Soon – Alberta Bearcation

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The clock is ticking. Getting excited! In just a few weeks I will be in a bear camp. Some folks have a Vacation, but Albertans “and guests” who hunt have a Bearcation.

I shoot my fast 10 Point crossbow daily and play with arrows, fletching and broadheads like a kid in a sandbox with a toy dump truck and bulldozer.

Recently, I watched a video of a family with three generations of bear hunters. Many are teens and 20’s seen whooping dancing and stomping like american indians prepping for the hunt in a large garage below. The senior dad is hunting with his crossbow, like I will be doing. 

Sooo much fun watching the hunting spirit of this family. 

Western Canada has tons of big black bears. Success rates are typically very high. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario are chockablock full of ’em. And as a meat-eater that makes my day. 

My grandkids have just started deer hunting with their dad and me. Maybe get them out on a bearcation in a few years. 

Get Excited! Adventure – Go Hunt!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Color Phase Black Bear Hunt Plan

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My upcoming Alberta black bear hunt will be among color phase bears. What does that mean? Fur color can be black, chocolate/brown, cinnamon, and blonde. Blonde is perhaps the most rare of the color phases. I have not targeted a bear color per se. For me, what is important is a larger male representative of the species. If a large cinnamon presents itself and its coat is prime.  We shall see…

Of interest is this video below on color phases across North America. 

Good Hunting!

Heavier Crossbow Arrow/Bolt Hunting Thoughts

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Most crossbow companies sell “arrow speed” to sell Crossbows based on say, a 400 grain arrow/bolt.

Yes, sure, that 400 fps equates to delivered kinetic energy to game but what about penetration?

Will a 500 or 600 grain arrow get more momentum thus deeper penetration. On a target butt, you won’t see a dramatic difference because it is the target butts job to stop the arrow. It is not flesh.

The same crossbow will lose some speed with the heavier arrows but gain in penetration.

African bowhunters on really big game use say 800 to 900 grain arrows. Bolts are shorter but a 500 to 600 grain bolt will carry more momentum thus penetration. 

An exit wound for an arrow provides the all important blood trail.

If hunting moose or larger, for example; With crossbow, use a heavier arrow.

Below is what Fred Bear said on the subject; https://www.arkansashunting.net/threads/what-did-fred-bear-say-about-heavy-arrows.95210/

Good Hunting!

Find Lost Arrows – Bought an Inexpensive Metal Detector – It Worked

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I have always been looking for an excuse to buy a metal detector. Costs range from $79 to many hundreds. Mine was $147. Over the years I have lost arrows in fields. Today my crossbow arrows cost $10 or so per arrow. Finding them was not difficult with the metal detector. I found the head of a golf seven iron too. Maybe you need an excuse to buy one. Amazon delivered mine in a day. Assembly was easy.  

Have Fun!

Todays Hunting Crossbows Live Their Useful Lives In Between A Rifle and a Bow and Arrow.

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I am both a bowman and a rifleman and I shoot both very well. Todays crossbows can launch an arrow/bolt at sizzling speeds of over 500 fps, faster than the best compound bows.

Most crossbows today shoot bolts typically in the 300 to 400 fps but the 500’s are out there now. I own two crossbows, a Grizzly recurve from Excalibur which shoots at 300 fps and has taken wild boar and turkey. Full penetration.

Grizzly by Excalibur

My main crossbow is a 10 Point Turbo S1 which launches a 425 grain arrow at around 360 fps. Fast enough and with enough momentum to penetrate the largest of wild game.

Both rifle and bow are great hunting tools. We just need training and practice to master them!

Good Hunting!

Compact Tripod for Crossbow or Rifle

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I happen to own a great shooting tripod, a Bog Death Grip.  But it doesn’t pack well for air travel especially with my crossbow and hard case.

Lots of hunters want a tripod that grips your bow or firearm like an extra hand. For several years the Bog worked for me with that vice like clamp. My search has found a new more compact tripod and clamp from Fooletu on Amazon. It has a saddle clamp and 360 deg. ball and height adjust from 25″ to 75″ high.

 

Pictured, is the new tripod holding my crossbow steady at chair height and stand up height. The clamp works great.

I can swivel and tilt at will. Cost $129.00 with a fabric case. That is a great price for the engineering that went into it. And it fits into my new hard bow case adding 4.4 pounds bringing my loaded bow case to around 40 pounds for air travel. See the fabric tripod case Below. Fits perfect in the case!

Safe Travels!

10 Point Crossbow and Hard Case Ready For Air Travel

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It’s almost May, and prep for my Alberta black bear hunt is underway. I have a soft/hard case for the 10 Point crossbow, but honestly…it looks flimsy.
Accordingly, I purchased a SKB Hard Case today. SKB has made gun and bow cases for air travel for years. Thanks to Dave at Wyvern Creations the case was in stock. Not cheap, as you can see below. 

While we we were at it, I replaced my bow cables and made other mechanical crossbow repairs. Dave did a great job while I waited. Because the new bow cables will stretch, I began a break-in process.

At first, I made elevation a lateral shooting adjustments then loaded the bow and left it loaded for a few hours. Yup, the cables stretched and my arrow hit 5 inches low at 35 yards. More adjustments were made. I expect more as the cables settle. 

On a separate note, I have a Mackenzie 3D bear target that is so stiff that pulling arrows was a nightmare. I solved it by removing the vitals block, and placing another easier arrow pulling black target behind it and visible from the front.

I’m ready for the hunt!

Good Shooting! 

Spring Canadian Black Bear Hunt; How Big is Big? Update

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As most of my readers know, I am hunting massive male bears in Alberta, Canada in May/June this spring with my Ten Point 360 fps Crossbow.  This black bear species is known as Ursus americanus like the bears of eastern canada and USA and americanus is extending its range to 75% of Alberta. Spring Alberta male bears are lean but often exceed 300 pounds. They live in proximity to the Olympic black bear which earned the sub-species Ursus americanus altifrontalis and the grizzly bear – Ursus arctos horribilis.

https://www.alberta.ca/black-bears-overview#jumplinks-0

Encounters of grizzly can happen but are rare because the grizzly does not frequent thick boreal forests like the black bear. I will have a rifle for backup especially when I exit the stand in the darkness. 

A black bear near a 50 gallon bait drum will aid very well in determining size. If the back of the bear is near to or greater than the top of the drum, then you have a “big very likely male bear” say 300 to 400 pounds.

UPDATE

If looking for Boone and Crockett trophies, check out Jim Shockey’s article on field judging black bear. 

https://www.boone-crockett.org/field-judging-black-bear

Shockey says, “Big bears are the toughest, meanest sons-of-a-guns in the valley, and they act it.” 

For me, the fur must be in prime shape as well, not rubbed off. 

END UPDATE

Look to identify male from female. Outfitters train hunters to avoid shooting female bears.  Additionally, female bears are not unusually large as the massive 300 to 400 lb males.

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Image Courtesy Wikipedia

Females with cubs or even older cubs give their sex away simply by being with cubs. 

Further, female front legs taper from wide to narrow all the way to the narrow front paws, where male front legs are like large stove pipes like the above photo with no leg taper. Old mature bruins have smaller ears more on the side of the head and fat wide heads with a crease down the center of the skull as shown above.

If I encounter a black bear of the size above, I would make every effort to harvest him. If I could not arrow him, I would take him with rifle. 

More soon….

 

 

Ten Point Crossbow and Oracle X: It’s A Packer Of A Swhacker For Big Black Bear

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In less than 50 days I’ll be flying 2200 miles across the USA and arriving in Grande Prairie Alberta, Canada for a week of  “two-fer” crossbow black bear hunting.

Tenpoint Turbo S1 Crossbow Package (Vektra Camo)

 

I chose to travel specifically to Alberta to hunt these unusually large color phase black bears. My Ten Point Turbo S1 Arrow/Bolts are equipped with Swhacker 231 broadheads.

With my Burris Oracle X Laser Scope, I practice at 15 to 30 yards for deer and bear and target shoot well beyond to 60 yards and more with supreme accuracy.

 

The laser works best after 20 yards by lighting the aiming point. 

Back to Swhackers; It’s cutting sharp hardened steel trocar tip leads the entry till the sharp swhacker wings enter tissue and swing the 2 1/2 inch razor sharp blades to bear, (pardon the pun).

Literally, broadside exit wounds are nearly assured with crossbows shooting 360 fps. I remember in the 1960’s, reading Fred Bear, said of his two edge broadhead blades…”It makes them lay low.” The swhacker does that in spades. I shot a red practice swhacker head out to my 60 yards target yesterday. Here is a entrance and exit picture.

I was impressed and hit the bullseye too.

Good Shooting!

 

 

 

Best Odds to Win 22LR Aspirin Shoot Competition With My CZ 457

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I have been hard at work/play with my new CZ 457 Varmint MTR shooting 50 yards 5 shot groups of SK Match, Wolf Match Plus. But only getting “on average” around 0.5 to 0.6 inch at 50 yards.  An adult aspirin is just 0.39 inches.

 

Ok make the aspirin 0.4 inches;  Is the CZ good enough, with less expensive ammo, to hit 10 aspirins at 50 yards or ten 5/8 inch wafers at 100 yards?  I don’t think so!

Do I like my new CZ? Yes but, if it doesn’t contend, I will be disappointed. Regularly close to a win is acceptable, with training evolving into some wins. 

As an older hunter/shooter, I still have better then 20/20  vision, at least in my shooting eye. and capable to shoot tiny sub-moa groups with the right ammo and equipment. 

On any day, it is thrilling for me to see the aim dot on a 22LR target just disappear into a tiny hole below. Just got do more of those. Right?

 

Flyers drive me crazy!  You Too!

You can hear me go “Shucks”, or something phonetically similar “Sh” sounding, when my four bullets in a 0.25 inch cluster gets busted with a flyer. It happens more than I’d like.

Under good wind conditions, I believe that 0.5 inches just not good enough to contend for a “win” at an Aspirin Size 0.39 inch target shoot at 50 yards, or 5/8 (0.625) wafers at 100 yards and metal plates as small as 2 inches at 150 yards.

Good news is, My SK Match with a “lot test” of SD of 5 seems more stable at 100 and 150 yards as groups at 100 and 150 are just under MOA. 

Maybe shoot 10 aspirin with higher cost sorted ammo like Eley Match or Tenex and use SK, Wolf  etc at longer range? We shall see. Just watch the barrel seasoning between brands! Very Important!

I hate to spend this much on ammo but if your Match Rifle and “yours truly” want to win at any matches this summer, then I will have to dig deep and spend on ammo. 

Some ammo choices are expensive but I’m giving my CZ a chance to shine!

Good Shooting!