I Imagine a sunny day hunting in November with my Marlin SBL 1895. Yes, great rifle but, I believe the suns glare from my mirror like surfaces on this rifle can spook a wary buck. What to do?

Well, It depends. You can spray paint your rifle. Nope. You can buy camo duct tape, Cheaper, it works. Or buy some camo sniper veil to put on your rifle with elastic bands. 

I chose to use camo duct tape ($9.00) and cut it to fit parts that would reflect the sun. Took me an hour. 

In this case, it is most of the metal on the rifle. Big difference below!  This reduced reflection greatly and the tape can be easily removed. 

One thing you want to avoid is getting your barrel hot from shooting practice. Your tape will get hot and gummy. So shoot a shot or 2 and cool your barrel making sure the tape stays in place. 

Further, my research turned up some lightweight camo netting on Amazon. I can cut to fit my barrel or make a stretch hunting blind I can sit behind. If I use this as a hunting blind, I would spray it with a scent eliminator. 

Good Hunting!

Sounds scary right? Covering your muzzle with electrical tape when hunting?

I have walked under a fir tree laden with snow. Snow fell into my muzzle. I thought, if only I taped the muzzle. Secondly, falling awkwardly and your barrel muzzle is now pugged with snow. What to do? Use a stick to clear the muzzle is not a wise option as it just pushes snow further down the barrel, better yet, tape the muzzle in the first place with one layer of tape. 

Many use electrical tape to cover your rifle muzzle when rain, snow, debris can accidentally obstruct and plug your barrel.

Soldiers cover barrel muzzles in the military when slogging in mud and debris! You can too. 

My experience – Firing your rifle with just a small piece of tape covering the muzzle will not affect accuracy nor injure your rifle. As shown above, you can also cut a piece of a surgical glove, or nitrile glove like the thumb or finger portion and place it over the muzzle then tape it to the barrel.  I put tape on my barrel, then pull a piece of it off to cover the muzzle. 

I like the very thin nitrile glove idea too. 

Think Smart!

I have been receiving New Hampshire Fish and Game news via email for quite some time.

Not long ago, I got an e-mail looking for Volunteers to teach 3rd and 4th grade NH students about New Hampshire’s Great Bay & its Inland Estuary and its value to humans, flora and fauna alike in a fun hands on program. See www.greatbay.org 

The goal is education. Passing on the love of the Bay and “Discovering” its value and environmental balance to young students and adults alike covering Animals, Archaeology, Biology, Birds, Earth Science, Ecology, Environmental Science, Fishing, Hiking, Hunting, Clamming, Oystering,  Native Americans, and Natural History.

On September 2, I gathered all day, with other would be volunteers to receive training to educate young students through the Great Bay Discovery Center in Greenland New Hampshire, right on the Bay itself. 

As a sportsman-conservationist I felt right at home in this program which educates from September to early November. I was impressed.

The program includes the value of hunting, fishing, trapping, harvesting of wild game and estuarian food sources like clams and oysters and protecting the resource from overuse and re-seeding of disappearing flora and fauna like oyster beds and reintroduction of wild turkeys.  

I felt like a time traveler visiting the life of the native Abenaki people their customs, wigwams, and wampum.

So much fun! I was hooked!

Also early settlers and how life evolved along the bay and commerce using flat bottom sail boats called Gundalows to sell goods among shoreline settlers.   

We learn that Great Bay Matters in a fun and educational way!

Organizations like The Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership is also involved, a collaboration of conservation organizations in the coastal region that promotes landscape-scale land conservation and stewardship.

http://www.greatbaypartnership.org/

Check it Out!

I don’t own a Wicked Ridge Invader m1 but the review below among others is a reason to buy one. It is very close to my Ten Point Turbo S1 in quality and shoots just as fast. But my Ten Point costs $450 dollars more. I am not in the market for a new crossbow but if I were, this crossbow or similar would be an easy choice, especially at $799 vs mine at $1250. Can you say budget and tech friendly!

https://crossbowmagazine.com/wicked-ridge-invader-m1-review/

Check it Out

It’s Time! As daylight begins it’s earthly turn toward fall, scientists say, the tiny pineal gland in the whitetail bucks brain signals with hormones to end blood flow to the velvet on antlers. And the beginning of a bucks increasing desire to fight off other bucks and mate with a receptive doe.

For the buck …the rut has begun.

As blood dries up in deer antlers, the velvet dries and begins to peel off and the antler hardens as the weeks progress to October. Bucks join in rubbing off remaining velvet and seek other bachelor bucks to joust with. Just weeks away, does will come into estrus and may be receptive for mating.

Years back in mid October, I was bowhunting in Pennsylvania, I was in my treestand and below me does were feeding in late afternoon. Suddenly, an impressive plump 8 point bucks shows up, his fur glistened in the afternoon sun.

The does, not yet receptive seem nervous. He steps among them smelling the air. He approaches one young doe from the rear but she hops forward and away.

He follows.

She mingles with other does and again he follows. Feeling harassed she darts away weaving among other deer. What a show, I thought as the chase was on.

I grunted from my stand hoping against hope the buck might come close. He was so focused on that doe, that I could’ve blown a trumpet, and he’d never hear it.

Again she weaved and lurched left.  Like a cutting horse on a cattle ranch …he wheeled left on his haunches, front legs in the air to reposition and cut off her path. The panicked doe lurched right, again the buck wheeled again to cut off her exit.

I became frustrated not being able to take a shot, I grunted from my stand hoping for them to head my way. Crazy as it seems, the doe ran into thick brush under my stand,  weaving easily through tangled brush. The buck followed but due to heavy brush his antlers got hung up.

I thought, Here’s my chance. I came to full draw, my heart pounding. I looked for an opening. The bucks chest, quartering toward me, was covered in overhanging branches. Still looking for a hole to thread my arrow, the buck looked up and saw me move. Still at full draw the buck backed out of the tangle.

I had no shot, thus I let down my draw.

The little doe now a hundred yards ahead in the hard woods. The buck slipped to my left and entered into the hardwood, still in pursuit. My hunt ended but the scene I encountered plays over and over in my mind. I was pleased that I did not attempt a shot. The angle was wrong, and the brush would have likely deflected the arrow. Pleased with my decision, I watched that handsome buck melt into the forest. Pleased that I let him walk to hunt him again. 

That’s Hunting

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