I like to shoot tight groups from a bench rest at 100 yards it makes me feel good. But honestly it does me little good when it comes time to deer hunt.

Practice for deer hunting is best performed after your rifle has been bench tested for groups at the distances you are going to hunt.

Here in New England the average shot at a deer with a rifle is around 40 yards or so. At my club, the range I can place targets are typically in increments of 25 yards. So the 50 yard mark should be ideal to shoot off hand at a target with no specific bullseye painted on it. The kill zone is basically an 8 inch circle but practice with a 6 inch area behind the shoulder and centered on the lungs. http://www.the-whitetail-deer.com/Anatomy-of-a-Whitetail-Deer.html. A double lung shot provides the largest vitals area see the website above.

I like to take cardboard and create the chest/neck area of a deer. I sometimes draw a deer chest that goes left and one that goes right in the same image. In the images I am sure to create the neck chest and front leg and elbow joint which are key landmarks for your rifle whether with open sights or with scope. The front leg of a deer has that pointed elbow joint at the base of the chest.

I use that leg/joint in a broadside shot to position my crosshairs just behind it and above it so the point of aim is a bit below the center axis of the body and just behind the leg. A hit in this location is in the center of the lungs and into the arteries just above the heart. This gives you some radial error of a few inches for adrenaline, being slightly off the mark etc. and still make a great clean shot to Vital organs.

This a paper target from Delta that I use at 50 yards with rifle and 20 yards with Bow.

Should you have a desire to attempt a shot at a walking deer, like I do, then it is important to practice shooting at moving targets as well. Balloons that move 6 inches on the target in the wind are a great way to learn your trigger’s breaking point.

As much as it is fine to shoot fast shots in tight groups, it is the first shot that counts. Everything else is secondary. How long it takes you to get that shot off is equally important.

I time myself with the a five second practice sequence with the safety at full on. Counting begins with the word Go and then count one-thousand one, one-thousand two etc. At 50 yards it takes me 4 seconds to get the shot off with accuracy. Or have the friend time you from spotting a deer you want to shoot and the time it takes to bring your gun up to your shoulder take it off safety and make the shot. Try to improve this time sequence.

Of course there is no adrenaline so that factor is missing. Dry fire is valuable as well. Before live fire you can do the drill and see where your cross-hairs end up when the firing pin falls. You are training your upper arm muscles to obey minor changes to get a shot dead center and feeling where the trigger breaks as well.

Practice with the clothing you are going to hunt with when hunting time is near. If there is a shooting concern with clothing you can resolve it before going afield. It is great to practice with a hunting partner as well to spot mistakes.

Recoil reduction is key to deer hunting for all hunters so a state of the art recoil pad will help the expert as well as the novice. Both Sims Limb Saver® and the Pachmayr Decelerator® have a great recoil pad and even a slip-on style recoil pad. Use them! You will be glad you did.

I have endorsed them for years and don’t want to own a rifle without one.

Make a pact with yourself to try the stand and timed fire sequence! It will bring home the venison this fall!

In addition to this valuable practice, veteran deer hunters still hunt and stop periodically where there is a strategic view and have a tree nearby to brace their rifle against for a steadier shot at approaching game. Remember to have the wind either in your face when still-hunting or cross winding your body.  ©

Get out theyah and get em! There are turkeys everywheyah! Ok go paak yowa caaa. Get yowa camo on fowa showa. Ayuh!

My wife says she can kill turkeys every day right from her caaa as she drives to work.

She says they are so dumb when they cross the road.

That might be, I said, “but once they are back in the woods they become smaat again. Mighty fast!”

This week is turkey shotgun season. A second chance for some and a second turkey for me. At least that is the plan. To have a wild 2 turkey thanksgiving would be a first for my family. Below is my spring turkey. I am a Remington 870 fan.

I got my Fall Turkey this morning October 15, 2013 in Unit M at 7am with Shotgun. It was a hen at 9 pounds. Tag your bird immediately. You are allowed a male or hen in the fall only according to F&G. I had it checked in and sealed. I intended to take either sex to fill out my tag. Rules for identifying male from female are also on this site. Since I was alone, no photo was taken in the woods.

See website below for all details:

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/Hunt_species/hunt_turkey.htm

Ok here is a new photo of the Hen I shot this morning! Who needs Butter Ball anyway!

It is October in New Hampshire. I reflect on a past October bowhunt that was perfect in every way.  The forest is alive with a kaleidoscope of color, a slice of heaven as it were, as the leaves turn crimson and gold.  The air was crisp and cool.  You could almost hear a pin drop as the oak leaves on the tree nearest me rustled ever so slightly.  I was settled in my tree stand, all was quiet, my bow at the ready.  I was well practiced and confident.  The fall rut would begin in earnest in only a few weeks. The October air had the pungent aroma of pine, earth and oak leaves.  I yearn for the smell of fall in the woods; I just can’t get enough of it.  A cluster of neurons in my brain fire off dozens of fall images and smells in eager agreement.

It was wise to get my tree stand up more than a month earlier. I painstakingly avoided visiting my perch to allow the deer, especially wary bucks, to criss-cross my stand area without ever detecting so much as a molecule of my scent.  It took many years of mistakes to learn to stay out of my direct core hunting areas except to verify from a distance that all was well just prior to hunting them.   I like to hunt after mid October as the first of the mature does may come into estrous and the largest of bucks have yet to see pressure from hunters. This is when bucks are highly vulnerable.  If Mr. Big shows up, I’m ready.  However my freezer was almost bare from the previous years venison (taken with Muzzleloader) thus any respectable deer would do.  My hunting set up was geared for bucks with mock scrapes and scent wicks in view.  My tree stand was located in an ever so slight saddle of oak trees that was bounded on one side by a large pool of swamp water.  The saddle was a great revelation, found in preseason scouting, as it funneled deer via three intersecting trails that were relatively close to adjacent bedding areas.  Getting in the stand undetected was the key.

It was late afternoon when I was settled in my tree stand and comfortable with my state of the art safety harness on.  I always feel like I just need the parachute to complete the harness.  No, I wasn’t quite high enough for that I mused.  The wind wasn’t perfect but it was good enough to carry my scent away from the bedding area.  I covered all bases as I also had doe-in-estrous scent that was strategically placed below in scent canisters.  I reached into my pocket and pulled out a “bleat call in a can” and rotated it so the weight sucked air into and out of the diaphragm.  Baaaaaaa went the bleat call. Again Baaaaaaa.  The call was then nestled back into my pocket so it would not bleat inadvertently.  I stood at the ready, my eyes scanning for movement of any kind. (Let your eyes look right before moving your body right).  A slight rush of anticipation ensued as my heartbeat and breathing stepped up a notch, but then settled back down again.  Something is going to happen at any moment, I kept thinking.  After about 20 minutes I took out my call and let out a few more seductive bleats.  Directly in front of me a deer appeared, like stepping from behind an invisible curtain. Where did he come from?  It was a nice 5-point with a small basket rack.  Instantly, a shot of adrenaline kicked my heart into gear.  The buck stood there for a moment that seemed like eternity. He began to meander my way, smelling the air and bobbing his head around looking here and there trying to see the doe that was cuing sweet nothings in his ear.  I carefully reached into my pocket and rotated the bleat call again.  This way, I beckoned him in silence. This way….  Perhaps the last bleat was a mistake, I thought.  His head went up sharply as if to smell the air looking my way and he came walking toward my stand. At 20 yards he was still coming. He was intent on finding that bleating doe.  Just don’t look up, I kept thinking. As he passed behind a tree and some brush, I drew my bow. The cams on the bow rolled over silently and evenly as my high back muscles took over the job of holding the string against the invisible wall at full draw.  The arrow slid rearward undetected on the arrow rest like rattlesnake coiling in preparation to strike.  My heart was thumping so loud that perhaps the deer could hear it.

He stopped behind the brush momentarily causing me to question my wisdom of drawing, but then he continued his inquisitive approach.  My mental check list goes off just before launching an arrow; all is safe to shoot, check the arrow, arm guard/clothing not in the way, bow clear of branches, bend at the waist with your bow then pick a hair to aim at. Aim small; miss small is my mantra.  My finger squeezed the release. Thumm went the string and an instantaneous thwack, reported back!  The arrow struck low in the chest and disappeared.  The deer kicked his rear legs as they so often do and ran around 20 yards away and spun around to face where the sound had come from.  Too much brush in the way for a follow up shot, I thought. He turned away and walked into the swamp water.  His tail down, gave no indication of panic or that he was even hit except that he was walking slowly.  At around 50 yards, I could still see him in the water.  As he began to disappear in the brush, I noticed the tops of the bushes swaying, a sure indicator that he needed support to stay on his feet.  Now I knew he was hit hard.  I mentally marked the spot he was last seen.  After about 20 minutes I climbed down and located the arrow dug into the muddy soil.  It had some blood on it and totally coated with brisket fat.  But not totally red with blood as is often the case with a double lung hit.  I decided that it was best not to take the trail immediately, besides I would need my waders.  I decided to pick up the trail at first light.  That evening I enlisted my son Jason and a hunting friend in blood trailing and the retrieve.  We found him shortly the next morning after applying good blood trailing techniques.  The buck went 150 yards before piling up on the banks of the swamp.  We all whooped and hollered at finding him so quickly.  The arrow did strike low in the chest taking out a lung and just missed the other lung.

Let me tell you, I don’t know what that buck was feeding on but he was butterball fat dressing out at around 137 lbs.  The meat was absolutely delicious.

My heart quickens as I write this in anticipation of another season.  Mr. Big is still out there too. Isn’t anticipation grand? © 2013

Now is a great time to dust off your muzzle loader for this deer season. It is important to always verify that your muzzle loader does not have a powder charge in it.  Drop your rod inside to see if it is empty or take it to the range and fire it down range. If its an in-line then look down the primer hole if possible to verify it is clear or remove the plug.

I use solvent, cotton cloth patches and my cleaning/Loading rod to clean the barrel because I use a non-fowling powder substitute such a the new BlackMZ™ by Alliant Powder.

For my Hawken years ago I used soap and boiling water and sucked the water up in the barrel with plunger action of my cleaning rod. I stopped using all lead bullets years ago. Everyone has a slightly different technique.

All is fine as long as the barrel is clean. I finished my barrel cleaning after the long winters nap with a bore polishing cream in J&B Compound. Looking down a clean bore makes me smile!

I am using TC 300 grain sabot-ed Copper jacketed (yellowpoints), bought them last year, they are designed to expand rapidly in deer and bear. I chronographed the 300 grain heads using 100 grains of Black Powder substitute at 1638 fps which provides a muzzle energy of 1787 ft-lbs. At 50 yards energy is 1560 ft-lbs and at 100 yards it was still 1363 ft-lbs. That’s a lot of whump for deer! Energy minimums for deer are 1000 ft-lbs and it was still over that at 200 yards ( I limit shots to around 100 yards max).

I zeroed the muzzle loader for 100 yard so 50 and 75 yards were an inch high. My trigger breaks harder than my rifle but it does not creep.

I have to swap a scope to this muzzle loader each year. Use a good scope don’t get chincy here. The chances of getting a deer with Muzzle Loader are excellent in New Hampshire. You can get your License on line too at https://www.nhfishandgame.com/

Remember that most scopes are 1/4 inch per click at 100 yards, 3/16 inch at 75 yards, 1/8 inch at 50 yards and 1/16 inch movement across the paper per click at 25 yards.

As an example my shot was 2 inches low and three inches left at 25 yards. To correct this at 25 yards each click moves the crosshairs just a 16th of an inch with each click.

So move the vertical adjustment (top of the scope) up 32 clicks and your windage adjustment 16 x 3 = 48 clicks to the right. Seems like alot? It is!

Now move your target out to 100 yards and shoot again.

You should be on paper. Use the 1/4 inch rule to finish.

Many hunters today use the black powder pellets. They work fine.  I like the powder but that is likely because I am used to doing it that way. I tried the pellets but they’re not for me.

I use tubes designed for pre loading your bullet, powder and cap. Buy them anywhere muzzle loader gear is sold.  I take three extra’s with me when hunting. If I shoot, then I just pop the cap pour the powder in the muzzle, use the rod to push the bullet into the bore, grab the cap on the end of the tube and there you are. Good Hunting! © 2013