Category Archives: Big Game Hunting

Articles about Big Game Hunting.

Time To Begin Reloading

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I have been reloading for pistol and rifle cartridges for hunting and target for over 40 years. It is time perhaps to enrich your inner self and reload. It’s fun and saves money too…in the long run.

RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Master Single Stage Press Kit

RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Master Single Stage Press Kit

My African safari hunt utilized all my custom handloads.

 

Not only have I saved thousands of dollars over the years but customized loads to accurize my guns. I started with this RCBS kit above. At just over $500 dollars, you also need cartridge dies, powders, primers bullets and brass. 

Midway USA sells all you need.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1023389781?pid=345426

Check it out!

 

Hunting Bullet Campfire Talk and a Ballistic Gel Test – Update

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Bullet Speed/Hydrostatic Shock – Bullet Shape Mushroom – Penetration – Impact Location and often exit wound all play a part in a swift ethical game harvest. Below, soft lead bonded spitzer mushroom left, solid copper with broken mushroom, right.

 

Ballistic Gel Test

Below a Ballistic Gel Test I did in 2021 Hammer Hunter copper vs Nosler Accubond Long Range 

Ballistic Gel 6.5 Creedmoor Test Nosler 129g ABLR vs Hammer Hunter Copper 124g

Copper hollow point bullets do mushroom as much or more than the lead core. I find cleaning my barrel with soft pure copper is not fun. Newer copper bullets made on a lath are better as tolerances are much tighter.

 

A Master bear guide recently told me that one of his hunters always brought a .375 H&H Magnum on black bear bait hunts. The hunter was getting full penetration and a small exit wound at 50 yards but the exit wound exhibited little or no blood to trail. Shots were to the heart lung area too.

The hunter was shooting a spitzer shape pointed bullet we commonly purchase on store shelves. I do not know the brand or type.

Spitzers in the past have been designed ideally for longer shots often past 200 to 300  yards. Some recent spitzer designs do open/mushroom faster than others. 

Accordingly, use a bullet type for the kind of game you will hunt.  A round or flat nose bullet is already in a partial mushroom shape and shot at short range, you will get a better mushroom at the start or shoot a soft nose spitzer which mushrooms quickly. Except most round nose are not loaded in a cartridge for sale, instead manufacturers try to design spitzers for close range too and may mushroom better, like bonded and Partition bullets

 

But you know, experience is the tell all. I am a Nosler fan!

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

Nosler 7mm Bullets on Short Range Maine Black Bear – Update

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I have successfully used Nosler Accubond bullets on bull moose and bison out of my .375 Ruger.

But I have not used the AccuBond Long Range (ABLR) bullet on big game yet. I have plenty of 7mm 175g Nosler ABLR’s left from my Newfoundland moose hunt last year. Note: Since, I was staying in Newfoundland for 6 weeks, Canada would not let me enter with my Browning 7mm rifle unless I was headed directly to my hunt.

Hopefully,that will soon to change this fall on my Foggy Mountain Maine bear hunt this September. 

The AccuBond ABLR is designed to expand faster than the AccuBond.  But will the bullet mushroom “too much” in my 7mm Rem Mag 175g ABLR at say 50 to 75 yards? 

UPDATE

Discussion with Nosler says the Nosler Partition will have more weight retention and will mushroom nicely at close range. Accordingly, my Nosler friends are sending some Nosler 160g Partitions for my bear hunt. See the video below. 

 

The biggest complaint from black bear guides is the difficulty of producing a good blood trail, with fat and hair plugging the hole, from smaller diameter bullets. Bears run till death, that may mean hundreds of yards and little blood. I am hoping for a large exit wound for blood trailing.

Fast game recovery means better meat quality!

Good Hunting!

 

Bear Bait Style Hunt Mistakes : Rifle or CrossBow – Decision Time

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Photo Courtesy Wikipedia

This fall I am hunting bears that have been hunted before, my research indicates that, in particular,  older larger bears are very reluctant to come to bait in daylight. Sometimes letting smaller bears go first to test the water as it were.

This reluctance is very likely because of mistakes we hunters make year over year. We are in fact teaching older bears how to avoid certain bait stands.

That said; This September, I will hunt with rifle from a further away ground stand or treestand site. 

There are many more shot opportunities with rifle than bow.

And I’m not getting any younger. 

On caliber, my master guide tells me that big bore fast 3000 fps rifle bullets from say 375 H&H exit but with a small hole and lack of mushroom. Many say slower big bore like the 45-70 are better.

Said, my 7mm Rem Mag was a better choice of rifles I own. The bullet will really mushroom and create a larger exit hole for blood trailing. 

Ok! So what are some of our mistakes? 

Not watching the wind. Say, you find the wind blows from your stand to your bait? Skip that bait hunt site till the wind shifts away. Else big bruins wont be coming. 

Not washing yourself and hair (even mouth) or clothes before the hunt. 

Clothes have collected camp scents like campfire smoke or cigarette/cigar smoke. 

Clean Boots – Inside the boot too.

Not Wearing Mosquito netting. 

Break up your facial outline. Use camo and a face mask. 

Hunting too close to your bait. 

Coughing or making noise in your tree or ground stand.  A real no no. Quiet that cough!!

Fast movement of head or hands. Like swatting mosquitoes. 

Big bears circle and wind the site. 

Metal on metal clink sounds.

Eliminate these mistakes and you will greatly increase your chances of bigger bear showing themselves.

I noted earlier, in retrospect that big bears will let little bears enter a bait site first. Another tip off. 

Secondly, smaller bears tend to watch their backtrail often due to a larger bear. That’s a tip off…

Thirdly, Big bears sometimes approach and circle from behind to the tree stand first and give it a good sniff before heading to bait. 

Good Hunting!

 

Black Bears Sometimes Climb Into Your Tree Stand While Your In It

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Years ago I hunted Ontario, Canada for spring black bear with my Cascade recurve bow. I was on a baited stand with a large 8 foot high wood platform with a cheap plastic chair to sit in. A peaceful gurgling stream nearby masked any small sounds I had made.

A huge male boar was entering the bait site to my right.  My guide says, if he’s larger than the barrel, he’s likely a “book” bear.

The huge boar made the 50 gal. barrel look small. 

My 68lb bow, was just out of reach, leaning against a tree branch had an arrow on the string just a few feet from me. The bear walked to the base of my stand.

I leaned over to watch.

The bear stood up, and his whole head popped above the platform, just 3 feet away from my boots. I played possum with my eyes mostly shut.

Again, my bow was two feet away, no gun, no bear spray. He rocked his head back and forth, trying to get my attention,  but did not try to climb.

Finally, he got down, but as his front paws hit the ground, he bounced back up, trying to get me to respond. His huge nose sniffing intently and rocking again. I stayed still, eyes closed except for my tiny eye slits. My heart was flipping out in my chest. Should I grab my bow? Not yet. I hoped he would get down and head for the bait. He got down and bounced once more. I remained still…except for my heart.

Now, he got down and headed to the barrel.

He’s under my platform. I stood and grabbed my bow. I was using Easton XX75 2216 arrows with big Rothaar Snuffers. The bear being underneath me gave me no shot. Finally walking around the barrel I lifted my bow for the shot. The bear caught the movement and stood facing me. I did not want that bear coming back to my stand so I drew and shot him in the chest and struck his huge breast plate. The 700 grain arrow hit him, but never penetrated past his breast plate. My arrow stood out on the bear like an arrow hitting a tree trunk. Holy Crap!

The bear got down and bent the protruding arrow into a U shape. The arrow pried itself out as the bear ran off.

Darkness  fell and I had to walk 200 yards to my vehicle bow at the ready. I crazily drove 20 miles to get my guide. 

We came back that night and found the arrow. The tip of the snuffer was bent as it was pried from breast bone. Dark red blood drops lasted for 10 feet and disappeared. The next day we searched but quickly lost any trace.  I’m sure the bear healed but I never forgot that incident. It’s really not that uncommon. Today, I will hunt again with a backup 10mm pistol or my rifle.

Recently, I read of a similar situation below but with rifle. 

https://www.fieldandstream.com/hunting/bear-climbs-into-hunters-tree-stand/

Can you say adventure!

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2024 

New Glock 20 Gen 5 Repaired And Tested – UPDATE

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As my readers know, I purchased this new 10mm Glock 20 Gen 5 from Kittery Trading Post about 6 weeks ago. I intend to use it as my back up for bear hunting over bait.

 The Gen 5 supposedly has a trigger spring enhancement, enabling a smoother trigger and improved trigger reset. But I did not find it very smooth. 

After 40 rounds or so it stopped cycling, after the first trigger pull, the trigger did not reset. 

I shot it with 180g, 200g, and 220g FMJ’s. It didn’t like the 220g and it stopped cycling. Then I could not shoot the 180 or 200g bullets after the first trigger pull.

Accordingly, the pistol was sent back to Glock.

I received it back in a month, and tested it with 180g, 200g and 220g at 10 yards with 5 rounds each of the three bullet weights. All rounds cycled as they should and the trigger pull seemed much smoother. See the 10 yard 5 shot bench groups below.

The 200g ammo I used on the target above was FMJ CCI Blaser’s with aircraft-grade aluminum cases. They cycled well and were cost effective at $29 for 50 rounds vs Brass cases at $40 for 50 rounds. I bought more of these as I may not reload them. Speed is 1050 fps=489 ft-lb

The 220g hard cast coated ammo was Underwood High Performance 1200fps. They certainly kicked more but grouped very well. Cost $30 for 20 rounds. Velocity 1200 fps=700 ft-lb

The 180g hard cast was made by UMC/Remington and recoil was similar to the 200g CCI Blaser’s. Cost $41 per 50 rounds. Velocity 1150 fps= 528 ft-lb.

Note: My 45ACP shoots 230g Blazers at 830fps=351 ft-lbs. Not a great bear back up. But +P Underwood ammo can shoot 255g at 925fps=484 ft-lb. 

The 10mm beats even the +P 45 ammo and 10mm Glock has a 15 round clip

 

UPDATE 25 March 2024

I adjusted the rear sight slightly to move groups to the right from the same 10 yard distance, see below.

Upper left bench groups are 180g Remington UMC loads and 5 tight shots in center are terrific and power is 528 ft-lbs. Lower left 2 shot 220g are great but very expensive and are heavy in recoil. Lower right group is Blazer 200g just left by an inch but not as much energy as the UMC 180g.  So far the 220g seem best with delivered energy but 180g have less recoil. I need to shoot with both speed and accuracy, thus more practice is needed.

End of update

 

The cost effectiveness of the 10mm Glock 20 Gen 5 makes it very attractive as a hunter or hiker/camper side arm for dangerous predators.  Just practice!

Good Hunting!

 

 

New Ruger American Rifles- Gen II – Can You Say Wow!

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Can you say Wow!

The Ruger American Next Generation II is here!!

New Hampshire Rifleman Magazine has tested the Ruger American Rifle Generation 1  in 6.5 Creedmoor. It shot sub-MOA out of the box. I expect no less from these gems!

The New Ruger American Next Generation II rifles has best-of-the-best attributes a hunter could ask for at an affordable price. Just $729 and made in the USA!

My wife says “Wow, Cut-it-Out, Seriously?” Yes!!

Models are in Standard, Ranch, and Predator and come in 3 “Splatter Finish” colors.

And all of the best calibers and cartridges you can imagine.

Check Them Out at the website below!

https://www.ruger.com/products/americanRifleGenII/overview.html?n=bolt

Below is the Predator Model. I will ask Ruger to test one for my readers.

Get yours now!

 

 

New 7mm PRC and 7mm Rem Mag: Both Are Great!

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Now is the time to buy a 7mm PRC Rifle if you desire one. Getting excited about a new cartridge and rifle is certainly fun. There are now several manufacturers making the 7mm PRC rifle.

In addition, for reloaders, there are dies, brass and powders ready to reload. Missing still, are large rifle magnum primers, but, if you load for other magnums, then you have some magnum primers in your gun safe.

The upsides of the PRC are long range 1000yd Plus accuracy, reloadability, bullet stability at 1:8 twist and target bullets in 190 to 195g such as the Hornady A-Tip Match.

The PRC with rifles of 1:8 twist are capable of delivering off-the-shelf 175g ammo for big game hunting at muzzle velocities of 3000 fps.

The 7mm Rem Magnum 175g off-the-shelf loads in rifles with 1:10 twist are just a bit slower with muzzle velocities of 2850 fps and where cartridge cases are belted for head spacing.

Both cartridges are very accurate for hunting purposes at ranges out to 600 plus yards. But the PRC begins to dominate thereafter with 190g target bullets. 

If you hand load for either target or hunting you can customize loads for your rifle with both the 7mm PRC and 7mm Rem Mag.

Some believe the 7mm bench mark for big game hunting such as moose and elk is 3000fps at the muzzle with the 175g bullet.

With some experimentation, my hand loaded 7mm Rem Mag does the 175g 3000 fps trick in my 1:10 twist Browning Speed and is super accurate with the right powder.  

Trust me, your big game animal won’t know the difference.

The largest advantage of the PRC is for long range target with 190g bullets where the headspace is off the shoulder of the cartridge and tolerances are much tighter. 

So be happy, both the 7mm PRC and 7mm Rem Mag are great cartridges and can coexist for hunting decades to come.

Shooting a wide variety of bullet weights though, the 7mm Rem Mag is said to be more versatile for accuracy due to the slower twist rate. An example, would be shooting 120g to 175g bullets for a variety of game, will on average shoot more accurately. 

Happy 7mm Hunting!

 

 

 

Swapping a Picatinny Rail Mounted Scope To Another Rifle? Update for Test

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Todays rifle scopes can easily cost more than the rifle you put it on. A good rifle today costs less than $1000 dollars, where some rifle scopes can cost upwards of $2000 dollars. 

So I often swap out my favorite best-in-class Leupold VX -6 scope from rifle to rifle. 

 

I am setting up one of of my Ruger rifles with a  picatinny rail to make it easier to borrow a scope from another of my rifles already set up with a picatinny rail.

Below is the Weigand Combat Scope Mount Compatible with Ruger M77 and MKII Long Action 20 MOA – Black

The Weigand aircraft aluminum rail does have some limitations. It is not recommended for super heavy recoiling rifles. The determining calculation from the manufacturer says to multiply bullet weight in grains times the expected muzzle velocity. If the calculation exceeds 700,000 then don’t use it to mount your scope on that rifle.

Example: I will mount the rail on my .375 Ruger shooting Nosler 260g AccuBonds at a muzzle velocity of 2625 fps. Thus 260g x 2625fps = 682,500.  Based on this calculation, I’m good. Next is to test it out at the range. 

My Ruger Hawkeye M77 in .375 Ruger shoots most all my hand loaded bullets extremely well, often sub-moa. Luckily, I do have some 260g AB in my cupboard.

Range Test – Below is the finished Picatinny mount and Leupold  scope after 3 bench rest shots of Nosler 260g AB at 2625 fps.

I checked threaded mounting screws which had thread lock  242 blue applied. Every screw checked for torque. All perfect.

Muzzle energy is 3977 ft-lbs and 3419 ft-lbs at 75 yards to my bear bait site.

Below the 3 shots. First shot at 50 yds after the swap was 2 1/2 inches low and 2 inches right. I adjusted and hit 9 o’clock in the dead center bull. I adjusted a bit much and hit 1 inch right in bullseye. I will shoot again at 75 yards and make final tweaks. 

Accordingly, the swap worked well and I can swap back to my 7mm Rem Mag with very little effort. 

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10mm Glock 20 Essentials for Bear Hunting Backup

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 The use of a handgun to ward off a bear attack is proven. It is not uncommon for aggressive bears to climb up your bowhunting tree stand with you in it or perhaps follow you back to your truck at night or a wounded bear attacks during recovery. 

Below, find an article with documented incidents where handguns were 98% effective on all bear species black, brown, grizzly and polar. 

Handgun Defenses Against Bear Attacks – 170 Documented Incidents, 98% Effective

Unfortunately, my new 10mm Glock 20 has set of daylight sights which makes the Glock defense use in dim light or darkness difficult at best.  I swapped them out for cost effective Tritium sights so I can see them in darkness.

I purchased a simple set of TRUGLO tritium sights for around $55 bucks. Not a bad price. Take the top slide off, remove the spring and barrel to get to the front sight nut and prep to remove the rear sight. 

 

You will need to purchase a tool for the front sight nut. 

and at least a push tool or bench vise and a wood or brass punch as in the video above. 

Next, is a holster for my Glock. 

I need instant access for a possible aggressive bear attack, thus I purchased a heat molded chest holster called the Kenai from Gunfighters, Inc. Cost $160.00

firearm

The first time the holster gripped the pistol, hearing a click,  I wasn’t able to pull it out without using great force. The Kenai literature instructed to carefully use a heat gun on the click/grip area.  Luckily, I had a heat gun. It worked.  Now, after heat adjusting, I can readily pull the pistol yet keep it secure.

Some folks find that a chest held binocular case can interfere with the draw of the pistol.  However, the holster can be adjusted to allow fast access. Below is  my Vortex Bino’s case with my Glock 20.  The bino case is huge, perhaps too big to wear. The pistol draw needs both hands. One hand to hold the holster base, while my right hand draws the pistol.

I will holster and practice drawing and shooting it with my binoculars on and off. If I’m on a bear stand in a tree, I will likely not wear the bino case. 

Below this video pitts the 10mm against the 44 magnum. 

A few year back I also did a 44 mag video below. In that fishing scenario, the 44 mag already drawn on an approaching bear, worked for the first shot but the recoil raised the pistol losing fractions of seconds to get back on target. 

Good Hunting!