Monthly Archives: October 2023

Close Encounter of the Moose Kind

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Many years ago, before I hunted moose, I was bird hunting with my youngest son Jason,not far from Lake Francis in Pittsburg, New Hampshire. It was early October. We entered the woods off a dirt road. Jason carried a 22 rifle and I had a pump shotgun with birdshot. The sun was shining and the north wood smells of fir trees and falling colored leaves gave us a great feeling to be alive and hunting in the Northwoods. 

Ahead of us, we saw some movement, a cow moose and calf appear. “How cool”, I whispered to Jason, who was 11 years old at the time.

I had learned some moose calls with my mouth by pinching my nose, a cupping my hands around my mouth. So, I thought perhaps the cow would hang around.

I pinched my nose and let out an “arr” sound. The cow and calf didn’t like my sounds and melted into the trees ahead. 

Suddenly, the boggy ground underneath us began to shake. “Did you feel that? I asked Jason. “Ya dad, what is happening.”

In the next moment, we heard tree limbs breaking from where the cow and calf came from.

A very large bull moose appeared. He was headed straight for us with his head tipping side to side displaying his a huge palmated antlers as he continued his approach.  I pulled Jason to a dense group of large fir trees and stood very still. The bull had not spotted us yet but still approaching. I kept large trees in front of us as a barrier.

I realized that we were in trouble.

I chose to move closer to the large group of trees as the bull was advancing.

He spotted us!

Head tipping, he began to step around the trees to get to us.

Jason, tugged on my jacket whispering. “I want to go to the truck now, Dad!”  “Shhh, I said as we began to move around the large group of trees as the bull circled. The guns we had with us would be useless, I thought in case of a charge. 

Keeping those larger trees in front of us and between the bull was our best defense.

Undaunted, the bull changed direction and circled in the opposite direction to get at us. Jason whispered, “I can see the white of his eyes.”

The bull widened his distance and circled ever widening till he decided to turn and walk away.  Whew!

The bull crossed the dirt road, near my truck, when two fishermen campers near the lake appeared with camera in hand.

They followed the bull.

I shouted, “be careful, he is dangerous.” They snapped a photo of the bull and came over to us where we shared our encounter.  I asked if they would be so kind to send us a copy of the photo. Here is the bull below.

 

Safe in our truck, it was clear, after some thought, that my moose call drew in the bull.  He thought I was competition for mating the cow.

The lesson here is calling in moose can be dangerous unless you are hunting them, and even then, they are still dangerous. 

Moose Meat- Processed In My Kitchen – Continued

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My wife and I continue our effort in turning our frozen boneless moose parts into vacuum sealed burger, stew meat, steaks and a few roasts.

We began by finding parts to be ground into burger, and found lots of it as you see in our transformed freezer below.

Moose meat has no fat thus we mixed approximately 20 to 25% pork butt in with the burger. Pork butt has pork meat and pork fat to allow burger patties to bind and stick together. Pork is also a key ingredient in making meat balls and pasta sauces. 

After around 18 hours of processing we have nearly completed the burger packaging of maybe 130 pounds and 60 pounds of steak and stew meat. 

Last  night we had moose stroganoff and it was a hit. Meat flavor was excellent with no hint of gamey taste. I prefer steak thin slice 1/4 inch x 2 inches or thinner against the grain for stroganoff as I have made in the past to my families delight. 

Most all on-line  beef stroganoff recipe’s will work just fine with moose steak, just thin slice it against the grain while raw and partially frozen before you saute it. Just don’t overcook the meat. 

Today we cut backstrap butterfly steak, many sirloin steaks,and stew meat.

Note: Some steaks will be made into tips and stews as winter gets here. More to do but it is safe and frozen. We will rearrange the freezers so we have a better inventory. Already we have given some meat to friends and family. Nice!

 

 

Good Eats! 

 

Newfoundland Vacation Snips

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Our Vacation was among the many bays and coves around picturesque Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland.  My wife and I drove our car and spent the last month and a half in Newfoundland in the family cottage overlooking Bonavista Bay.

But the cottage on the bay was a home base from which to explore.

Human life on Newfoundland is centered around the thousands of bays and coves, Inland, are thousands of miles of virgin forests where big game such as moose, caribou and black bears thrive.

And where rivers and lakes teem with Atlantic salmon and trout.

Cod Fishing on the bay is one of my favorite pastimes with friends and family. The cod are market size and plentiful right in front of our cottage.

Cod fishing in front of the cottage

I fished with Mike Hogarth and his friend Jeff Power on one such outing at Trinity Bay just up the peninsula. 

 

The old red building below in Peace Cove, Trinity Bay were formerly fishing rooms where cod were historically split and salted and placed outside to dry, then shipped to foreign markets in barrels. 

Peace Cove, Trinity Bay East

Peace Cove Trinity Bay

From shore, below you can see the lighthouse in picturesque Trinity which is part of the Bonavista Bay Peninsula.

 

Trinity Bay, Newfoundland

Cod Fishing is still very active commercially as this boat below suggests.

Newfoundland is a wild and wondrous place as well as sophisticated in the cities like St John’s I have visited. And the people are very friendly!

Maybe you might like to visit too!!

Good Exploring!

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New Hampshire Muzzleloader Deer Season Coming October 28

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 Time to get your smoke pole to the range. I cleaned and lubed my flintlock yesterday. Get your powder and bullets now before they are gone.

https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/deer-hunting-new-hampshire

From the website above – “Deer Hunting in New Hampshire

NH Deer Season Dates and Resources

Archery: 
September 15 – December 15, 2023 (closes December 8 in WMU A)

Muzzleloader: 
October 28 – November 7, 2023 Statewide

Firearms: 
November 8 – December 3, 2023 (closes November 26, 2023 in WMU A)

Youth Deer Weekend: 
October 21 – 22, 2023″

 

My Most Prized Accessories for a Newfoundland Moose Hunt

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My BOG Tripod below worked great. My fleece head pullover kept me warm for hours on stand. In the picture below we were standing in water. You must be prepared.

Hunting in bogs of Newfoundland I found water everywhere, even in the grass and tundra in the bog below. Even trees and leaves were soaked with water.

If it looks like a field, the field had 6 inches of water on average. Slogging in an inferior boot will cut your hunt short. And not wearing your waterproof bib rain suit will soak you to the bone. I made some poor decisions too. I did not wear my rain bib and jacket on one morning and got soaked by water soaked bushes. My gloves were not waterproof and riding on the back of an ATV my gloves absorbed 1/2 cup water in each glove on a morning hunt. Get water proof gloves! My back pack was too heavy. With a guide, I did not need a large or heavy backpack. A walking stick gave me balance.

Below my most prized must-have accessories:

BOOTS – Buy  best high calf waterproof boots with good tread

RAIN GEAR – Heavy duty green waterproof rain bib like Helly-Hansen and water-proof jacket too.

Layered clothes.

Shooting sticks or tripod. 

Walking stick

Waterproof hats

Thick Fleece Camo Face mask pullover

Very sharp knife.

Hand warmers. 

My phone camera.

Yes a good rifle and cartridge. 

Accuracy is key! 

 

 

150 grain .270 Win Terminal Energy On My Moose

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I killed my 800 lb cow moose with a new Browning X-Bolt in .270 Winchester with 150 grain Winchester Power Point bullets.

Ed’s Moose taken Sept. 19, 2023

The rifle was zeroed at 100 yards. The .270 is great on deer, good on elk and can easily kill moose broadside but has some distance and energy limitations. On the flip-side, the advantage of the .270 is lighter recoil and improved accuracy.

Distances are somewhat restrictive. Muzzle velocity form this bullet is 2850 fps, thus I calculated drop and energy on-line with JBM Ballistic Trajectory for this bullet before the hunt to determine my limits.

The JBM Ballistic calculation below provides data for the hunter to use in determining max range, energy and bullet drop.

Accordingly, I followed my own rules for energy.limits. I would not pull the trigger when terminal energy is under 1500 ft-lbs. In my case, under 1500 ft-lbs is at 300 yards. Luck would be in my favor with my guides laser distance at 240 yards. Energy was over 1600 ft-lbs and a broadside shot. I held 6 to 8 high from my BOG tripod rest and fired from a sitting position. A second later you could hear the bullet hit with a hollow drum-like thunk.

The moose never moved but you could see she was hit.

My guide says, “fire another shot.”  I aimed a bit higher near the spine and fired. She fell like she was pole axed. 

 

Examination of the wound sites showed 2 hits, one high and one low on the chest. The high hit was a few inches below the spine, my second shot. My first shot hit low in the chest. The lungs were a wreck, blood had filled the chest cavity. My guide Matt pulled heart and lungs from the chest along with the lower gut. I wanted to examine the heart. As you can see below the first bullet gashed the gallon-sized heart. This was not luck, it was understanding bullet drop and a good tripod rest. Well, maybe a little luck! We did not see any exit wounds but did not look for the bullets as we had work to do. 

 

For those readers interested in the Ballistics data below is the JBM Data for Drop and Energy. You can see velocity at 250 yards is 2196 thus the bullet will mushroom. Drop is 8 inches and delivered energy is 1606 ft-lbs and did great damage without an exit wound. 

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 -1.5 *** 0.0 *** 2850.0 2.553 2704.9 0.000 0.0 ***
50 -0.2 -0.3 0.0 0.0 2711.3 2.428 2448.0 0.054 0.0 0.0
100 -0.0 -0.0 0.0 0.0 2576.8 2.308 2211.2 0.111 0.0 0.0
150 -1.2 -0.7 0.0 0.0 2446.3 2.191 1992.9 0.170 0.0 0.0
200 -3.8 -1.8 0.0 0.0 2319.6 2.078 1791.8 0.233 0.0 0.0
250 -8.0 -3.0 0.0 0.0 2196.6 1.967 1606.7 0.300 0.0 0.0
300 -14.0 -4.5 0.0 0.0 2077.2 1.861 1436.9 0.370 0.0 0.0
350 -22.0 -6.0 0.0 0.0 1961.7 1.757 1281.5 0.444 0.0 0.0
400 -32.3 -7.7 0.0 0.0 1850.3 1.657 1140.1 0.523 0.0 0.0

 

04-Oct-23 07:46, JBM/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi

Good Hunting!

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Newfoundland Moose – Processed In My Kitchen

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Ed’s Moose taken Sept. 19, 2023

Processing a moose can be time consuming if you have to quarter and bone the meat too.

Moose quarters headed to the butcher for boning and freezing

 

Working with a veteran Outfitter like Gander River makes it easy. They know how to;

  • Gut and quarter your moose
  • Prep for trophy taxidermy if needed
  • Get it out of the woods in excellent shape
  • Skin and hang the quarters to cool
  • Get it to the butcher in prime shape for boning and freezing for my trip home to New Hampshire

Yes, you pay a premium for these tasks, but worth every penny. 

I drove my frozen boned moose meat home (you need an export permit from your outfitter) and it was still frozen solid after 2 days on the road using 2 large coolers. In fact 2 days after arrival my moose meat was still frozen. I have done this before and it works great. 

After cleaning/prepping  the kitchen and pans/ trays and grinding equipment, I brought around 80 to 100 lbs inside, incrementally and examined the bundles and labels.

I chose to cut some steaks at first but was looking for meat that will become burger and stew meat. 

In addition, I purchased 18 pounds of fresh pork butt and cut it up for grinding to add to the moose burger. I boned the pork and saved the meaty bones for a winter stew. I will purchase more pork butt later for mixing. 

All big game meat grinders have a rough grind head (right)  and a finish grind head (left).

 

Below my favorite LEM Grinder, meat pan and cutting board. 

Use the rough grind for both moose and pork at a ratio of roughly 4 to 1 moose to pork. This adds enough fat for burger to bind together.

Mix the rough grind by hand in a larger stainless tray and regrind with the fine grind head. Then vacuum seal in 1 to 2 pound increments. Label and freeze. It is best to keep your meat cold and near frozen so work as safe and quick as you can. My wife and I work well at this as a team. 

Below, my freezers are full of large chunks moose meat to be processed.

If you have enough freezer space, like we have, you can take a break from processing for a few days.

We use a Food Saver™ Vacuum Sealer and heavy seal bags to store our meat in the freezer. Todays freezers can store meat for well over 2 years provided the vacuum is good and you don’t have freezer burn.

Use sharp knives!

Next is to cut more stew meat for pressure canning!

I will cut tenderloin and backstraps later too. 

Good Eating!

PS We had this moose burger for lunch and discovered the meat was tender and very flavorful. 

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