Spicy Outdoorsman – Remoulade Dipping Sauce

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As a hunter and often household chef, I discovered this delicious sauce with the mention by Chef Andrew Zimmern, and later recipes from Chef Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network.

If you enjoy dipping sauces especially for seafood and wild game you might want to try making Remoulade Sauce for dipping shrimp or as a spread on game meat and even sandwiches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remoulade

It’s more complex and so much more sophisticated than say just Mayo, Tartar Sauce or Cocktail Sauce. 

It’s origin/roots are very French but variations of this spicy, mouth-watering sauce vary around the world.

Use the internet to look up remoulade recipes. I like this one below using my food processor but would use a bit less mustard.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/remoulade-sauce-3645570

 

I am making shrimp finger food hors d’oeuvres for our family Thanksgiving dinner. Ingredients can be found in most households, such as; mayonnaise, lemon juice, onion, celery, garlic, horseradish, mustard, ketchup, parsley salt and pepper.

There is a Cajun Remoulade version that uses creole spices that is delightful. 

Some remoulade recipes involve the use of food processors and vegetable oil but you don’t need one unless you have one at hand. Look for the mayonnaise base recipes for simplicity. 

 

Give Remoulade Sauce a try!

 

 

Outdoor Life Reports on New Jersey Anti-Hunting Bill?

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New Jersey Bill Would Require Landowners to Notify Neighbors Before Hunting Their Own Land

New Jersey Bill Would Hinder Private Land Hunting | Outdoor Life

Quote from Outdoor Life “Legislators in New Jersey introduced a bill last month that would change the state’s regulations for hunting on private land. Assembly Bill 3732 calls for an expanded safety buffer that would prohibit hunters from nocking an arrow or carrying a loaded weapon within 450 feet of any occupied building in the state. A3732 would also require private landowners in the state to notify neighboring landowners before they could be allowed to hunt on their own land.”

Hunter Success Comes In Many Forms

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Recently, I had a buck in my sights standing offhand. Darn it, I could not steady my crosshairs. I was not confident of a kill shot, and did not try the shot. 

He saw me, and moments later… he melted away.  

” We will meet again” I thought.  “He is not going any where so maybe another time we will meet again… and I’ll be ready.”

I set up a stand in the same area the very next day. A double rainbow appeared where that buck stood just a day earlier. 

Success comes in many forms. Letting that buck go was a success in my ethics and… I was rewarded with this glorious double rainbow. Yes, can you see the second rainbow?

The rainbow had significance that this hunter can understand.

I enjoyed that view till the rainbow disappeared. 

Perhaps a rainbow will grace your stand too. Yes, I’d perhaps rather seeing the buck again, but I did enjoy the rainbow.

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved.

 

Alternatives to Freezing Game Meat – Hot Canning Meat

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Many hunting families have been freezing wild game for a century. But what if you lose power? What if your meat is tough?  Some families “hot can” or “hot pack” meat too.  What advantages do you have if you “pressure can” or “Hot Pack” some of your game meat?

The major reason to hot pressure-can aka “hot pack” meat is that it does not need a freezer or electricity, tenderizes meat substantially and can be consumed right from the jar.

Most everyone uses a Ball Mason Jar because the jars are cost effective and proven. When canning is complete (often takes 90 minutes) and cool the lid becomes vacuum sealed during cooling.

This is essential to preserve and seal the meat from bacterial growth.

Stored in a cool dry area, this food can be stored for 2 to 5 years as long as the vacuum seal is maintained.

“Best practices” followed from canning books like this one, will eliminate losing the seal and your meat to spoilage. 

 

 

I began hot canning because I had many pounds of tougher cuts of meat that gathering in my freezer.  And wanted to can some chicken breast for fast meals like chicken noodle soup, pot pies, and chicken salad.

Hot Canning allows me to tenderize the meat and add spices and vegetables. I also can game burger and chicken breast.

I use this T-Fal canner ($155 dollars) among many other models.  A great Christmas gift too! It takes the mystery and fear out of hot canning can get you to the next step with saving food cost and canning your game meat and poultry too.

 

T-fal Pressure Cooker, Canner with Control, 3 PSI Silver

 

If your like my family, we pull the best wild game cuts of meat like backstrap and steak or sausage from our freezer first. This often leaves tougher cuts to languish or worse, get buried in our freezer. I have gathered pounds of these harder-to-use-cuts like stew meat and burger. I purchased the hot pressure canner a few years ago, and am thrilled with its ability to tenderize cuts and add herbs and spice to them for sumptuous flavor enhancement, all in Ball Mason jars.

The result is tender moose, venison, and wild boar stew meat and burger that is now instantly ready for stroganoff, and burger for Shepherds Pie, Chili and dozens of soup recipes like Moose, Venison, and Duck, Goose, Chicken Noodle Soup. Further, that we find chicken breast on sale and hot-can or raw-can it in chunks too.

 

Give it a try!

Good Eating!

 

 

 

 

Tree Stand Burnout – Deer Avoid It

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The perfect deer hunting tree stand location can become burned out if you use it too much. Dependence on a single tree stand for day to day hunting, places increasing amounts of human scent in that area. Your Busted!!

Smart hunters know that wind is a key factor whether on the ground or up in your tree stand. If deer are expected from the west and wind is blowing your scent toward them. Your stand time will be wasted.

Experts say, deer can smell 500 to 1000 times more than a human.

Here is a great article I found on-line by Mike Hanback. Check it out!!

https://www.realtree.com/deer-hunting/articles/busted-5-things-you-don-t-know-about-deer-senses

Good Hunting!

Muzzleloader Deer Season Opening In New Hampshire Saturday, October 29

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Good Hunting! 

Deer Season Dates by Wildlife Management Unit | Hunting | New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (state.nh.us)

The biggest advantage of muzzleloader season in NH is that the deer are calm and have not altered their feeding and bedding habits.

As regular firearm season approaches deer find places to hunker down and are more warry. The other big advantage of muzzleloader season is that does are coming into estrous and bucks are moving more. Stay warm. Dress in layers. I carry a small day backpack.  Have my license, a pen, a sharp knife, drag rope, first aid kit, hand warmers, water and snacks and a phone or communications device.

I tell family specifically where I am hunting. Perhaps you should too!

If in camo, I wear an item of orange like a hat or camo orange vest. Deer don’t see orange, but people do. Deer see movement!

I enjoy cooking and eating my venison, and thus gut my deer asap after tagging, and open the cavity to cool it as soon as possible to preserve that meat quality. I do not hang my deer more than a day or so before cutting.   I like to vacuum seal my meat or burger. It will last for a few years in a freezer and over time will often lose more wild taste and even tenderize some cuts. I have begun pressure canning too and it tenderizes the toughest cuts.

See you out there!

 

Reduce Felt Recoil Over 50 Percent with High Tech Rifle Recoil Pads

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Perhaps it is time we stop whining about recoil! Fix it!

Honestly,  the fastest and least expensive way to reduce felt recoil from big game rifles  is to install a slip-on or grind-to-fit recoil pad that was scientifically designed to reduce that instant whack to your shoulder.  Yes you can use a heavier rifle. Not me.   Or a thread on device to your barrel, sure to give you an ear-ache. I’ll pass.

I have used both Limbsaver™ and Pachmayr Decelerator™ pads for the past 20 years to my great relief. I owned a heavy recoiling  Ruger M77 in.338 Winchester Magnum and still own and use my M77 African in .375 Ruger. One was fitted with a Limbsaver SVL Pad and the other was fitted with a Pachmayr Decelerator. Both cut my felt recoil by approximately 50% or so. Below is a video from Limbsaver.

I shoot these big guns off-hand in my t-shirt because the recoil is more of a push than a whack, thus making it easy for the shooter to absorb the recoil almost painlessly.

Even more,  you can reduce felt recoil on your young son or daughters deer rifle too. A  6.5 Creedmoor/260 Rem shooting a 120 grain bullet at 3000 ft/ sec creating about 14 ft/lbs but with a state-of-the-art pad the felt recoil is nearer to 7 lbs of felt recoil, less than a .243 Winchester. Below is from the website; https://shooterscalculator.com/recoil-calculator.php

Time to fix that rifle recoil is now!

Good Shooting!

© Copyright 2022

Game Meat from Freezer to Hot Canning to Tenderize and for Longevity. Updated

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My wife Susan and I have been vacuum freezing game meat for years. In October 2019 we put 300 pounds of Moose and 150 pounds of wild boar in the freezer. In 2021 we learned the hot-canning method used by many hunting families for stews and such in glass Ball Jars. 

If you enjoy eating the game you hunt and like to preserve and tenderize your meat, read on.

We processed and vacuum sealed all the meat at home. 

In 2019, we expected large summer 2020 BBQ gatherings, so we made burger patties and put large numbers of patties in vac bags.

And as we all know, COVID changes our lives forever. We still had lots of frozen moose burger and stew meat. What to do?

 

Part of my reason to continue to hot can was that my stew meat came out-of-the-jar so tender that I could cut it with a fork. And it cuts down mealtime prep. to minutes.   Wow!

For stews, I then cooked/steamed or quickly pressure cooked fresh carrots, potato, onion, celery etc., then added the hot canned stew meat. I used the juices to make a flour gravy adding herbs, salt and pepper. Sooo Delicious! Yes you can “can” your veggies too. 

This month, October 2022, I booked another Newfoundland Moose hunt as part of my bucket list. What to do with another 300 pounds of moose meat?  I still had 20 or so pounds of that frozen moose burger I wrote about at the beginning of this article?

I decided to hot-can the frozen game burger too, like all those patties we froze plus all the burger intended for pasta sauces. The frozen burger would have be ok for longer freezer storage but the meat became so buried in the freezer making it very hard to find.

Accordingly, I gathered all the frozen moose burger, about 20 pounds and hot canned it for use in my delicious pasta sauces, “shepherds pie”, chili recipes, biscuits and gravy, meat pies, meat tacos, mince meat pie, and so much more. Hungry yet? I sure am! 

I used a T-fal Pressure Canner below with Pressure Control,  22 Quart volume. But you can use any large canner.  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 Pressure Canner

 

I  thawed the moose in large pots meat of cold water. Here is a basic recipe video.

I highly recommend purchasing a canning book like this one below, to become educated for safety and have delicious recipes.

The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning: Everything You Need to Know to Can Meats, Vegetables, Meals in a Jar, and More

In the past year 2021, I successfully hot canned venison, wild boar, chicken breast, moose and now moose burger. 

 

After canning, you can label like this above with Avery labels.

Enjoy!

 

Making A Field Hunting Ballistic Card for Long Range

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Making a pocket field card for a specific load and bullet will aid in improved vital zone bullet placement.

The card is really a drop or trajectory table with wind and energy at a specific laser rangefinder game distances your looking to shoot.

I used my Nosler 300g AccuBond to create the table below for my moose hunt with the .375 Ruger. There are many ballistic calculators on the market. I use JBM Ballistics Trajectory calculator (free on-line). It works great!!

The pocket card you take into the field will look like the card above. Wind drift is in inches with a 10 mph 90 degree crosswind. I zeroed for 250 yards. Go to the website below and experiment.

https://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi 

You can select your bullet from this software’s drop down menu, enter the bullet muzzle velocity, zero-range, wind, elevation, vital-zone radius and many other parameters for the table you will create.

 

Trajectory
Input Data
Manufacturer: Nosler Description: Accubond™ Spitzer
Caliber: 0.375 in Weight: 300.0 gr
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.473 G1 (ASM)
Muzzle Velocity: 2550.0 ft/s Distance to Chronograph: 10.0 ft
Sight Height: 1.50 in Sight Offset: 0.00 in
Zero Height: 0.00 in Zero Offset: 0.00 in
Windage: 0.000 MOA Elevation: 0.000 MOA
Line Of Sight Angle: 0.0 deg Cant Angle: 0.0 deg
Wind Speed: 10.0 mph Wind Angle: 90.0 deg
Target Speed: 0.0 mph Target Angle: 90.0 deg
Target Height: 40.0 in
Temperature: 40.0 °F Pressure: 29.92 in Hg
Humidity: 50 % Altitude: 0.0 ft
Vital Zone Radius: 5.0 in
Std. Atmosphere at Altitude: No Pressure is Corrected: Yes
Zero at Max. Point Blank Range: No Target Relative Drops: Yes
Mark Sound Barrier Crossing: No Include Extra Rows: No
Column 1 Units: 1.00 in Column 2 Units: 1.00 MOA
Round Output to Whole Numbers: No
Output Data
Elevation: 7.540 MOA Windage: 0.000 MOA
Atmospheric Density: 0.07925 lb/ft³ Speed of Sound: 1095.8 ft/s
Maximum PBR: 302 yd Maximum PBR Zero: 255 yd
Range of Maximum Height: 136 yd Energy at Maximum PBR: 2658.9 ft•lbs
Sectional Density: 0.305 lb/in²

I found that my rifle zero is best set for 250 yards as it allows for max point blank range with a vital zone radius for moose at 5 inches. Basically the size of a ten inch pie plate. 

Here is a printout of the calculation.

 

Calculated Table
Range Drop Drop Windage Windage Velocity Mach Energy Time Lead Lead
(yd) (in) (MOA) (in) (MOA) (ft/s) (none) (ft•lbs) (s) (in) (MOA)
0 -0.7 *** 0.0 *** 2556.6 2.333 4353.2 0.000 0.0 ***
25 1.1 4.2 0.1 0.2 2507.4 2.288 4187.4 0.030 0.0 0.0
50 2.6 4.9 0.2 0.4 2458.8 2.244 4026.5 0.060 0.0 0.0
75 3.7 4.7 0.5 0.6 2410.7 2.200 3870.6 0.091 0.0 0.0
100 4.4 4.2 0.8 0.8 2363.2 2.157 3719.4 0.122 0.0 0.0
125 4.7 3.6 1.3 1.0 2316.1 2.114 3572.9 0.154 0.0 0.0
150 4.7 3.0 1.9 1.2 2269.6 2.071 3430.8 0.187 0.0 0.0
175 4.2 2.3 2.6 1.4 2223.7 2.029 3293.2 0.220 0.0 0.0
200 3.2 1.6 3.4 1.6 2178.2 1.988 3159.9 0.254 0.0 0.0
225 1.9 0.8 4.4 1.9 2133.2 1.947 3030.8 0.289 0.0 0.0
250 -0.0 -0.0 5.5 2.1 2088.8 1.906 2905.8 0.325 0.0 0.0
275 -2.4 -0.8 6.7 2.3 2044.9 1.866 2784.9 0.361 0.0 0.0
300 -5.2 -1.7 8.1 2.6 2001.5 1.826 2668.1 0.398 0.0 0.0
325 -8.7 -2.5 9.6 2.8 1958.7 1.787 2555.1 0.436 0.0 0.0
350 -12.7 -3.5 11.2 3.1 1916.4 1.749 2446.0 0.475 0.0 0.0
375 -17.2 -4.4 13.0 3.3 1874.7 1.711 2340.7 0.514 0.0 0.0
400 -22.4 -5.4 15.0 3.6 1833.6 1.673 2239.2 0.555 0.0 0.0
425 -28.3 -6.4 17.1 3.8 1793.1 1.636 2141.3 0.596 0.0 0.0
450 -34.8 -7.4 19.4 4.1 1753.2 1.600 2047.1 0.638 0.0 0.0
475 -42.0 -8.4 21.8 4.4 1713.9 1.564 1956.4 0.682 0.0 0.0
500 -50.0 -9.5 24.5 4.7 1675.3 1.529 1869.3 0.726 0.0 0.0

 

13-Oct-22 13:46, JBM/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi

 

By experimenting with muzzle velocity, wind, altitude parameters in the JBM software, you will better understand how your bullet will perform as it speeds its way to the intended game.

 

Good shooting!

©Copyright 2022

 

 

 

Newfoundland Moose Hunt Prep 2023 and .375 Ruger Rifle Choice

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Moose hunting provides an opportunity for lots of delicious meat and maybe a large rack to display in remembrance of the hunt.. I have been blessed with successfully hunting Newfoundland moose bull in October 2019 and a New Hampshire bull several years back, neither had great racks. Below is the New Hampshire moose.

So I am trying for a larger mature bull (more meat) with perhaps a larger rack. We shall see. 

This new moose hunt is expected to be a river hunt using the Gander River Canoe or some say Gander River Bay boat. Newfoundland moose hunts are in September and October and are prime times for crazy weather.

I shot my last bull, quartering forward, in Newfoundland in a late September snow squall with 30 mph zero degree windchill. A one-shot kill at 100 yards with a Nosler 300g AccuBond. My bullet did not exit and was recovered under the skin on the far side after wrecking the lungs. He stood for just a few seconds before collapsing where he stood.. 

 

You’d think that I had dozens of rifles to choose from but in truth I have only 5 rifles. Two are muzzleloaders. My really big game modern rifle is the Ruger M77 African in .375 Ruger. I hand load it. My bullet of choice is the 300 grain Nosler AccuBond™ because it is a tough bonded bullet and has a high ballistic coefficient and a superior sectional density for long range hunting. Below left is the Nosler 260 grain and right is the 300 grain AB. 

I like the 308/30-06/7mm/.270 type cartridge or greater for moose hunting. No, you don’t need a .375 Ruger, but I have one in my gun safe and it is accurate as all get-out. I shoot it very well.

For those not familiar with the .375 Ruger, it is slightly more powerful than the .375 Holland and Holland of African fame for Cape Buffalo and is a non-belted round.

With a state-of-the-art recoil pad, it reduces my .375 felt recoil by approximately 50%, like a .270 Winchester.

These recoil pads like the Pachmayr Decelerator™ and Limbsaver models are excellent and tames my .375 Ruger very well.

I can shoot it off hand, in my t-shirt. Get one of these pads today and stop whining about recoil!

 

Many Newfoundland bogs, that are prime moose habitat, are hundreds of yards in size and you need a rifle to reach out and maintain speed and energy. 

I use the BOG Deathgrip tripod below for longer range shots. I have shot it prone and accurately out to 600 yards. 

My scope of choice is the Leupold VX-6 3-18. What a combo! Below are the ballistics as calculated by JBMballistics.com with a muzzle velocity of 2550 fps with the Nosler 300g AB. Zeroed for 250 yards. With a 20 mph wind at 45º angle. The .375 Ruger with this Nosler AB bullet delivers over 2000 ft lbs. at 450 yards. Wow!

 

Trajectory
Input Data
Manufacturer: Nosler Description: Accubond™ Spitzer
Caliber: 0.375 in Weight: 300.0 gr
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.473 G1 (ASM)
Muzzle Velocity: 2550.0 ft/s Distance to Chronograph: 10.0 ft
Sight Height: 0.70 in Sight Offset: 0.00 in
Zero Height: 0.00 in Zero Offset: 0.00 in
Windage: 0.000 MOA Elevation: 0.000 MOA
Line Of Sight Angle: 0.0 deg Cant Angle: 0.0 deg
Wind Speed: 20.0 mph Wind Angle: 45.0 deg
Target Speed: 0.0 mph Target Angle: 90.0 deg
Target Height: 40.0 in
Temperature: 40.0 °F Pressure: 29.92 in Hg
Humidity: 50 % Altitude: 0.0 ft
Vital Zone Radius: 5.0 in
Std. Atmosphere at Altitude: No Pressure is Corrected: Yes
Zero at Max. Point Blank Range: No Target Relative Drops: Yes
Mark Sound Barrier Crossing: No Include Extra Rows: No
Column 1 Units: 1.00 in Column 2 Units: 1.00 MOA
Round Output to Whole Numbers: No
Output Data
Elevation: 7.521 MOA Windage: 0.000 MOA
Atmospheric Density: 0.07925 lb/ft³ Speed of Sound: 1095.8 ft/s
Maximum PBR: 302 yd Maximum PBR Zero: 255 yd
Range of Maximum Height: 136 yd Energy at Maximum PBR: 2658.9 ft•lbs
Sectional Density: 0.305 lb/in²
Calculated Table
Range Drop Drop Windage Windage Velocity Mach Energy Time Lead Lead
(yd) (in) (MOA) (in) (MOA) (ft/s) (none) (ft•lbs) (s) (in) (MOA)
0 -0.7 *** 0.0 *** 2556.6 2.333 4353.2 0.000 0.0 ***
25 1.1 4.2 0.1 0.3 2508.0 2.289 4189.5 0.030 0.0 0.0
50 2.6 4.9 0.3 0.5 2460.0 2.245 4030.7 0.060 0.0 0.0
75 3.7 4.6 0.7 0.8 2412.6 2.202 3876.6 0.091 0.0 0.0
100 4.4 4.2 1.2 1.1 2365.7 2.159 3727.3 0.122 0.0 0.0
125 4.7 3.6 1.8 1.4 2319.2 2.116 3582.5 0.154 0.0 0.0
150 4.6 3.0 2.7 1.7 2273.4 2.075 3442.1 0.187 0.0 0.0
175 4.1 2.3 3.7 2.0 2228.0 2.033 3306.1 0.220 0.0 0.0
200 3.2 1.5 4.8 2.3 2183.1 1.992 3174.3 0.254 0.0 0.0
225 1.8 0.8 6.2 2.6 2138.8 1.952 3046.6 0.289 0.0 0.0
250 -0.0 -0.0 7.7 3.0 2094.9 1.912 2923.0 0.324 0.0 0.0
275 -2.4 -0.8 9.4 3.3 2051.6 1.872 2803.4 0.360 0.0 0.0
300 -5.2 -1.7 11.4 3.6 2008.9 1.833 2687.8 0.397 0.0 0.0
325 -8.6 -2.5 13.5 4.0 1966.7 1.795 2576.0 0.435 0.0 0.0
350 -12.6 -3.4 15.8 4.3 1925.0 1.757 2468.0 0.474 0.0 0.0
375 -17.2 -4.4 18.3 4.7 1883.9 1.719 2363.8 0.513 0.0 0.0
400 -22.3 -5.3 21.0 5.0 1843.4 1.682 2263.3 0.553 0.0 0.0
425 -28.1 -6.3 24.0 5.4 1803.5 1.646 2166.4 0.594 0.0 0.0
450 -34.6 -7.3 27.2 5.8 1764.2 1.610 2073.0 0.636 0.0 0.0
475 -41.7 -8.4 30.6 6.2 1725.6 1.575 1983.2 0.679 0.0 0.0
500 -49.6 -9.5 34.3 6.5 1687.6 1.540 1896.9 0.723 0.0 0.0

 
08-Oct-22 09:19, JBM/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi

Wind at long range becomes a serious factor, understand your limitations. If you have a heavy wind at 90 degree crosswind angles, keep your shots at much shorter ranges. Quartering wind or wind blowing at you is a better situation, but you may need to move for a better shot opportunity. A trajectory and wind table printed in your pocket can be helpful. 

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved.