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.

Purge old 22LR Ammo – Buy New Ammo. I love CCI Brand

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I have 22LR ammo that is now over 20 years old from my late fathers stock supply. Some of it shoots well but I found in very cold weather some of the rounds were not very consistent.  This spring I have begun to shoot it off at the range and plink some metal plates at a distance. I will buy newer stock of brands that my rifle prefers. I have an old Marlin Glenfield Model 60 semi-auto that still shoots well for all its years. Fact is, it didn’t get shot much for target, only hunting and that was very irregular on squirrels. I have a new Savage rifle coming and want to test it with new ammo as well. The Marlin likes high velocity ammo and really likes CCI Velocitor for accuracy. I have just ordered more. It is a very accurate round for squirrels, snowshoe hares and varmints. At 50 yards my older Winchester High Velocity Ammo was shooting 2 inch groups at 50 yards below.

Good for Squirrels at say 25 yards to get better groups for a head shot so I have kept some.

But I remember that the CCI Velocitor shot even more accurately. So I shot a few also at 50 yards to confirm. Yup. Below all in less than 1 inch with a flyer. I just need to move the crosshairs a bit to the right. It not only delivers at extremely high energy but very accurate too.

I did take time to clean the barrel and clean and lube the action.

I will do a 100 yard test at some point.

Here are stats from CCI below.

https://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/detail.aspx?use=2&loadNo=0047

Velocitor # 0047

CALIBER BULLET WEIGHT (GR) BULLET TYPE BOX COUNT
22 LR 40 CPHP 50
Velocity, ft/sec

MUZZLE 50 YARDS 75 YARDS 100 YARDS
1435 1230 1149 1084
Energy, ft-lbs

MUZZLE 50 YARDS 75 YARDS 100 YARDS
183 134 117 104
Trajectory if sighted at 75 yards

25 YARDS 50 YARDS 75 YARDS 100 YARDS
0.3 0.9 0.0 -2.5

I found a YouTube that tests CCI 22LR Rounds including the Velocitor.

The Velocitor mushroomed and penetrated to 13. 5 inches. Remember that they must shoot accurately in your gun.

App’s for Hunting and Shooting

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Now is a great time to research App’s for Hunting and Fishing and Outdoors. I have been playing with a free App called HuntWise which has GPS, Maps and Hunt Times for my IPhone. Of course you need a signal for it to work when you are in the field. But at home you can literally go any where and see topographic info, if in the woods you can track yourself to your stand by recording a walking path, mark a spot, check distances make notes. I used it to do hunt map research in Canada and it works great.

Here at home in the USA it documents the boundaries of land and ownership, acreage and address of the owner if you choose the overlay which has Land for Sale, Land Contours, Land Owner Lines and an overlay for Land Owner Names.

There are other similar Apps out there that you may like better. There is so much out there!

Another App I like is the Ballistics Advanced Edition App and uses JBM Ballistics software. Cost is only $4.99. You can go to JBM Ballistics website too and just select trajectory and get simple trajectories but the App allows for many advanced features and “Save” features.

Why learn to use these and other Apps? It is because your phone is not really a phone.  It is a powerful computer that has a phone as part of it! If you have it with you in the field or on the range you can use it to great advantage.

I will talk more about other Apps soon!

 

Good Hunting and Shooting!

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Rifle Testing: Savage 110 Apex Storm XP

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My friends at Savage are sending me a Savage 110 Apex Storm XP Package with a stainless steel, button rifled barrel to test in 6.5 Creedmoor. I requested this model because it is jam packed with features that costs well over $1000 and includes a Vortex Scope. They say it is ready for anything nature can dish out! We shall see…

FEATURES

  • Redesigned Model 110 rifle
  • Stainless steel button-rifled barrel
  • 3-9x40mm Vortex Crossfire II scope, mounted and bore-sighted
  • Dead-Hold BDC reticle’s hashmark design reduces guesswork on holdover and windage
  • Vortex Hunter medium rings and one-piece EGW 0 MOA rail
  • User-adjustable AccuTrigger
  • Adjustable length-of-pull
  • Modern ergonomics
  • Detachable box magazine

The MSRP is just $749. Wow!

110 APEX STORM XP

 

Four Feet of Snow to chase Snowshoe Hare’s?

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I headed up to my family camp just north of Milan, NH day before yesterday March 12, 2019 to hunt the bunnies north of the Pontook dam. I have a case of Cabin Fever and I knew of a spruce thicket that would be great to see the snowshoes. I could only get a couple hundred yards in without snowshoes. What a slog!

In the thicket I was up to my thigh in snow but out in the open I was up to my hips and could barely move.  On entry I saw many tracks of every species of game, predator and prey alike including deer and moose. In fact, I was snorted at by an unseen deer. I think they have wintered-up nearby as there were few thickets to be found these days. Years back there were plenty of heavy timber thickets for deer to winter and yard up.

Later I found a snowmobile trail behind camp that I could use and walked a half mile to a thicket of silver birch and spruce where there were some fresh snowshoe hare tracks. It was a beautiful day full of sunshine and blue sky. In fact, the silence was deafening as it usually is in the north-woods.  My minor tinnitus dominated the silence but I didn’t mind as the splendor of the day was evident. The snowmobile trail was used by a coyote recently as he peed in the snow every couple hundred yards to mark his territory.

I will mark this visit Month and Day as a no hunt for my future calendar unless I had a snowmobile and snowshoes. However, it was a great release of my cabin fever!!

If you have a snowmobile, get going up there! Still lots of snow!

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

 

The .375 Ruger: Enough Cartridge and Accurate!

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The .375 Ruger was introduced in 2007 as a rimless standard length cartridge that is slightly larger in powder capacity and energy than the .375 H & H Magnum (a belted and tapered cartridge) , widely used in Africa all the way up to Elephant. Great on big Russian Boar with their protective shield!

The .375 Ruger cartridge is used on the same dangerous game with a shorter Ruger rifle bolt throw like the 30-06 and a Mauser action which reliably grabs the rim of the cartridge and chambers the round. And in North America the .375 Ruger is ideal for Brown Bear, Moose and Bison. It will throw a 300 grain bullet at around 2500 fps and 2650 fps with 260 grain Noslers, both achieving around 2 tons of energy at the muzzle or so.

The .375 Ruger is offered in the Ruger Hawkeye African with American Walnut and the Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan with a synthetic stock. I hunted plains game in Africa with the Ruger M77 in .338 Winchester Magnum and 250 grain Nosler Partitions, accordingly, I got acclimated to heavy recoil.

As an Outdoor Writer I wanted more experience with powerful cartridges so I purchased the Ruger Hawkeye African in .375 Ruger some years back.

What is to tame in the .375 Ruger? Felt recoil with the stock recoil pad originally provided was insufficient to tame full power recoil at a bench rest where I was locked into the rifle position for accurate shooting.

There are several pads that are available on the market today to reduce felt recoil by 50% or more. I use the Pachmayr Decelerator. It did not take me long to purchase and test a few. They tame the full power loads so much that I can shoot them in my T-Shirt.

The accuracy of my .375 Ruger in the M77 Ruger African Rifle is nothing short of exceptional, often regularly shooting sub-MOA groups. Nosler is my go-to bullet company. The AccuBond and E-Tip and Partition give me superior bullet construction delivering over 4000 ft-lbs (2 tons) of energy at the muzzle and like 2800 ft-lbs at over 200 yards.

Years back, at 50 yard a friend observed my very first shot with the rifle right out of the box with dangerous game loads. After placing a shot with a Leupold Scope on paper, he said, go ahead and shoot another. I shot the second round. He said, I missed the whole target. Shoot another… and I did. Missed that one too he said. So we went down range to find the three bullets in the same hole. My friend said, “Your keeping that rifle, Right?” I grinned a big smile.

So what else is there to tame? Well, this rifle cartridge, when hand loaded can be easily reduced in power to hunt deer and black bear if you like.

You can search articles here in NH Rifleman for more on the .375 Ruger reduced loads.

https://www.nhrifleman.com/375-ruger-reduced-loads-and-powder-are-here/

It is like owning a 38-55, a .375 Winchester, and a cartridge more power than the .375 H & H Magnum. Finally the Ruger is not fussy about bullets, it shoots them all very well and I can shoot all the way down to 220 grain bullets.

I have some 235 grain heads for deer. See the article below.

https://www.nhrifleman.com/the-375-ruger-just-plain-fun-with-speer-235-grain-hot-cor-and-reduced-loads/

 

One rifle for the world, you might say. Read more in my ebook African Safari – Rifle and Bow and Arrow.

Good Hunting!

© 2019 All Rights Reserved

Laser Bore Sights – Valuable On Your Hunt?

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From a hunting perspective I think that a laser bore sight can be very valuable if you take it in the field with you!  I had to experience my own stupidity on a trophy hunt and my rifle and scope gets knocked around or dropped. I was in Texas this past October on a Trophy Whitetail Hunt and banged my rifle and scope a bit. I missed a shot one evening on a very nice buck. Truth is, was it a banged scope or me as excited as i was. Or perhaps a combination of the two. There is another possibility as well, that my scope was dialed up so high that it was difficult to keep the crosshairs steady. In any event, I did not have a laser bore sight in my backpack to validate the scope. It was now night time. So I asked myself and my guide; “Should I take the same rifle out in the morning or use my backup rifle?”

The answer was to use my already proven back-up rifle. 

But what if I had no back up rifle?

I would then have to wait for daylight and go to the range with the banged rifle scope to see what was happening and miss the critical dawn whitetail hunting.

A laser bore sight device is made by several manufacturers.

I have seen Jim Shockey advertise the Site-Light SL-100. But seeing is believing. I will try to hunt and field test one of their models here this spring. 

They make three models. The SL-100 is cost effective at $99 dollars via most retailers. The SL-150 is $160 or so. The SL-500 is military grade at over $200 and can be seen out to 100 yards.  

http://sitelite-lasers.com/BuyNow.html 

 

© 2019

 

 

Moose Hunting for a Trophy Bull

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I have successfully hunted and called in Bull Moose in New Hampshire with a friend several years back. It was not a trophy bull with a 50 inch rack and not even a 40 incher. His body was full grown but small in the antler department.  But it was a bull and he was mine. Of course I had some rudimentary skills in vocalization of a bull and having seen dozens of videos of callers work their magic with hands pinching their nostrils and making a cow like sound of another bull grunting behind an imaginary hot female cow moose.

The bull moose is much like a whitetail buck in that they also grind antlers on trees and destroy bushes to let others know that they are big and mean.

So I did the same, smashing trees and shaking bushes so hard that my partner though I had lost all my marbles. And I used some cow moose in estrous to scent down wind.

It all worked!

But if I were on a real trophy hunt, I would have let him pass as just a young’un.

Not a great rack, but he is on the wall in my home and it makes me happy that he is a New Hampshire Moose.

A Newfoundland Hunt is in the works! See my earlier article below.

https://www.nhrifleman.com/adventure-planning-newfoundland-moose-hunt/

I am heading to Newfoundland for a trophy bull this September with the same friend except we are going to have to pass on lesser bulls.

Honestly, I think I have good basic skills to hunt these giants but I want more skill sets before I go.

Accordingly, I am looking for expert hunting advice that I can use out in the field besides my very limited moose hunting experience. Yes, my moose guide should be very expert too.

I think I found a book that collects all that wisdom from dozens of hunts below.

This book covers moose from Alaska, across Canada and Newfoundland. With many Newfoundland hunts which I find very helpful.

The book covers all aspects of the hunt, preparation, weapons and 100 years of field experience and great moose calling advice. I highly recommend it!

One item that I will purchase for the hunt is a laser bore-sighter for my backpack. I dropped my last scoped rifle in the field and shot confidence went down hill. Luckily I had a back up rifle.

On this trip my baggage will be very limited in a light aircraft so I can’t even take a hard case.

© 2019 All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

Hunt Snowshoe Hare – Time for Hasenpfeffer Stew?

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March is the perfect time to get out and hunt Snowshoe Hare (Lepus Americanus). 

Snowshoe Hare, Shirleys Bay.jpg

It is mating season! And just like deer in the rut; The chase is on!! Many hunt the Hare’s with dogs. I grew up hunting them one on one in thick fir stands. Below is the  New Hampshire Wildlife Profile and Hunting dates and Units. In Canada, the Snowshoe Hare is a sought after food source. In Newfoundland for example over 1.5 million are consumed each year!

https://wildlife.state.nh.us/hunting/small-game-season.html 

https://wildlife.state.nh.us/wildlife/profiles/snowshoe-hare.html

As a teen it was relatively easy for me to bag a snowshoe hare with shotgun in the New Hampshire’s North Country but few in my family really knew how to prepare it. 

The German Inspired Dish Hasenpfeffer is a great way to prepare a delicious meal with wild hare/rabbit meat that you hunted and brought to the table. 

A recipe that I like is on website: https://honest-food.net/hasenpfeffer-recipe-dumplings/

The key to this recipe, I believe, is the Marinade. Follow the ingredients well. 

You can do the dumplings on the side or do what I do, use some wide egg noodles. The sauce uses sour cream. I make the sauce with some beef bullion and mushrooms, a rue, like Stroganoff. Wow! The hare meat should be very tender and almost fall off the bone.

Another side to try is German Spaetzle here… https://platedcravings.com/authentic-easy-german-spaetzle-recipe/

Good Hunting! Good Eating!

 

 

 

Eating Russian Boar – Best Pork Chops on the Planet

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Recently I hunted boar again in Maine as you can see from recent articles. These were mixed breeds that are part Russian Boar.

A few years back I took a larger boar (female) that was said to be Russian.

Below the meat of the Russian boar was more beef like with fat marbled throughout.

These Russian pork chops when grilled were the finest tasting meat my wife and I have ever experienced in our lives. OMG, my wife went bananas over the meat which is why she sent me off to get another one. The meat of the latest boar was not as fatty as this one and it tastes great but not quite as good as the first.

We think that it is the fat marbling that drove our taste buds insane when fire grilled to a blackened crust below.

For my wife and I, pork will never be the same. This wild boar meat was a true culinary experience.  My latest boar meat is still over the top as compared to domestic pig. So I will go hunt one up instead of the pork at the grocery store. Just shoot a fat one!

Good Hunting

© 2019

AirBows are here…

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Crosman Pioneer Airbow

It was inevitable to shoot an arrow with a 3000 lb air blast ever since Lewis and Clark used a 45 cal Air Gun in their expedition. These air bows shoot an arrow at around 400 to 450 fps. What are they good for in hunting? Air Bows are not really bows at all they are rifles that shoot arrows instead of bullets. I like the innovation! In time you will see these used in urban areas where the deer and wild pigs are thick as ticks on a hound dog but … Today they are only legal in just a few southern states. Today they are a novelty and do not yet compete with the crossbow or compound. I predict that few states will allow them in archery season ever, but great for those with disabilities. They are very accurate because the air is jettisoned at the front of the arrow thus there is no “archers paradox” where the arrow bends.

Archers Paradox

More research for you at https://www.realworldsurvivor.com/2017/07/11/crosman-benjamin-pioneer-airbow/

Not for your average bloke!

Good Hunting!