My hunting friend and I are off on our Moose ( Alces Alces Americanus) Hunt adventure into remote mountains of southern Newfoundland.

Our adventure drive is directly up RT 95 from southern New Hampshire and will cross the border at Calais, Maine to Moncton, NB Canada where we will overnight ( there is a Bass Pro Shop there for last minute supplies) and then continue to North Sydney, Nova Scotia to pick up the 7 hour Ferry to Port Au Basques, Newfoundland. Another 2.5 hours to a lake along the famed Caribou Trail where we can see some of the 60,000 woodland caribou and where Moose can grow really big! 1200 pounds big!

We arrive at the lake, park, and load gear in either a float plane or helicopter and fly deep to a very remote lake cabin. Our hunt begins with checking the zero of our rifles that afternoon, then the next morning on to an Argo 8 track. The ARGO get you part way. The rest is on foot. Each of us have our own guides and we split up, each with a Bull Moose tag.

This is the beginning of the Moose Rut!! Wow! There are no guarantee, just your whit and perseverance in seeking one that fills your bucket list. Now all you have to do is harvest one! We have rifles. My partner has a 7mm Rem Mag w 160 grain heads and I brought my Ruger M77 African in 375 Ruger with 300 grain Nosler AccuBonds with my favorite Leupold VX-6 3×18 x50mm. The Nosler AccuBond is one of the worlds best hunting bullets and stays together quite well. If you are not familiar with the .375 Ruger it is a bit more powerful than the 375 H&H Magnum used in Africa. Yup, it is not for every one. Each to his own! Do you need it? No! Shot placement is the key!!

I just like Big Guns and can handle recoil well!!

Below, my trajectory and energy chart and my rifle with a comb raising neoprene jacket and a few extra bullets at the ready. I hand load all of my Ammo. This round has 70 grains of RL-15 powder. Nice! I zeroed for 213 yards. My Max Point Blank Range (MPBR) is 250 yards delivering just over 2800 ft-lbs. At 300 yards the bullet drops 9 inches and still delivers 2600 ft-lbs. With the BOG Death Grip I have a very steady rest if I need to reach out. I hope I can get much closer!!

During practice, I removed the scope and shot it with iron sights in case my scope is damaged or out of whack. My scope limit is 250 yards. My Iron sight limit is 150 yards or less with a steady rest like the Bog Death Grip.

I shoot this rifle extremely well despite its bark and kick having taken Moose in New Hampshire, and Bison with it. I will bring a BOG Death Grip to test.

One shot kills on Moose are very difficult as they are slow to acknowledge a deadly hit. Often a follow-up shot or two can be seen on the many videos I have seen.

I have perhaps a bit of comfort with this larger bore that if he is near water he hopefully won’t go far. Moose Guides assure the hunter that the broadside double lung shot is best. If you want to try the heart/lung shot at closer range that is a good option but on longer shots the lungs are huge and will bring a Moose down for sure.

See you when I get back! Lots of Video planned.

Good Hunting!

© 2019 All Rights Reserved.

My new Excalibur Grizzly II is easy to load 200 lbs and shoots 305 fps. I great for whitetails at medium ranges for $499.00. The BOG Death Grip holds it at the ready. Great for blind hunting which I aim to do.

The BOG Death Grip is a great way to be ready for the shot. I am leaving tomorrow for my Newfoundland Moose hunt and taking the BOG Death Grip too.

Good Hunting!

© 2019 All Rights Reserved.

Large Bore Target shooters are known to “Dry Fire” their rifles hundreds of times in preparation for a Match, but not so much for the hunter. The hunter often bench rests his/her rifle to sight in and then it’s off to the hunt. It is not my best practice to shoot game, not knowing where the trigger will break when standing off hand or even on shooting sticks. Do you sway left and right a bit like I do? Can you practice to control that sway? Part of that is my heavy breathing just before pulling the trigger.

Practice before hand will aid me greatly in rifle hold, with or without the use of my sling or on a bipod or tripod or just shooting sticks.

Dry Fire is NOT recommended for rim-fire rifles. However, many say it is fine to dry fire, pull the trigger on a center fire rifle. See this NRA Article on Dry Fire.

https://www.nrafamily.org/articles/2018/12/28/is-it-safe-to-dry-fire-your-gun/

Me personally,  I am going to use a Snap Cap fake round or an empty Dummy case in my Ruger rifle  to absorb the strike of the firing pin anyhow. I have spent cases which I am currently using for my dry fire exercise.

Ok, so you are in a safe place to point your rifle out in the field or at the range. You aim without a brace and find that your crosshairs wobble around the target. In my wobble, I find that if I bring the rifle up and aim slightly high if doing it free hand, the gun will wobble lower to the point of aim, I begin the squeeze and breath hold. When the rifle goes click my mind captures the scope picture the instant the gun went click. You know right then whether you were on or off target. Practice! Practice! Practice!

If using a rest like shooting sticks or a bipod, I notice my height is good but I tend to sway left and right a bit. Practice will help.

You may find that your trigger is too heavy. Fix it ASAP. I do not recommend triggers below 3 pounds pull because you are on the move, cold, excited etc. Three to Five pounds is good. You are the judge.  I do not recommend turning your scope power up too high as your wobble will be nearly impossible to steady unless you have a rest that you have that works under high power.

Try that at different ranges say 50 yards then 100 yards etc. I notice that with practice my wobble is much tighter and my confidence is much higher.

Good Hunting!

Todays rifle combs have not changed much. The comb is where you place your cheek to look through your scope if you have one. And most rifles do have scopes.

The problem becomes accentuated when your scope lens approaches 50 mm and your height above the rifle is too high for a cheek weld and eye to scope alignment. Your head bobs and weaves and you missed that buck of a lifetime.

I have purchased Beartooth Products™ Comb raising kit. It is a neoprene slip on with no velcro. Mine is in Mossy Oak® Break-up.

The Kit

The oval pads are in different thicknesses to raise the comb. You can experiment to see

which one works  best to raise your cheek/eye alignment.

Here is my first try. I didn’t need much height but time will tell if I need to change to a higher one.

The kit costs around 28 dollars. Not a big price to pay for a good cheek weld and I can

store a few extra rounds in the sleeve.

And my stock is protected from damage too.

Good Hunting!

Tip #1 Ok, so you missed a nice buck last season. Why? The new scope being a 50 mm lens is on the high side but your cheek is low and you cant align your eye with the scope. In fact your head wobbled too and fro on the shot.  What is wrong here? It happens to the Pro’s too.

Answer: Poor eye alignment to scope and poor cheek weld to the stock.

Fix: Purchase a slip-on or strap-on cheek riser. There are cheek risers that are simply that, just a cheek riser. Beartooth Products among many others are well liked and very cost effective. There are cheek risers with storage and ammo holders too. Get a good one!

Tip#2- You are hunting and the sweat is dripping off you. You stink and your eyes are salty!  How do you refresh? There are inexpensive wipes out there that can aid greatly. I just purchased some hunt wipes that are odor free and biodegradable. Put some in your day pack, you’ll be glad you did! Wear a bandanna too!

Tip #3 Third, your knife dulled significantly while gutting. Take a hand held carbide knife sharpener in your day pack.

Remember to oil your rifle sling swivels. The squeak can give you away!

Go on-line and check these products out.

Good Hunting!

I hope to video my Moose Hunt as much as possible. Accordingly, I performed some internet research for a video camera that was affordable and had a zoom lens. My research led me to a new Cannon Vixia HF R800 HD video camera. It is very small and easy to hold takes professional quality video if on a tripod. But I needed a case, SanDisk cards, a tripod etc., all sorts of stuff as a kit and for $250 or so I got one.

I have a Nikon SLR and Video D5500 already and like it for close work. I am a month away from my trip so I must practice setting up my video gear and testing it. And make sure I have plenty of GigaBits and charged batteries. My Kit came with free Corel Software to download which includes PaintShop® Pro and VideoStudio® SE.

That chewed up most of a day to get and load. Now to learn them is a much longer story. You must be computer savvy to some degree.

Of course if you have $2000 for a starter pro video camera or more then go for it. Below is a great site that got me going!! Maybe it can help you as well.

https://www.gohunt.com/read/which-camera-is-best-for-filming-your-hunt#gs.xkhq2g

Good Hunting!!