New Hunting Tips!

I will now be posting hunting tips relatively often. I also will leave up all of the tips. Please comment if they help you!

To Bore-Sight
To bore-sight a scope-mounted 12-gauge shotgun barrel, remove the primers from a spent 12-gauge shell and a spent 20-gauge shell. Put the open 12-gauge shell in the chamber and insert the open 20-gauge shell in the muzzle. Secure the barrel in a vise or sandbags. Sighting through the barrel, line up the primer holes on your target. Now, simply adjust the scope to put the crosshairs on the same spot.

Pack Your Broadheads
It is critical to have a safe and quite place to pack your broadheads when you are hunting big game. Before you travel wrap each blade of your broadhead in scotch tape and then put the broadhead in a 35 mm film canister along with some cotton balls to keep them silent.

Close Range Deer
When a deer suddenly appears at close range in response to your grunt call or antler rattling, don't be afraid to move slowly to pick up and shoulder your gun. Deer coming to calls will usually just stop and stare at you, mistaking your movements for those of the deer they were expecting to see.

Wanted: Flint Knapper
If you are getting sick of the slow ignition on your flintlock, the first place to look is the flint. Assuming you have dry powder and it isn't raining outside, your flintlock should give very fast ignition. It's a very dependable mechanism! Keep the edge of your flint knapped back to a razor edge with a small brass hammer (while the rifle is UNLOADED!!) every five or ten shots. It only takes a few seconds and you will be rewarded with rapid ignition every time. And on opening day, treat yourself to a fresh, new razor sharp flint. Now just don't forget to load the powder before you ram that ball down...

Acorn Scatter
Scattering lots of acorns around your stand and feeder the day before opening weekend will attract that trophy buck.

A flash in the pan...
Increase the efficiency of your flintlock hunting rifle by not priming it too heavily. The top of the priming powder should be a little below the level of the touchhole or you risk a hangfire or a misfire altogether.

Too much bang for the buck...
A common mistake modern muzzleloaders make is trying to push the fat, heavy, slow bullets at faster and faster speeds by using more and more powder. Apart from being hard on guns, ears, and pocketbooks, using extra heavy loads is often hard on accuracy. The beginning load is one grain for your caliber. A .50 caliber gets 50 grains of black powder, a .45 gets 45, etc. Try this tame, fun and comfortable load for groups. If it's innacurate, go up two grains at a time. I never use more than 1 1/2 times the load in grains (.50 caliber = 75 grains, .40 = 60 grains) and usually don't use nearly that much. And the deer will never know the difference.

Close Range Deer
When a deer suddenly appears at close range in response to your grunt call or antler rattling, don't be afraid to move slowly to pick up and shoulder your gun. Deer coming to calls will usually just stop and stare at you, mistaking your movements for those of the deer they were expecting to see.

Hitting Quail
If you have trouble hitting quail when a covey explodes into the air at once, don't shoot. Stand with your gun ready; then take a step or two. A few birds usually hold when the covey flushes and are easier to hit when they fly as singles, without the distraction of other targets all in the air at once. Hunting Dogs

Finding That Great Stand
When searching for a place to locate a deer stand, look for ground scrapes. Bucks make ground scrapes on trails that are often used by does and return frequently to check the scrapes for signs that a doe has shown interest by marking it. Locate your stand where you have a clear shot at the scrape, for that is where the buck will go.