Let us assume your hunt is all day with Rifle up Northern NH in a new hunting area you scouted with a friend. It is about a half mile off main roads. It is vital that someone, wife or friend know exactly where you are hunting and what vehicle you are taking, license plate info and color/make of your vehicle. As I am older now, I would hunt with a friend that is able bodied.

Here is what in my pack that I carry with me.

Medical First Aid Kit

Lets begin with a First Aid Kit that has bandages, large and small, antibiotic ointment, gauze and tape. Ibuprofen for pain. And a supply of one day of any prescriptions.

A note of who I am, phone numbers, medical conditions has been missing from my pack in early hunts – I have added it.

Hand/foot warmers Space blanket to hold heat in your body

Cell Phone or W Talkie if no reception

Map and Compass/GPS if you have one.

Knife (sharp)

matches/lighter and fire starter sticks

Flashlight or headlamp

Hunt Licenses

Pencil/Pen for filling out your tag

Glove kit for cleaning your deer

Water for hydration/Water giardia filter for use in streams.

Matches or lighter and fire starter.

Drag Rope

orange flag tape

Extra Ammo.

Food that has little weight such as protein bars and candy bars and gorp like snacks.

Lunch food such as sandwiches.

Toilet paper. Orange if you can find it.

Bandanna for sweat or to use as a bandage.

Note: If you are with other hunters in a group you may want to shorten this list if you are going to be in a spot for only 2 or 3 hours and your team knows where you are.

Core items:

Medical First aid

Identification and phone numbers

Water

Map and Compass

License & pencil

knife

drag rope

toilet paper

flag tape

extra ammo

phone or talkie

It seems no matter what the rifle and off-the-shelf cartridge is, there are only two basic questions. Question #1 Can it cleanly kill a deer? Question #2 How much does it kick?

Once those questions are answered in the affirmative (Yes) to the first question and “very little” to he second question, then it is logical to want to know what the rifle is, right?

Is the cartridge a;

A. 308 Winchester

B. 30-30 Winchester

C, 243 Winchester

D. .270 Winchester

It has been my experience that children will receive the 30-30 Winchester in a Marlin rifle to deer hunt and it works. The .308 and .270 recoil much more.  But if you have a .243 Winchester like I do in my Ruger American Rifle, then you can have a great deer caliber for less than $400 dollars and it kicks so little that even a young hunter won’t complain a bit. Photo below.

In a previous article I wrote about the 90 grain .243 E-Tip below that mushroomed to twice its size.

With a scope, this rifle can kill deer out to 300 yards with a 90 to 100 grain bullet. On varmints with 55 grain bullets, it is hard to beat. It will be used on my southern deer hunt this fall.

If you look at categories I have listed for articles under rifle and bullet tests you will see lots of my writing on the .243 Winchester and the Ruger American. I just love the cartridge and the rifle. You will too….

If you reload, chances are that  you may never own a .243 because hand loading lighter loads in any cartridge exists. But if you stay on off-the-shelf cartridges then the .243 is it!

Be safe! Good Hunting!

© 2015

When I was hunting in Africa with my son Jason, we were fed delicious meat snacks called Biltong. It is dried meat that has marinated in special seasoning like our American Jerky.  Below is Impala from our hunt being skinned and prepared for both mounts and for our meals. Some of this meat finds its way to becoming Biltong, a prized South African snack food. Here we will use whitetail venison instead of Impala.

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It is akin to Jerky but Afrikaner’s would say that Jerky does not come close to the excellent flavor of Biltong. I expect that I will have venison in my freezer this year as I am hunting down south were the deer are very plentiful. So I want to try and make this Biltong recipe that I received from a friend that grew up in South Africa and now lives and works here. You may want to give it a try….

Ingredients:

5 lbs  game meat

red wine vinegar

coarse salt (I use Kosher salt)

whole coriander

black pepper

bicarbonate of soda

For this weight of beef or venison use:

2 tablespoons coarse salt

1/2 cup of coriander (if you have a mortar and pestle, you can crush them slightly)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar (I omit this, but I know some people add it)

1 teaspoon bicarb soda (I have made the biltong without this, however it does tend to keep the dried meat a little softer and easier to cut)

Mix the above ingredients thoroughly.

Cut the meat in strips (approx 1 – 1/2 inches thick), diagonally along the grain

place the cut meat in a large glass bowl

sprinkle with the vinegar to wet the meat

sprinkle your made up biltong mix over the meat

thoroughly turn the meat over with this mix, so that all the pieces are properly coated.

cover the dish with clingwrap and place in the refrigerator for approx 24 hours.

At the end of this time, discard any bloody fluid that has leaked out of the meat.

Make a 50/50 mix of the vinegar and water in a bowl.

Rinse the meat in this mixture quickly to get rid of the excess salt.

My friend uses paperclips that I have opened up to hang the meat. A washing stand placed on a shoe tray makes an excellent drying rack. Some folks make a cardboard drying box with a small fan and a 60 watt light bulb. Some hang the meat with string or thread using a large sewing needle. It will take roughly 4 to 6 days to dry hard on the outside and still be somewhat soft on the inside. More or less to your liking. I have a food dehydrator so I am going to use that.

I found a website that goes into great detail for larger quantities of Biltong

http://www.africhef.com/Biltong-Recipe.html 

Enjoy!

I am a believer in the copper bullet for hunting with high velocity cartridges such as the .243 Winchester with 90 grain E-Tips. The E is for Expanding!  It is as accurate as all get-out!

Mushroom at 20 yards 1/2 inch mushroom below.

Weight before: 90 grains

Weight after: 89.9 grains

Weight retention: 99.9%

For contrast there is a 100 grain Speer Hot core boat tail lead bullet with gilding copper jacket shot at left of the all copper e-tip.  The lead bullet exited the wood but was not recovered.