Today, Wednesday October 23, 2013 and I haven’t heard a thing about the Moose Hunt so I decided to take a drive with my Nikon camera to the New Hampton Moose Registration Station just south of Plymouth NH to see what’s happening.

I arrived around 11:30 AM to observe a Moose being checked it.  It was huge!  It had a whopping 53 inch spread. The hunters were Dave Deluca who made the first kill shot and Alan Michalowski with a follow-up shot to the neck.  The Moose fell dead right there.

Dave and Alan were up  for the past 16 hours and either gutting,cutting, dragging, or caping out this monster with no sleep.

What a terrific hunting team they made.  Dave credits Alan with his excellent taxidermy prep. caping skills. They seemed no worse for wear as they were all smiles as I snapped photo’s and took video while getting their story. The NHFG Biologist’s were very helpful and informative to all of us. Listen to the initial video clip below. You can maximize the clip by clicking on the box at right in the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3LC1IrEgXI

The bulls live weight is estimated at 800 pounds. Antler spread was a whopping 53 inches.The age is estimated at 4 1/2 years.

Rifle/Cartridges for Dave was .270 Winchester with 150 grain bullets and for Alan a .308 Winchester with 180 grain Silvertips. Nice! (Editor Note: Go to my June 2013 Archive to read more on Moose and Cartridges).

Below the NHFG Biologist says Ahhhh and ages the Moose by its teeth. If you can see the red bar in his hands he is prying the mouth open wide so he can get a good look inside.

A local high school biology class was there to observe too. I promised the teacher, I would send photo’s of her students in observation of the Biologists. Not shown as she needed to get permission for me to use them.

THE HUNT STORY

The Hunting story as Dave and Alan recall it was Yesterday October 22, 2013 at 3:40 in the afternoon in Unit G.  Dave and Alan were hunting in the same area that this duo shot another giant Bull Moose 10 years ago. Wow!

They crested a rise deep in the woods and there in front of them was a 4 1/2 year old monster bull bedded down about 70 yards away. It was Dave’s tag but instead of shooting right away he began to fiddle with the HD Camera attached to his rifle according to his partner Alan. Alan was getting nervous with the camera fiddling that Dave was doing. It was around that time that the saw the other two monster bulls bedded beside the one they were going to shoot. What! Let me say that another way. There were three bulls all about the same size bedded together. Yes Really!!! Here it is in their own words in the youtube clip below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWi8dC131Qk

Initially, Alan and Dave only saw the one Bull directly in front of them. I can’t say that I blame them, he was huge! I suspect when the other bulls started moving antlers that the hunters were truly shocked.

Dave shot first while the Moose was still bedded. Then all heck broke loose and Alan followed up with a neck shot and the Moose fell dead. I assume the other two Bulls left in a hurry. Alan says he has the info and photo’s of their last Moose Hunt so we will post that story too. More to come!!

By Alan E. Lutz

Bear season opens on the first of September in New Hampshire.  Alan Lutz, Vice President of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation had the pleasure of hunting with guide Mitch Filson of Cast and Blast Guide Services.  Mitch had set up his bait sites soon as the season opened.  One of the sites was located adjacent to a dairy farmer’s corn crop.  Unfortunately for the farmer, the bears were making quite a feast of the corn, having knocked down nearly a quarter acre of this important feed crop for his cattle.

After checking the bait sites for several days to insure the bears were actually visiting the bait, Mitch gave the author a call to set up the time and day for the hunt.  Alan met Mitch around 3:00 in the afternoon and proceeded to the farmer’s property.  Alan parked his truck and joined Mitch who drove him near the stand he had set up earlier.  By the time clothes were changed, rifle loaded and the tree stand entered, it was nearly 4:00 pm.  The stand gave a clear view of the bait site along with a good view of the two spots in the corn where the bears had been feasting.  Mitch gave clear instructions to be quiet and, most importantly, to “keep your head on a swivel.”  As Mitch indicated, bears are very quiet when walking through the woods as the author soon found out.

Every so often Alan would make a full scan of the surroundings.  He would look to the right into the woods, back to the left into the corn and around to the bait site directly in front.  At around 6:55 pm he was making his scan and when coming around from the left towards the bait site, he noticed something dark at about the 10 o’clock position. It was a bear …and it wasn’t far away, maybe 30 yards.  At this point all he could clearly see was the hind quarters so he knew the bear would not see the Weatherby 30-06 being raised into position.  As the gun was raised, the bear sensed something was amiss and turned left and began to slowly walk away.  Fortunately for Alan, this brought the bear into a perfect position for a shot.  The crease behind the shoulder stood out clearly as the shot was made.  The 180 grain Nosler Partition dropped the bear in its tracks.  A 173 lb. female.

After several minutes of adrenaline and heart pounding excitement, a call was made to Mitch who showed up rather quickly with his ATV.  After a few photos were taken the bear was transported to Mitch’s truck.  The bear was field dressed and loaded up.

The end of an exciting bear hunt in the great state of New Hampshire!

Editor’s Note: Reprinted with the Authors permission. Alan is a long time friend of mine and also hunted Africa with the same outfitter as I did. Nice Bear! Congratulations Alan!

If you are a bowhunter you should have been in your treestand before light. The bucks are on the prowl for does coming into heat. Yes it is early but a few does coming into heat early is all it takes for bucks to go crazy and let their guard down. Calls work, rattling works, scents work and best of all combinations work. For every day that gets closer to the Rut peak which is somewhere in mid November the bucks are on the prowl for a hot doe in estrus. The breeding drum beats louder with each day closer to the peak.

Deer gather in fields and open areas at night to be seen and smelled by breeding deer. Long before light the bigger bucks will leave the fields/open areas and head back to their bedding areas. Look for scrapes, rubs and trails try to build a travel corridor from what you see from suspected bedding areas to feeding areas. The best tree stands are going to be in the woods and away from the fields.

A mistake of early detection by big bucks will cost you. You will likely never see that buck again in daylight. Lesser bucks yes, does yes. Mature bucks no! A mature buck did not become mature by making mistakes. There are many mature bucks that live and die that you will never see because they are never in daylight walking around.

Most mistakes deal with your body odor or your stand placement and your foot/boot odor on a deer trail. Spray your boots every time you enter the woods and keep your hunting boots away from pets and the kitchen odors. Spray your clothes each time you enter the woods. Keep your scent at minimum each time and every time you hunt if you want to maximize your chances of a bow shot. I have made all the mistakes and still do, though I try. Breaking twigs under foot can undo your efforts as well so approach your tree stand as if there is a deer near it. Make as little noise as possible. Be aware that deer do look up if they have been hunted before from tree stands. I had a big buck in Pennsylvania that spotted me every time no matter what I did. I had one chance early on, where he chased a doe under my stand but there was so much brush over his head that I could not shoot for fear of arrow deflection or worse a wounded deer. I let him go. What a buck!

If you are scouting for rifle season or Muzzleloader stay away from tree stands of other hunters. Give them the respect that you would want if the roles were reversed. By staying away from these stands you also keep scent away from them.

Crossing trails with other hunters on the ground in the deer woods during gun season gives me an opportunity to greet your fellow hunter see if they are alone or with others. Occasionally, you might get a response that they jumped a deer on the way in or some tidbit that gives you a hunting edge. Let’s be respectful of our hunting brethren and sisters too. Good Hunting! © 2013

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.  ©