Slow Days aren't so bad

I got into the woods at about 3:00 PM yesterday. The temperature had dropped to 22 degrees. There were still traces of snow, most of it frozen into tiny icy crystals. The soil under the thick bed of leaves had frost heaved as much as 3-4 inches, so with each step my boots sunk 6-8 inches into a crunchy sandwich of ice, leaves, and frosty dirt. With each step, the "karaack" sound echoed through the woods like a gunshot.

The woods were deathly still and quiet. There was no wind, and nothing to cover the sound of my passage to my stand. My favorite spot sits on a high rocky point that is about 15 feet above an old logging road. There is a wide, flat swale on the north side that is wooded with large timber, mostly white oaks and tulip poplars. It is about 90 yards across, and the longest clear shooting lane I have is towards the northeast at about 135 yards.

The swale curves around another rocky hump about 30 yards to the northwest, and then turns west to the bottom of the swamp. I have a clear view down to the edge of the swamp, which lies about 90 yards to the west.

Because there is no way to move quietly, I figure the best thing to do is hoof it down to my stand as quickly as possible. It wasn't until after 4:00 PM last week that the deer came across the swamp, so I'm hoping I can get to my stand without spooking anything.

I make the best time I can, try to be as quiet as I can, stepping from rock to rock, walking along downed trees to minimize the noise. It takes me 1/2 an hour to get to my stand, which is only about 400 yards from where I parked the truck.

I lean my Encore against a tree, pull my scarf up around my nose, and settle in to wait. If anything moves, I'll hear it - there's no stealth on the floor of the woods today for anything: neither man nor beast.

I said there was no wind, but there was. Not so much wind as it was a steady pressure like an icy knife pressing against my left temple. It wasn't so much wind as it was current, like standing up to your thighs in a slow moving river. Not a leaf twitched, but the air pushed on, slow and constant. It almost hurt where it collided with any exposed skin.

And the woods stayed silent, save for the occasional chirp of a finch in the thicket, and the tap tapping of a Downy Woodpecker mining into a tree. The staccato call of a Pileated Woodpecker broke the silence of the swamp, sounding like some exotic jungle bird. All went silent again, then the pounding of the Pileated's jackhammer blows carried over the swamp. Another of the giant woodpeckers flew into a tree nearby, where it studied the trunk, moved slightly, and gave a single thwack of its beak into the tree. It sounded like an axe blow in the stillness. The bird moved again, inspected the wood, and gave another thwack.

The woodpecker chopped away as it moved around the tree, likely testing for just the right spot to kick in the jackhammer. Chunks of dead wood occasionally fell off as it tested the tree for weakness. It would seem the tree did not meet the bird's requirements. It dropped off the side of the trunk in a free fall for a couple of feet before it opened its wings, turned sharply around the trunk, and flew off into the swamp. Beautiful...

As the sun set, the temperature dropped further. I had stood unmoving for almost two hours, but was relatively comfortable thanks to having the presence of mind to dress appropriately with everything I needed for deer hunting in the winter: thermal underwear, insulated boots, gloves, rain pants, and parka from Cabela's, all of which is Gore-Tex lined, which not only keeps the water out, but the wind as well. Good stuff, that Gore-Tex.

The woods went dark, and I headed back to the truck. I didn't see - or hear - a single deer. The season closes on the 31st, so this coming Thursday will be my last chance until next fall to shoot another deer. But it's not about killing: although that is the reason for being out there, it's not the only reason for being out there. Slow days aren't so bad...

Jersey Rifle

A few years ago, I put together a "Jersey Rifle". What's a Jersey Rifle? Well, here in New Jersey, it is illegal to hunt deer with a centerfire rifle. Traditional rifled shotgun slugs are not that accurate. So how do you get rifle-like performance out of a shotgun? Simple - you shoot a slug out of a rifled barrel.

OK, everyone knows that right? Well there are lots of ways to make this happen, and lots of companies that make shotguns with rifled barrels. Here's what I did:

I already had a Mossberg 835 Ulti-Mag. I'd bought it a long time ago for goose hunting with steel shot. I bought the fully rifled barrel for it with the cantilever scope mount. I was shooting Lightfield Express sabots, and couldn't get the gun to group consistently. There were several reasons for this - one was that the stock was too long - the gun was not meant to be shot like a rifle. Another reason was the trigger - it has a super heavy pull, and is not really adjustable. The final deal killer was the recoil. WOW it kicked so hard it was almost unbearable. It was actually painful to shoot, which resulted in flinching and target panic.

So plan B: I went out and bought a used Remington 1100 12 gauge autoloader with a 2-3/4" chamber. I then bought a Hastings® 12 GA. Extended scope mount fully rifled barrel with the CSD muzzle brake. I topped the barrel with a Simmons Aetec 2.8-10x44mm scope. I chose the scope because it had a relatively long eye relief, but the LOP was still too long. at 14-1/2" the stock was just too long to handle the shotgun like a rifle.

Not only that, the poor fit and hard buttplate knocked the hell out of me with each trigger pull, and I just could not get the gun to shoot a group under 4-5 inches at 100 yards. So I took the gun to a gunsmith who cut the stock to a 13-1/4" LOP and installed a recoil pad.

I switched to Winchester Supreme Partition Gold sabot slugs too. My groups shrunk to around 2 inches at 100 yards. I have on occasion shot groups under 1" at 100 yards.

Now maybe you're thinking what I was thinking when I put this gun together: gas operated autoloader with a muzzle brake? This thing's gonna kick like a 20 gauge! WRONG! It kicks harder than my 30-06. So why don't I like to shoot or hunt with this gun?

First off, it's the money. A box of 5 of the Winchester's costs around $16.50. That means that every time i pull the trigger, I'm sending a Grande Latte down range at 1900 fps. I see guys at the range capping off 40, 50, or more rounds to "sight in" their gun. I do all right, but that's just crazy cash to be spending on a hole in a piece of paper. The next thing is the gun kicks hard. Really hard. Another professor to teach target panic to be sure. The 10 pound trigger pull just does not lend itself to accurate shooting, and I haven't gotten around to working on lightening it yet. But the real killer is the weight. The gun feels like it is about 9-10 pounds. I don't want to carry that kind of tonnage around the woods all day.

So, as I said before, I just use my Encore. I haven't needed more that one shot to kill a deer with it yet.

Deer

Deer season here in NJ is coming to a close. I shot a deer last weekend with my muzzleloader, a Thompson/Center Encore 209x50 Magnum. Now, I've got lots of guns, and I've got my favorites. But the Encore is awesome. I bought it from a local gun shop that is now out of business, and it is the Zander's Sporting Goods "special model"- Stainless steel with walnut stock & forend. I've got it topped with a Leupold 3x9 scope, and TC monoblock rings (which they don't seem to make any more.

This gun can shoot - I'm loading it with 150 grains of Hodgdon Triple 7 (three 50 grain pellets) and the TC 250 grain Shock Waves. I'm getting groups within an inch at 100 yards with it. It hits hard, but in the one case it didn't go through-and-through, the core separated from the jacket and fragmented, but not until after it went through the chest cavity and took out three ribs on the far side to lodge under the skin. Easily recovered when skinning.

I also use a Nosler .44 caliber (0.429") 300 grain hollowpoint with the TC sabot (and 150 grains of 777). I don't think they make these anymore, I bought a big box a few years ago and have plenty left. This round has never failed to shoot through a deer, and I've never had a deer do anything but drop in it's tracks when hit by this one. One bullet I recovered went through a deer at 80 yards and punched 1/2 way through a dead tree laying on the ground 20 yards behind it. I dug at it a little bit with my knife every year for five years before the tree rotted enough for me to dig it out. Even after taking out a shoulder blade on the deer and going 1/2 way through an 8" log, it held together and had great expansion.

I really like the 777 pellets - 777 has no sulphur, so it cleans up easily and causes a lot less corrosion. I still like the smell of good ol' black powder though...

Did I say I like this gun? I'd definitely give it a score of 11 out of 10, and the muzzleloader barrel is the only barrel I have for it. More on that later...

Next time, I'll tell you about the "Jersey rifle" I put together, and why I don't shoot it at all anymore, even during shotgun deer seasons.

First Off...

OK well, there are three things that I think are pretty cool, and if you're here you already know what those things are: Fishing, Dogs, and Guns.

I love to fish, I love dogs (mostly my own), and I love to hunt & shoot...

I've also got many other interests, such as blacksmithing, photography, woodworking, etc.

So I imagine there will be a few posts here on these subjects coming along eventually. I'm pretty busy these days with work, I've also gone back to college, so time is tight. I try to make the best of it, so check in now & then & see what's going on.