Category Archives: Big Game Hunting

Articles about Big Game Hunting.

New Hampshire Turkey Hunter Attacked by Bobcat

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On May 3rd, 2022, My hunting friend Ken Wenzel heard a gobble before shooting light in Fremont, New Hampshire. He set up with his back to a large tree near where the gobble was heard and began a series of clucks at dawn. It wasn’t long when…

His True Story – “When calling for Toms be on the look-out for Bobcats. 5/3/2022 I hear a gobble at 5:17 AM. I close the distance half way from the Tom. I get set up and start to call.

No response from the Tom.

I made some more calls with no luck. Spent maybe 5 to 10 minutes on my set up.

All of a sudden I’m charged by a bobcat. He or she was coming, at a good clip, towards me. (Editor – thinking he was breakfast)

It realized I wasn’t a turkey and locked up the brakes, skidded about about 2 maybe 3 feet in the leaves and smashed into my left boot and leg. Then the cat did a 180 and threw a rooster tail of leaves at me trying to get away. It stops 4 feet from me thinking what the hell is that. I yelled and it just kept looking at me.

I had to shoot over the cat to scare it away.

Still stayed there looking at me.

A few minutes later it did walk off. What a wild and scary moment I had.

No injury to the cat or myself.

Be careful out there guys. I’ll remember this day for sure. I do have 5 bobcats in my area that I have pictures of in the last 3 years. “

 

Lesson: Be prepared for predators!

A side-arm might be a good idea!

New Crossbow Ten Point Turbo S1- Out Of The Box

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Honestly, I fussed and researched quite a bit before purchasing my new USA Made Crossbow.  My goal was to purchase a fast and accurate, cost effective crossbow, with a crank cock decock system. I did not want to fuss with shooting my bow at my truck after a day of hunting,  I wanted an easy way to decock it. Note: In New Hampshire law, crossbows cannot travel cocked in your vehicle. 

My new Ten Point Turbo S1 is for all intent a 400 fps (390 fps actual) Crossbow with built in ACUSlide cock and decock system for the crossbow. This crossbow breaks into the “best of the best” category with features costing $2000 or more. MSRP is around $1299 to $1399.

https://www.tenpointcrossbows.com/product/turbo-s1/

I purchased the crossbow at my local crossbow shop Wyvern Creations,LLC in Lee, New Hampshire. Wyvern is operated by David Wilkins. David just sells crossbows and you can find Wyvern on the web too. See below.

https://www.wyverncreations.com/tenpoint-crossbows-c-77/turbo-s1-p-1340.html

A must have feature for me on this crossbow is the cock/decock mechanism to minimize back and shoulder strain from repeated shots with a rope cocking method. I like this brand new 2021/2022 design as the cock and decock mechanism is not an add-on, it is part of the bow stock. Some 2019 models are still being sold, but I prefer the newer design I have purchased.

. Dave gave me  personal instruction too, and three 100 grain Killzone mechanical broadheads with 2 inch cutting diameter. And a sling too. 

Length (w/o foot stirrup): 31″
Width Axle-to-Axle (uncocked/cocked): 11″ / 7.2″
Power Stroke: 11″
Weight (w/out accessories): 7.3 lbs. (with ACUslide)
Draw style: Forward Draw
Safe De-Cocking: ACUslide

The Micro-Trac barrel, the advertisement says, is one of the best and reduces string contact by 50% providing long string life. The barrel is machined and not molded as some lesser models are. Molded barrels are said to be somewhat less accurate than the machined barrels but I have no experience with them so I am not a good source of info on molded barrels. 

The RangeMaster Pro Variable Speed Scope has a dial for speed adjustment that you can see on the adjustable turret below and a red or green lighted pins. I like that in low light at dawn or dusk.

 

TenPoint RangeMaster Pro Scope, 60 yd (Black)

I adjusted the scope for 20 yards with 6 carbon arrow shots, then backed off to 30 yards and used the 30 yard pin. It was spot on! Then to 40 yards. It was spot on. The scope speed dial said 390 fps and that was proof as the dial adjusts the pin space. 

The arrows are  Pro Elite 400 Carbon Arrows (.003” straightness) and come with a detachable 3-Arrow Quiver that attaches parallel to the crossbow. I like that. 

This new Killzone Rear Deployment broadhead (pack of 3) is said to open up to 2 inches and hit the same impact as field points. My test shows that they in fact do fly like the field points out to 40 yards where my test ended. I tried my 100 grain muzzy three blade and it hit 10 inches lower at the 390 speed setting at 40 yards. 

My overall opinion of this crossbow out-of-the-box is excellent. Many others have reviewed this bow with similar excellent results. 

I will hunt with this bow, maybe soon in turkey season. We shall see…

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

Boats, Dogs, Hunting, Fishing: Busy Spring

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Honestly, I am trying to find a larger boat but in the wake of COVID, used boat sales have gone bananas.  Why a larger boat like 21 feet? Can you say family and grandkids! And deep sea fishing. Haddock will be biting and soon stripers will be here. We are looking at a used 2007 Key West 216 Center Console boat at the moment, and in the buying process.

 

At the same time my Labrador retriever, Bella, and I have begun retriever training. Yes me too!

And I am the home improvement contractor for my house. New furnace and bath shower, rebuilding porch rails. New fence in back yard soon. I am a busy guy! But there is time for Turkey hunting too if I plan well. Life is tough but, hey, someone has to do it!!

See you out there!

Be Safe!

 

New Hampshire is Wild: Wild Turkey Hunt Begins in May – Safety is Key

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Many New Hampshire hunters have gotten bit by the turkey hunting bug.

 

https://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/hunting/turkey-season.html 

Did you know New Hampshire Fish and Game says we have an estimated population  of 25000 turkeys! Wow!!

There are many web sites and YouTube videos that share techniques and use bow/crossbow or shotgun to bag your bird.

But Safety is prime.

https://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/hunting/turkey-safety.html

Excerpt from the NH website above:

Turkey Hunting Safety
  1. Never stalk a turkey. It rarely works and increases the risk of an accident.
  2. Never wear red, white or blue or black over- or under-clothing, because these are the prominent colors of displaying gobblers.
  3. Never call from a tree that is thinner than the width of your shoulders. Small trees won’t hide slight movements of your hands or shoulders, which might look like a turkey to another hunter.
  4. Never jump or turn suddenly in response to a suspected turkey. When turkey hunting, assume that every sound you hear is made by another hunter.
  5. Never call from a site where you can’t see at least 40 yards in all directions.
  6. Never imitate a gobbler call while concealed in a stand.
  7. Never presume that what you hear or what responds to your call is a turkey.
  8. Never think that your camouflage makes you totally invisible. To ID yourself to other hunters, wrap an orange band around a tree.
  9. Never hide so well that you can’t see what’s happening around you.
  10. Never move or wave to alert approaching hunters; shout “stop” instead. 

Be Safe out There!

 

Shooting Traditional Hunting Bows In My Basement?

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Shooting hunting weight recurves and long bows in my basement, during winter, does great things for my shooting basics skill level and strength.

Photo Copyright 2022

And it can do great things for you as well. Sure, most basements are at max 10 yards but that is all you need for the most important basic skills.  Skills like good form, draw and release, follow thru, and important back muscle strength are the foundation for your back yard bullseyes and vital zone hits on wild game.

Outside, many tend to concentrate more on the target and bullseyes which takes another level of concentration, sometimes leaving the basics in the back seat like a poor release and follow-thru.

Twanging the string sideways at full draw, means the arrow will fly left or right. And taking down your bow too quickly upon release can affect arrow flight.

You can practice a perfect release by drawing your imaginary bow and releasing your hand and fingers in a rearward motion to touch the back of your ears and neck.

It’s what happens at the bow that makes the shot, just as it  is the golfers swing that creates a great straight shot or a bowlers step and follow thru.

Real pros know that, if you can’t be master of the basics, then you can’t master the craft. Further, at short range, it is easy to see that your string nocking points and brace height contribute significantly to arrow flight. I have two bows braced for practice and discovered my knock point was too high on one and perfect on the other bow.

Bare shaft tests through paper at say 3 to 5 yards can aid in setting knocking points too. On a compound you also set your plunger button left/right and tension. There are books on bow tuning.

If I have not shot in a week or so, I will shoot a bow of less poundage for a few day and work back up to a bow of higher poundage. You will also discover a bow poundage which allows full use of back muscles like 50 pounds. But then shooting a heavier bow of say 55 pounds, you are not coming to the same full draw as with the 50 pound bow.  Regular practice allows the building of  muscle and soon the 55 pound bow will be drawn to the same full draw. Just remember not to over practice and damage your back muscles. Stop at a high point of your practice session.

Arrow spine and length are also essential but we will save that for another time.

Good Shooting!

 

 

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!

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