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.
My twin brother and I with 2 nice New Hampshire bucks taken some years back near the 13 mile woods above Berlin, NH. Ok time to get’em home and start processing.
Below, This “Bowhunting 360” website is excellent for field dressing your deer whether shot with gun or bow/crossbow. In CWD free states such as New Hampshire you are not required by law to de-bone your meat, but many do today.
Your deer is home and kept cool. Lets assume you nicked the intestines and some fecal material came out. If not, skip this part. First clean the area affected with a towel then wash with cold water or hose the whole cavity depending on the spread of the material says Wisconsin Edu says a 50/ 50 solution of clean cold fresh water and vinegar is very helpful. See below.
If you do not have time or the inclination to do the deer cutting, then get a good deer cutter/butcher to do that for you! See NH Fish and Game site below
Lets start processing. I have a lift system and spreader gambrel like this.
Now you need to lift your deer so you can skin it. If it is warm out and above 40 degrees then time is of the essence to keep the meat from spoiling. I lift my deer just enough to start skinning around the bone on the legs being careful to remove the tarsal glands on a buck, as they have a powerful odor. There are tools that you can purchase to aid in gripping and pulling the skin off but I have always used my hands or a good set of pliers to grip and pull the hide off as I cut. If you are trying to save the hide then be careful in your skinning not to cut through the hide. And remove any meat on the hide right away. If you are not keeping the hide then it is a faster process.
Once the hide is cut to the base of the skull I use a knife and a bone saw to cut the head from the carcass. Now you can cut out the two tenderloins from the inside of the deer located along the spine inside the cavity.
These are the most tender and flavorful cuts. Next is to remove the back straps or split your deer in half with a saw and make chops like lamb chops. I sometimes freeze the New Hampshire killed deer spine meat and use a band saw to cut the chops bone-in. Below are chops from a wild boar.
Most folks are taking the back strap meat off and away from the bone these days as it is fast. Take time to cut as much meat carefully, as the back straps are supremely delicious. Ribs are often tossed out but some will cook them slowly to get all the meat off.
Be sure to cut around wound sites and bruised meat below as there may be small quantities of lead lurking in that damaged meat.
When in dowbt, cut it out.
I opt for Bonded bullets or all Copper bullets from high power rifles 30-06, 308, .270 etc. to reduce or eliminate the lead question such as the Nosler AccuBond™
where the copper is bonded to the lead and largely stays together or Nosler E-Tip™
a 100% all gilding copper bullet.
There are other companies that make all copper bullets so check them out if you like.
Lead based Shotgun slugs and Muzzleloader slugs are more apt to stay intact as they are slower (around 2000 fps and slower) and heavy (250-300 grains or more) . Today there are all copper bullets and bonded lead/copper bullets for these too.
Back to the deer processing.
Next is to lower your deer carcass to a table where you can remove the hind and front legs with a knife and use the bone saw to cut the feet off. The front legs are good for stew or burger. the rear legs and thigh are great for a multitude of options steak, roasts, venison tips and stew as well as burger.
As you cut, take off as much of the silver skin as possible. There are several muscle groups in the hind legs that can be cut away to make steaks, each will often be sheathed in silver skin.
Most home butchers are deboning this leg meat and tossing the bones.
I have a large LEM grinder for making burger. Bass Pro/Cabela’s has them.
Yes you can mix it with pork fat or a fatty cut of meat in beef or pork to allow the fat to bind or just leave it as it is venison burger. Venison has little fat, is high in protein and delicious when prepared properly.
Vacuum Seal your Meat! It will keep longer and taste better!
Game Cameras are fun and here to stay! It is fun to take photos or video’s of wildlife using Trail Camera’s; just not live action cameras here in New Hampshire. See Below.
I own a regular game camera but the flash or light emitted appears to spook game. Increasingly, The use of Low or No Glow Cameras apparently, is the way to go.
There are lots of brands and models to choose from. Choose a locking device too, to prevent theft.
Most folks pull their reader cards or chips to see what is on them at home but there are viewers that can read your chip in the field as part of the camera or less costly devices that can be read by your I phone.
Have Fun Out There!
Just be aware per New Hampshire Fish and Game: “It is illegal in New Hampshire to use live-action game cameras while attempting to locate, surveil, aid, or assist in taking or take any game animal or furbearing animal during the same calendar day while the season is open (cameras that send an electronic message or picture to a handheld device or computer when sensors are triggered by wildlife).”
New Hampshire deer harvested, that I have seen, are young, yearlings , 1.5 and 2.5 year old deer and occasional 3.5 year old’s. Normal for New Hampshire. But a few lucky hunters are at the right place at the right time to harvest a mature 4.5 year old or older. Usually those mature deer, bucks, are taken way up in the North Country as they are few and get to be giants topping 250 to 300 lbs. A few get taken down here below Concord, NH.
I am happy to just harvest an adult deer for the freezer but I am, sure you and I are always hopeful that a big boy may show up.
I am afraid the deer know we are hunting them as the hunting vehicles were many on opening day of firearms in my hunting area in southern NH yet not a shot fired all morning. They have gone nocturnal! The best way to get them moving is to still-hunt every nook and cranny until they bust out of hiding. That will happen this weekend, I think.
Looking back, I believe, as do many, that the Obama years desire to change or do away with the Second Amendment had created such a scare across the country, for nearly a decade, that powerful and overwhelming and unprecedented buying of ammo and guns that the firearms industry became wealthy indeed. See this Forbes Article below.
The industry however took much of those earnings and reinvested in state-of-the-art rifle and pistol tooling equipment and in some cases began 24 hour three shift operations to keep up with demand.
This retooling perhaps is evidenced by American Manufacturers with lower prices, improved accuracy and the ability to mass produce that is unprecedented.
The use of new Hammer Forging tools, for example in barrel making, has made volume and quality significant and has reduced costs measurably as well as molding technology.
I have tested Ruger and Savage Rifles and found costs below average and quality and accuracy far above average. Further, that synthetic stocks are dominating the market for rifles, but not just black in color but all the colors of the rainbow and camo patterns that are beautiful.
This is a golden age for buying a new rifle, shotgun or pistol/revolver
Ammo costs are equally low today so stock up my friends.
It was yesterday, November 6th when I was deer hunting at dawn, not far from my home in southern New Hampshire.
I had just “still” hunted a hollow and several ridges with very little sign of scrapes or rubs. I just arrived at my car when two pickup trucks approached. The lead truck was Fish and Game checking licenses. The officer approached while two men from the other truck, hopped out and began recording video with high end camera’s, bobbing and weaving pointing their cameras at me. “What the….? Ok what’s up with this, I was thinking?”
I smiled and waved for the camera’s though I hadn’t a clue what was happening. “It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it”, I said…cracking a smile.
The Conservation Officer was polite and asked to see my license. I showed it to him. All fine, he said now that is a “fine old muzzleloader”, or something like that. Referring to my Pennsylvania Flintlock I laid on the ground.
I said yes, it is, I built it! A camera man In awe of the rifle said, You built it? Yes, I went on. One of the camera men took his video camera and scanned the rifle as a “thing of beauty” I believe. “For Sure, I thought to myself”, as he video’d the rifle as it lay on the soil emphasizing the daisy flower patch box originally created by German Gunsmith Jacob Dickert of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution…
The Conservation Officer gave me some tips as to where he’s seen some of the deer hang out near here! “Thanks”, I said!
The lead camera man said; “Have you heard of Northwoods Law?” I said yes. He said, they were filming for it and asked permission to use the footage.
Having done nothing wrong, I said yes and asked that I sign a paper giving them permission. I did so because I want to see what they do with the footage.
The fact is we New Hampshire Hunter’s are not only, law abiding. all else being equal, but we often hunt the hard way with primitive weapons, bow and arrow and Muzzle Loader and are very successful.
Nearly all of us, I believe, are seen by Fish and Game doing things right! Law Abiding!
But that is boring, isnt it?
It is the few rotten apples or suspected rotten apples that provide the chase scenes aired by Northwoods Law that can create a negative image.
You be the judge!
So we shall see. Below NHFG announces the Northwoods Law Season 3 in New Hampshire. It airs on Animal Planet.
In retrospect, I did not like the way I was way-laid with camera’s running. I was doing a private thing. Hunting is not for everyone. If my hands were blood stained from gutting a deer and Animal Planet shows that footage to a non-hunter or an anti-hunter my image would be, well not-so-good to an anti- hunter and a target for crazies.
And God knows we have crazy activists who are not law-abiding in this highly politicized atmosphere we live in today.
The 50 caliber Pennsylvania Flintlock I built, carved and tested is due to see the New Hampshire deer woods in hopes of me harvesting my first deer with it. I named the rifle “Cricket” like my rifle in the photo below.
I love my TC Encore Pro Hunter for its reliability but I must give my Flintlock some time too. I am good off hand to 50 yards with it. With a very steady rest I can go to 100 yards but in New Hampshire it is best to keep it close. I am shooting patch and round ball.
Are YOU ready? It is the most exciting time of the year for me! Nov. 2, 2019 is opening day for Muzzleloader Deer Season Statewide says the NH Fish and Game below.
Got your muzzleloader cleaned and fired, on target, then reloaded? Extra rounds prepared for follow-up? I am.
License. Yup!
Something to write with when you tag your deer. Yup!
Something to hold your tag to the deer. string? Tape? a small baggie. Ok gotta look.
A dragging rope? Yup!
Of course you have a sharp knife to gut, right? Yup!
Do you know when 1/2 hr before sunrise and 1/2 hr after sunset is?
I use my Iphone and ask Siri or your web app, if it knows your location. Yup
I put my phone on airplane, so I don’t spook the deer.
When you enter the woods watch that wind! Try to hunt into the wind or across the wind toward you, unless you are in a tree stand.
Hunt as if the deer are all around you! They are! When checking in your deer, have your signed hunting license and drivers license ready. Know the Zone and town you hunt in as you will be asked.
Finally Home! This is perhaps my once in a lifetime 4 1/2 year old mature Texas whitetail buck.
I took him at 80 yards with a T/C Encore Muzzleloader and 150 grains of Pyrodex and 295 grain Power Belts from last October. He never got to take a step and dropped right where he stood.
He is hung in my dining room for now, so I can see him every day. Here in New Hampshire I have never seen the likes in all my years in the deer woods with a rifle in my hand. Yes they exist here in New Hampshire and can be huge in body but often are nocturnal only.
He scored just over 144 Boone and Crockett Points.
Safari Studios of San Angelo Texas did the taxidermy. I chose a Mackenzie form I believe that had him in the rut with a larger fatter neck but I can’t see it here. In person you can see the neck swell better. What a big bruiser in real life!!
If you want to read the story behind this great deer and awesome hunt with Larry Weishuhn see my article below.
The BOG™ Death Grip™ worked like a charm on my Newfoundland Moose Hunt! It was so steady as a support that it was like a bench rest in the field. I shot my bull Moose as he trotted my way in a wind swept snow squall at 100 yards and turned for a shoulder shot with my Ruger M77 African in 375 Ruger and Nosler AccuBonds. Can you say BOOM! One shot, One Kill…
The Adventure begins… it was just a few weeks ago… October 2019.
Our Drive from Southern New Hampshire to Newfoundland with my hunt partner,Oliver Ford and his new Chevy Pick-up, went without a hitch. We rotated driving often.
The road trip was very straight forward until we hit the Canadian Border with, Passports in hand, created Gun Ownership Card at US Border, Rifle Import Registry with Canadian Customs forms we had already filled out, and Canada Criminal DB Check by customs officials.
Note; Oliver just turned 80 and I just turned 70 years young. For our age we were in good health for the most part but taking our med’s. Our wives reminded us. Some might say.. “An Old Man’s Moose Hunt”.
We were excited as all-get-out for this hunt with visions of massive antlered moose dancing in our head as if it were Christmas Morning.
In Moncton, New Brunswick, just prior to crossing into Nova Scotia, we stopped at the Bass Pro Shop. Oliver and I made a few hunting purchases. We were looking for moose antlers like posted in the image below.
We waited with dozens of other moose hunters below to take the overnight (7 hour) ferry with Marine Atlantic over to Newfoundland, affectionately called “The Rock”. Moose hunters either had coolers or real freezers and gas powered generators with them. The came from all parts of US as far as Indiana and Ohio, eager for a moose hunt. Like Us!
We drove the truck onto the ship Highlander and down a ramp to the bottom of the cargo area 1st Floor (seemed like a football field size room) where most cars were stored for the crossing. We had a small cozy cabin with a bathroom and small shower up on the 8th floor. Nice! We slept…
We ate a delicious eggs and bacon/sausage and bologna breakfast in the ships restaurant an hour before the ship docked. Seems Newfoundlander’s love their fried bologna.
We Landed at Port Au Basques, Newfoundland
Another three hours to drive to Peter Strides lake along RT 480 The Caribou Highway. Note: We saw no Caribou on the highway but later we saw many at our camp. Good Bulls! Just need $11,000 for that hunt!
Morning images as we drove just outside of Port Au Basques.
We arrived at the Helicopter Pad and the Main Lodge of Rock Pond Outfitters three hours later.
The stove was our only heat source. We learned fast to keep it stoked as the wind was blowing 20 to 30 knots outside and hovering around 30 to 40 degrees F.
Spiral Stairs to bunk room above. Nice Caribou Rack!
We arrived on a Sunday. Weather prevented the Helicopter from taking us to the remote camp. And we lost a half day Monday to bad weather and the Helicopter.
We met two other hunters in camp Chris and Jaye from Ohio (both into heavy equipment ownership) , going to an outpost camp even more remote than ours. Both were great to know and have some fun talking about hunts and rifles and growing up. Jaye, I recall, said his Daddy, a very big and solid man, who Jaye loved, had a size 17 ring finger. Jaye said, “When he pointed his big finger into his chest, which was rare, “I knew I better listen up”.
I asked Jaye about his rifle and caliber. He loved his Browning Mountain Rifle in stainless (5 lbs bare) in 300 WSM. The bolt glided like silk. Ill bet it packs a nice kick at that weight but really easy to carry. A great all weather rifle for long range goat hunting at 8000 ft or moose at 1000 ft above sea level like us.
My Rifle, a Ruger M77 African in .375 Ruger with Nosler 300 grain AccuBonds exiting the barrel at 2515 fps and 4200 ft-lbs at the Muzzle with Leupold VX-6 3-18x44mm on top. It weighed in at 10 pounds with the scope.
Oliver is shooting a 7mm Rem Mag with 160 grain X-Barnes bullets. Shoots sub MOA all day long.
Ok time to cut the jabber.
Finally we headed to the Chopper to load and head to the remote camp where our guides and Theresa (the owners wife) and Cassie a cousin did all the cooking.
THE HUNT
Date: October 2, 2019 9:30 AM Area 11 Southwest Newfoundland
Owners: Rock Pond Outfitters run by Trevor Keough and Family. Six days at $5900 each. Paid $1000 to book in December, $1900 by March, and $3000 on arrival.
Hop in the Helicopter with me! Lets Go. It took a few minutes to warm up the Helicopter. It was a longer ride than shown.
This is Rock Pond Camp – Our home base for the hunt. It is in the middle of a million unnamed lakes and ponds and glacial regolith…boulders and rocks.
Kitchen and Dining area below. This cabin is open only for 6 weeks a year, during the Moose and Caribou Hunt season.
In a 50 Square Mile uninhabited valley and 20 miles from the nearest outfitter, we began our Moose hunt ( two guides, two hunters, one 8 track ARGO Avenger).
Low Bush Blueberries were everywhere.
Oliver taking a nap.
Day one – afternoon we saw caribou but no bull moose. We saw a huge female cow on the side of a far off hill. She looked like a walking barn door.
Sunrise at Camp.
Day Two – Tuesday at 6:30 AM we had breakfast of eggs and bacon and toast and tea and coffee and headed out to a site that had promise but saw no moose but lots of Caribou.
I set up my rifle on BOG’s new “Death Grip®” tripod. I promised to test it and I was very pleased with it. It was on the heavy side to lug around, but in the ARGO, it was easy and nearby. I had that whole valley covered to 250 yards MPBR with the Death Grip which is more like a “Bench Rest” on a Swivel. What a great tripod!! See below.
Day Three – We woke to Snow and Wind!
It was 30º F snowing sideways at times on day three, and windy ( wind-chill at 20 mph wind is 17 degrees F) as we approached our first Moose stand in the Argo Avenger 8 track. The wind cuts like a knife as Oliver tries to stay warm.
My camo face mask worked great!!
Age? It’s just a number!
The ARGO was essential to our success and essential in beating the tar out of us at every venture sitting in the back and sideways to the direction of travel. Next time, if there is one, I will take the front seat!
We found out that this area according to guides Germain and Chris is known for smaller horned bulls but that was not in the outfitter literature when we booked. Yes some big racks show in the literature along with smaller racks.
I prefer to believe that these are younger bulls, but at at age 5 to 6 would have much larger racks just like a mature whitetail buck would.
But I am not willing to let the moose pass given the time, effort and expenditure. As they say in the Arbys TV commercials. “WE HAVE THE MEAT!” All 300 pounds of it. Each!
Here I am all smiles with this 4 point bull. Not what I came for but happy to be successful from a meat standpoint.
The wind blew at us as if to say “So you want to hunt Moose in Newfoundland, eh!”
The wind cut like a knife into our lighter camo jackets, robbing us of necessary body heat. Below the moose approaches but the guide shut of the camera when it began to blizzard. All the guide saw was white!
Video above – Our guides spotted a bull on a far hillside more than a mile away. We began a loud electronic caller which mimicked a mating Cow Call. It sounds like a loud cow moan. As soon as the Cow call was started, one of the guides shouts, “he’s coming”! The guide stopped filming with my camera when all he could see was white!
I was disappointed, I have no shot footage to share.
It was a text book single 100 yard shot, front quartering on a moving target with my 375 Ruger with Nosler 300 grain heads. He was trotting facing us when he veered to the right, thus giving me that quartering shot. The rifle was mounted on the BOG Death Grip and it was easy to get a solid bead on the moving bull. Boom! went the 375 rifle!
The bull stood for just a few seconds, wondering what had just happened and then fell “dead as a door nail” with a resounding thud! Congratulations said Chris and Germain and Oliver.
Oliver hunted the next day with the two guides and saw no bulls but when a big cow showed up in a gnarly patch of black spruce he changed his mind for meat instead and shot her at 200 yards in the spine and she went down in the midst of the spruce.
It took axes to cut her from the tangled spruce.
He too was successful in taking an adult moose.
Both of us kept the hides and sent them for tanning with fur on.
The guides made fast work of removing the meat, and hide below.
The Chopper took us back with part of our game meat and had to stay another day for them to retrieve it all.
Sunset at Camp
https://youtu.be/4UBsW5e5hvw
We drove back to take the midnight ferry to Nova Scotia. We slept in large reclining chairs.
We stopped for gas and bathroom breaks but made it back home in time to start the butchering process.
What you see for meat below, we did for each quarter of the moose in our kitchen. My wife helped, but she admitted that she never saw that much meat in one place in her whole life. I kept some of the last of it in the freezer so it was cold and fresh to cut. We added 20 pounds of beef pot roast full of fat to help bind the burger as it had no fat.
It took 4 full days for us to process, cut, and grind and vacuum seal steaks,back strap,moose tips, stew meat and over 100 pounds of moose burger.
If you are after a big Moose rack, I do not recommend this area to hunt.
But if you are after adventure and lots of meat, this hunt does that well and it was great family fun!
