Category Archives: Big Game Hunting

Articles about Big Game Hunting.

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

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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

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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

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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

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 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

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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!

 

 

 

Very Successful Maine Bear Hunt 2025 with Foggy Mountain Guide Service

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Author Ed Hale and his large boar taken with Crossbow

I began my second Maine bear hunt with Foggy Mountain and my friend Brandon Bishop, owner and Master Maine Guide. 

https://www.foggymountain.com/

I was hunting along the beautiful West Branch of the Penobscot River below. A truly wild place in which time forgot!

 

Monday, September 9th was a cool morning 52ºF with clear skies. I arrived at the bait site after a 20 mile dirt road drive. I asked my guide Ken to place me at the furthest secluded bait site and a ground blind. 

The location was thick with fir trees, some fallen with gnarled roots thrust in the air. The rusted steel barrel in the picture below. If the barrel could talk, it would tell of many bear hunting stories.  

Above, my 10 Point Crossbow positioned on a Death Grip Tripod at the ready with my Swhacker broadheads below! The Death Grip Tripod held the crossbow in its vice-like grip.

 

The forest sounds were of blue-jays, ravens and red squirrels chattering in the distance. 

I was hopeful, with a rusty bait barrel full of bear goodies just 29 yards away.

By sunset, at the 7PM hour, I had a hard time seeing clearly. I slipped quietly out of the stand hopeful for the next day.

The 20 mile drive back to camp was long and dodging rain filled potholes at every turn.

I was shown directions to the bait just once. On the way out I was making sure I made the right turns to get back safely. 

A truly grand adventure, stretching my hunter capabilities!  

At camp I arrived to six bears on the meat pole taken by bear hunters on day one. There were 20 hunters in camp and a bevy of guides. Below Brandon Bishop looks on. 

 

Most hunters used a rifle, but I successfully did that last year. My Ten Point Turbo Crossbow was easily up to the task shooting my swhacker 2.5 inch cut broadheads at 350 fps.

This property I hunted on is owned by many Timber Corporations and comprises 3.5 million acres of prime wild and diverse Maine habitat. 

These millions of acres is accessed is by hundreds of miles of dirt roads maintained by these timber companies. See my muddy, but very sturdy, silver Tacoma TRD 4×4 below. My trusty steed!

The next day, September 9th after a big lunch, I was ready for the hunt. Trekking to my bear stand, I decided to park further away, so as not to spook game.

It was 2 o’clock when I settled in. I had to adjust my tripod and seat for the long anticipated 5 hour sit, without moving much.

It was 3:10PM, when suddenly a black bear appeared out of thin air at the bait.

I have harvested two smaller bears in the recent past, thus I checked the bear out with my binoculars. “OMG, I thought, its a big bear.”

The bear stuffed his head in the bait barrel for just a second, then backed out, and turned and walked toward me. It all happened in an instant. 

My crosshairs were on him but a chest facing shot with a crossbow is not a killing shot.

At 20 yards, he peered into my brushy blind and decided it was empty and began to turn back. As the bear swung broadside, I launched my 350 fps arrow. I watched the arrow disappear into the bears chest behind the front left leg.  The bear ran to my left.   I was sure I made a good broadside shot. I packed up my gear and headed out to wait for my guide. I sent a satellite text message to my guide and headed to a rendezvous point. At 5 PM I hooked back up with Ken, my guide, who was already recovering another hunters bear and loaded it in the hunters truck. 

Below, Ken had another bear guide with him and Ken’s pet bear dog, a small black lab trained for bear retrieval. 

At my bait site we found the blood covered arrow.

I was all Smiles.

It took the dog just 10 minutes to locate the very dead bear just 60 yards from the bait. 

Below back at camp my bear was about my height, a 67 inch boar with huge claws.  

I stayed an extra day till my meat and hide froze in the camp freezer. 

Below, this stream produced some local brook trout. Great fun!

Bear meat is in my freezer and my bear skin is at the taxidermist for making a rug. I will be doing my own meat processing and vacuum sealing. Bear meat is delicious!

Happy Trails!

Good Hunting!

 

Sharpening Mako Shark Broadheads

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First, I found these broadheads come sharp already but in my estimation they can be sharper still. On one head I found one side sharper than the other. You can use these heads for hunting right out of the box and can be resharpened and reused many times. 

Or you can disassemble them and use a Stay Sharp C sharpener below. Just don’t lose the tiny screw that holds the blade. The C sharpener does a very good job of resharpening your main blade and bleeder blades. 

Another method is to use a wheel knife sharpener below on the assembled main blade.

I took off the bleeder blade but you may not have to.  Experiment with the angle you draw the blade through. I have one on order. Many like the simplicity of the wheels. Tip the head down at a 45 deg angle or more. With some pressure, draw the blade toward you several times. You should feel some scraping. Then draw with less pressure. Strop with curved or folded leather or denim. Test to easily cut paper.

 

Yet another simple method is to strop these blades on an oval steel diamond coated Jewel Stick. This won’t sharpen the bleeder blades though. I like this method for touch up the most. It is quick and does a shaving sharp job with practice.

Good Hunting!

 

Arrow Energy and Penetration for Black Bear

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I went on-line in search of recommended minimum arrow energies and penetration criteria.  I found that baseline bow energies begin at around 40 foot-pounds and go up from there. My compound currently has a peak weight of 50 lbs., shoots 185 fps and has 45 ft-lbs of energy off the bow shelf. Is that enough? It depends on your arrow weight and broadhead choice. A light arrow of say 400 grains will lack momentum. Couple this light arrow with a mechanical broadhead or say a three or 4 blade head will offer better cutting but far less or even no full penetration.

On bear, full penetration through both lungs and an exit wound for a blood trail are a necessity.

Under lighter bow and arrow weight, it would be wise to rethink your arrow weight and broadhead choice. Heavier arrows penetrate better as does a cut-on-contact broadhead with a lighter bow weight/arrow weight setup.

The goal is accuracy coupled with penetration by choosing a heavier arrow and perhaps a sharp 2 blade cut-on-contact head to reduce friction.

Accordingly, my 50 lb bow setup (may increase peak weight before the hunt) uses a very heavy arrow of 575 grains for momentum and a two blade cut-on-contact broadhead to reduce friction and maximize an exit wound for blood trailing. Momentum per my Garmin Chrono. note PF- Power Factor is 105.8 KG Ft/Sec. 

I am using a 2219 XX75 with a 2 blade 125g Steel Force head. It shoots like my field points at 20 yards. Reviews of this head for strength are mediocre thus I may try a stronger broadhead. Stay tuned…

Long time big game hunters attest to using heavier arrows given short shooting distances especially on big and dangerous game. 

Good Hunting!

My Maine Bear Returns From The Taxidermist – Updated

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I chose a half mount and it came out pretty realistic. He is a small bear but made for a great life-like half mount. This fall bear feasted on blueberries and raspberries before I took him with my 7mm Rem Mag and a 160 grain Nosler Partition. This winter and cold spring my wife and I enjoyed bear meatloaf and stew, my favorite dishes. I even had it for breakfast! The flavor was terrific.

Below, I did a knotty cedar/pine wall in my basement with the bear as the wall centerpiece. 

I added my Lancaster Revolutionary war 50 cal. flintlock rifle on the left. I built it several years back and it shoots a ball and patch as good as it looks! 

 I’m headed back to Maine in a Month for another opportunity with my bow or crossbow. Who knows, maybe even bigger!

 

Good Hunting!

Big Game Crossbow Bowhunting For Seniors

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We older bowhunters still have a strong desire to hunt big game. As we age we have issues with arms, joints, eyes etc.

“Staying in the game” is paramount to many of us because we love the adventure and excitement of the hunt and the resulting associated adrenaline. Without the fight/flight adrenaline many of us would not be hunters or for that matter, fishermen. 

Enter the modern crossbow. Today you can find crossbows everywhere in the hunting world and they pack a punch and accurate.

I have harvested wild boar with a recurve crossbow from Excalibur;

and black bear with my 10 Point Turbo. 

Of prime importance is accuracy. We owe it to the game we hunt!

I still love to shoot my recurve and compound bow but find my ability to pull and shoot heavier poundage is waning as I age. Years ago, when I was doing IBO 3D, I was pulling up to 82 pounds. Yikes!

Todays latest crossbows utilize hand cranks to pull and load the string, thus making it easy for seniors and juniors to shoot a powerful arrow and a sharp broadhead at big game.

The crossbow allows much more kinetic energy and penetration today than ever before. But you still have to get closer to game making it a real challenge. The hunter still needs to practice with the crossbow, loading, unloading, shooting at many distances.

Good Hunting!