The biggest advantage of muzzleloader season in NH is that the deer are calm and have not altered their feeding and bedding habits.
As regular firearm season approaches deer find places to hunker down and are more warry. The other big advantage of muzzleloader season is that does are coming into estrous and bucks are moving more. Stay warm. Dress in layers. I carry a small day backpack. Have my license, a pen, a sharp knife, drag rope, first aid kit, hand warmers, water and snacks and a phone or communications device.
I tell family specifically where I am hunting. Perhaps you should too!
If in camo, I wear an item of orange like a hat or camo orange vest. Deer don’t see orange, but people do. Deer see movement!
I enjoy cooking and eating my venison, and thus gut my deer asap after tagging, and open the cavity to cool it as soon as possible to preserve that meat quality. I do not hang my deer more than a day or so before cutting. I like to vacuum seal my meat or burger. It will last for a few years in a freezer and over time will often lose more wild taste and even tenderize some cuts. I have begun pressure canning too and it tenderizes the toughest cuts.
Perhaps it is time we stop whining about recoil! Fix it!
Honestly, the fastest and least expensive way to reduce felt recoil from big game rifles is to install a slip-on or grind-to-fit recoil pad that was scientifically designed to reduce that instant whack to your shoulder. Yes you can use a heavier rifle. Not me. Or a thread on device to your barrel, sure to give you an ear-ache. I’ll pass.
I have used both Limbsaver™ and Pachmayr Decelerator™ pads for the past 20 years to my great relief. I owned a heavy recoiling Ruger M77 in.338 Winchester Magnum and still own and use my M77 African in .375 Ruger. One was fitted with a Limbsaver SVL Pad and the other was fitted with a Pachmayr Decelerator. Both cut my felt recoil by approximately 50% or so. Below is a video from Limbsaver.
I shoot these big guns off-hand in my t-shirt because the recoil is more of a push than a whack, thus making it easy for the shooter to absorb the recoil almost painlessly.
Even more, you can reduce felt recoil on your young son or daughters deer rifle too. A 6.5 Creedmoor/260 Rem shooting a 120 grain bullet at 3000 ft/ sec creating about 14 ft/lbs but with a state-of-the-art pad the felt recoil is nearer to 7 lbs of felt recoil, less than a .243 Winchester. Below is from the website;https://shooterscalculator.com/recoil-calculator.php
My wife Susan and I have been vacuum freezing game meat for years. In October 2019 we put 300 pounds of Moose and 150 pounds of wild boar in the freezer. In 2021 we learned the hot-canning method used by many hunting families for stews and such in glass Ball Jars.
If you enjoy eating the game you hunt and like to preserve and tenderize your meat, read on.
We processed and vacuum sealed all the meat at home.
In 2019, we expected large summer 2020 BBQ gatherings, so we made burger patties and put large numbers of patties in vac bags.
And as we all know, COVID changes our lives forever. We still had lots of frozen moose burger and stew meat. What to do?
Part of my reason to continue to hot can was that my stew meat came out-of-the-jar so tender that I could cut it with a fork. And it cuts down mealtime prep. to minutes. Wow!
For stews, I then cooked/steamed or quickly pressure cooked fresh carrots, potato, onion, celery etc., then added the hot canned stew meat. I used the juices to make a flour gravy adding herbs, salt and pepper. Sooo Delicious! Yes you can “can” your veggies too.
This month, October 2022, I booked another Newfoundland Moose hunt as part of my bucket list. What to do with another 300 pounds of moose meat? I still had 20 or so pounds of that frozen moose burger I wrote about at the beginning of this article?
I decided to hot-can the frozen game burger too, like all those patties we froze plus all the burger intended for pasta sauces. The frozen burger would have be ok for longer freezer storage but the meat became so buried in the freezer making it very hard to find.
Accordingly, I gathered all the frozen moose burger, about 20 pounds and hot canned it for use in my delicious pasta sauces, “shepherds pie”, chili recipes, biscuits and gravy, meat pies, meat tacos, mince meat pie, and so much more. Hungry yet? I sure am!
I used a T-fal Pressure Canner below with Pressure Control, 22 Quart volume. But you can use any large canner. You will need Ball jars and lids.
There are other brands and styles, but I like this one because it is so easy to use.
T-fal Pressure Canner
I thawed the moose in large pots meat of cold water. Here is a basic recipe video.
I highly recommend purchasing a canning book like this one below, to become educated for safety and have delicious recipes.
In the past year 2021, I successfully hot canned venison, wild boar, chicken breast, moose and now moose burger.
After canning, you can label like this above with Avery labels.
Making a pocket field card for a specific load and bullet will aid in improved vital zone bullet placement.
The card is really a drop or trajectory table with wind and energy at a specific laser rangefinder game distances your looking to shoot.
I used my Nosler 300g AccuBond to create the table below for my moose hunt with the .375 Ruger. There are many ballistic calculators on the market. I use JBM Ballistics Trajectory calculator (free on-line). It works great!!
The pocket card you take into the field will look like the card above. Wind drift is in inches with a 10 mph 90 degree crosswind. I zeroed for 250 yards. Go to the website below and experiment.
You can select your bullet from this software’s drop down menu, enter the bullet muzzle velocity, zero-range, wind, elevation, vital-zone radius and many other parameters for the table you will create.
Trajectory
Input Data
Manufacturer:
Nosler
Description:
Accubond™ Spitzer
Caliber:
0.375 in
Weight:
300.0 gr
Ballistic Coefficient:
0.473 G1 (ASM)
Muzzle Velocity:
2550.0 ft/s
Distance to Chronograph:
10.0 ft
Sight Height:
1.50 in
Sight Offset:
0.00 in
Zero Height:
0.00 in
Zero Offset:
0.00 in
Windage:
0.000 MOA
Elevation:
0.000 MOA
Line Of Sight Angle:
0.0 deg
Cant Angle:
0.0 deg
Wind Speed:
10.0 mph
Wind Angle:
90.0 deg
Target Speed:
0.0 mph
Target Angle:
90.0 deg
Target Height:
40.0 in
Temperature:
40.0 °F
Pressure:
29.92 in Hg
Humidity:
50 %
Altitude:
0.0 ft
Vital Zone Radius:
5.0 in
Std. Atmosphere at Altitude:
No
Pressure is Corrected:
Yes
Zero at Max. Point Blank Range:
No
Target Relative Drops:
Yes
Mark Sound Barrier Crossing:
No
Include Extra Rows:
No
Column 1 Units:
1.00 in
Column 2 Units:
1.00 MOA
Round Output to Whole Numbers:
No
Output Data
Elevation:
7.540 MOA
Windage:
0.000 MOA
Atmospheric Density:
0.07925 lb/ft³
Speed of Sound:
1095.8 ft/s
Maximum PBR:
302 yd
Maximum PBR Zero:
255 yd
Range of Maximum Height:
136 yd
Energy at Maximum PBR:
2658.9 ft•lbs
Sectional Density:
0.305 lb/in²
I found that my rifle zero is best set for 250 yards as it allows for max point blank range with a vital zone radius for moose at 5 inches. Basically the size of a ten inch pie plate.
By experimenting with muzzle velocity, wind, altitude parameters in the JBM software, you will better understand how your bullet will perform as it speeds its way to the intended game.
Moose hunting provides an opportunity for lots of delicious meat and maybe a large rack to display in remembrance of the hunt.. I have been blessed with successfully hunting Newfoundland moose bull in October 2019 and a New Hampshire bull several years back, neither had great racks. Below is the New Hampshire moose.
So I am trying for a larger mature bull (more meat) with perhaps a larger rack. We shall see.
This new moose hunt is expected to be a river hunt using the Gander River Canoe or some say Gander River Bay boat. Newfoundland moose hunts are in September and October and are prime times for crazy weather.
I shot my last bull, quartering forward, in Newfoundland in a late September snow squall with 30 mph zero degree windchill. A one-shot kill at 100 yards with a Nosler 300g AccuBond. My bullet did not exit and was recovered under the skin on the far side after wrecking the lungs. He stood for just a few seconds before collapsing where he stood..
You’d think that I had dozens of rifles to choose from but in truth I have only 5 rifles. Two are muzzleloaders. My really big game modern rifle is the Ruger M77 African in .375 Ruger. I hand load it. My bullet of choice is the 300 grain Nosler AccuBond™ because it is a tough bonded bullet and has a high ballistic coefficient and a superior sectional density for long range hunting. Below left is the Nosler 260 grain and right is the 300 grain AB.
I like the 308/30-06/7mm/.270 type cartridge or greater for moose hunting. No, you don’t need a .375 Ruger, but I have one in my gun safe and it is accurate as all get-out. I shoot it very well.
For those not familiar with the .375 Ruger, it is slightly more powerful than the .375 Holland and Holland of African fame for Cape Buffalo and is a non-belted round.
With a state-of-the-art recoil pad, it reduces my .375 felt recoil by approximately 50%, like a .270 Winchester.
These recoil pads like the Pachmayr Decelerator™ and Limbsaver models are excellent and tames my .375 Ruger very well.
I can shoot it off hand, in my t-shirt. Get one of these pads today and stop whining about recoil!
Many Newfoundland bogs, that are prime moose habitat, are hundreds of yards in size and you need a rifle to reach out and maintain speed and energy.
I use the BOG Deathgrip tripod below for longer range shots. I have shot it prone and accurately out to 600 yards.
My scope of choice is the Leupold VX-6 3-18. What a combo! Below are the ballistics as calculated by JBMballistics.com with a muzzle velocity of 2550 fps with the Nosler 300g AB. Zeroed for 250 yards. With a 20 mph wind at 45º angle. The .375 Ruger with this Nosler AB bullet delivers over 2000 ft lbs. at 450 yards. Wow!
Wind at long range becomes a serious factor, understand your limitations. If you have a heavy wind at 90 degree crosswind angles, keep your shots at much shorter ranges. Quartering wind or wind blowing at you is a better situation, but you may need to move for a better shot opportunity. A trajectory and wind table printed in your pocket can be helpful.
