Looking back, I believe, as do many, that the Obama years desire to change or do away with the Second Amendment had created such a scare across the country, for nearly a decade, that powerful and overwhelming and unprecedented buying of ammo and guns that the firearms industry became wealthy indeed. See this Forbes Article below.
The industry however took much of those earnings and reinvested in state-of-the-art rifle and pistol tooling equipment and in some cases began 24 hour three shift operations to keep up with demand.
This retooling perhaps is evidenced by American Manufacturers with lower prices, improved accuracy and the ability to mass produce that is unprecedented.
The use of new Hammer Forging tools, for example in barrel making, has made volume and quality significant and has reduced costs measurably as well as molding technology.
I have tested Ruger and Savage Rifles and found costs below average and quality and accuracy far above average. Further, that synthetic stocks are dominating the market for rifles, but not just black in color but all the colors of the rainbow and camo patterns that are beautiful.
This is a golden age for buying a new rifle, shotgun or pistol/revolver
Ammo costs are equally low today so stock up my friends.
It was yesterday, November 6th when I was deer hunting at dawn, not far from my home in southern New Hampshire.
I had just “still” hunted a hollow and several ridges with very little sign of scrapes or rubs. I just arrived at my car when two pickup trucks approached. The lead truck was Fish and Game checking licenses. The officer approached while two men from the other truck, hopped out and began recording video with high end camera’s, bobbing and weaving pointing their cameras at me. “What the….? Ok what’s up with this, I was thinking?”
I smiled and waved for the camera’s though I hadn’t a clue what was happening. “It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it”, I said…cracking a smile.
The Conservation Officer was polite and asked to see my license. I showed it to him. All fine, he said now that is a “fine old muzzleloader”, or something like that. Referring to my Pennsylvania Flintlock I laid on the ground.
I said yes, it is, I built it! A camera man In awe of the rifle said, You built it? Yes, I went on. One of the camera men took his video camera and scanned the rifle as a “thing of beauty” I believe. “For Sure, I thought to myself”, as he video’d the rifle as it lay on the soil emphasizing the daisy flower patch box originally created by German Gunsmith Jacob Dickert of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution…
The Conservation Officer gave me some tips as to where he’s seen some of the deer hang out near here! “Thanks”, I said!
The lead camera man said; “Have you heard of Northwoods Law?” I said yes. He said, they were filming for it and asked permission to use the footage.
Having done nothing wrong, I said yes and asked that I sign a paper giving them permission. I did so because I want to see what they do with the footage.
The fact is we New Hampshire Hunter’s are not only, law abiding. all else being equal, but we often hunt the hard way with primitive weapons, bow and arrow and Muzzle Loader and are very successful.
Nearly all of us, I believe, are seen by Fish and Game doing things right! Law Abiding!
But that is boring, isnt it?
It is the few rotten apples or suspected rotten apples that provide the chase scenes aired by Northwoods Law that can create a negative image.
You be the judge!
So we shall see. Below NHFG announces the Northwoods Law Season 3 in New Hampshire. It airs on Animal Planet.
In retrospect, I did not like the way I was way-laid with camera’s running. I was doing a private thing. Hunting is not for everyone. If my hands were blood stained from gutting a deer and Animal Planet shows that footage to a non-hunter or an anti-hunter my image would be, well not-so-good to an anti- hunter and a target for crazies.
And God knows we have crazy activists who are not law-abiding in this highly politicized atmosphere we live in today.
The 50 caliber Pennsylvania Flintlock I built, carved and tested is due to see the New Hampshire deer woods in hopes of me harvesting my first deer with it. I named the rifle “Cricket” like my rifle in the photo below.
I love my TC Encore Pro Hunter for its reliability but I must give my Flintlock some time too. I am good off hand to 50 yards with it. With a very steady rest I can go to 100 yards but in New Hampshire it is best to keep it close. I am shooting patch and round ball.
Are YOU ready? It is the most exciting time of the year for me! Nov. 2, 2019 is opening day for Muzzleloader Deer Season Statewide says the NH Fish and Game below.
Got your muzzleloader cleaned and fired, on target, then reloaded? Extra rounds prepared for follow-up? I am.
License. Yup!
Something to write with when you tag your deer. Yup!
Something to hold your tag to the deer. string? Tape? a small baggie. Ok gotta look.
A dragging rope? Yup!
Of course you have a sharp knife to gut, right? Yup!
Do you know when 1/2 hr before sunrise and 1/2 hr after sunset is?
I use my Iphone and ask Siri or your web app, if it knows your location. Yup
I put my phone on airplane, so I don’t spook the deer.
When you enter the woods watch that wind! Try to hunt into the wind or across the wind toward you, unless you are in a tree stand.
Hunt as if the deer are all around you! They are! When checking in your deer, have your signed hunting license and drivers license ready. Know the Zone and town you hunt in as you will be asked.
Finally Home! This is perhaps my once in a lifetime 4 1/2 year old mature Texas whitetail buck.
I took him at 80 yards with a T/C Encore Muzzleloader and 150 grains of Pyrodex and 295 grain Power Belts from last October. He never got to take a step and dropped right where he stood.
He is hung in my dining room for now, so I can see him every day. Here in New Hampshire I have never seen the likes in all my years in the deer woods with a rifle in my hand. Yes they exist here in New Hampshire and can be huge in body but often are nocturnal only.
He scored just over 144 Boone and Crockett Points.
Safari Studios of San Angelo Texas did the taxidermy. I chose a Mackenzie form I believe that had him in the rut with a larger fatter neck but I can’t see it here. In person you can see the neck swell better. What a big bruiser in real life!!
If you want to read the story behind this great deer and awesome hunt with Larry Weishuhn see my article below.
The BOG™ Death Grip™ worked like a charm on my Newfoundland Moose Hunt! It was so steady as a support that it was like a bench rest in the field. I shot my bull Moose as he trotted my way in a wind swept snow squall at 100 yards and turned for a shoulder shot with my Ruger M77 African in 375 Ruger and Nosler AccuBonds. Can you say BOOM! One shot, One Kill…
The Adventure begins… it was just a few weeks ago… October 2019.
Our Drive from Southern New Hampshire to Newfoundland with my hunt partner,Oliver Ford and his new Chevy Pick-up, went without a hitch. We rotated driving often.
The road trip was very straight forward until we hit the Canadian Border with, Passports in hand, created Gun Ownership Card at US Border, Rifle Import Registry with Canadian Customs forms we had already filled out, and Canada Criminal DB Check by customs officials.
Note; Oliver just turned 80 and I just turned 70 years young. For our age we were in good health for the most part but taking our med’s. Our wives reminded us. Some might say.. “An Old Man’s Moose Hunt”.
We were excited as all-get-out for this hunt with visions of massive antlered moose dancing in our head as if it were Christmas Morning.
In Moncton, New Brunswick, just prior to crossing into Nova Scotia, we stopped at the Bass Pro Shop. Oliver and I made a few hunting purchases. We were looking for moose antlers like posted in the image below.
We waited with dozens of other moose hunters below to take the overnight (7 hour) ferry with Marine Atlantic over to Newfoundland, affectionately called “The Rock”. Moose hunters either had coolers or real freezers and gas powered generators with them. The came from all parts of US as far as Indiana and Ohio, eager for a moose hunt. Like Us!
We drove the truck onto the ship Highlander and down a ramp to the bottom of the cargo area 1st Floor (seemed like a football field size room) where most cars were stored for the crossing. We had a small cozy cabin with a bathroom and small shower up on the 8th floor. Nice! We slept…
We ate a delicious eggs and bacon/sausage and bologna breakfast in the ships restaurant an hour before the ship docked. Seems Newfoundlander’s love their fried bologna.
We Landed at Port Au Basques, Newfoundland
Another three hours to drive to Peter Strides lake along RT 480 The Caribou Highway. Note: We saw no Caribou on the highway but later we saw many at our camp. Good Bulls! Just need $11,000 for that hunt!
Morning images as we drove just outside of Port Au Basques.
We arrived at the Helicopter Pad and the Main Lodge of Rock Pond Outfitters three hours later.
The stove was our only heat source. We learned fast to keep it stoked as the wind was blowing 20 to 30 knots outside and hovering around 30 to 40 degrees F.
Spiral Stairs to bunk room above. Nice Caribou Rack!
We arrived on a Sunday. Weather prevented the Helicopter from taking us to the remote camp. And we lost a half day Monday to bad weather and the Helicopter.
We met two other hunters in camp Chris and Jaye from Ohio (both into heavy equipment ownership) , going to an outpost camp even more remote than ours. Both were great to know and have some fun talking about hunts and rifles and growing up. Jaye, I recall, said his Daddy, a very big and solid man, who Jaye loved, had a size 17 ring finger. Jaye said, “When he pointed his big finger into his chest, which was rare, “I knew I better listen up”.
I asked Jaye about his rifle and caliber. He loved his Browning Mountain Rifle in stainless (5 lbs bare) in 300 WSM. The bolt glided like silk. Ill bet it packs a nice kick at that weight but really easy to carry. A great all weather rifle for long range goat hunting at 8000 ft or moose at 1000 ft above sea level like us.
My Rifle, a Ruger M77 African in .375 Ruger with Nosler 300 grain AccuBonds exiting the barrel at 2515 fps and 4200 ft-lbs at the Muzzle with Leupold VX-6 3-18x44mm on top. It weighed in at 10 pounds with the scope.
Oliver is shooting a 7mm Rem Mag with 160 grain X-Barnes bullets. Shoots sub MOA all day long.
Ok time to cut the jabber.
Finally we headed to the Chopper to load and head to the remote camp where our guides and Theresa (the owners wife) and Cassie a cousin did all the cooking.
THE HUNT
Date: October 2, 2019 9:30 AM Area 11 Southwest Newfoundland
Owners: Rock Pond Outfitters run by Trevor Keough and Family. Six days at $5900 each. Paid $1000 to book in December, $1900 by March, and $3000 on arrival.
Hop in the Helicopter with me! Lets Go. It took a few minutes to warm up the Helicopter. It was a longer ride than shown.
This is Rock Pond Camp – Our home base for the hunt. It is in the middle of a million unnamed lakes and ponds and glacial regolith…boulders and rocks.
Kitchen and Dining area below. This cabin is open only for 6 weeks a year, during the Moose and Caribou Hunt season.
In a 50 Square Mile uninhabited valley and 20 miles from the nearest outfitter, we began our Moose hunt ( two guides, two hunters, one 8 track ARGO Avenger).
Low Bush Blueberries were everywhere.
Oliver taking a nap.
Day one – afternoon we saw caribou but no bull moose. We saw a huge female cow on the side of a far off hill. She looked like a walking barn door.
Sunrise at Camp.
Day Two – Tuesday at 6:30 AM we had breakfast of eggs and bacon and toast and tea and coffee and headed out to a site that had promise but saw no moose but lots of Caribou.
I set up my rifle on BOG’s new “Death Grip®” tripod. I promised to test it and I was very pleased with it. It was on the heavy side to lug around, but in the ARGO, it was easy and nearby. I had that whole valley covered to 250 yards MPBR with the Death Grip which is more like a “Bench Rest” on a Swivel. What a great tripod!! See below.
Day Three – We woke to Snow and Wind!
It was 30º F snowing sideways at times on day three, and windy ( wind-chill at 20 mph wind is 17 degrees F) as we approached our first Moose stand in the Argo Avenger 8 track. The wind cuts like a knife as Oliver tries to stay warm.
My camo face mask worked great!!
Age? It’s just a number!
The ARGO was essential to our success and essential in beating the tar out of us at every venture sitting in the back and sideways to the direction of travel. Next time, if there is one, I will take the front seat!
We found out that this area according to guides Germain and Chris is known for smaller horned bulls but that was not in the outfitter literature when we booked. Yes some big racks show in the literature along with smaller racks.
I prefer to believe that these are younger bulls, but at at age 5 to 6 would have much larger racks just like a mature whitetail buck would.
But I am not willing to let the moose pass given the time, effort and expenditure. As they say in the Arbys TV commercials. “WE HAVE THE MEAT!” All 300 pounds of it. Each!
Here I am all smiles with this 4 point bull. Not what I came for but happy to be successful from a meat standpoint.
The wind blew at us as if to say “So you want to hunt Moose in Newfoundland, eh!”
The wind cut like a knife into our lighter camo jackets, robbing us of necessary body heat. Below the moose approaches but the guide shut of the camera when it began to blizzard. All the guide saw was white!
Video above – Our guides spotted a bull on a far hillside more than a mile away. We began a loud electronic caller which mimicked a mating Cow Call. It sounds like a loud cow moan. As soon as the Cow call was started, one of the guides shouts, “he’s coming”! The guide stopped filming with my camera when all he could see was white!
I was disappointed, I have no shot footage to share.
It was a text book single 100 yard shot, front quartering on a moving target with my 375 Ruger with Nosler 300 grain heads. He was trotting facing us when he veered to the right, thus giving me that quartering shot. The rifle was mounted on the BOG Death Grip and it was easy to get a solid bead on the moving bull. Boom! went the 375 rifle!
The bull stood for just a few seconds, wondering what had just happened and then fell “dead as a door nail” with a resounding thud! Congratulations said Chris and Germain and Oliver.
Oliver hunted the next day with the two guides and saw no bulls but when a big cow showed up in a gnarly patch of black spruce he changed his mind for meat instead and shot her at 200 yards in the spine and she went down in the midst of the spruce.
It took axes to cut her from the tangled spruce.
He too was successful in taking an adult moose.
Both of us kept the hides and sent them for tanning with fur on.
The guides made fast work of removing the meat, and hide below.
The Chopper took us back with part of our game meat and had to stay another day for them to retrieve it all.
Sunset at Camp
https://youtu.be/4UBsW5e5hvw
We drove back to take the midnight ferry to Nova Scotia. We slept in large reclining chairs.
We stopped for gas and bathroom breaks but made it back home in time to start the butchering process.
What you see for meat below, we did for each quarter of the moose in our kitchen. My wife helped, but she admitted that she never saw that much meat in one place in her whole life. I kept some of the last of it in the freezer so it was cold and fresh to cut. We added 20 pounds of beef pot roast full of fat to help bind the burger as it had no fat.
It took 4 full days for us to process, cut, and grind and vacuum seal steaks,back strap,moose tips, stew meat and over 100 pounds of moose burger.
If you are after a big Moose rack, I do not recommend this area to hunt.
But if you are after adventure and lots of meat, this hunt does that well and it was great family fun!
My hunting friend and I are off on our Moose ( Alces Alces Americanus) Hunt adventure into remote mountains of southern Newfoundland.
Our adventure drive is directly up RT 95 from southern New Hampshire and will cross the border at Calais, Maine to Moncton, NB Canada where we will overnight ( there is a Bass Pro Shop there for last minute supplies) and then continue to North Sydney, Nova Scotia to pick up the 7 hour Ferry to Port Au Basques, Newfoundland. Another 2.5 hours to a lake along the famed Caribou Trail where we can see some of the 60,000 woodland caribou and where Moose can grow really big! 1200 pounds big!
We arrive at the lake, park, and load gear in either a float plane or helicopter and fly deep to a very remote lake cabin. Our hunt begins with checking the zero of our rifles that afternoon, then the next morning on to an Argo 8 track. The ARGO get you part way. The rest is on foot. Each of us have our own guides and we split up, each with a Bull Moose tag.
This is the beginning of the Moose Rut!! Wow! There are no guarantee, just your whit and perseverance in seeking one that fills your bucket list. Now all you have to do is harvest one! We have rifles. My partner has a 7mm Rem Mag w 160 grain heads and I brought my Ruger M77 African in 375 Ruger with 300 grain Nosler AccuBonds with my favorite Leupold VX-6 3×18 x50mm. The Nosler AccuBond is one of the worlds best hunting bullets and stays together quite well. If you are not familiar with the .375 Ruger it is a bit more powerful than the 375 H&H Magnum used in Africa. Yup, it is not for every one. Each to his own! Do you need it? No! Shot placement is the key!!
I just like Big Guns and can handle recoil well!!
Below, my trajectory and energy chart and my rifle with a comb raising neoprene jacket and a few extra bullets at the ready. I hand load all of my Ammo. This round has 70 grains of RL-15 powder. Nice! I zeroed for 213 yards. My Max Point Blank Range (MPBR) is 250 yards delivering just over 2800 ft-lbs. At 300 yards the bullet drops 9 inches and still delivers 2600 ft-lbs. With the BOG Death Grip I have a very steady rest if I need to reach out. I hope I can get much closer!!
During practice, I removed the scope and shot it with iron sights in case my scope is damaged or out of whack. My scope limit is 250 yards. My Iron sight limit is 150 yards or less with a steady rest like the Bog Death Grip.
I shoot this rifle extremely well despite its bark and kick having taken Moose in New Hampshire, and Bison with it. I will bring a BOG Death Grip to test.
One shot kills on Moose are very difficult as they are slow to acknowledge a deadly hit. Often a follow-up shot or two can be seen on the many videos I have seen.
I have perhaps a bit of comfort with this larger bore that if he is near water he hopefully won’t go far. Moose Guides assure the hunter that the broadside double lung shot is best. If you want to try the heart/lung shot at closer range that is a good option but on longer shots the lungs are huge and will bring a Moose down for sure.
My new Excalibur Grizzly II is easy to load 200 lbs and shoots 305 fps. I great for whitetails at medium ranges for $499.00. The BOG Death Grip holds it at the ready. Great for blind hunting which I aim to do.
The BOG Death Grip is a great way to be ready for the shot. I am leaving tomorrow for my Newfoundland Moose hunt and taking the BOG Death Grip too.
Large Bore Target shooters are known to “Dry Fire” their rifles hundreds of times in preparation for a Match, but not so much for the hunter. The hunter often bench rests his/her rifle to sight in and then it’s off to the hunt. It is not my best practice to shoot game, not knowing where the trigger will break when standing off hand or even on shooting sticks. Do you sway left and right a bit like I do? Can you practice to control that sway? Part of that is my heavy breathing just before pulling the trigger.
Practice before hand will aid me greatly in rifle hold, with or without the use of my sling or on a bipod or tripod or just shooting sticks.
Dry Fire is NOT recommended for rim-fire rifles. However, many say it is fine to dry fire, pull the trigger on a center fire rifle. See this NRA Article on Dry Fire.
Me personally, I am going to use a Snap Cap fake round or an empty Dummy case in my Ruger rifle to absorb the strike of the firing pin anyhow. I have spent cases which I am currently using for my dry fire exercise.
Ok, so you are in a safe place to point your rifle out in the field or at the range. You aim without a brace and find that your crosshairs wobble around the target. In my wobble, I find that if I bring the rifle up and aim slightly high if doing it free hand, the gun will wobble lower to the point of aim, I begin the squeeze and breath hold. When the rifle goes click my mind captures the scope picture the instant the gun went click. You know right then whether you were on or off target. Practice! Practice! Practice!
If using a rest like shooting sticks or a bipod, I notice my height is good but I tend to sway left and right a bit. Practice will help.
You may find that your trigger is too heavy. Fix it ASAP. I do not recommend triggers below 3 pounds pull because you are on the move, cold, excited etc. Three to Five pounds is good. You are the judge. I do not recommend turning your scope power up too high as your wobble will be nearly impossible to steady unless you have a rest that you have that works under high power.
Try that at different ranges say 50 yards then 100 yards etc. I notice that with practice my wobble is much tighter and my confidence is much higher.
