Monthly Archives: April 2025

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!

22LR Local Rifle Competitive Shoots – Lack of Rules Can Stack Deck In Favor Of High Dollar Rifles and Ammo

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For some competitive bench 22LR shoots just reside yourself from rarely winning a local shoot unless the playing field is class leveled such as unlimited, mid level, factory equip. etc. 

Can a CZ or 10/22 really compete head-on with the likes of a very expensive Anschutz or VooDoo 22 and $20 plus ammo and a high end scope?

Maybe in a windstorm.

I am seeking a remedy for local shoots to create fairness. 

Your thoughts?

 

 

Simple Ways To Tighten 22LR Groups For Bench Competition

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One of the easiest way to tighten 22LR groups is to;

  1. Buy some expensive ammo that is sorted for accuracy criteria. Use sparingly.
  2. Spend lots of money to buy a world class target rifle and scope. Not me, can’t afford it. 
  3. Buy more affordable ammo and sort it by weight and length and rim thickness. Not yet.
  4. Test lesser expensive ammo to see what your rifle likes. I do this! But the flyers drive me crazy.
  5. Ensure the throat of your rifle chamber is cleaned regularly of lead buildup. Important, I do this!
  6. Stop changing ammo brands without barrel reseasoning. Yea, learning this lesson big time!!
  7. Shoot often to know your rifle and accessories it needs. Within my budget. 
  8. Try using a barrel harmonic deresonator. Trying this too. 

Having said all that, above is what I am doing to tighten my groups. 

Buy an affordable rifle known to be used in competition and practice with brands of ammo your rifle likes. I bought a CZ457 Varmint Match Target Rifle MTR for $899. A Vortex Viper Rifle MRAD Scope for $450. I like both. And a Timney Trigger for $180 dollars. A good rest too. 

One of the most important criteria I am learning is to put enough rounds through my rifle to season it.

The term seasoning refers to acclimating the full length of the barrel to the bullet lube used by your ammo brand. Very Important!

You will know when groups seem to magically tighten, maybe 15 rounds or even 50 or more. 

This will really tighten groups. Experiment with how many rounds of a specific brand to season and tighten groups.

Every ammo type has a different lubricant which seasons/tightens groups. Some suggest cleaning the barrel every 200 or so rounds and then re-season it.

Shooting high quality ammo can be saved only for competition, thus not as expensive as it appears.

As I have said in other articles, being a long time handloader, I like to experiment. It is fun!

Hope this helps!

Good Shooting!

 

 

LimbSaver Sharpshooter Barrel Dampener Review To Tighten Your 22LR Groups? TEST UPDATE

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A $9 dampener that works on your rifle? Yes, to even up the odds if you compete. It is not cheating! Maybe worth a try. 

 

I have tested these Barrel Dampeners before on a few big game rifles.  Cost is $9 dollars on Amazon. Cheap enough! They do work! 

The question becomes; How much accuracy do you really need? For hunting say at 50 yards, one inch is fine, but for competition 1/2 to 1/3 inch groups is more the norm.

 Ammo used for hunting and plinking is inexpensive compared to competitive target ammunition, $6 a box of 50 for plinking and $10 to $20 competition. In the middle are $8 or $9 dollar boxes that can work magic in some rifles. I know these barrel dampeners can help tighten groups of so called lesser ammo.

UPDATE

For the Limbsaver deresonator test I used some Winchester Super X High Velocity 22 hunting ammo I’ve had for years. 

The test rifle is my Savage A22 Semi-Auto with Vortex Diamondback 6-24×50 set at 20x.

 

The ammo and rifle are not even close to use in 22LR competition, thus the results from “with” deresonator to “without” should be clear. I found that moving the deresonator down the barrel found that at 4 inches from the muzzle, groups tightened. Moving more than 4 inches groups got wider. 

Target shown below G1, G2, G3 are With Deresonator set at 4 inches from muzzle. Groups 4 and 5 are without the deresonator.

G1 1 3/8″ with flyer. 7/8″ without flyer.

G2 3/4″ with flyer. 1/4″ without. 4 shots in ragged 1/4″ hole.

G3 3/4″ with flyer. 1/4″ without. 4 shots in ragged .1/4″ hole.

G4 1.0″ with flyer. 3/4″ without flyer. No tight groups.

G5 1.5″ with flyer. 7/8″ without flyer. No tight groups.

 The Limbsaver Deresonator groups are strikingly tighter, even with this older hunting ammo and a semi-auto 22 rifle. 

Good Shooting!