A Hunters First Shot in the Field

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Ed Hale

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!

Rifle Hunters: How to get ready for deer season!

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Ed Hale

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!

Meat Scare translates to Hunting With Your Family

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Ed Hale

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

Excalibur Matrix Grizzly Crossbow; Muzzy Broadheads and Lumenoks on Wild Boar

Posted on April 4, 2020 by Ed Hale

My recent hunt in Maine was the first opportunity to hunt and harvest wild boar with the Excalibur Matrix Grizzly Crossbow. Broadheads used in the hunt were razor sharp Muzzy fixed 100 grain 3 blade heads with trocar cut-on-contact tips.

The combination performed flawlessly. The Grizzly crossbow is a 200 pound, 305 fps recurve crossbow. It is an older but proven model and easy to load and unload.

It is priced to sell right now at around $499.00. I purchased a later kit to make the bow a bit quieter.

I began the hunt with my flintlock which turned out to be finicky to fire. My backup was this crossbow and it did a marvelous job at 20 yards providing full penetration and exit with an immediate blood trail.

The scope was set with the main crosshair at 20 yards but had triangle yardage marks on the vertical scope line out to 50 yards. I think that 30 yards would be my personal max without a very steady rest and a rangefinder.

The Muzzy broadheads come in a pack of 6 and also come with practice blades for $31 bucks. Proving in these broadheads for flight was an easy proposition with the, easy to pull out, practice inserts.

MUZZY-3-Blade-100-Gr-1-3-16-034-Cut-Broadhead-6-Pk-225-Free-Practice-Blades

I tried other compound crossbows that were much faster but so much harder to load and cost way more. As an older and smarter hunter, I knew that 300 fps is fast enough for the whitetails and boar I was after (excellent delivered energy) and that I could load it faster and easier.

A feature of this crossbow is to also unload it easily in the field after a hunt. Here in New Hampshire you can’t have a cocked crossbow in a moving vehicle. Most other compound crossbows require you to shoot the bow into a target butt you keep in your vehicle. A pain the butt, pun intended.

The knocks on my arrow/bolts are Lumenoks and they work well to see them as they follow the lighted knock to your game hit and are easy to locate after. A word to the wise, if you want Lumenoks then purchase them installed on your arrow/ bolts already from the factory. I had a difficult time removing old knocks that were epoxied in.

All in all the wild boar never knew what hit them.

Good Hunting!

Broadheads: Fixed vs Mechanical;Vanes vs Feathers; Straight vs Helical

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Ed Hale

Long ago I made a decision to stick with fixed blade broadheads. In large part because I was a traditionalist at heart and a kinship to the past. But lets take a peek at broadheads today, vanes vs feathers and straight, offset or helical fletch.

Stone – Can break- Razor sharp Needs skill to make, use, and sharpen (knapp).

Steel Zwickey 2 blade below- Needs to be sharpened. Very Strong and proven. not always perfectly centered. Needs Larger feather or vane in offset. https://www.lancasterarchery.com/nsearch/?q=zwickey+broadheads

Zwickey Eskimo 2 Edge 11/32 Broadheads

Trocar Tip Muzzy 3 Blade – Razor Sharp – Perfectly aligned Ferrule

Comes with practice blades.

My favorite for deer and Africa Plains Game.

Muzzy Bowhunting 3 Blade Archery Arrow Broadhead 100 or 125 Grain - 6 Pack

Muzzy One – All one piece

G5 Montec Nice Look. Resharpenable

G5 Montec Broadhead

I just love how the triangular shaped flint and/or steel looked.

In today’s society there is a lot of salesmanship that sells the latest and greatest. That is ok, and that is how most of us moved from recurve/longbow to the Compound Bow. Accuracy with sights and Power! The 2014 study below suggests accuracy between the two fixed vs mechanical is statistically insignificant and both need some level of compound tuning for broadhead fixed or mechanical vs fieldpoint. Below is the popular Rage Hypodermic Mechanical Broadhead

Hypodermic Open

The mechanical allows you to;

Use vanes that are smaller, straight or slightly offset due to less steerage from the head

Reduce arrow planing since the ferrule and exposed blades are lower profile.

More forgiving in an untuned bow.

Provide a wider entrance and exit wound.

But why would you not tune your broadheads? Salesmanship does come in to play.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2014/11/broadhead-test-fixed-blades-vs-mechanicals/

Yes the entry wound from a mechanical is gaping and can leave a great blood trail. Visually from the exterior the wound is stunning. But death comes from hemorrhage inside. I think with a powerful bow the mechanical that opens properly will create more vital tissue damage than perhaps a fixed blade.

Yet the fixed blade head is a failsafe head, always for the most style, “Cut-on-Contact.

How much damage does one need to humanely kill a deer? The fixed blade head has been doing it for thousands of years. The bottom line is that both have advantages and disadvantages and, ceteris paribus, both kill humanly. It is a shooters choice! Lower poundage to say 40 pounds may risk a mechanical not opening. In that case a fixed blade broadhead is perhaps a better choice.

From a practice standpoint with your broadhead, I believe it is essential to prove in your broadhead at game distances. Today’s mechanical is very costly to give one up for practice. I like a strong ferrule and both practice blades and hunt blades with the purchase.

Vanes vs Feathers

Feathers are traditional, vanes are plastic and are not as affected by rain and wetness of the forest. Vane below. https://www.lancasterarchery.com/arrows/arrow-components/vanes.html?p=2

Bohning Blazer Vanes (Fred Bear Signature Series)

Today synthetic vanes are winning for non traditional archery meaning longbow and recurve traditional shooters still prefer feathers but compound bow hunters and shooters are big on small synthetic vanes.

Consistent arrow spines and concentricity in aluminum and carbon are for all intent, near to ideal today. Some vanes today are already attached to a sleeve that can be slipped on the arrow and heat shrunk right then. Like this Bohning Tiger Blazer QuickFletch from Midway USA.

https://www.midwayusa.com/s?userSearchQuery=arrow+vanes&userItemsPerPage=48

Bohning Tiger Blazer QuikFletch Arrow Vanes White Tiger Pack of 6

Traditional Turkey Feather 5 inch Helical Fletch

Elong 30" Archery Carbon Arrows Wood Camo Shaft Spine 600 Recurve Bows Turkey Feather Arrow

Size and Fletch/Vane offset and helical style are often Traditional vs Compound. Helical fletch is used to spin the arrow with a broadhead that is often not true to the shafts centerline, like a Bear Razorhead with a glue ferrule or a Stone point. Thus the arrow will not plane as much. Click the words below to read this interesting series of articles…

http://archeryreport.com/2011/07/helical-straight-fletch-accuracy-repeatability/

Helical vs. Straight - back view

Along with all of the above don’t forget to calculate your FOC Front of Center balance point.

https://www.goldtip.com/Resources/Calculators/FOC-Calculator.aspx

Good Hunting!

Rifles: Want to improve your field hunting accuracy?

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Ed Hale

Experienced and successful hunters will tell you, It is not the accuracy at the bench rest that ultimately brings home the wild game. It is how you and your rifle work together in the field and forest.

Are you training for a field match or to shoot at a game animal.

Photo above, I took this South African SCI Gold Medal Kudu with a Ruger M77 with VX III Leupold scope with .338 Win mag and 250 grain Nosler Partition bullets. My training paid off, big time! I practiced in the field, off-hand, and could fire and keep 4 rapid shots on a pie plate at 80 yards. Of course plains game was often at 200 plus yards and may be out to 300 and 400. Your Professional Hunter – PH will tell you if your up for the shot or get you closer. Most opt for closer, say 200-250 yards.

It is very often the case that you will only get one shot.

Make it count!

First, bullseye targets do not move, but wild game does! Yes it sounds intuitive but it is often overlooked. Over the years I believe, the key to shooting accurately in the field is to know when your trigger will break and what clothes/jackets you will wear for hunting so that you will know in advance if you need to adjust “length of pull” to prevent snags. And finally to “understand” the felt recoil of your rifle. That comes with shooting and practicing in field conditions at the distances you expect to shoot. Are you using a tripod, bipod, shooting sticks or your backpack to use as a rest? If so, then practice with it. So many variables, right?

Length of Pull -The top of your list should be length of pull (LOP), trigger break in pounds, and having an adequate recoil pad and cheek weld. Most rifle hunters today use a scope, If the scope is too high then your cheek weld will float around and so will your shots. Typical LOP for a rifle is around 13.25 to 13.75 inches. Again, what clothing jacket are you wearing?

Triggers today are often adjustable in the 2.5 to 6 pound range. Most experienced hunter like a trigger at around three to four pounds. Having too light a trigger with cold fingers can cause you to not feel the trigger very well and result in accidental discharges. Conversely, a heavy trigger can cause you to miss game that is moving, by not knowing when the trigger will break. How to determine what is right for you… takes some shooting awareness when you “think” the trigger will break and fire but doesn’t. The closer you and your trigger agree is where you want to set your trigger. Keep in mind that you are hunting, not target shooting. Many gun-shops will often have a trigger scale to test the break point of your trigger. I own a digital scale and use it regularly.

Recoil Pads today on newer rifles are better than a decade or two ago. Most can reduce felt recoil by half. Older rifles often need harder rubber pads replaced. Why? Less recoil translates directly to improved accuracy. Shooting a .375 H&H with a state of the art recoil pad is like shooting a 30-06 or .270. Shooting smarter not harder!

Cheek weld for scopes is vital and often overlooked. If your cheek does not make solid contact with the comb of your rifle then your eye is floating as it looks through a scope. At 50 yard that may still work for you but at over 100 yards it can mean a clean miss. There are many devices out there as add-on’s for bringing your cheek higher and allow ideal eye alignment with your scope.

These variables are just a few of the vital aspects of good accuracy. Then comes breathing, trigger squeeze and understanding recoil.

Even the best game shots stay the best because they practice.

Good Hunting!

Lancaster County Pennsylvania Flintlock From A Kit

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Ed Hale

Why make an authentic Lancaster County Pennsylvania Rifle from a kit? The word Kit, some would infer, that it is a cheap knock off, and easy to put together. Nothing could be further from the truth as it pertains to authentic Pennsylvania Flintlock Rifles. Today’s kits are made of the finest woods, finest barrels and as accurate as all get out! Really!! To my eye, the Lancaster County Rifles from original makers such as Jacob Dickert and Isaac Haines among others are a thing of functional beauty. I built my rifle from a Jim Chambers Ltd Lancaster Rifle Kit with Tiger Maple stock, Siler Lock, 44 inch Rice Swamp Barrel. The kit looks like this… Granted the stock looks like it is ready for parts to be dropped in but its not. The stock is roughed out and the brass is sand cast with cast marks. Every part must be inlayed or chiseled into the stock.

A good kit will cost only around $1000 dollars like mine. But you will need an array of hand tools and carving chisels and sand paper that can run in $200 dollars or so. I know that is a lot of money but they don’t come cheap.

Below is the Jim Chambers Lancaster Kit I used for my build.

Rifle Kits Include All This

I am a student of history, In particular the American Revolution and the Pennsylvania Rifle was a key part of winning the Revolution because it had a rifled barrel and longer range. The Pennsylvania rifle, some know as the Kentucky Rifle was not as easy to load as the smooth bore Brown Bess musket (or French made Charleville). Bess had accuracy good to 50 yards but not much more. The Pennsylvania rifle earned its keep on the frontier for accurately dispatching wild game and as a sniper rifle at long distances to 200 or more yards in the hands of a Marksman.

Men like General Daniel Morgan and Morgan’s Rifleman were hired for their skill as woodsman and crack shots at long ranges. One such hero under Morgan was Tim Murphy who during the battle of Saratoga took out a horse riding British General beyond 200 yards, some say 300 yards.

The patch box on the stock was often made of wood however upscale Lancaster Pennsylvania models were lavishly embellished with brass and often a signature of its maker. My patch box below.

But if you want to purchase an authentic Pennsylvania rifle (not the kit) the cost can be significant. Often prices are in the $3000 to $5000 range. The art work is spectacular! See the brass patch-box below from this John Bivins Style Flintlock. http://www.custommuzzleloaders.com/bivins.html

I think the hardest part of making a Pennsylvania Flintlock rifle given that the barrel and lock is roughed-in already , is carving the stock and in-letting the barrel into the stock. Today’s kits have roughed-in the stock too so that this major hurdle is lessened to a great degree. If you are not good with your hands though, I do not recommend building from a kit. Trust me, it is not easy and it is fraught with danger of major errors using chisels to inlet the stock for barrel and trigger assembly. But if you are good with your hands,then this rifle can be your signature work to pass on.

My Jacob Dickert brass patchbox below was purchased with the daisy elsewhere. I spent hours just to cut, drill and chisel to inlay the patchbox flush with the wood, create the spring door lid.

I liked my finish inlay work so much that I hired a master engraver to copy Dickert’s design seen far below for the box and lock side plate.

Below is my first ever novice attempt at carving a double Rococo C scroll as Dickert would have done, before staining. I was very happy with it!

Below is the Dickert Floral I also carved at the Tang.

Watch the Sparks Fly from this Flintlock below. My slow motion clip displays the spark power to ignite the charge in the pan.

To make your build easier, better kits come with a DVD and take you step by step though the process. I needed the DVD, It was excellent.

Well, 3 years ago the Lancaster Kit below with tiger maple cost 950.00 The master engraving on the box and side plate cost me $300 more.

It took me more than 100 hours to carve, cut, and fit and stain, perhaps nearer to 150 hours. Thank God it shoots really well after all that effort!

Yesterday I took my rifle to the range and shot close range, to 25 yards. It was fun. See below. Shot number 1 Upper Hit clipped the dead center box. Shot number 2 lower right was nearly in the same spot. Shot number 3 was a off to the right a bit but I think that was me and not the rifle. I use 70 grains FFG powder and there is very little recoil. I was very pleased with the accuracy check. Good for hunting squirrels, rabbits and hares!

My Jacob Dickert Lancaster Pennsylvania Flintlock shoots flat to 75 yards and drops a few inches at 100 yards and 16 inches at 150 yards with 90 grains of FFG powder. For deer, I will stay within the 75 yards.

Good Hunting!

Medicine in the Woods

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Ed Hale

I was on my New Hampshire deer stand when all of a sudden my throat felt dry. I had to cough! Thinking the nearby deer would spook, I often carry slices of granny smith apples to keep saliva flowing. But I didn’t carry any with me. What to do? I foraged near my stand and found some American teaberry leaves to chew. There were a few minty berries to eat as well. The mint soothed my cough and soon was back to the hunt. New Hampshire woods are full of these plants and berries. You just have to look on the forest floor. Check out the video below.

Foraging skills can provide a wealth of plants and fungi that have significant medicinal value. I suggest this as you chase the whitetail deer. Check out NH Magazine below.

Off The Grid – Conifer Tea for Vitamin C.

https://www.offgridweb.com/survival/jacques-cartier-conifer-tea-vitamin-c/

Spruce tree needles are also a source of vitamin c. So do some wild plant homework and you will become more of a part of Nature!

If you are willing to do some research into Mushrooms and Fungi here in the Northeast US you will find a medicine chest that can aid in healing wounds such as birch bark, to cancer prevention. One such prolific mushroom is called Turkey Tail. You probably have some in your back yard.

There are many more New Hampshire mushrooms and fungi that are not only edible but highly medicinal. I have purchased a book entitled Mushrooms of the Northeastern United State for my winter reading.

Good Hunting!

BOG Death Grip Tripod for Rifle, Shotgun and Crossbow

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Ed Hale

Shooting 375 Ruger at 150 yards

Shooting Excalibur Crossbow

Features of BOG Death Grip Clamping Tripod:

Tilt adjustment lever controls up to 25 degrees of cant forwards and back and…
Maximum height: 72 inches, minimum height: 7 inches.
No-slip lever locks provide faster locking and release.
Non-marring rubber jaw insert protects the firearm and the quick-adjust clamping lever secures…
Model comes with aluminum legs or carbon fiber legs

I have used this for my Newfoundland moose hunt and for shooting crossbow for target or in a blind. It is a hands free tool so it can hold your gun or crossbow at the ready and reduce movement especially in a blind when deer or turkey are right there in front of you. Cost is $150 for aluminum and $250 for carbon fiber. It is a life long investment like a good scope.

Good Hunting!

26 Nosler for Moose?

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Ed Hale

Some of my readers are looking for info on 26 Nosler for Moose.

The 26 Nosler (6.5 mm) is ideally suited as a long range rifle/cartridge combo that is more geared to Elk, large deer, and most African Plains game.

YES, it is a capable North American moose and African Eland Cartridge but not the quote “best”, ceteris paribus, in my estimation, meaning, good, better, best.

Most moose are taken within 300 yards and often less than 100 yards. Truth is, 300 yards is short range for the 26 Nosler on elk and deer.

The reason to own a 26 Nosler is that you are going to do a lot of hunting at ranges from 200 to 800 yards after your moose hunt for game such as elk and deer or on an African Plains game Safari. The 26 Nosler is not a target rifle, it is a serious long range hunting cartridge/rifle.

The 6.5 caliber has exceptional Sectional Density (greater than .28 and up to .299), thus great penetration, especially the 140 -142 grain in a Nosler AccuBond bullet or the Long Range version of the AB.

It is NOT about “bullet speed” for moose however.

Killing moose is about shot placement.

If you own a 26 Nosler and can practice to 300, 400, 500 or more yards with a solid field rest such as the Bog Death Grip® tri-pod or Caldwell® Field Pod, then go for it.

However, if you can shoot “accurately” with a larger bore and a well constructed bullet with excellent Sectional Density then, I believe, you are better off. Moose don’t fall “often” at a killing shot and can run over 100 yards or more, maybe into a pond or down a hill in the wrong direction. I don’t favor field dressing a moose in a pond. Try to anchor him right then! Keep shooting till he’s down.

Larger bores and recoil aside, my go-to’s for a regular every year moose caliber would be a 30-06, 7mm Rem. Mag. with 160 grain bullets, 300 Win. Mag., both with 180 grain Nosler AB, .338 Win Mag with 225 grain Nosler AB and the 375’s in 260 to 300 grain. The 30-06 will limit your distance shots to say 150 yards or so. The .270 Winchester can, like the 26 Nosler and other 6.5’s, do the job but I like larger calibers that can reach 200 to 300 yards with 2000 to 3000 ft-lbs delivered. The rest of my list are good to 300 yards or more.

If big bears are also on the menu, or if you are on their menu, then I would opt for the .338 and .375 with good shot placement.

It is rare to kill moose at ranges over 300 yards.

Additionally, strong wind is a long range shot Achilles heel in the field, often 20 mph or more on a mountain thus windage will be a huge factor at those distant shots.

February 2025

Category Archives: Big Game Hunting

A Hunters First Shot in the Field

Rifle Hunters: How to get ready for deer season!

Meat Scare translates to Hunting With Your Family

Excalibur Matrix Grizzly Crossbow; Muzzy Broadheads and Lumenoks on Wild Boar

Broadheads: Fixed vs Mechanical;Vanes vs Feathers; Straight vs Helical

Rifles: Want to improve your field hunting accuracy?

Lancaster County Pennsylvania Flintlock From A Kit

Medicine in the Woods

BOG Death Grip Tripod for Rifle, Shotgun and Crossbow

26 Nosler for Moose?