunting and our Swedish cabin.”

As I wave goodbye to Kaj and drive down the track on my way back to Denmark, I think about how special it is to have hunting as a leisure activity that is shared by the whole family of all ages. No life is lived without scars and wrinkles and, although Kaj’s 25-year-old Lappmark suit obviously has all the patina of use, the wear is a badge of honour for all the experiences it has given its owner. A stubborn stain on the jacket is a memory of a special cup of coffee after a successful moose hunt. A deep scratch, from a stubborn barbed wire fence, in the leather reinforcement on the trousers evokes memories of a thrilling roe deer stalk many years ago. Hunting has been a unifying pastime in Kaj’s family life, and I’m inspired by his zest for life and the sense of togetherness that nature here has engendered.