Which Kind of Stew Do I Prefer? Black Bear, Venison or Wild Boar?

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Honestly, I like all of these wild game stews, but my very favorite of-late is Black Bear. I say “of-late” because I was reintroduced to hunting Maine black bear in the fall.  Especially after gorging on blueberries, raspberries and acorns, bears are plump and delish.

I covet bear fat and render it for cooking, lubricating, softening leather, my hands, and even rust prevention. Great for my Flintlock, cleaning and lube for patch and round ball. 

Springtime east coast black bears on the other hand are also leaner and eat more carrion and grass.

You are what you eat.

I like the idea of eating game fed on blueberries, fruits and nuts.

I met folks in Alberta, Canada who avoid spring black bear meat as it smells and tastes strong. 

The grain of Northeast US black bear meat does not separate into large strands (to get caught in teeth when chewing) like other wild game, yet very tender when day long stewed or pressure cooked. I prefer pressure cooking till meat falls apart, say 40 to 50 minutes or so under high pressure. 

Good Eating!

Home Made Baked Beans Pressure Cooked with Bear or Venison – A Meal for Cold Weather Hunting!

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Cold Outside? Home made steaming hot Baked Beans (Navy Beans) warm me up! I use a modern pressure cooker like Instant Pot. But add some wild game too.

There is a long tradition in the Hale family to make baked beans especially in winter. 
But I cut out the laborious baking for several hours.
I just-recently began pressure cooking them. The secret of great bean making is soaking beans for many hours or overnight. Right?
I speed up the soak process by pressure cooking them for one minute and letting them rest for an hour.
Put a pound or so of dry beans in cooker, add water to cover by 2 inches with a tbsp kosher salt and 1 tsp baking soda (reduces gas) then use high pressure for 1 minute then shut off for 1 hour.
Then, rinse beans and put back in cooker.
In a separate 2 qt bowl, add 3 cups water, 1/3 cup molasses, 1/2c brown sugar,1tbsp Worcestershire, 1 1/4 tsp dry mustard, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 tsp ground black pepper, One onion rough diced, 2 tsp dices garlic, 3 slices of rough chopped raw bacon.
Here, you can add very small cuts/cubes of some wild game say 1/4 lb for more protein. I like bear meat a bit more.  
Then  add all the ingredients to the beans into the cooker.
Pressure cook for 50 minutes.
It is done! Now release the steam pressure, open and enjoy! Done in 2 hours! Wow!!!
The sweet of molasses and sugar coupled with flavor of beans and bacon, game meat, Worcestershire, mustard and garlic simply blows my mind.
OMG- Makes 4 pints. Freeze in pint ball jars. To thaw place in cool water for one or 2 hours. Heat and eat. Great hot beans for breakfast with eggs and bacon, home fries and a hot cup of coffee. You have enough energy and protein to hunt in cold weather for many hours.
Warm Belly?
Go Hunting!

50 Cal Flintlock Round Ball Effective Range for Deer

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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

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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!

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

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!

 

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!

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!