Category Archives: Hunting thoughts

Great Deer Cartridges for New Hampshire Deer

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Here in New Hampshire we have a variety of fields and forests. There are southern zones that do not allow rifle hunting however with that said, calibers such as the 243 Winchester to 300 Winchester Magnum and everything in between are great choices. Young and women hunters are often seen with the 243 Winchester and 6mm as they has very low recoil and great deer killing energy with a well placed shot. These are not ideal for heavy brush. Next is the 7mm-08 (based on the .308 Winchester case and necked down) and all the new and old 6.5mm cartridges but still not great for heavy brush. These are also easy on the recoil and bullets weigh more and have better penetration with a bit more recoil.

The 7mm cartridge’s are geared for longer range and higher energies, such as the well known 7mm Remington magnum.  Perhaps one of the most often used cartridges is the .308 Winchester, hard hitting and medium recoil. Northern hunters opt for the .270 Winchester, 30-06 Springfield, and 300 Winchester Magnum because of their fire power. But these aforementioned cartridge’s come with lots more recoil. Recoil sensitive shooters should stay away from these cartridges unless hand loaded down in power, something I am very good at.

As far as bullets go, I prefer bonded bullets, where the copper jacket is bonded to the lead, which makes for a bullet that mushrooms correctly and stays together. If you hand load your cartridge then the world is your oyster for bullet choices. My favorites are the Nosler Partition and the Nosler AccuBond. The latter is my go-to big game bullet. Veteran hunters who prowl in heavy timber use larger calibers in the 40 or 50 caliber class. My brother’s thick timber rifle was the venerable 444 Marlin and others shoot the 45-70. Both great cartridges. Often flat points or the newer rubber tipped 240/260 grain heads. Again, if you shoot regularly, consider loading your own ammo as I do. It is great fun and you get to customize the load and bullet for the rifle, the game, and the hunter too.

Good Hunting!

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Hunting with Rifle and Tactacam 5 Video Camera – Intro

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I have not done a lot of hunting with video equipment because, I believe for a solo hunter, that it changes the focus of the hunt toward the video aspects of the hunt and not the game being hunted. Another family member or a friend can help or you can pay a camera man or you can get a Tactacam™ Video Camera and mount it to your scope as I am going to do and focus on the hunt.

The Tactacam 5 is “state of the art” has lots of options, is highly rated and looks like a very small spotting scope that can be attached to rifle, shotgun or bow or even a fishing rod. Admittedly, I am not a camera expert but a serious novice. The camera and scope mounting bracket will be arriving next week so I get to mount it on my Leupold Scopes on my .375 Ruger, Weatherby Rifles and on my Excalibur Crossbow scope. It is a push button on and off and can record an hour or more video they say. So stand-by and see what happens  when I mount and try to use it.

Tactacam 5.0 Product Image

In the mean time this video I found on the web is very helpful to see all the options this product offers.

Good Hunting!

Second Time to Texas- I need a Cowboy Hat made in the USA

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I had a nice wool felt cowboy felt hat. It is a Red Head Brand from Bass Pro/Cabela’s. I bought it maybe 5 years ago. I checked the tag inside. Sure enough Made in China. I  nearly vomited! I have stopped wearing it and will soon destroy it.

I have purchase a felt Stetson made in the USA below. At this juncture I need to know where a product is made! I hope you do too!!

Quality felt hats are often crush-able and can be reformed if needed with the use of steam and if you desire more of a western cowboy look, you can roll the edges upward with some steam applied and let it cool and dry to shape. Next is a bandanna to make the western cowboy look.

STETSON Men's Bozeman Felt Hat

Good Looking Hunter! Look the part!!

 

 

375 Ruger Deer Hunt Prep In The Lone Star State – Update

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I booked another Texas Trophy Whitetail Hunt with Wildlife Systems and Greg Simons out of San Angelo, Texas.  I hunted there 2 years ago with great success. It’s a 3.5 day hunt! Its a great hunt for young and old and see lots of beautiful whitetails.

I am returning there for several reasons but most of all the chance to hunt large racked 4.5 and older Whitetail deer on 25000 (25 thousand) acres on a low fence cattle ranch. I have a 30-06, a 6.5 Creedmoor and my 375 Ruger to choose from in my gun vault. All of these are great but the hand loaded Ruger M77 Safari Rifle is my choice in .375 Ruger. But will bring the Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard in 6.5 Creedmoor and 140 g Factory loaded Nosler AB as back up rifle.  Hand-loading this .375 Ruger cartridge is easy. I still have some SR 4759, now out of manufacture, in my safe for reduced loads but you can use “Accurate 5744” powder if you look it up. I will be shooting 235 Grain Speer Hot Core bullets in Semi-Spitzer with a muzzle velocity of 2200 fps. At 100 yards the energy delivered is just over 1900 ft-lbs. Plenty of power! Given this is a big bullet with a .375 surface area I expect deer to fall to the shot instantly if I do my part. Accuracy is about an inch at 100 yards and recoil is easy on the shoulder.  My readers know that I took this rifle to Canada for Moose last year and took a bull with 300g full power Nosler AccuBond loads. A one shot kill! Lots of meat put a smile on my face.

In addition to the Trophy deer, I am allowed 2 does for management purposes.

We get up to a hearty breakfast and take 4×4 Off Road Side x Sides to one of  many stands somewhere in the 25,000 acres. Texas hunts deer from from remote feeder stations throughout the 25000 acres. Without these feeders, the hunter would be met with thorns, prickly pear cactus and the occasional rattle snake thus making the risk level for hunters higher than necessary.  Back for lunch and then back to a different stand for the afternoon. The number of deer seen each day numbers in the 20’s and bucks that are eight pointers seen are often over 10 per day. Mature bucks did not get old by being stupid but in those 3.5 days, you will see them. Last year some nice wide and high racked bucks were taken so this year looks great too. Chances to harvest one is real!

Above is my 2018 Trophy Whitetail which scored 144 3/8 B&C points. I did harvest 2 does as well. I had the boned meat shipped back. The meat was tender as all get out!

I hope to do something similar if it all works out and I have a measure of luck and skill. I will have an opportunity to rattle too since I will be hunting in the rut in mid November.

More later.

Good Hunting!

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Best Loading Powders With Nosler Big Game Hunting AccuBond or E-Tip Bullets for 6.5 Creedmoor

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The 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge provides extremely fine accuracy in today’s big game hunting rifles and is easy on recoil. As a big game cartridge it provides ample energy and penetration in the 120 grain, 129 grain and 142 grain Nosler AccuBond and solid gilding copper E-Tip for deer, bear, and elk and has taken moose as well as numerous African Plains Game species.  I love Nosler’s!

The Nosler AccuBond™ is a world class polymer tipped bonded core boat-tail bullet which mushrooms extremely well from 1800 FPS to 3200 FPS. I took a bull moose last fall with the 300 grain AccuBond out of my Ruger African in .375 Ruger resulting in a one shot kill at 100 yards. See the  Moose Hunt here using the search tool. The moose stood as my friend says, transfixed, for just a few seconds and collapsed right there. The bullet mushroomed to nearly 3/4  inch and piled up under the hide on the far side.  Ok, back to the Creedmoor.

https://www.nosler.com/accubond-bullet

The AccuBond is already a short or long range bullet but for those who want to reach out beyond say 400 or 500 yards, Nosler has the AccuBond LR with extremely high ballistic coefficients to maintain killing energy at ranges of 700 to 800 yards in many cases. Of course you would need to practice at those ranges to ethically hunt.

Hand loading this cartridge is identical to most bottle neck cartridges such as the .270 Winchester or .308 Winchester.

Powders that work extremely well for Nosler bullets are Reloader 15 (RL-15) and IMR 4895. My go-to Hunting Powders! I will say that H4350 is a fine powder for long range target at say 600 yards.

In fact for the 129/130 grain bullet,  RL-15 powder is the most accurate providing 2810 fps out of a 24 inch barrel and is the most accurate of the several powders Nosler tested. I have burned more RL-15 powder that most.

The E-Tip is lead free but only offered in 120 grain bullets for the 6.5 Creedmoor. It is sports a solid gilding (alloy) copper body with a polymer tip. For those who prefer lead free, this is a fantastic bullet that maintains virtually 95% of its weight as it mushrooms. Reloaders are advised to work up loads for this as a starting load and work up your load. IMR- 4895 is perhaps the best powder for energy and accuracy for the 120 grain head. Most of todays all copper bullets are pure copper and can leave copper deposits in the barrel at  high velocities making cleaning sometimes more difficult. Not so with the E-Tip as it is a harder copper alloy coined as gilding copper.

 

Load some today and see what I am talkin’ about.

Good Shooting!

 

 

 

A Hunters First Shot in the Field

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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!

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Refurbishing an old JC Higgins Sears Roebuck 22 Single Shot Bolt Action with CCI Quiet ammo.

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An 80 year old model J.C. Higgins Sears Roebuck 22 Single Shot Model 103.18 rifle came back into my life. It was the one that I cut my hunting teeth on as a boy of 11 yrs old. It could shoot 22 Short, 22 Long and 22 Long Rifle ammo and it was very accurate. It was a great woodchuck rifle! Across the street from my home was a 100 acre field full of chucks! I was in boyhood heaven! My father would give be two high velocity 40 grain bullets to shoot at chucks so I had to make them count.

It came back into my life from a relative who had it, but it was in poor condition as the barrel was showing lots of  surface rust. Decades ago the plastic butt plate broke and was replaced with a red rubber boot type that today was found disintegrating. Back in the 1960’s I carved the front of the stock to have a cooler European for-end, but never finished it or stained it. I have recently been re-acquainted with it because of its versatility, shooting shorts, longs and long rifle 22 cartridges.  This little single shot was made for garden pests around the farm besides plinking.  I decided to finish the refurbishment project of long ago and give the rifle a place of honor.

The first thing I did was to point the rifle in a safe direction, open the bolt (it was empty) checked the bore and cleaned it. Safety first! Not as bad as I thought. After cleaning I ran a bit of JB Bore-bright through it. It polished well. I decided to disassemble and inspect it in detail. Again, not as bad as I thought. I sanded the barrel exterior with 400 grit sand paper removing the dovetail sights (with a punch and hammer) and polished the barrel with steel wool for bluing.

I used Birchwood Casey Super Blue. It worked great with 2 coats.

 

Westlake Market, Birchwood Casey Super Blue Liquid Gun Blue Plus 2 Disposable Absorbent Pads for Gun Restoration Projects

In between bluing, I sanded the stock, replaced and ground and installed a new plastic buttplate.

 

I stained the rifle stock with some brown gun-stock stain I had on hand from my flintlock build,  and after drying I put 2 light coats of Helmsman Varnish on the rifle stock. I didn’t want it glossy, just enough to protect the finish, after all this is a working rifle.

Now it looks so much better and ready for quietly plinking or garden varmints!

 

 

The rear sight was in poor shape and not the original one that was on it. I broke the bank for 14 bucks to put the original dovetail rear sight on it.

I was surprised that there were some parts available for this rifle on-line! Perhaps you may have an old rifle that needs some TLC.

Below is my back yard 25 yard test shot with CCI Quiet-22. It is very quiet and works very well with this rifle. I am a CCI fan! I was only 3/8 inch off with open sights. It’s the first shot that counts!

Final test shot with CCI Quiet

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Good Shooting!

 

 

 

Grey Squirrel Meat is Delicious!

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In areas that abound in grey squirrels, like southern New Hampshire, you can make a fun and challenging hunt and great tasting meal for 2 to 4 in no time. All you need is a license to hunt, follow the laws in your state and go hunting in squirrel season. Here in New Hampshire it usually starts in September but check with Fish and Game on the internet for licensing and dates.  I hunt them in full camo with a face mask and wait quietly like I was turkey hunting. If they ID your face, they are gone or chatter for hours alerting the world of your presence.

You can hunt squirrel typically with a .22 caliber such as .22 long rifle or a shotgun like a a .410 or 20 gauge. Years ago I used to hunt them with bow and arrow too. I prefer a .22 with a scope. It takes about 3 squirrels to serve 4. You can freeze pieces till you get enough to cook. With your squirrels, gutted, skinned, cleaned, cut with a sharp knife, and meat scissors and inspected for pellets(I separate the legs and cut the torso in half) coat the pieces in flour and brown them in olive oil in a large skillet for 10 minutes or so till four crusts a bit. Then toss them in your pressure cooker for 10 minutes with 1 1/2 cups beef broth , 1/2 cup red wine, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper (fresh ground is best). Or toss them and veggies into a crock-pot in the morning with veggies and cook them all day or till tender.

Squirrel Stew

Now you have very tender squirrel that can be stewed with potato, carrots, celery, onion, and a few minced cloves of garlic. You can southernize it with dumplings too. If the liquid is too thin, you can thicken with a flour/butter roux or use cornstarch ( a tablespoon cornstarch in 1/4 cup water) add slowly to your stew while bubbling to get a gravy like consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy! A fresh sliced baguette with butter helps sop up the juice, if you omit the dumplings!

Tacos too!!

Or you can pull the meat off the bones easily if pressure cooked and make fajitas, tacos with your meat sauted in a sauce and use soft shells to add lettuce tomato, onion and salza and sour cream over the meat. Another thought is to freeze the cooked pulled meat and vacuum seal it for later use. I would freeze for a week or two to maintain fresh flavors.

Squirrel Pot Pie!!

If you have enough meat you can make a delicious squirrel pot pie with a pie crust, peas and carrots in a squirrel or beef gravy piping hot. Serve with mashed potato’s.

Enjoy! Good Hunting and Good Eating!

© Copyright 2020.

Rifles: Want to improve your field hunting accuracy?

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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!

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BOG Death Grip Tripod for Rifle, Shotgun and Crossbow

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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!