375 JDJ for moose

One of my great passions in life is hunting and if I were limited to one thing it would be with handguns. There is something different about hunting game with a limited range firearm such as a scoped revolver or single shot handgun. I know some people are very passionate about hunting with a bow or a muzzleloader but for me it is the short gun, so to speak.

This year I was picked for a NH moose permit. Ironically I became aware of the news the day before I got married. Hopefully this is an omen of good. I was contemplating as to what to use for this hunt. The zone is north of Concord and basically a wedge of land between Route 89 and 93. In a nutshell, a very tough area to hunt. Many people think that moose hunting is a pushover. Well I have been blessed by going on two hunts and they are far from being associated with shooting a milk cow in a pasture. Bear in mind that a moose is the largest member of the deer family, so they are a big deer and deer aren't exactly stupid. Add the fact that I am using a limited range weapon and you create a real challenge.

One of my favorite rounds is the old 45-70. Many years ago I bought a Super 16 barrel in that caliber when it first came out. I had taken many different types of game with it and would probably use it this season but the locking lug cracked on it. Off to the factory for repairs which seem to be taking an inordinate amount of time. Since I have less than a month to get good with a specialty hunting pistol I had chosen a different barrel.

Several years ago Thompson Center would hold their annual tent sale in June. I loved it in the fact that you could by a lot of things at cost. One year I had to work so Mom and Dad went to get a birthday barrel for me. Mom is a great haggler and in a nutshell she obtained a brand new .375 Winchester Super 14 blued barrel for $80. That fall I shot a nice black bear in Maine with that particular barrel. I did have some other plans for it. A man named Mike Sirois in Dover NH ran an outfit called OTT. He rechambered gun barrels using an EDM process. This process involved machining an electrode that would erode a chamber in a barrel vs. a cutter. The result is a barrel that has great concentricity and accuracy. I had him rechamber the barrel in 375 JDJ. For licensing purposes he marked my barrel as 375x444.

That year my mother was chosen for a NH moose permit and she allowed me as subpermittee to hunt. It was a rough week and I did get one small button bull towards the end of the hunt. The 375 JDJ dropped it in its tracks.

For a short time TC made the 375 JDJ as a standard caliber and Hornady made factory ammuniton for a few years. They loaded up a 220 grain flat point at 2200 fps. Across my chronograph the factory ammunition ran 2230 on average out of the 14" barrel. I never handloaded for it until now. Hornady discontinued the caliber as well as TC except for custom shop chamberings. Too bad as it fills a gap.

I took a Leupold Double Dovetail base and epoxied it into place. Screws tightened down and secured with a Burris 1.5 x 4 power handgun scope mounted in place. I did some shooting at the range at after sighting in at 100 yards it basically will do a 1 1/2 inch group with three shots. I will confess it has some recoil. My first shot taught me a lesson to be aware of my elbows on the bench. At the shot my elbow was driven into the weatherbeaten wood. Ouch. After zeroing in at 100 I decided to give it a rest. I have thirty factory rounds left. I will dedicate those for hunting while taking the rest of the empty brass and load them up for some practice. Hopefully I will be in shape for the opening day in October. It is coming soon.

NH Moose.Again?

On the day before I was to get married my future wife and I were eating a noon time meal at a nice pub. Although I am somewhat of a luddite I did check my phone apps and tried to find out if anyone of us had been chosen for the NH moose permit lottery. Much to my chagrin I was a winner. I could not believe I was chosen. In 2003 I was picked for Zone B in the northern tip of the state. That hunt was memorable and I had taken a fine bull with a single shot handgun. I used my favorite gun, a TC Contender with a Super 16 45-70 barrel. The following year my mother was chosen and I shot another moose albeit smaller with a TC Contender in 375 JDJ. That hunt too was very memorable.

Now for 2011 I had been picked for the moose hunt. I have an either sex permit for Zone I 1 which is north of Concord. It is mid state and from what others have told me it is a tough zone. I will have to hunt my butt off ,so to speak. It looks like I will have to do a great deal of scouting and practice with the Contender.

New toy for the winter(221 Fireball)

It has been quite some time since I had posted on this creation. One of the realities of modern life is that computers can be a double edged sword. Don't get me wrong about them. I like to surf the net and post on various forums but the use of the computer has increased at my job. More of my time is found behind a screen for various purposes and what seems to happen is that when you have spare time you would rather not spend it with something that you use at work.

Today I did some shooting at our club's range. Maybe I overthink things but I wanted to do some varmint hunting this winter. One of the best ways to take them in the northeast is to hunt over a bait, especially at night with snow cover and some moonlight. Many hunters in the northeast have been successfully taking coyotes over buckets of frozen meat scraps nicknamed meatcicles. Here in Massachusetts you can shoot varmints with any centerfire rifle or handgun during shooting hours. After the sun sets, it becomes a different matter. The law states that you are restricted to rifles no larger than .22 lr or handguns chambered larger than .38 caliber. To my thinking, the statement caliber means bore size and I figure that a TC Contender with the right optic and the right caliber would be the right combination to use at night over bait and yet fall within the law. It seems odd that I bought a Contender barrel chambered in .221 Fireball but my rationale is that it was originally designed as a handgun round and it is under the .38 caliber restriction. Trust me, I have talked to a number of law enforcement officers and many were confused in this arena. I figure that by following the letter of the law I am AOK.

So far this winter has been pretty snowy. We had two storms in a row and it appears that later this week we will have another. I donned my snowshoes and trudged to the pistol range. Normally it is plowed out but we had technical difficulties.

When I bought the barrel, which was used, it came with a set of reloading dies. All I have to do is collect brass for reloading. I called up my friend and asked if he had any on the shelf. That was affirmative and so I picked up two boxes of Remington 221 Fireball loaded with a 50 grain Accu Tip bullet.

As a rule if you have a really accurate barrel such as this one made by Match Grade Machine you would put on a nice variable handgun scope like a Burris 2-7 or 3-9 but this barrel has a special purpose. Oddly I mounted a now out of production Tasco 1.5 x pistol scope. This scope has a post and cross hair reticule with the tip of the post illuminated with a three position switch. This reticule isn't the best one for MOA accuracy but I don't believe I will get too many shots outside of the fifty yard mark. Most of the terrain where I hunt is thickly wooded. You aren't going to get the same long shots that one normally associates coyote or other varmint hunting like the Great Plains.

I had sat down at the bench and fired a few rounds. A quick adjustment of the turrets and the barrel was dead on at 25 yards.As you can see the group isn't too bad. Bear in mind that it was a very cold day and we're expected to have three nights of below zero temperatures. Ok. I know that it should be at least fifty yards but I really didn't feel like trudging through all of that snow at the rifle range carrying all kinds of stuff. Quite possibly tommorrow will find me at the rifle range shooting at a greater distance to fine tune the barrel. Right now I am happy with it and what would make me happier would be to find something like a coyote in my range. Take care.

Florida Hunt

The past deer season has been rough. In fact, the past two deer seasons have been rough to say the least. This is one of the longest stretches when our families went without any venison. As a rule we would take two to four deer per season. We had a real hot spot but as with all things time changes things. It has been a long year and we deserved a good vacation. My parents would like to enjoy some gold in their golden years thus I had arranged to obtain a rental home in the Melbourne area. They were vacationing for a couple of weeks before Mary and I headed down for a two week respite from the daily grind of life.

The trip wasn't too bad going down and we spent a whole day in the St. Augustine area before going south to Melbourne. We say many sights including three days at Disney World , airboat rides and seeing the beaches. One negative that we ran into was that Florida was experiencing it's coldest winter since 1958. I did wade into the ocean at Indiatlantic Beach but it felt like the water in Maine. It was quite chilly.

I conducted a number of searches on the internet for a place to hunt wild hogs. Florida has some of the best wild boar hunting in the United States. Florida has over one million of these animals inhabiting most parts of the Sunshine State. To be honest the best hunting is found on private land. It is hard for some of us raised in a place where if land was unposted you could just go hunt on it. Florida is very different. Most of the hunting on private land involves a transaction of some sorts. So in other words you are going to pay to hunt. There are many guides, outfitters and clubs that offer all types of hunting at different rates. Some are astronomical while others are very cheap. As the Romans stated, let the buyer be aware.

I found a place called L and R High Adventure who advertised very reasonable wild boar hunts. I discussed the hunt with Dad and he was all in favor of it. He had never hunted wild boar before in his life. For me this would be my 8th hunt for wild boar. This hunt would be a tad different in many ways. For one, my father would be joining me. Another is that I would be using a muzzleloading handgun. I bought a Thompson Center G2 muzzleloading rifle barrel in .50 caliber a while back. I had a local gunsmith cut and crown the barrel to 16 1/2 inches. I can use this barrel in the form of a carbine or a specialty handgun. I mounted a Tasco Propoint optical sight on it. I spent some time at the range which included shooting some different types of bullets at water jugs to test some bullet performance. I settled on using two Hodgdon Triple 7 pellets with a 240 grain TC XTP sabot bullet. In my barrel it is accurate and from testing on the water jugs it seems to have the power needed to take down these animals.

Dad thought about using his crossbow but he did not feel that he had enough practice with it to be proficient. He decided to take his H&R single shot shotgun with the 12 gauge slug barrel. He used Winchester Western 385 grain sabot slugs as his hunting load. His gun as well is mounted with a Tasco Propoint optical sight.

We drove south from Melbourne down Rte 95 and then west on Rte 60 towards Yeehaw Junction. The drive from Route 95 to Yeehaw Junction is very bucolic. Orange groves and pasture was the dominant feature in this area. As far as the eye could see it seemed to be an endless vista of citrus. At Yeehaw Junction we turned south on Rte 441 to the town of Fort Drum. This drive to me was going through the real Florida. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed many things in the Sunshine State but I sort of bemoan the overbuilding that has happened in the past few decades along the coast. To me, the movie based on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings" The Yearling" will always be what I consider to be the real Florida. We passed through Fort Drum and then went down one of the roads and then to the entrance of the ranch. I spoke with the guide and agreed to meet him at around noon time. We found the place and waited. The operation covers approximately 2000 acres of divided pasture. The main way to hunt in such a place is to drive though the pastures on a large swamp buggy.

Dad and I met the guide and we then headed out. We hunted these animals with the aid of a dog. The guide , Robert, owned a cur dog which would basically flush out these animals. We drove around and he let the dog out of a special cage under the buggy. Bear in mind that the buggy is very tall. Almost like a double decker bus in some ways.

One of the things about wild boar is that they like to hide in the palmetto thickets. They can be literally feet away from you and you will not see them. As we drove one was kicked out. The dog then would keep the animal busy while the hunter would ready himself for a shot. The dog followed the boar and would run and bite the tail. The boar would turn and lash out at the dog. The dog was very adept at running around the hog. As the boar was being bayed I stepped down from the buggy and readied my gun. The guide motioned for me to enter this thick palmetto grove. Soon I spotted the boar. It was broadside . The guide instructed me carefully as to when I could shoot. He was worried about the dog being hit. In fact I was worried myself. Before we hunted we had to sign an agreement. If we accidentally shot the dog, it would cost us $2000. The same was true if we accidentally shot any cow or $5000 for a bull. I suspect that this has happened in the past. I broke the action of the TC Contender and slipped in a 209 shot shell primer. I snapped the action shut and readied myself. I placed the red dot on the front leg of the animal and went up halfway in the chest. I squeezed the trigger and the hammer fell. I cloud of white smoke obscured my view momentarily as I peered through the red dot sight. The boar started to move off but not for long. The animal faltered and fell. I was elated at taking this nice wild boar. Soon we dragged the boar to the buggy and loaded it up on the rack. The animal was quiet heavy and had some nice tusks. Dad was smiling at the event. Soon we took off. Now it was Dad's turn. We drove and and went looking. We would listen for the dog and then drive off to where it was. As we drove we found where the dog had jumped a large spotted wild boar. This boar was very big and it looked more like a hyena than a boar. My Dad decided that he wanted to take it. The boar took off and was held at bay in another palmetto thicket. It seems that the boars will seek out some sort of thick cover when they are pursued. My Dad climbed down from the buggy and readied his shotgun. What happened next I can't say for sure but soon I heard a shot ring out. Then another. My Dad had his first wild boar. Later Dad told me what happened. He was getting ready for the shot but there seemed to be some miscommunication. Robert the guide did not want you to shoot until he gave the ok but he did want you to aim and be ready to pull the trigger. Again he is worried about the dog and frankly he doesn't really know us. Robert called the dog off and the boar moved at the shot . Dad quickly reloaded and fired a killing shot. There isn't much that will not fall to a shotgun slug.

That wild boar was left in place as we had two more to get and we didn't have enough room. Now it was my turn again. I was gaining some confidence with the new barrel. I wasn't sure how well it would work but after one boar being dropped I figured it had all of the power needed to take large game cleanly. We then took off and soon kicked up another wild boar. My father was going to take this one. Yellow, the cur dog was off and running. He was keeping one large boar busy and trying to bay the animal. The boar ran after Yellow but he was a bit faster. He would run a couple of circles around the boar and bite him in the tail or neck depending on which way the boar was headed. The boar was near the edge of a cattle fence and was starting to run. I was nervous at taking such a shot but it seemed to be the only option. The boar was a good sixty yards when I settled the red dot on the chest. Again as the hammer fell a plume of white smoke enveloped the view. The boar ran back towards us about twenty yards and fell down. A nice boar lay at our feet and again I was elated at the shot. My Dad and Robert said as the boar ran it was spurting out a continuous stream of blood. A sign of a good hit. Hmm. I am getting to like this muzzleloader handgun hunting.

Now it was Dad's turn. We took off an again it was time for Yellow the cur to do his job. We soon spotted another large boar with a white band. This boar was holed up under some brush and soon ran out. Yeller then held the animal at bay until Robert the guide called him off. Soon a shot rang out and the boar dropped instantly. We got down and the boar was still living. I was asked to finish it off. The muzzleloading handgun eliminated any suffering the boar had.

The next job was to haul the animals off to the work table where they were skinned and quartered. We filled up the coolers and left. Robert was an excellent guide and decent man. We had a great time and we had a lot of meat. On the ride home we stopped at Yeehaw Junction and obtained the much needed ice for the trip back to Melbourne.

All in all Dad and I had a wonderful time. We're thinking about doing this again next winter if all goes well. In a way hunting wild boar in Florida is an ideal vacation for all. The success rate is very high and you can combine it with a family vacation as most of these hunts can be done in one day. The next time I want to go for at least three days to get away from it all, so to speak. It was a fun hunt but in a way too quick.

Connecticut archery season,opening day.

I have to admit that I have negelected this blog for some time. I have been very busy with work and the hunting season. So far it doesn't look good for filling up the freezer. Dad and I hunted Connecticut and Massachusetts for archery.

Opening day which was September 15th found me in a treestand overlooking a cornfield after I got out of work. I was surprised to find that we had company. Two other hunters have been given permission to hunt this property. For many years Dad and I were the only ones. The landowner is gracious enough to allow us to hunt. We have exclusive access to one peice of land but the cornfield is shared, now. Anyways I headed to my ladder stand at the corner of the property line. It seems that deer from the neighboring property will cross over to eat in the corn. I had placed a couple of trail cameras and they indicate that the deer will move from that area at dusk or so. I was excited and ready to hunt.

I arrived at my perch and climbed upwards. I had waited a while until some movement caught me by surprise. I was anticipating some action close to dusk as indicated by the trail cameras but at 5:43 PM three deer passed by me. A large doe and a yearling along with what I believed to be a dry doe trailing. They went past me as I sat there not moving a muscle. I made a judgement call that if they come back I will take the dry doe. Sure enough they came back.

All of the deer were moving a little quicker than I anticipated but I have used this trick of blowing a kiss to stop a deer. Well it seems to work better on bucks. I blew a kiss as the dry doe passed. Instead of freezing in her tracks she jumped back and away. Instintively I aimed a tad higher and loosed an arrow. The arrow hit a bit high. At that point she took off into the still standing corn.

I waited for a good half hour and then called my Dad on the FRS. He came over and we began to search. What irks me is that I never found the arrow. I assumed it was a pass through shot but maybe that wasn't the case. I had followed the blood trail. What concerned me was that there was very little blood. I was feeling uneasy at this point. Dad and I continued to search the corn field and the surrounding woods until it became dark. I felt sick to my stomach. I lost her. I hate losing an animal. We walked out and saw the two other hunters standing by their vehicles. They have stands below me and in the area where the deer seemed to have gone.

The next day we went searching again but to no avail. No deer or further sign. My Dad is a very shrewd man. He has a great deal of wisdom and is somewhat suspicious of other people. He told me that there was the possibility of the other two hunters finding my deer and tagging it for themselves. He said he felt suspicious that they were hanging around well after we had left for the night .

The next time we hunted my Dad looked into the back of one of their trucks. He noticed there was evidence of blood. I have mixed feelings. Did they honestly get a deer or did they find mine? If they found mine why did they not do the honorable thing step up?

Anyways. I have made a resolution. I have been practicing more with the bow and making sure that I have been taking lower shots. Shooting high on a deer's chest does not guarantee a kill.

Back from Maine...

I

am back albeit a tad tired. For us it is almost an eight hour drive north from Rhode Island to the Forks Maine. We left the home at 5:30 AM and headed north. Most of these kids are from an inner city or suburban environment in a compact state. They have never been on a road trip of such a length and it was a real shock in many ways to them. In RI you can access all manner of amenities within ten minutes. Well, that isn't the case with the state of Maine. The concept of size became very cogent to them. The old adage from kids," Are we there yet ?" was asked in many forms. Again it was a learning experience. The next learning experience was a stop for one half hour at the Cabelas store in Scarborough Maine. Again many of these kids were surprised to see such a place existed. All of the Cabelas have a theme of various mounted animals in the center of the store. I did pick up a few things and made sure nothing left the store that wasn't paid for. We then headed north on Rte 201 towards The Forks Maine. This trip is on a secondary road with a lot of twists, turns and hills. Again the scene is very different from what the kids have grown up with. Another point are the small towns we entered into. I have more to tell but right now I have to run off to work. We're having visitors today and the place needs to look it's best.

On the first evening there was what is called a family meeting after supper. All of the homes gathered in the main room and people introduced themselves and some bonding games were conducted. After the meeting it was past dusk but I told some of the kids that if they wanted I would take them out on the road and see if we could find some moose crossing somewhere. Again most of these kids have had very little experience outside the concrete jungle. They have a lot of assumptions about the country and wilder areas. They are worried about bears or other wild animals attacking and eating them. They are accustomed to having people around them in many ways. Being in a setting where you do not have any people or habitation is somewhat disconcerting for them. One kid from the NYC area commented that he needed people around him. He could never live in a town of 30 people. We then got back into the van and drove back to the lodge. As we headed south down Rte 201 I spotted a cow and a calf cross the road. Immediately I started honking the horn and flashing the lights. Both animals panicked and as if by cue they slid on their hindquarters as they tried to get out of the road. Their hooves slipped on the newly refinished asphalt . The cow left some brown streaks from her mud laden hooves on the black top. I had feared that they harmed themselves for a minute but each one ran off from the road on opposite sides. We drove south and turned around. I shut the lights off and waited. Soon we saw the calf cross the road to join the mother. I had turned the lights on and started to drive north again . I honked on the horn a few more times to chase them off the sides of the road. Many logging trucks come barreling down from the North Woods and I don’t want to see them get hit. With the windows rolled down we could hear them trot through the woods with no trouble at all.

Most of these kids have never seen any sort of wildlife in their lives. This was quite an experiences for them to witness. They could not believe how large these animals are.

The kids went on the rafting trip the next morning. I will be honest. I don't care for white water that much. I drove for eight hours north and had to chaperon them while at the lodge until the evening. I have some motives behind my reasons. By doing this a day off will be accrued and I get the opportunity to take a break from the kids. The kids went down the Kennebec River with their guides and had a good time. I took off for a while and visited the sleepy town of Jackman Maine for a while. I confess that I have a penchant for this town for some reason. I believe it has to do with the stories that my father told regarding deer hunting when he was younger. In his day and age the Jackman area was the place to go. In many way it still is but the hunter success rate is low. On average the state of Maine has a 10 to 12 percent success rate. Where I hunt in Connecticut, the success rate for private land during the gun season runs around 30 percent. So I have almost a three times greater chance of getting my deer by hunting within a few miles of my home vs driving eight hours and hunting the great north woods. But there is a certain charm in regards to hunting the Great North Woods. It is an actual get away from everything.

I'll give you a cogent example of the area that emphasizes the get away aspect of it all. Many people in our society are used to having a connection at all times with other people via some sort of electronic device. I guess I am a short nosed cave bear from the last Ice Age. I don't have a cell phone plan. I have a trac phone that is now inactive and I have yet to reactivate it. I don't have an MP3 player or IPOD. I don't have a Black Berry although I like them in a pie and partaking in the Polish tradition of a shot of black berry brandy before quaffing a nice brew. The only Blue Tooth I have is after eating some blue berries. Well, I guess that explains a lot in my life.

We have a policy at the house where students are not allowed to have cell phones, IPODs or other devices. One main reason is that they can call someone up and set up a jail break of sorts. The other is that you can create a spark and ignite something like a half smoked cigarette butt. We make one exception for IPOD's and MP3 players. This is a long trip and we allow them to have them so the trip is more bearable for them. Also, when you go that far in Maine you generally pick up one radio station. I told the kids," I want you all to watch and listen to this." I turned the radio on and pressed the seek button. The radio self tuned through the whole spectrum several times and locked on one radio station. A hard rock station. They were all surprised. Two of the counselors stated that they had no cell phone reception. This was the case for at least seventy five miles of where we were. This was a real culture shock for people who live in a compact area.

All of the students had a great time. They had a unique and enriching experience that can demonstrate alternatives to getting high.

Experiences in a yurt.

I have always been fascinated by this unique form of portable dwelling developed by nomadic peoples living on the steppes of Mongolia. The yurt , or more properly called a ger, is similar to the American Indian tipi found in the Great Plains of North America. I have contemplated ownership of a yurt after reading many positive articles on the structure. How it is efficient, wind resistant, relatively low cost compared to a more permanent structure and lets be honest. There is a sort of "cool " factor involved with a yurt.





Mary and I were in need of a break and wanted to get away from things for a short period of time. I don't have the time off like I used to. One of the things that I sorely miss from public education is the summer vacations. You needed that time off to recharge your batteries, so to speak. Now I don't have that option. Ok. I know that sounds a tad bitter and it is but such is life.





Mary doesn't like camping all that much. She made the statement," I tolerate it" is the best way to describe it. The biggest issue of all is the cleanliness of the bathrooms. Many places we have stayed at do not clean the bathrooms and showers very well. Well, I don't want to get too off topic so here is what we can say about the yurt.





I'll not belabor any details but in a nutshell I discovered a number of downsides to the yurt. In the summer the shelter can get very hot and stuffy unless you open up all of the windows. This model had three windows and that brings up another problem. The flaps that cover the windows are on the outside. So in order to get fresh air you need to go outside and roll up the clear plastic and the green fabric and secure it with the velcro tabs. Now the problem is that people passing by can look in. In addition, if it rains you need to go outside to close the windows. The White Mountains recieved about two to four inches of rain on Thursday night thus necessitating the closure of one window. The sound of the rain pounding on the roof was very loud and did have the effect of lulling one to a state of sonambulism. Mary noted that at the roof and wall juncture there were a couple of gaps that insects could make their way in. I did get bit by no see um midges a couple of times but no amount of screening would stop them. The roof is supported on a spoke pattern of what appear to be 2x3's and the walls are supported by a lattice work. The roof is held on by a cable that cinches around the top of the wall similar to a hatband. It is there where a gap or two could lead to some problems.The yurt is very bright. The roof has a skylight. Traditionally this was an opening in which the smoke from a cooking fire would waft upward like a giant chimney. I have seen images of yurts with woodstoves so that is one way to heat a yurt when it is cold outside. The skylight on this model had a clear plexiglass dome. The owners put an opaque tarp over the top of it. I suspect that is necessary in order to keep it from overheating in the summer. Again, we found it to be very hot when we first arrived. I thought that this shelter would be comfortable in mid to late September or early October. One thing that Mary noticed was that the skylight needed cleaning. It was full of dead bugs. In a nutshell the yurt is a step in between a tent and a cabin. For ten dollars more I think you would be better off with a cabin.

I am somewhat of a dreamer. I have thought of owning a small campground in Maine or New Hampshire as a retirement business of sorts. In addition to some sites for tents and RV's it would be nice to have a couple of yurts. I am not sure if this daydream will ever come to fruition but I do believe one needs to have more experience in order to make such a decision. We had stayed in a yurt for two nights and both concluded that there are a lot of downsides to the structure. So if this dream ever comes true, I don't believe we will have any yurts available.