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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!

Smoked Grilled Red Stag Backstrap WOW!

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It has been almost a week since I put my Tioga PA red stag doe meat in the freezer. After viewing some online recipes, I honestly got a meateater attack, so I grabbed a small backstrap section from the freezer and sous vide it in a 125ºF water bath (below) for a few hours till it hit 120F.

The sous vide does a great job in prevention of overcooked venison. Set it for time and temperature and forget it. 

Next, I lightly seasoned the meat with Montreal steak seasoning and a touch of garlic powder. Then…

Then hickory smoked it at 225ºF on my Traeger for an hour till it hit 123F internal temp. 

I cranked up my Weber grill to 400F and quickly seared the meat.

 

I put a temp probe in the meat at the end of searing. It read 125F. 

The meat came out rare to medium-rare. And so tender and delicious.

 

I had some leftover cooked Basmati rice and mushrooms and served that with it. Wow!

Can’t wait for more to eat and serve to family!

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

Levi Morgan 125g Swhacker 269 2.25 inch Cut On Russian Boar

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My TenPoint Turbo with Swhackers are a formidable hunting combination.

Upon examination of my huge Russian boar found the entrance and exit wound of these Levi Morgan Swhackers. Looking closely, the exit wound is seen here in this picture below. 

 

One inch entry Wound seen here looks like it clipped a rib bone below, then the virgin blades opened to 2.25 inches

Exit wound below is 2.25 inches cleanly severing 2 ribs seen on exit. The arrow exited so fast that it was never recovered. Shot was taken at 25 yards with my TenPoint Turbo S1. Muzzle velocity is 350 fps.

I was impressed. Equally the Standard 2 blade (straight edge) swhacker 231’s fully penetrated and exited my estimated 200 lb. September Bear with such velocity/energy that the head exploded on striking solid granite after exiting. 

I’m a Swhacker fan!!

Good Hunting!

Heading to PA’s Tioga Ranch for a Meat Hunt?

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This coming week I am heading to Tioga Ranch https://www.tiogaboarhunting.com/ for some big game hunting for fun and freezer meat. Maybe something more? We shall see.

“Ok, ok” I said to My 50 cal. Jacob Dickert Pennsylvania flintlock. It has been tugging on me to go hunting. But will take my 7mm Rem Mag and TenPoint crossbow too. 

 

Years back, I harvested a red deer doe in Maine called a “hind”. She was big, maybe 200 lbs. dressed and got a lot of delicious meat. See below.

Tioga has a wide variety of game and includes skin and quarter for free. And for $150 more they will butcher and vacuum seal your meat.

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

 

Southern NH Deer Hunt Observations

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Unfortunately the Southern New Hampshire drought has largely destroyed the mast acorn crop near my home in Rockingham County.   

This does not bode well for wintering wild game, especially deer and turkey.

Couple this with high wind conditions has local deer hunkered down.

Yes the Rut is on so the bucks may make a mistake. 

I am hoping to get out again and hunt once the wind subsides. 

Patience is a virtue!

 

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!

 

 

 

Black Bear Backstrap Roasted Garlic Teriyaki Kabobs

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I was so impressed with the flavor of my  Maine Black Bear backstraps that I noted the recipe here. 

 

After vacuum sealing, I froze the meat for 3 weeks then thawed some for my early October dinner. Vacuum sealing the meat is key to quality meat. 

Backstrap Kabobs is a very easy meal to create. I basted the meat and vegetables with Kikkoman Roasted Garlic Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce. Now on skewers, I put the kabobs on my Traeger hickory smoker with the veggies and set the cooking temperature to 300ºF.  When the meat temp hits 160ºF via handheld temp. probe, the meat is done.

I wanted some char marks on the meat and veggies so I put them on my 400ºF Weber grill and basted with butter for a few minutes.

As a display below, I placed the meat and vegetables on a bed of basmati rice and drizzled more garlic roasted teriyaki sauce over the dish.

OMG soo delicious.

The smoked roasted meat was not tough, but had a chew to it. Meat flavor was excellent. I love this dish for its simplicity. 

Enjoy!

Southern New Hampshire – Beware of October Deer Ticks

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Working in the back yard, both my wife and I were bitten by  suspect Deer Tick Larva/Nymphs (see magnified images) on October 2nd.

Ixodes scapularis typically lays eggs in the spring. These hatch into larva in the summer. The following spring, nymphs feed and then molt into adults later in the fall. Adult females will seek a blood meal and lay eggs the following spring, completing the lifecycle.

 

We discovered them within one day, thus should not have any medical concerns

Beware -These infinitesimally small deer ticks are much smaller than a sesame seed.

Accordingly, I sprayed my clothes and sneakers with permethrin. Ticks hate it.

 

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!

 

Simmons Mako Shark Broadhead – Best In Class?

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As my readers know, I bought a three pack of Simmons Mako Broadheads ($49.95) for full penetration on black bear.

We shall see…

Over the years, I resisted broadheads with a curved blade largely due to my mindset over sharpening one.

There are many videos on sharpening these heads to razor sharpness with a few tools. I will do this in another article. 

What came to mind today was to maximize penetration on bear with a 50 pound compound bow.

It is perhaps one the strongest broadheads I have seen in 50 years of hunting.

See the back image of the head where blade thickness can be seen. Spec. thickness of the main 440c stainless blade is 0.050 and the bleeder is 0.035 or so inches. That is thick! Rockwell is around 54. Wow!

 

Compared to my current broadhead (on left), it is shorter but so much more stout.

I shot the Mako at 20 yards and it flew perfectly. Energy calculates to near 45 ft-lbs.

FOC is 12% with 125 grain Mako.

I did a spin test as well. Perfect!! What makes todays cut-on-contact broadheads so great is an integral threaded ferrule that is part of the broadhead that is machine centered for spin. No wobble like in years past. 

More soon!