Category Archives: Big Game Hunting

Articles about Big Game Hunting.

Spring into a Marlin Lever Action Model 1895 SBL 45-70 – Testing Soon

Posted on by
Reply

I have been looking and waiting for the right big game 45-70 lever gun to talk to me and I think I found it.

The Ruger made Marlin Lever Action Model 1895 SBL 45-70 is a stainless, easy and fast-like “butter”  levering rifle with a 19 inch barrel. There is a shorter version but will share on that later.

I put a deposit on it as I wait for more snow to melt. I will reload this cartridge. 

 What makes this rifle so special is that it is,… well you’ll have to wait till I get it and take it to the range for me to share. 

More Soon…

 

 

NH Rifleman Magazine Readership Year Ending 2025

Posted on by
Reply
We are very pleased with our worldwide NH Rifleman Magazine readership since we began in 2012.

Newfoundland Moose on Gander River

We are broadly Outdoor folks who particularly enjoy the shooting and hunting sports!
We camp, we fish, we hunt and shoot rifles, reload our own ammo and shoot bows and crossbows.
We eat what we kill and enjoy cooking our wild game harvest for our families!
We like to educate and are meat-eating adventurer’s too, often going to far off wild places including Africa and Canada and soon to Alaska. 

Texas 144 Class Buck

Top countries reading New Hampshire Rifleman Magazine. 

Enjoy!

Todays Compound Crossbows Are Great Bear Medicine Especially with Swhackers – Some Hunt Thoughts

Posted on by
Reply

There is no doubt that the engineering and physics of todays compound crossbows make tremendous hunting tools for speed and accuracy especially with my Swhackers.

 

My bow is a TenPoint Turbo, shooting 360 fps. I added a Burris Oracle Laser Scope. A great combination. 

Todays fastest crossbows are in the 500 fps range but for me, personally, I find crossbows better in the 300 to 400 fps range allow crossbow targets to capture the arrow without undue stress to remove the arrow, yet easily harvest game cleanly and often fully penetrate and exit.

There are limitations and concerns with such powerful bows however.

Broadhead tipped arrows of all kinds and bows can very easily deflect in brush, thus shot distances are often limited and must be unobstructed for the bolt/arrow to hit the vitals of the game you hunt.

I recall this past September in a ground blind for bear hunting in Maine with my friends at Foggy Mountain, I set up my crossbow on my steady “Death Grip™ tripod. Nice!

But once set up above, I noticed that there were tiny fir branches a few inches in front of my arrow. In the photo above you can see fir branches. 

I thought, Yes, its a tiny branch, but my decades of bowhunting experience says, even a tiny branch can cause deflection.

I took the time to clear the branches.

An hour later, I harvested a sizable handsome boar. At the 29 yard bait barrel, the boar arrived appearing as if by magic. He stuck his head in the bait barrel and immediately backed out. He faced me in the ground blind and walked  8 to 10 yards toward me. I was on him and very still. Seeing no movement he turned to head back to the goodies. When he was “momentarily broadside” my arrow tipped with a 125g Swhacker hit the big bruin in the ribs.

The swhacker went through that bear so fast that the exit speed, even with a 2.25 inch cut, was so fast as it destroyed the broadhead striking a granite rock. 

I knew the bear was mine. Very pleased with my shot I reflected on the power and accuracy of my crossbow.

I highly recommend shorter range crossbow hunting especially with Swhackers. 

Good Hunting!

 

 

My Exercise for June Alaska Halibut Continued…Adventure Takes Preparation

Posted on by

Some visiting Alaskan halibut fisherman get the shock of their life when a really big halibut bites their line and zaps every ounce of strength from their arms and body trying to land such a creature. Fisherman have to stop fishing on the trip just to recover as their arms ache and are like jelly. I watched a video of a 40 year old stout fisherman reeling up a huge fish. He need a 10 minute break so one of the mates took over for a bit. They strapped a fishing belt on him and took 30 to 40 minutes of unbelievable struggle to get the beast to the surface where they shot it twice. It took 4 men to bring it over the gunwale. That is why I am preparing. 

I am in week 3 of my halibut fishing exercise routine. Having said that, I feel great. I had to return to the Gym today and moving forward, I did some treadmill cardio, stomach and our many shoulder muscles to strengthen besides my many home exercises. 

Besides, another snow storm or two or three is headed our way in New Hampshire. I need muscle strength everywhere for that. The most recent storm dumped 16 inches overnight this past week. In and around Boston, some older men had heart attacks etc. Pace yourself and research things you can do like exercise in advance. 

My exercises have also got me to think about the quality of my food and its nutritive value for my body and mind. You too! Some YouTube research enlightened me on super foods for brain and body like salmon, blueberries (especially wild) and eating eggs for breakfast. 

Having a fishing, hunting, hiking etc. goal in front of me helps keep me in better shape.

Good Health Takes Effort on Our Part. 

50 Cal Flintlock Round Ball Effective Range for Deer

Posted on by

As my readers may know, I harvested a red stag doe (called a hind) in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago with my 1775 Pennsylvania flintlock rifle. I estimated the range to the shot at 65 yards with a .490 round ball weighing 177 grains and shooting 100 grains of black powder. This round ball has a ballistic coefficient of .069. If muzzle velocity from my 43 inch barrel is around 1800fps then my energy at 50 yards is just shy of 700 ft-lbs. 

The bullet struck ribs at the rear of lungs and exited the offside shoulder. The bullet was never recovered. The deer did not run, it fast walked 20 yards and fell dead right there. After the black powder smoke cleared, I was impressed. That said, with such a low ballistic coefficient, I would not shoot at deer size game with my flintlock beyond 100 yards  See the distance and energies below.

 

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 *** 1800.0 1.643 1273.2 0.000 0.0 ***
25 0.0 0.1 0.6 2.3 1543.1 1.408 935.7 0.045 0.0 0.0
50 0.6 1.2 2.5 4.8 1322.3 1.207 687.1 0.098 0.0 0.0
75 -0.0 -0.0 5.9 7.5 1148.6 1.048 518.4 0.159 0.0 0.0
100 -2.3 -2.2 10.8 10.3 1029.6 0.940 416.6 0.228 0.0 0.0
125 -6.6 -5.1 16.8 12.8 949.5 0.866 354.3 0.304 0.0 0.0
150 -13.4 -8.5 23.9 15.2 888.7 0.811 310.4 0.386 0.0 0.0
175 -22.8 -12.5 31.8 17.4 838.3 0.765 276.2 0.473 0.0 0.0
200 -35.4 -16.9 40.7 19.4 794.2 0.725 247.9 0.564 0.0 0.0

 

Know your rifle/cartridge and its capabilities.

Good Hunting!

My First and Only Rococo Flintlock Wood Carvings and Revolutionary War Era 50 Cal Pennsylvania Rifle Build

Posted on by

Revisiting My Original “First Time” Carvings and Brass Inlays, I believe there is nostalgic beauty in Rococo floral carvings in Pennsylvania Flintlock Rifles of the Revolutionary War era by Lancaster Counties Jacob Dickert. 

 

I earnestly desired to build my own flintlock rifle several years ago and was quite successful.  Maybe you can too!

I used Jim Chambers Flintlock kits with a premium curly maple stock to begin my Flintlock build. These kits look like ABC and voila you have a flintlock? Not a chance! You will have to earn it!

I went on-line and researched chisels and studied sharpening and chisel techniques.

The opportunities to make chisel cut mistakes abound, yet I persevered to put chisel and hammer to wood. Chisel Fitting the 43 inch barrel, trigger, trigger guard and lock to the stock needs another article.

Below is my first and only Rococo C scroll carving on raw wood. I made a template from drawings of Jacob Dickert 1770’s flintlock rifles, then put chisel to wood. 

Below is my first Rococo C Scroll Jacob Dickert made on his era rifles. “Not half bad”, I thought. 

 

At the tang below, I added this Jacob Dickert floral design. 

To be sure, I was and still am a novice at carving but for me, I was “pleased as punch” for a first. My success asked for more carving however I stopped scroll carving and began to chisel and inlay my already assembled daisy brass patch box and other brass lock plate and brass star accoutrements. I purchases and fitted a second brass patch box, as I damaged the first one and used inappropriate oversize mounting screws. Drilling the big holes in the stock below was a bit scary. 

 

In fact, I sent the brass to an hand engraver familiar with the Jacob Dickert’s work to engrave as Dickert would have done for a top-of-the-line Flintlock. Below is the engraved and inlayed patch box. Can you say stunning!

Below, the engraved Lock Plate!

My finished rifle below and it shoots very well. 

Just recently, I took my Pennsylvania Flintlock to Pennsylvania to hunt Red Stag with patch and round ball. A doe below taken at 65 yards, full penetration and exited the offside shoulder. She fell in a few yards. 

Good Hunting!

Making Hickory Smoked Russian Boar Rib Hors d’Oeuvres

Posted on by

From my November Tioga PA. hunt on November 12, I harvested a 300 lb Russian Boar and today November 21, 2025. I unfroze some ribs and hickory smoked them on my Traeger. 

 

I began by pressure cooking the ribs for 10 minutes in 4 cups herb and garlic infused water and a teaspoon of kosher salt and some vegetable/herb infused beef bouillon. I did not want rib bones to fall out. 

Then, I basted Sweet Baby Rays Kickin’ Bourbon Sauce on them and hickory smoked the ribs for an hour and a half at 260ºF on my Traeger smoker. 

I cut the ribs into bone-in Hors d’Oeuvres and added more Sauce.

Here is how they came out.

Soo Tender! An easy recipe.. Enjoy these ribs with your favorite beer. As the Colonel would say “Finger Lickin’ Good!!

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Red Stag Doe Round Ball Bullet Forensics From My 1775 50 Cal. Flintlock Build

Posted on by

Below, right side entrance wound rear lungs (on right). Left side exit low shoulder and exit. Bullet nicked heart on exit. 

Estimated MV from my Flintlock is around 1900 fps. 

Hornady says

“50 Cal .490 Lead Balls 177 gr

Item #6090 | 100/Box

“Completely uniform in size, weight, and roundness, Hornady® Round Balls deliver consistent and accurate performance.

A smooth, reflective gray sphere against a black background.

They’re cold swaged from pure lead which eliminates air pockets and voids common to cast balls. And the smoother, rounder surface assures better rotation and consistency.”

 

I am very pleased with killing energy and exit of the round ball which traveled from the last right side rib to the offside shoulder (about 18 inches) and exited.  

Good Hunting!

 

Tioga PA Ranch Hunt – Red Stag Deer and Huge Russian Boar with 50 Cal. Flintlock and Crossbow

Posted on by

 Using my Jacob Dickert Pennsylvania 50 cal. Flintlock rifle, it was a challenge to hunt a 200 lb. red stag doe with patch and ball.

I was looking for a meat in the freezer hunt.  

Snow had fallen during the night of November 11, 2025. I woke to hunting and tracking snow.  Breakfast was scrambled eggs and boar sausage. Delish!

My guide Mike says, “let me know when your ready to hunt Ed” I smiled and said, “lets go”. I loaded powder and ball and ram rodded the load down the barrel.  It was a brisk walk up a forested hillside. Soon we began looking for tracks and sight of any game.

Mike said, “Ed, now is a good time to prime the pan, we need to be ready.  I flipped the spoon like frizzen up and added 4F powder to the pan from the small brass feeder tube hanging around my neck . Yep, I said, I’m ready. 

After a while we found fresh tracks in snow. We followed them to a steep incline with large spruce trees along the steep hillside. Walking along the edge of the incline was treacherous as the leaves under snow hid shale rubble to slip on. We took our time and glassed ahead and in the forest valley.

Suddenly, Mike pointed down the hillside to four deer making their way along the incline. He whispered, “Big doe in the group.” The Red Stag doe was hard to spot. Movement gave the group away. At 75 yards, they detected movement from us above. They held fast, allowing me to close the distance using the big spruce to block our movement down the hill.

I had an opening for a shot at the big doe, so I pulled the hammer back and aimed. But I was unsteady on my feet in snow and on a steep angle. Thinking, I had to find a tree with branches to steady my shot, I edged forward.

I was mostly hidden by the tree trunk. Mike was behind me by 20 yards and videoing me closing in. I pulled up the rifle again and fired at about 65 yards. 

Smoke billowed from the barrel.  After smoke cleared, I spotted some brown on the ground ahead.  You can see the snow covered terrain we were in and carefully approach the downed deer. The shot was angled forward into the lungs. 

I was so pleased to harvest this beautiful doe with one shot from my 1775 Flintlock that I built below. A memory I will cherish. Thank you Lord!

 

She will be good eating! Tioga folks carved and vacuum packed all the meat for 150 dollars. Nice!!

Back in New Hampshire, I hope for tracking snow for a whitetail with rifle. But at least some great meat for our family.

Next is to harvest a Russian boar with my TenPoint Crossbow and my Swhacker broadheads.

Mike set me up in an enclosed tree stand while several huge Russian boar wandered by me. One big boar made its way to a window for a shot. I did not have a good brace to rest the crossbow.  At the shot the boar was hit low in the midsection.

He was hit hard but not a killing shot. I could see him laying low at 40 yards. 

I got out of my stand and loaded another arrow.

 When the boar saw me approach he limped away slowly. I used trees to hide my approach and managed, to shoot him again at around 25 yards. Both shots exited the big boar. He fell for the final time. 

300 lb Russian Boar

Happy Hunter with my TenPoint Crossbow. 

Boar at the skinning shed below. Lots of pork chops!

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Hampshire Muzzleloader Hunters Get Ready for the Deer Woods

Posted on by

Gather up and sort your hunting gear, it’s almost time. Got muzzleloader, powder, and bullets? Got license and pen? Got a sharp knife? Got hand warmers?

It all goes through my mind like a mental dry run.

Now get out and scout your hunting areas. You can amp up your area with making mock rubs and scrapes but be careful to do it remotely where other hunters may not readily see them. 

Get to the range to check your accuracy. I run a swab though my muzzleloader and shoot it before the hunt to season the barrel for accuracy. One of my new thoughts is to take a 5 gal bucket to sit on. I sprayed one with camo paint. 

I actually bought a camo 5 gal bucket seat back pack for a seat and storage on Amazon. 

Hunting alone? How to get your deer in your truck?

 

Good Hunting!