Author Archives: Ed Hale

About Ed Hale

I am an avid hunter with rifle and Bow and have been hunting for more than 50 years. I have taken big game such as whitetail deer, red deer, elk, Moose and African Plains game such as Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Blesbok, and Impala and wrote an ebook entitled African Safari -Rifle and Bow and Arrow on how to prepare for a first safari. Ed is a serious cartridge reloader and ballistics student. He has earned two degrees in science and has written hundreds of outdoor article on hunting with both bow and rifle.

A Hunters First Shot in the Field

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A Deer Hunters first shot is invariably the best shot because the game is not moving or not moving much. Most hunters do not get a second shot if the first missed. More than that, your first shot also comes from a cold barrel. If you have noticed at the range that your first shot drops 2 inches on average or shoots left or right but when your barrel warms after a few shots and groups nicely but different than the first shot. Throw out the nice warm barrel group unless you are competing. It was that first shot that counted. Now 2 inches left right or up or down at 100 yards IS STILL A KILL SHOT provided your rifle crosshair or front bead was on the vitals such as heart/lung area.

That said, unless you are willing to spend time to determine why your cold shots are different, such as the barrel is not free floating or bedding issues, then I would use my rifle as it is and not worry about the cold shot difference of say 2 inches. Where cold shots come into play is at much longer shots of say 300 or more yards. If your cold shot is consistent then make the sight adjustment for it if that makes you feel better.

Many hunters including me have a sort or wobble as they aim and squeeze the trigger. If I am free standing and no rest, or a minimal rest, I often find my rifle dropping as I am on target or supposed to be if I aim for say more than 5 to 10 seconds. This is why I begin aiming at the top of the kill zone and wobble with gravity to squeeze the shot off. Example; I aim at the top of a baseball size target to start. If I am shooting off a rest then I can get on target up vs down right away. The other thing I have noticed is that even a steady v rest can produce left/right minor swings as I breath. These swings or sways are bad for long distance shooting if you don’t practice.

The nastiest thing to experience from a trigger, besides most often being heavy, is one that creeps and is not crisp at the sear. Get it fixed! You will be so happy that you did. Accuracy comes from paying attention to aiming details at the rifle. Yes of course the aim point needs to be correct but it all adds up with what you did at the rifle when the shot rang out. Example: cheek weld, scope not too high, low, forward or back too close to your eye. Not yanking the trigger. They do add up… Train for the shot. Again use those snap caps and work the action such as a bolt.

Think Deer!

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2020

Rifle Hunters: How to get ready for deer season!

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Here in the northeast we hunt deer in the woods, mostly and not from fields or blinds as many in the south and west do. We often take stands or “still hunt” thus a shot at a deer may appear without the use of a bipod or tripod. What do you do?

A REST TO SHOOT FROM

Well, the best option without a  pod is to find a tree or branch to steady your shot.

In fact, if you are taking a stand or stopping for a moment, be sure to stop in a place where the trees, saplings and limbs offer a place to steady a rifle should a shot present itself, especially if you are not carrying a pod. There are many pod rest types on the market. The most popular are the bi-pod and tri-pod rests.

I have a mono-pod that doubles as a walking stick. But even then, I leave it in the car at times. Secondly, you can practice shooting offhand at the range and learn to use your sling to steady your shot. I do this offhand shooting at no more than 50 or 60 yards.

CLOTHING

It is best to practice with the clothing you are going to hunt with. The key here is that you want your rifle to smoothly come to your shoulder. Some recoil pads hang up on clothing so be sure to check. And who, knows you may find your scope too far away with bulky clothes. Check first!

KNOW  YOUR TRIGGER

Thirdly, you can learn where your trigger breaks with practice so you know when the trigger/sear will go. Have your rifle trigger tested for weight. It should approximately be (for hunting) between 3 and 5 pounds. I believe that less than 3 pounds creates an opportunity for an accidental fire, and more than 5 pounds and you keep pulling and pulling as seconds pass while your deer melts into the brush and your shot is lost. Trust me I have been there and done that. Practice, Practice, Practice. The use of a SNAP-CAP fake cartridge helps you practice your trigger. Most sporting goods stores have them or can get them for your cartridge and caliber.

KNOW YOUR TARGET

You should 100% identify a deer, and know where other hunters are and what is in front of and behind before aiming your rifle at the vitals of a whitetail deer.

TRAIN WISELY

NH Fish and Game has lots of great training material to keep you and those around you safe. Taking the Hunter Education course again is a great refresher if you haven’t been in the woods hunting in a while. Safety First!

https://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/hunting/hunter-ed.html

GO GET EM’

Hunting whitetail deer is my favorite pass time! I hope it is yours as well! See you out there!

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

Refurbishing an old JC Higgins Sears Roebuck 22 Single Shot Bolt Action with CCI Quiet ammo.

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An 80 year old model J.C. Higgins Sears Roebuck 22 Single Shot Model 103.18 rifle came back into my life. It was the one that I cut my hunting teeth on as a boy of 11 yrs old. It could shoot 22 Short, 22 Long and 22 Long Rifle ammo and it was very accurate. It was a great woodchuck rifle! Across the street from my home was a 100 acre field full of chucks! I was in boyhood heaven! My father would give be two high velocity 40 grain bullets to shoot at chucks so I had to make them count.

It came back into my life from a relative who had it, but it was in poor condition as the barrel was showing lots of  surface rust. Decades ago the plastic butt plate broke and was replaced with a red rubber boot type that today was found disintegrating. Back in the 1960’s I carved the front of the stock to have a cooler European for-end, but never finished it or stained it. I have recently been re-acquainted with it because of its versatility, shooting shorts, longs and long rifle 22 cartridges.  This little single shot was made for garden pests around the farm besides plinking.  I decided to finish the refurbishment project of long ago and give the rifle a place of honor.

The first thing I did was to point the rifle in a safe direction, open the bolt (it was empty) checked the bore and cleaned it. Safety first! Not as bad as I thought. After cleaning I ran a bit of JB Bore-bright through it. It polished well. I decided to disassemble and inspect it in detail. Again, not as bad as I thought. I sanded the barrel exterior with 400 grit sand paper removing the dovetail sights (with a punch and hammer) and polished the barrel with steel wool for bluing.

I used Birchwood Casey Super Blue. It worked great with 2 coats.

 

Westlake Market, Birchwood Casey Super Blue Liquid Gun Blue Plus 2 Disposable Absorbent Pads for Gun Restoration Projects

In between bluing, I sanded the stock, replaced and ground and installed a new plastic buttplate.

 

I stained the rifle stock with some brown gun-stock stain I had on hand from my flintlock build,  and after drying I put 2 light coats of Helmsman Varnish on the rifle stock. I didn’t want it glossy, just enough to protect the finish, after all this is a working rifle.

Now it looks so much better and ready for quietly plinking or garden varmints!

 

 

The rear sight was in poor shape and not the original one that was on it. I broke the bank for 14 bucks to put the original dovetail rear sight on it.

I was surprised that there were some parts available for this rifle on-line! Perhaps you may have an old rifle that needs some TLC.

Below is my back yard 25 yard test shot with CCI Quiet-22. It is very quiet and works very well with this rifle. I am a CCI fan! I was only 3/8 inch off with open sights. It’s the first shot that counts!

Final test shot with CCI Quiet

© 2020 Copyright. All Rights Reserved.

Good Shooting!

 

 

 

Fish For Your Vegetable Garden Part 1 and Part II

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I went striper fishing last week and had fish bait left over so I froze it. In the mean time have been creating a back yard garden. I noticed that my summer squash and zucchini plant are not growing fast like my other plants. I am watering them so what’s going on?

before fish

Before adding fish parts

15 days after fish parts added and watered.

Some research finds that they are perhaps not getting enough nitrogen. It dawned on me that our early American bretheren learned from native Indians used fish as fertilizer. I had 4 small tinker mackerel in the freezer! I started by taking the frozen juices of the fish and creating an emulsion to pour at the base of plants but later cut the fish into chunks and buried a chunk at each root.

Some research on line says I am on the right track. We shall see! I will take a photo next week and track progress. I did feed my tomato’s and Cuke’s some fish as well.

Here is what the cuke plants look like now. Left is a tomato plant and right are cukes that have fish parts added. Soil is dry so watered daily. Cukes are flowering and growing cukes like crazy. I’d say water helped greatly but the fish caused the bush to have explosive growth. And that is no fish story.

Good Gardening with the fish I was going to throw out in the trash.

© Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved.

 

Grey Squirrel Meat is Delicious!

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In areas that abound in grey squirrels, like southern New Hampshire, you can make a fun and challenging hunt and great tasting meal for 2 to 4 in no time. All you need is a license to hunt, follow the laws in your state and go hunting in squirrel season. Here in New Hampshire it usually starts in September but check with Fish and Game on the internet for licensing and dates.  I hunt them in full camo with a face mask and wait quietly like I was turkey hunting. If they ID your face, they are gone or chatter for hours alerting the world of your presence.

You can hunt squirrel typically with a .22 caliber such as .22 long rifle or a shotgun like a a .410 or 20 gauge. Years ago I used to hunt them with bow and arrow too. I prefer a .22 with a scope. It takes about 3 squirrels to serve 4. You can freeze pieces till you get enough to cook. With your squirrels, gutted, skinned, cleaned, cut with a sharp knife, and meat scissors and inspected for pellets(I separate the legs and cut the torso in half) coat the pieces in flour and brown them in olive oil in a large skillet for 10 minutes or so till four crusts a bit. Then toss them in your pressure cooker for 10 minutes with 1 1/2 cups beef broth , 1/2 cup red wine, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper (fresh ground is best). Or toss them and veggies into a crock-pot in the morning with veggies and cook them all day or till tender.

Squirrel Stew

Now you have very tender squirrel that can be stewed with potato, carrots, celery, onion, and a few minced cloves of garlic. You can southernize it with dumplings too. If the liquid is too thin, you can thicken with a flour/butter roux or use cornstarch ( a tablespoon cornstarch in 1/4 cup water) add slowly to your stew while bubbling to get a gravy like consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy! A fresh sliced baguette with butter helps sop up the juice, if you omit the dumplings!

Tacos too!!

Or you can pull the meat off the bones easily if pressure cooked and make fajitas, tacos with your meat sauted in a sauce and use soft shells to add lettuce tomato, onion and salza and sour cream over the meat. Another thought is to freeze the cooked pulled meat and vacuum seal it for later use. I would freeze for a week or two to maintain fresh flavors.

Squirrel Pot Pie!!

If you have enough meat you can make a delicious squirrel pot pie with a pie crust, peas and carrots in a squirrel or beef gravy piping hot. Serve with mashed potato’s.

Enjoy! Good Hunting and Good Eating!

© Copyright 2020.

Creamed Venison Rumbledethump

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An easy hearty innovative wild game meal that adds a fun Scottish flair of Rumbledethump potato. I discovered Rumbledethump here in New Hampshire and served at the Highland Games in Lincoln, NH. Venison has been a staple of the Scottish Highlands for centuries as it is here in New England. Rumbledethump uses mashed potato, cabbage and turnip and topped with oven roasted cheddar cheese.

Creating creamed venison can be done by shaving a venison steak like creamed beef or made with burger of any wild game you like such as deer, moose, elk etc. This meal can be made ahead and refrigerated too for easy preparation. The secret ingredient is white vermouth!

Ingredients:

1 lb shaved or burger venison

1 white or yellow onion diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup all purpose flour.

1/4 cup butter

1 cup beef broth

1/4 cup white vermouth

2 to 3 cups – half and half cream.

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp thyme

1 1/2 cups cooked broccoli florets

1 cup cooked sliced carrots

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Cook the venison shave or burger in a large frying pan and onion in olive oil and a dash of salt and ground pepper, and 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp garlic powder till lightly browned and the meat is just done and set aside in a dish so you can reuse the frying pan.

Cook the broccoli and carrots and set aside. (You can use already cooked peas and carrots here as a fast alternative).

Create a roux in the large warmed frying pan with all purpose flour and butter. Slowly add the 1 cup broth,2 cups ± half and half cream, 1/4 cup white vermouth bring this sauce to a slow boil. This should be creamy and thick. Now add the cooked venison, drained cooked broccoli and carrots and stir the creamed venison with the vegetables.  Salt and pepper to taste. The vermouth adds a bit of Ooo’la’la to the sauce….

I found a great recipe for Rumbledethump here. You can use mashed potatoes if you like instead to make the dish easier. https://www.thespruceeats.com/rumbledethumps-recipe-435824

Serve a scoop or square of the oven hot rumbledethump and ladel the warm creamed venison over the top.

Some sliced warm corn bread and butter would make this dish a WOW!

Enjoy!

Good Hunting! And Good Eating!

© 2020 Creamed Venison Recipe.

 

 

Venison Stew with Modern Electric Pressure Cookers

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There is nothing more inviting and satisfying than to come in from the cold outdoors and eat a warm venison stew for dinner. Pressure cooking cuts time and allows you to tenderize the meat to your satisfaction. Tender meat is the key!

Here, I am using  modern conveniences that I have access to.  But you can use a crock pot or Cast Iron Pot out on an open fire and slow cook it all day if you like till the meat is tender 

Today’s Electric Pressure Cookers are very easy to use and designed to brown meat as well as to pressure cook (high pressure) your venison such as deer, moose, elk or even bear meat.

Cuisinart ® 8-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker

All you need to feed 4 is 1.5 lbs meat cut into 1 inch or so cubes (not over 1.5 inches). 

You can brown the meat in today’s cookers by selecting the browning setting. Time for prep 15 minutes. Cook Time total 28 minutes in two steps.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 lbs meat
  • 2 to 3 sliced raw carrots cut to 3/4 inch thick.
  • 4 medium cubed pealed potatoes (you can leave washed skins on if you like) I used mini potatoes in the photo above (12 or so should do-skin on).
  • 2 medium white onions quartered. (if you want to get fancy you can do pearl onions (12 to 15)
  • 1 or 2 turnip quartered (if you like)
  • 2 cups beef stock
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 2 to 3  minced cloves garlic
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt ( I like kosher salt)
  • 1 tsp Black Pepper (fresh ground if possible)
  • 2  bay leaves
  • 2 to 4 slices of bacon (uncooked or cooked)
  • 1 tbsp parsley (fresh chopped is best)
  • 2 tbsp all purpose flower
  • 1 tsp thyme

Step 1- To brown,use 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Chop up 2 to 4 slices of raw bacon and add in with the oil. When you hear the oil and bacon sizzle then add the cubed venison. Begin the browning and add 2 tbsp flower in with meat and mix with the meat while browning, no more than 10 minutes or so to brown. Then add 2 cups water and 1/2 cup wine and all the spices and fold together for 30 seconds. Now select High Pressure on your Electric Pressure Cooker to cook the meat first for 20 minutes following the instructions on your cooker. More time may be needed for tougher cuts of meat. 

When your cooker shuts off you can often release steam with the weighted device that holds the steam on my cooker, but to be safe follow the directions on your pressure cooker.

Step 2- Once you can open your cooker you can test for tenderness of meat. If you approve of the tenderness then add the vegetables to the meat and cook for 8 minutes more. Your stew can then be folded or tossed to mix meat and veggies. If liquid is needed add remaining water or more beef broth. To thicken you can make a roux by mixing 1 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp butter and saute in a frying pan till mixed. Add 1/2 cup warm water or the stew broth to the roux and mix till absorbed and add to the stew with 1 tbsp fresh or dried parsley. The stew broth should not be thin but have some body and some thickness. 

Salt and Pepper and Herb to taste.

You can put your cooker on warm and serve with bread and butter. A french baguette sliced with butter works for me along with a beer or a glass of your favorite red wine such as a Cabernet or Merlot.

Enjoy! You will go back for seconds for sure! It is even better on the second day if you keep it refrigerated overnight. 

 

© Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved.

Meat Scare translates to Hunting With Your Family

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I have lots of wild meat in my freezer, but even I felt the domestic meat shortage in my gut at a recent visit to the supermarket. It is not really a shortage as it is workers who have contracted COVID-19 and shut meat plants down. It is that sense of loss though that gets families thinking of hunting for their own meat/protein in the wild. I grew up in a hunting family because my mom and dad lived and grew up in the depression era where meat was scarce.  My dad in his 20’s was skinny as a rail as was his father. Baked beans was the protein supplement with whatever meat you could get. We are in fact omnivores but require protein for part of our diet.  Meat provides the bulk of that protein. 

The easiest game to learn to hunt, cook and eat is the Squirrel, particularly the grey squirrel. Hunting them with shotgun or .22. I prefer to hunt them with a .22 Long Rifle cartridge. Later you can hunt deer, moose, bear, ducks, geese etc.  as many do and get lots of delicious meat for the table.

I was at the supermarket yesterday amid shopping during the Pandemic and the pork section 20 yards of meat was totally empty, and beef was picky. Woke yet! Those that are woke, are looking to get Hunter Education Certified so they can hunt and harvest for meat.

The whitetail deer, is the animal most sought for food here in America and there are families who consume it as nearly 100% of their meat diet. 

Processing a Deer for food? From the hunt to the table, read below.

Do it Yourself Processing New Hampshire Deer at Home

© Copyright 2020

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: NH Fish and Game: Start Your Online Hunter Education Class Today

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A few years ago I was hunting in another state, they required a hunter education certification number. I had used old licences for years since I stopped instructing NH Hunter and Bowhunter Ed years ago. Thus I was re-certified and took the Online Hunter Education class which required a training meeting at the end. See below for details and click on the words “Continue reading” below.

It is a thorough program for Hunting, firearms and  most importantly safe handling practices in the field.

Start Your Online Hunter Education Class Today