Category Archives: Big Game Hunting

Articles about Big Game Hunting.

Shooting Longbows and Recurves of Heavy Poundage for Big Game

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Training to shoot heavy poundage bows like 55 and 60 pounds accurately, on the first arrow, takes dedication and perfect training daily or every other day… for my older bones.

In my case, in long years past, I have dedicated time for a heavy weight custom traditional recurve hunting bow of 68 pounds. Once I stopped shooting that bow for months, it was back breaking for me to get back to shooting it with accuracy.

The answer was to build up with lesser weight bows which I did not have, and could not afford, at the time. Moving forward to today, I am retired from quality assurance engineering and have access to inexpensive recurves and long bows at a fraction of the cost to train without muscle or shoulder injury. Recovery, from a shoulder or muscle pull takes months.

I wrote an archery article in August 2021 for hunters to get back to preparing for deer hunting. I was shooting a 45 pound Samick Sage takedown recurve that cost me $140 dollars. See photo below. Great bow for the price. I learned that I could purchase separate limbs for it for just $74 dollars. I bought 50 pound limbs and was happy to step up and begin training in my back yard in October moving from 45 to 50 pounds in draw weight,  but I did not stop there.

Recently, I purchase a Bear Montana longbow, shown below, in 55 pounds and training indoors in my basement on form, draw, anchor and release. I used to shoot instinctive but found my overall accuracy improved by shooting 3 fingers under the arrow. I created the leather quiver 20 years ago, and gave it a coat of polish. 

Below is a 42 pound hickory self-bow recurve backed with deer sinew I have just completed.  It started as a long bow stave in my office for 20 years collecting dust. Nice to have it finished.  Shoots smooth! 

I walk the string an inch lower than the nock for better eye alignment with the arrow. I am  having so much fun indoor basement shooting at 10 yards in training that I purchased a 60 pound set of limbs for  my takedown recurve and  just began shooting it. I am working up slowly on the 60 pound limbs but shooting the 55 pound long bow regularly. The arrows fly like darts! Wow! I think 60 pounds is enough. 

Good Hunting!

©Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Perfect Rifle Cartridge for Big Game?

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Is there a perfect rifle cartridge for big game? Great Campfire fodder sure to keep you up at night.

Big Game Cartridges are purchased and used for many different reasons, thus for some big game animals, they are better and sometimes… they are not.

The distances we encounter and hunt big game like deer, bear, and moose as well a bullet shape and construction play a large part of a big game cartridge.  And whether the game you are hunting can be dangerous, like a brown or grizzly bear.

I believe the vast majority are deer hunters like myself , who, on occasion hunt bear, wild boar, elk, moose and such.

Many cartridges were originally designed as a target cartridge like the recent 6.5 Creedmoor. The .308 Winchester and 30-06 Springfield were designed as a cartridge used in battle in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, later valuably used as a target round and hunting round.

It was the ballistics data experts and students that realized that surplus ammo was used inexpensively for both target and hunting. Most were of spitzer bullet design for longer range.

Later post WWII hunters learned that a round nose bullet at shorter ranges inside of 200 or so yards were like the hammer-of-thor thus dropping game pronto. Lever guns like the 30-30 and 35 Winchester as well as the 45-70 cannot use pointed tip bullets and were terrific game stoppers.

Today many hunters like long range hunting and go west or south to prairies and bean fields thus spitzers are the bullet of choice for 300 to 800 yards or more.

Or some believe the use of light copper spitzer bullets at high velocities of over 3200fps with 100% retained weight to deliver hydrostatic shock and a lights out punch to game like black bear at close range. 

Here in New  Hampshire, most game like deer, bear and moose are harvested at around 40 to 50 yards or so. Spitzers are not necessary here but if you do not reload or hand-load, then spitzers are what you will find on store shelves these days.

Bore sizes like .22, 6mm/.243, 6.5mm, 7mm, .308, .338 and .375, 416, 45, and 50 caliber are common but are used on certain game for reasons of killing capacity(aka energy delivered) and distances encountered. Yes, I missed a dozen other less common calibers, but you get the idea.

The key to any big game cartridge really is the bullet and its construction, like bonded, A-frame or copper for the task desired. Coupled with this, and equally important is sectional density. It is the ratio of bullet weight (M) to the square of bullet diameter and is very important for penetration. (SD= M/D²). If you are a student of ballistics and killing power the following website will add to your knowledge for winter reading.  

https://www.chuckhawks.com/sd.htm

So in the end, if you know distances to deer for example and the terrain and forest type you are hunting them you can gear your rifle cartridge and bullet to the game,   thus making it more ideal.

 

You guessed it, there is no perfect big game cartridge. To maximize your cartridge, include the size of game, terrain, distance, bullet construction including sectional density in your calculations. Below is another website for your winter reading.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_bullet_killing_power.htm

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2022

 

 

 

Traditional Archery: Winter 3D Fun

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In New Hampshire, Granite State Bowhunters we call GSB, forms club shoots across the state for compound bows and traditional bows of just stick and string.  GSB had its first shoot at Lamprey River Bowhunters on January 2nd 2022. It was great fun! See the 3D Schedule below.

http://www.granitestatebowhunters.com/3d-schedule/

I grew up on stick and string and find that it is very rewarding even today.

It is a small but re-growing cadre of bowhunters that simply like stick and string traditional archery. It is part comradery, part hunt, and tests your shooting skill at unknown distances. Below my archery friend and national long bow champion,  Jacques Bonin. He is taking aim at a 3D pronghorn foam antelope. Here Jacques shoots a 78 lb pull Howard Hill long bow at shorter draw length thus it is casting the arrow at 72 pounds. Most of us can’t even draw his bow, never mind shooting it. I am happy shooting 50 to 55 pounds right now.

 

Traditional bowhunters are restricted to shorter ranges to maximize heart/lung hits on 3D animals like deer, bear, elk, turkey and wild boar. Whereas Compound shooters shoot at longer distances. But all of us must deal with one earthly constant. Gravity! Even a fast bow shooting 300 fps must deal with gravities downward pull of 32 fps per second.

These 3D shoots are excellent preparation for bowhunting and creating lifelong friendships with other like-minded bowhunters. The comradery on a 3D course can be the highlight of your day and a great way to introduce young hunters to archery and hunting.

Learning shooting and distance judging from those around you in these 3D shoots are vital in our quest to bow-hunt wild game – and place your arrow in the vital zone for a quick humane harvest.

Enjoy the Winter Outside!

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2022

 

 

 

Ballistics for Elk: Ruger African 375 Ruger – Speer 235 grain Semi-Spitzer vs 260 grain AccuBond Spitzer

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These days, purchasing hand-loaded bullets for an Elk Hunt is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The .375 Ruger is a “one rifle for the world” kind of gun, and my Ruger African shoots more accurately than any rifle I own with a broad range of bullets.  I don’t have a 300 Win Mag rifle in my safe either, as the .375 covers it well.

 

Even some veteran hunting folks have a tough time mentally (fear) when they think of the heavy felt recoil from some so-called Magnum rifles, but with a state-of-the-art recoil pad that reduces the recoil up to 50%, they tame well.

It has been established, as a guide, that delivered energy to kill elk be in the neighborhood of 1500 ft-lbs. Here we easily exceed that terminal/delivered energy with the .375 Ruger.

I have two boxes of .375 bullets in my cupboard for hunting elk. I have Nosler 260 grain AccuBond bullets and Speer 235 grain Hot-Core semi-spitzer bullets seen below. I think both are good choices. But is one just a bit better?  Sure, I might try some other bullets before my hunt this next fall if they can be purchased,  but here is some data on these choices.

 

Both are sub-MOA accurate at 100 yards. My goal is to harvest a bull elk with ranges near 300 to 400 yards. The 260 grain Nosler AccuBond has a muzzle velocity of 2800+ fps and at 400 yards (7000 ft altitude).  Its terminal velocity on elk is 2178 fps and 400 yard energy is 2740 ft-lbs with a 90 degree wind deflection of 17 inches. It drops 16.5 inches with a 250 yard zero.

The Speer 235 grain Hot Core has a muzzle velocity of 3000 fps and at 400 yards its terminal velocity is 2064 fps and 400 yard energy is 2224 ft-lbs with a 90 degree wind deflection of 17 inches. I drops 16.5 inches with a 250 yard zero. Same drop and wind deflection as the Nosler.

The Ballistic data confirms that the Nosler AccuBond has 516 ft-lbs more terminal energy than the Speer bullet. At over 2700 ft-lbs of delivered energy the Nosler will easily open-up and mushroom yet still penetrate likely with a substantial exit wound on a broadside shot. I am a proponent of exit wounds for blood trailing.

Note: I did book an elk hunt and later cancelled after making several calls to many experts and doing a Satellite image review with Google Earth Pro. It was a featureless flat dessert landscape and I wanted more photogenic landscape with hills and trees for the many thousands of dollars it would cost.  I’ll keep looking.

Good Hunting!

©Copyright 2021

 

 

 

Lessons from the Allagash Deer Hunt

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My Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard was my go-to rifle for my Allagash Deer Hunt.

After spending a cold, wet freezing rainy/snow day afield, the last thing I wanted to do after putting on many miles and deer stands, was to strip my rifle and find rust forming. The Weatherguard coating did the job perfectly. I just pulled the bolt and wiped away any water around or in the action.

Before I went out on this expedition, however, I applied a protective Renaissance microcrystalline wax on all parts including swivels.

Renaissance Wax Polish 65ml

My Scope, a Leupold VX-3 was as clear and crisp, provided I used scope covers but I always checked and wiped the lens regularly. Carry a soft lens cloth! Nothing is more irritating than seeing a blurred image of a deer.

I thought I was dressed warm but after 5 hours… I was cold. I had a full fleece head mask that covered my head, much of my face and neck. On top of that was my required orange stocking hat. I bought lots of the carbon based hand warmers and foot warmers. They were really necessary.

On one 15 foot tree stand morning the wind blew 20 to 25 mph and had a snow squall white out for an hour. No deer seen for sure. I sure did want a crack at a big bruiser, but that’s hunting.

I did bring my Bog Death Grip tripod which allowed me to be ready, if a buck wandered out at a signpost rub or buck crossing. It was beautiful among the snow topped trees.

Good Hunting!

©Copyright 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Hot Pressure Can Game Meat and Other Meats?

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Especially in days of inflation, this is a great way to get the most out of your meat pantry and use your creative talents. You can do it!

I have had vacuum sealed game meat in my freezer most of my life. In the winter, one of my favorite meals is venison or moose stew and chicken or venison noodle soup. 

I had avoided hot pressure canning meat thinking that vacuum sealing -freezing was the best and easiest option of preservation. Well, it is many times, for back straps and tenderloin for grilling and some loin steaks and burger.

But there are larger amounts of tougher cuts that are best pressure cooked to tenderize. Doing it in advance creates an opportunity to do large amounts of tenderizing meat prep.

Today, I am using a T-fal Pressure Canner with Pressure Control, 3 PSI Settings, 22 Quart volume. You can buy this on line for $130 dollars.  You will need Ball jars and lids. 

There are other brands and styles, but I like this one because it is so easy to use.

 

T-fal add, on Amazon says “About this item” Below

  • 22 quart polished aluminum stovetop canner and pressure cooker with a deluxe pressure gauge dial
  • Selective pressure control with 3 cooking pressure options: 5, 10 or 15 PSI; overpressure steam release safety components
  • Heavy gauge, rustproof aluminum construction; sure locking lid system; pressure monitoring device built into handle
  • Includes 2 canning racks to hold 16 pint size jars or 26 half pint size jars when double stacked or 7 quart size jars

I did use this hot canning method largely because the meat is ready to eat and tender, right out of the jar saving lots of time and cleanup energy! 

How difficult was it?

Venison Stew – Just heat and add a butter rue

Mouthwatering tender Venison in broth for soups or stew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so easy that I began to pressure can chicken breast when it was on sale and also to pressure can stews as well. The chicken is so versatile, chicken salad, chicken soup, chicken pot pie. Wow! 

tender chicken chunks ready for soup, salad, pot pie or stew. Buy it on sale!

My secret ingredient is to use a high quality powdered chicken and beef herb bullion to make the liquid filler. I would make as many cups of stock with the bullion as I  needed to fill the jars.  The bullion adds salt and herb flavor. I made it like I’d  make a cup of beef or chicken soup to taste. My thinking is for fast, easy and delish. You too!

I can make a delicious stew in half the time, say 30 minutes. Most of that time is cutting veggies like carrot, potato, celery, onion, garlic etc. The remaining time 8 minutes is to pressure cook the veggies with herbs with or without the meat in it and make a rue with butter and flour. Salt and pepper to taste.

Further, I can make a hearty venison or chicken soup or pot pie, adding frozen vegetables, peas and carrots, corn and noodles or add a premade pie crust in 15 minutes or so and bake the pie till the crust is just browned. Make a butter rue base gravy. Yum!

The other great thing about pressure canning is that you can do complete meals, make your own hearty beef bone stock, Chicken Stock too. Just  the way you like it. 

Canned meat and stock stores for quite some time (up to 3 years) in a cool dry area. See below.

https://extension.umn.edu/preserving-and-preparing/storing-canned-food

Good Hunting!

©Copyright 2021

 

 

 

Maine Expedition: Hunt Allagash Trophy Whitetails

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Maine Expedition: Hunt Allagash Trophy Whitetails

Allagash Logging Road

It was 7AM when Oliver & Mary Ford and I left Chester, NH Sunday November 14th, 2021 for our Trophy Buck Hunt in Allagash Maine. It was a 7 1/2 hour drive and 360 miles to our destination using RT 95, RT 11 and Rt 161 as our route. Oliver had a new Chevy Pick-up and I had a  new Toyota Tacoma both with 4wd. We arrived at around 3:30 PM. 

A trophy is defined as a memento, a remembrance of your experience or encounter says Dan Wagner, Owner and Registered Master Maine Guide of Great Northern Outfitters.

https://www.greatnorthernoutfitters.com/

After having spent a week hunting trophy whitetail bucks with Dan, I can say that it is the remembrance of this rugged and wild hunt that lives large in my mind. I can’t speak for Oliver and Mary as the hunt was certainly hard on vehicles and bodies.

The bucks up here grow very old and very large he says, citing Bergmann’s Rule which says that deer get bigger in body, the further north you go in latitude. We were at the northern most edge of whitetail habitat. 

Dan’s Allagash buck below is a testament to large and old. I’ve never seen brow tines like that… till now! 

 

An Expedition better explains our trophy hunt as we would be exploring distant haunts of these whitetail giants in our 4WD Trucks on the myriad of old logging roads that crisscross the Allagash area for hundreds of miles.

The further we traveled away from civilization, the roads  narrowed severely – and the more treacherous they became.

As you might have guessed, this trophy hunt is for those who have the temerity, aka audacity and craziness to really want to have a rugged wilderness hunting experience yet have a “chance” to hunt these magnificent monarch bucks’ on their own terms.

 

My Apple phone alarm goes off at 3:15 AM. 

Time to hunt. Oliver and Mary are in the attached cabin and rise. Both are veteran hunters and ready!

Here in my own rustic cabin like room, equipped with stove, fridge, microwave, bath and shower. I’m  up, showered, coffee in hand and suit up and ready to verify my hunt checklist for license, rifle, ammo, knife, food, water, head lamp safety gear, and warm clothing and orange vest and hat etc.

And my Garmin Satellite communication device to talk to Dan while perched in my ladder stand. Dan uses his also for his bear dogs. 

Garmin inReach Explorer +

It uses an App on my phone to map and communicate in near real time.  I found it essential!

At 4AM Dan has already made us an egg-bacon or sausage breakfast sandwich and has prepared a lunch sandwich and snacks for out day afield. We bring out own liquids like coffee, water and soda.

To the trucks we go.  I am shooting my Weatherby Vanguard 6.5 Creedmoor with my own hand-loaded 124 grain “Hammer Hunter” copper bullets, and my Leupold VX-3 scope with pop-up scope covers. A super combination! 

The lumber trail entrances are not far away. Soon we are bumping along up and down hills and valleys in 4WD leaving civilization in the dust.

You know your far off the beaten path when you are on a one car path, with whips and branches brushing my truck and few places to turn around. 

Since we had three vehicles, Dan’s, Mine and Oliver and Mary’s truck, Dan would take one of us to a stand or crossing, in turn, where we would park and walk to our tree stand or ground stand.

Birch Trees from my first ladder stand 20 feet off the ground

On this past Tuesday morning during our hunt at 8:30AM November 16th one of Dan’s camera’s hit pay dirt;  A dandy mature 10 point below!

So we hunted this chocolate racked 10 point buck at crossings for “hours-on-end” but he was never to be seen by us. 

 

During the hunt week, we saw and passed up legal spike bucks, and fork horns. And observed several moose. We passed on the deer shot opportunities for the chance to see and take one like this mature buck.

Patience was something that I ran short on while looking at the same bushes and trail, for 5 hours at one time and see nothing but a red squirrel and chickadee’s. 

Weather was wild! It snowed and rained several times that week but only 3 inches snow here and there. Great to see tracks, what came by, and to plan. 

On the last day of the hunt, I convinced myself to take a lesser buck, if it stepped out. I had a Doe-Bleat- In-A-Can and used it to try and draw some curiosity. Well, I did that for sure when a large momma moose cow stepped into my path to see what was making those bleats. She was annoyed as she passed in front of me at 25 yards. Finally, she trotted off. None of us pulled the trigger but could have on lesser deer. We chose to wait!

 

Note: Dan is the chef as well.  His evening meals consisted of Lobster, Salad and hot butter, Steak and salad, Spaghetti dinner, boiled corned beef dinner, salad and pie for desert. The food was spectacular! Wow!

Thanks again Dan! 

Sorry we did not get Mary in the photo with husband Oliver below!

No we did not shoot a big buck but the trophy perhaps in this case, is the remembrance of the hunt! We came close! Next time perhaps!

Maybe I’ll be back for another chance at a big buck or a large black bear!

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2021

Adventure Hunting Expedition: Allagash Whitetail Soon – Alone in Deep Woods

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There aren’t lots of deer in Northern most Maine, along the Canadian border, but it is a place where bucks grow really large, like say 300 pounds or more and have never seen a human.

I will be hunting with Rifle in tree stands and ground blinds far-off the beaten track where the struggle of life unfolds between deer and coyotes as winter approaches.

Alone in the Deep Woods, with my tinnitus (i can hear my ears ring in the silence), the wind, trees and wildlife… An Adventurous Hunting Expedition for sure…

Will write and show pic’s when I get back next week. This hunt is not for everyone… It is perhaps a test of your woodsmanship and survival skills as well. There is no phone service so I’d better be prepared.

I do have a Garmin Satellite In-Reach Explorer with me and can communicate with my Outfitter/Registered Guide and even email family and friends while out there. The great feature of the Garmin is that it has a SOS feature for dire circumstances and can  pinpoint my position.

Be Safe!

Good Hunting!

Peak Rut Northeast US-Canada/New Brunswick based on 2018 data

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The peak of the Whitetail Rut is when most adult does are in estrous and can mate. Bucks will mate for a day and move on in search of the next doe. The peak window is only 7 or 8 days long when the majority of mating occurs, then tapers off till the end of the month.

Accordingly, it is a week of madness in the north woods.

November Northeast Peak Rut Start Window by State/Province based on 2018 state data in the North American Whitetail article below. Vermont, Maine and New Brunswick peak start is 15th to 17th and runs peak till the 24th and tapers off by 29th. New Hampshire data not available here, should mimic Vermont. Maine and New Brunswick peak start is the 17th.  That is two days later than Vermont (15th) and 6 days later than Massachusetts (11th).

Maine and New Brunswick are Identical peak starts on the 17th.

The further south you go, it appears the onset of peak rut is early November and conversely the further north you go, the onset of peak is like a week or so later.

What does this mean for the hunter? I would be in the woods and hunting hard for the week before the peak and the week during the start of the peak. Rubs and buck scrapes should be seen in areas where does live. Bucks will go nuts and some will begin cruising even in daylight as the 15th-17th window approaches.

And hope for snow!

Good Hunting!

 

https://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/editorial/peak-rut-times-for-2018/262020

Quoted below from the article

“Northeast

  • Maine — November 17-23 for mature does, followed a week later by yearling does.
  • New Brunswick — Onset around November 8-10, followed by a surge around November 17-19, and peak breeding from November 26-29.
  • Vermont — Third week of November.
  • Massachusetts — Latter half of the second week of November.
  • New Jersey — November 3-23 for adult deer; November 17 – December 7 for fawns.
  • New York — Mid-November.
  • Delaware — November 10-20.
  • Pennsylvania — A few days on either side of November 14.
  • Maryland — November 1-15.
  • Virginia — Just after mid-November.
  • West Virginia — November 8-14.

end quote

Whitetails, The Rut Will Soon Begin…

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Here in New Hampshire November 2nd the rut hasn’t really kicked in yet because the does are just beginning estrous. But the bucks are aggressive and cruising at night. This is not a random pattern. The older bucks get out of bed near dark and begin to take a cruise pattern based on where he may encounter a receptive doe. Then, make ground scrapes, urinate over his hock tarsal gland in it, and will leave scent from his hoof interdigital gland and from his forehead preorbital gland saying just who he is. Other bucks beware!

A very glandular affair telling the doe that he will soon revisit it.

As of November 2nd, I have observed few scrapes, however as each day passes, soon a shift will occur when enough does enter estrous that the rut is in full swing and scrapes and rubs will abound. This could be just a week away.

Some of these scrapes are considered primary scrapes where the does urinate and signal receptiveness. Other scrapes are often what some call a secondary scrape. These secondary scrapes are active by the buck but some experts say, they have not been visited (peed in) by a doe.

How does the hunter take advantage? Build a mock scrape, as a competitive buck might do. This kind of mock scrape can cause the buck to hang out closer to his scrapes and to “ward off” other bucks. And do it in daylight!

Or use scents to add to his scrape as if a doe peed in it. This, many say, is now a primary scrape which he will check more often. Of course we are not deer but collecting info from veteran hunters help verify these beliefs.

This warding off can also be done by buck “tree rubs”. These are signpost rubs. The size and damage of these signpost type rubs can be seen by other bucks. I have seen trees from saplings rubbed and seen trees that are 5 or 6 inches in diameter rubbed enough to kill the tree. Big rubs often mean big antlered deer, often leaving tine marks in the tree. A lesser buck may be intimidated by a big rub not far from an active scrape.

I like to participate by making mock scrapes and rubs in hopes of getting Mr. Big to show up in daylight!

I’ll be waiting…

Good Hunting!