Bear Season

Share your tales (tall or otherwise) of hunting adventures.

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bulldog
Posts: 269
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2004 9:03 am
Location: ND

Bear Season

Post by bulldog »

Anyone gettin ready for bear season? Seems to be gettin cooler up in these parts so suppose the season must be near. Out here in the breaks we don't have no season as such since there isn't no game wardens been here for years. We just suppose the time is getting right and the cubs growed up some and the boars looking around fer their last meal and are nice and fat anyways. As you guys know we always hunt down the canyons heading to the river and mud holes. Me and the dog know this place pretty well and usually we get a rabbit or two besides. The dog prefers rabbit and I ain't much for working too hard so,s we mostly just watch the bears run round the place. Been some big ones here of late so caution is in line when stringing thru the tumbleer weeds what pack up some of the spots. Under the right light a tumbleer weed can sure look like a bear. Mostly low light and cloudy days. So can a cow and we got a few of them wandering round.
Well, the dog found a ol dead fish yesterday and sure enjoyed that meal like it was a sushi bar. My cousin claims he ate $100 of sushi at some $19.95 for all the sushi you can eat place. I bet the dog could do him better once he digests that 15lb carp he ate except the tail. Course it was sort soft by the time he found it. If I could go with the dog I bet we could really clean up. with him under the table. Heck, the time we went to Vegas and he posed as an assist dog I bet he ate 10 omlets. Ate five myself but probably even all this wasn't no record as no one seemed to pay much attention. Course we don't exactly know what sushi is but think it includes rice and seeweed and fer sure we both eat rice.
Well, good bear huntin and hope you get one too and can use all of it as if you figure out how much meat by the pound you get and then toss in the rug and teeth and claws and such you can make out and come out with a nice profit which is how we always figure things. Course when the cost is only 1 shot of a 50-90 plus wear and tear on the boots and a snack for the dog it is easy to profit. Hope it is that way fer youall. Bulldog
mdeland
Posts: 11708
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:47 pm

Post by mdeland »

Well I sure want to take another one this year while looking for a nice bull moose. I learned some more about bear oil at our territorial muzzle loading match that lasted three and a half days, two of which I attended. It seems that the best and lightest oil is rendered from the fat inside the gut sack on the intestines and not the heavy lard on there back. I was told that there are several different types of fat on a bear that produce differing characteristics of oil. The very best is from the intestines and is much like sperm oil according to what I learned.
I must say I never paid any attention while rolling the guts out of several I've shot. I also was told that the gall bladder is a powerful aphrodisiac if dried and ground into powder that the Chinese will pay big bucks for but is illegal to sell.
I did shoot the cartridge event this year but had a bad shot at the very close 50 yard target. Came in second overall but still beat last years winning score my friend Bob E. shot. I did win the 100 yard offhand with my .54 muzzle loader which made me feel a little better after the poor cartridge performance.
I took along my bowling ball mortar and shot it three times after the Saturday night barbecue. All seemed very delighted at the whistling balls arching out over the swamp I was shooting into. I can get between a quarter and half mile now but should see some improvement if this idea I heard about from a fellow cannoneer works out.
I need to machine a focus collar for lack of a better term that is basically a very short 3 inch venturi tube attached to the inside of the mortar barrel firing port that basically creates a shape charge in the base. The ball will seat on this short tube much like a golf ball does a tee. This concentrates the powder in the center of the ball and tube rather than just laying out under the ball in the large hemisphere interior of the base area. It will be interesting to see if it actually works. Some of these guys are getting the ball to fly for 25 seconds or more. One fella says he can lob a ball two miles ,but I gotta see this to believe it. MD
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Trigger Dr
Posts: 1944
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 5:10 pm
Location: Pacific North WET (Port Orchard)

Post by Trigger Dr »

Mdeland,
I have worked in the pyrotechnic industry and can give you an easier way than machining a collar.
Locate the center of the base of the mortar and drill a hole of proper size to accept your fuse.
Using your present powder charge, put that powder into a paper cup of sufficient size to hold and be brim full. Tape this cup to the ball 180° from the thumb hole in the ball. Using a wooden dowel in the thumb hole, easily slide the ball with powder charge attached into the mortar until it bottoms out, and the ball is supported by the cup of powder. This will insure the powder charge is inline with the hole in the base of the mortar. Insert an ice pick or similiar sharp pointed tool, puncturing the cup. insert the fuse shout fire in the hole, loght and retreat to watch the fun. I have used this method with great success.:D
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mdeland
Posts: 11708
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:47 pm

Post by mdeland »

Thanks for the suggestion TD! My mortar uses a musket cap and striker affair threaded into the regulator hole. It also has a lanyard and elevator screw for differing angles and is a lot more fire control friendly than fusing. Being percussion ignition and with the collar threaded on the inside of the regulator hole, it will be much easier to load threw a inch diameter drop tube into the collar muzzle at the bottom of the mortar barrel. I think it will be safer as well because I am staying away from any type of wadding or paper that can hold a spark.
I also developed a ball loading devise that allows one to seat the ball without running your arm down the barrel. Theoretically if it discharged while loading you would get a nice flash burn, perhaps blow out an ear drum but would retain all your limbs and head.
Embers in wadding along with tube burst were two of the major causes of accident in cannoneering during the civil war I'm told. This is why they swabbed. MD
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Trigger Dr
Posts: 1944
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 5:10 pm
Location: Pacific North WET (Port Orchard)

Post by Trigger Dr »

All very true. The system I described is used industry wide with the exception of fusing. Instead, we use electric match igniters. I have shot shells up to 36" diameter. Any thing over 10" dia. we use steel tubes w/ 1/2"walls. 10" and less, we use LDPE tubes with laminated plug about 6" thick in the lower end.
I still have all my fingers but a little short on hearing. :)
Jim
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