Long-Range is a subjective phrase. Long-Range hunting and shooting is the distance that requires a  measure of education and calculation and practice to make a kill shot.  The shooter is wise to find a ballistic calculator like the one I have referenced on the cover page in the header. A deer or elk kill-shot should regularly strike a 6 to 8 inch diameter target respectively, using a field brace or shooting off-hand to make a clean double lung kill.  Down south in the bean fields, deer are seen at 100 to 700 yards and often the hunter is in a blind or in a situation where he or she can rest the rifle for the shot. In these situations I believe Long Range for most middle bore rifles is likely beyond your Max Point Blank Range (MPBR) which for most medium bore rifles is about 250 yards. (MPBR is where your bullet stays within a 6 inch circle from zero yards to where your bullet drops to three inches below center. Beyond that distance you need some math skills and the ballistic calculator to know the shot distances and for you to practice at those ranges. You must know bullet energies and distances that meet minimum velocities and energy to ethically kill the game intended and what the wind will do to your bullet while it is traveling to your quarry and adjust for that too. As an example, many in the shooting industry have come up with a guideline for bullet energies on deer-1000 ft-lbs, elk-1500 ft-lbs and moose-2500 ft-lbs. It is a guide so that you the hunter can make a clean kill at distances where these energies are seen at the longest range. You the hunter must decide if you can take that shot. I intend to be prepared to hunt and shoot beyond MPBR so I must know what each bullet I shoot can do or not do and practice, practice, practice. It is a project that is in fact very fun to undertake and you learn so much about you and your rifle and the cartridge/bullet you use. If you got a new rifle for Christmas, then this is a great learning opportunity.

Give it a try…It will make you a better hunter. Continue reading other long-range articles to help you. Good Hunting! ©2015

Here sweetheart, I said to my new wife years ago, try this venison. Ewe she says, tastes so strong and wild and gamy, you eat it…

On the whole, a deer killed quickly and gutted on the spot without damage to intestines will produce great venison meat. Even so some deer eat browse that makes the meat taste strong. Cutting the tarsal glands off your buck is a myth to enhance flavor. Just don’t touch them when handling venison meat as they have a very strong odor that can detract from your meat taste.

So the quest begins, how do you tame the gamy taste? It is the blood that is in the meat that largely carries the gamy taste, so removing the blood in the meat can reduce greatly those strong tastes. The use of milk and buttermilk to soak your meat overnight is a way to draw blood into the milk and buttermilk and carry away much of that gamy taste. A close friend of mine does this with all venison cuts invariably and has had great success with it because she also learned that buttermilk in particular has enzymes that also tenderize the meat.  Lesson learned decades later. See this website http://www.ehow.com/how_5845944_tenderize-buttermilk.html 

I use buttermilk or milk to soak when I know the history of the cuts from a particular deer have been too strong tasting. For example a big buck that was shot at the end of November after chasing does for miles and miles and who was eating cedar browse tastes like cedar and has a very strong taste and the meat is tough as shoe leather needs  buttermilk. All else fails, It is best to grind this meat and add it to say beef recipes as a percentage or use it in spaghetti sauces else it will sit forever in your freezer.

Here is a photo of a large piece of rear leg venison I am cutting into steaks for freezing.

Also, I make it a habit of freezing my venison as a way of aging and degassing the meat. New fresh cuts of venison I have found can be strong in flavor but aged for a month or more in the freezer in vacuum sealed bags can also greatly improve flavor and reduce gamy tastes.

SPICES

I appreciate spices to bring out the flavor of meat, not mask it. A cook book that I bought as a gift years ago for a friend was full of recipes that used Juniper Berry. See the site below.

http://www.ehow.com/list_7284348_spices-use-making-venison.html

Later I found a mustard rub that worked to hold moisture in my roasts but I don’t go wild to herb the dickens out of my venison. I like its taste to remain in the forefront of my palate and not masked to hide it. There are plenty of spices to enhance the flavor of game like Juniper, Cumin, Mustard seed, sage, thyme, turmeric etc.

http://www.spicesetc.com/category/all-spices-herbs

I also enjoy Montreal Steak seasoning found it the spice isle of your local supermarket.

I use it on grilled venison steaks medium rare and sprinkle a bit on it after cooking. The spices in this seasoning are spectacular to bring out meat flavor but I would never use it as a rub, some do, because it is too salty and spicy for me. I use it sparingly.

I only touched on tenderizing here but let me say that pressure cooking venision is the surest way to make a tender venison stew. I use an Electric Pressure cooker that takes only 10 to 15 minutes under pressure to create meat that will just fall apart and melt in your mouth. My family owns this Cuisenart  6 quart below. Cost $130 and worth every penny if you love stew. It will brown meat, then pressure cook vegetables too and will simmer or keep stew warm. Clean-up is a breeze as the inserted pot comes right out for easy cleaning. A great gift idea.

Lastly, make every effort to vacuum seal all of your meat. It can remain for years under vacuum and just months if just wrapped in meat paper.

Good Eating! © 2014

Chili recipes are many, but this one is just the best. Dutch Ovens have been used by New England Settlers for hundreds of years. A flange lid was added to keep the coals of the fire on the lid and out of the food.  (My family has been cooking fish and wild game on the New England shores for 375 years, like you, I am proud to carry on the tradition to cook and serve wild game to family and friends that I killed by my own hands with bow or rifle.) Today Dutch Ovens are also ceramic coated and provide an ideal way to makes stew’s and chili. If you don’t have a Dutch oven use a 4 quart or larger pot with a lid and cook it on the stove-top, that works just fine, no worries, my hunting and culinary friends.

One thing we know about venison, there is almost no fat in the meat. Ground venison is almost 100% lean meat, a good thing for making this chili but some fat is needed to carry flavor so I use bacon as do many chili recipes out there.  I use three or 4 strips of lightly smoked bacon ( hickory smoked works well) and chop it up or slice thin.

The venison is best when rough ground as it has lots of body to the meat. The first time I made this recipe this year I used ground turkey and it came out fabulous, it is hard to screw up this recipe. Of course you can use beef, and I have, just skim off the excess fat if you use 85% lean beef.

2 lbs of ground Venison

3/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

1 Tbsp Garlic powder or 4 to 6 garlic cloves chopped fine.

2 to 3 medium yellow onions chopped

1 large bell pepper chopped

2 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Chipoltle pepper Powder (smoky flavor) (optional)

1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper (use 1/2 tsp Cayanne if no Ancho pepper is used)

1/4 tsp Ancho pepper (optional) (sweet, medium hot and smokey)

1 tbsp whole Cumin Seed or 1 1/2 tsp powdered Cumin

1 tsp dry mustard (Coleman’s)

1 tsp Oregano

1 large 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes in pure’ ( not diced, too soupy)

1 tbsp sugar or 2 tablespoons molasses (richer flavor)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.(remember to shake before pouring)

2 cans of red kidney beans. I use a can of light red kidney and a can of dark red kidney for looks. There are other beans that work here too, like navy beans and black beans. Experiment and be creative!

Directions:

Cook the chopped bacon in the pot until it begins to fry and render the fat. Add 2 pounds venison (more or less)  to the pot with the salt and pepper and cook medium heat till the meat begins to brown. Break up the meat with a wood spatula if it clumps.  Add chopped onion and green pepper and spices and stir. Some recipes toast the spices, mustard,pepper spices,tyme, oregano and Cumin in a separate pan till it smokes. You can do this too if you wish. I find that it makes more pans to wash and does not add much in the way of flavor. The Chipoltle and Ancho spice adds a smoke flavor all by themselves.

Add the crushed tomatoes, Worcester sauce, sugar or molasses, three cups of water, stir and bring to a boil then reduce heat so it is just bubbling on low heat for 1 hour then add the beans or cook on the stove-top (my method with lid on) on low heat for 1 hour so the chili is just bubbling. This is a great camp wood stove recipe too as you can simmer on a wood stove for hours. Simmer for another 30 minutes and check for spice and salt to add before serving. It is the savory flavor of cumin that really makes this dish come alive. Some folks like it really hot, not me so place cumin, salt, pepper and hot pepper on the table to doctor your own piping hot bowl. Garnish your bowl of chili with shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream and fresh chopped cilantro or sliced hot green peppers, and serve with your favorite bread. Great for a cold winter night! Wow! I am getting hungry just writing this…

Enjoy! ©2014

Modifications:

You can use a cup of beer and two cups water to bring to boil instead of just water. Or you can substitute beef stock for the water. It is tough to ruin this dish most you can do is to make the recipe yours!

Make it a Merry Christmas with Stocking Stuffers for your Hunter!

Hand Warmers

,

flashlights,

battery head lamps

a good thermos

hats, gloves and mittens for shooting in cold weather like Pop Top’s

hunting video’s (tons out there)

topographical software for hunters like Garmin or Delorme

Higher on the dollar item list would be spotting scopes,

binoculars,

rangefinders by Leupold ,Nikon, Bushnell for example.

scope covers to keep moisture out like Butler Creek products

Anti-fogging solutions for scope glass

. 

Blue Compound for rusty barrels

A new full length cleaning rod. Tipton, Dewey or BoreTech

a gun care bench vise e.g. Tipton

bench rest devices that improve stability at the range like Caldwell Products

Electronic trigger pull gages

a set of torque wrenches like the Fat Wrench

hunter laundry soap, body wash etc.

For Coyote hunting get rabbit calls and Coyote calls that are hand held or electronic.

That is just a start for now!