When you get a great target in your sites, you'll want to have a proper rifle shooting technique molded in your mind

An old neighbor of mine who was just as good at busting sporting clays on the skeet range as he was at busting my chops regarding my tales of fishing and hunting misadventure, asked me what my problem was when he read I didn’t get a deer on opening weekend a few years back.

I told him it wasn’t for lack of trying, I fired 12 shots, and missed every single one of them. Having never hunted with a rifle before, I told him that I was new at it. Being a veteran of World War II, and from all indicators on the skeet range one night, an excellent mark, he said that was no excuse and gave me a tip he used in training soldiers on the firing range.

“Shoot an unloaded gun” he stated matter-of-factly. He and his fellow trainers knew who the flinchers were when they’d hand a soldier a gun, the recruit would pull the trigger and immediately wince, despite nothing happening. It was an easy fix after that, he related. Sure enough, the flinch was my problem. Last season, I was able to eliminate most of it by mentally preparing myself before each shot and practicing with my 30.06 more often than in previous pre-seasons.

This year, my shooting skills and the resulting groupings have improved, thanks not only to his tip but also by the addition of a smaller caliber rifle to my collection. Both factors have the flinch out of my firing, and have my shots marking the bullseye more consistently.

Perhaps the biggest advancement has come from the use of the .22 rifle I asked for last Christmas. When many of my friends looked at me like I was a 30-year-old preschooler, in regard to the teenager’s gun I had on my list to Santa, I simply explained my hopes for what a smaller firearm could accomplish in my preparations for the next deer season.

So far, the experiment has paid dividends far greater than the cost of some quizzical stares; not only with better form on the shooting range, but also helping me to focus on the shot rather than the noise and motion with the larger caliber rifles I shoot each fall. I find that the lack of bump and boom with a small caliber rifle has helped me focus on the target, keep the crosshairs in the black, and maintain a steady aim. The feeling that I won’t receive another red crescent moon on my forehead is nice too.

This same mentality has transferred over to the bigger calibers I shoot, helping me to remain calm, breathe and aim while not fearing the larger jolt and noise. Having practiced with the small rifle all summer, this fall’s sighting in and practice rounds with the .270 and 30.06 have been much more productive. I am consistently putting groups of bullets within a four-inch circle, and I am more confident in my shooting skills compared to a year ago. I find that my eye remains on the target before and after the shot and I am more aware of shot placement because I am settled before I squeeze the trigger.

While these are probably hurdles many hunters overcame when they first picked up a rifle at age 10 or so, it may be they now know up-and-coming young hunters and shooters who suffer from the same ailment. By focusing on the problem and addressing it from a variety of ways – including these – those experienced hunters can assist the new ranks in making both the sports of shooting and deer hunting more enjoyable. After all, a safe, flinch-free and fun deer season is what we’re all looking forward to…in our outdoors.

North Dakota’s recent bounty of white-tailed deer means that more hunters in more places have had a chance to put a deer or two or three in the freezer.

That’s quite a change from a few short decades ago when deer weren’t nearly as plentiful and many hunters made doe licenses their first choice in the annual deer lottery to give them better odds of having just one deer to dine on through the winter, perhaps even split among several people.

I learned in a recent discussion that back in the day when sharing one deer for a group of three or four wasn’t all that uncommon, mixing pork in with deer meat to make sausage became a standard for making the venison go further, so to speak. It wasn’t simply just a means to add some fat to this lean meat.

You read that correct, and it makes sense.

I think there’s another reason that some deer hunters make sausage and that’s to enhance the venison flavor by adding not only pork, but spices as well.

I appreciate the versatility of venison, as I’ve eaten the usual steaks, roasts, jerky and sausage — some good and some not so good. When it comes to the not-so-good, it’s seldom that we can blame the deer.

“If you start off in the field with poorly cared for meat, there’s no seasoning, searing or masking that can make it taste better,” says Lynn Schlueter, an experience wild game chef who is also a Game and Fish Department fisheries biologist. “Most of the worst tasting wild game is because it wasn’t kept clean and cool in the field.”

Schlueter offers several tips that most of us have read before, but bear repeating as we head into deer season.

1.Take your time when field dressing an animal so you don’t contaminate any meat with the inner contents of the deer.

2.The carcass must be cooled as soon as possible. If the outside temperature is warm, elevate the animal above ground to facilitate air circulation around the entire body. This can be accomplished by hanging the animal in a cool, shady place.

3.If the carcass must be drug out of the field, keep dirt, grass and other possible contaminates out of the open body cavity.

4.When it comes to aging of venison, this is best carried out only when you can hang the carcass where the temperature is consistently maintained around 35 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit for several days. If you are going to make sausage or just grind your venison into burger, there is no reason to age it. It will be better if it is fresh.

5.Unless cooking the meat fresh, it should be quickly frozen after butchering. Meal-sized quantities of meat should be placed into plastic bags. Most of the air should be removed from the plastic bags before sealing. When the meat will be stored in the freezer for more than a few days, the plastic bags should be wrapped in freezer paper; the freezer paper should be sealed with tape; and the packages should be labeled appropriately.

6.Meat prepared and stored in this manner can maintain good quality for more than a year. Vacuum-sealed bags probably improve the storage process, and vacuum-sealed bags may not require a second layer of freezer paper.

Sportsmen Against Hunger Program

While 40 years ago hunters made sausage to make a deer last longer, today it’s common for some hunters to get more than one deer each. In the past few years many of these hunters have donated a deer to the Sportsmen Against Hunger program, which gets the meat to food pantries.

Because of the discovery of lead particles in venison donated by gun hunters last fall, SAH is limiting its donations to bow-killed deer only for this year. As such, the program is in great need of bow hunters who are willing to donate a deer. For more information, check out the link on the Game and Fish Department’s website at gf.nd.gov.

Do you hear that tick-tick-ticking? It’s either the second hand of the hall clock marking off the moments until deer seasons open up around the region or it’s the beginning of field combat between this year’s herd of whitetail bucks in an attempt to establish dominance.

From Sunday morning hunting shows to a seat in a stand overlooking a food plot, the familiar sound made when antler strikes antler is a hail call to bucks in the fall. You can avail yourself of the attraction the sound has on whitetails by making a set of rattling antlers to take into the field this year. This fun and simple project can be done in less than an hour with just a few common tools and materials.

Get started by selecting a set of whitetail deer antlers, they might be the ones from a buck you shot, or a pair found while shed hunting. The tines on the antlers should be of sufficient number and size to produce an audible click and clack when the two antlers are rattled together. The tines along the main beam should be about five inches in length. In this case, I selected an even four-by-four rack from a buck I shot a few years back.

The project will require a hand saw capable of cutting through the antlers, such as a Gerber bone saw, a drill with a 1/4-inch drill bit, a sandpaper cube and a leather cord approximately two feet in length and slightly less than 1/4-inch in width. The starting materials are pictured in Figure 1.

Select an antler and secure the bit in the drill. Find a spot near the base of the antler, about a half-inch up from the bottom, and carefully drill a hole all the way through the antler as pictured in Figure 2. You can cautiously yaw the bit in the hole once you have completed it to provide more clearance for the leather cord, which will be threaded through the antler near the end of the project.

The next step is to remove the tips of the antler tines for safety purposes. As many people hunt from elevated stands or will be walking while carrying these antlers, it is important to remove the points to reduce the chance of puncture injuries in case of a fall. Using the hand saw, remove the tip of the antler tine about one inch down from the point as shown in Figure 3. Repeat the process for all of the main-beam tines on the antler. The cut tines should resemble the image in Figure 4.

Next, place the saw at the point where the brow tine meets the main beam. (If your antlers don’t have brow tines, you’ve saved yourself some time and toil and can skip to the next step.) Cut the brow tine off as close to the main beam as possible with the bone saw, so the base of your antler resembles the one in Figure 5. Don’t toss your brow tines or the antler tine tips; with a 5/32” drill bit and a picture-frame eye screw, you can make some cool zipper pulls for your rifle case or hunting jacket!

Once the tine points and the brow tine have been removed from the antler, it’s time to smooth the saw marks out of the bone. While this step can be skipped, the rounded tips add some aesthetics to your set of rattling antlers. Touch up the tines with a sandpaper cube, as pictured in Figure 6, and buff out the brow tine area until it is smooth.

Thread one end of the leather cord through the hole in the base of the antler. Once through, tie a firm overhand knot and leave a short tag end for a stopper as detailed in Figure 7. Repeat the process for the other antler, and you’re done!

If you have the means and are more artistic, you can scrimshaw a picture of a monster buck into the antlers where you removed the brow tine. You can also make or buy a neck pad at a specialty leather store with your name on it, which you could thread onto the cord before tying on the second antler. Make the project your own by adding a couple blaze orange beads to the leather cord before you tie it off. Or keep it simple like the completed set in Figure 8 – it’s up to you!

If you have a pair of sheds and a free hour, this project will help you get ready for the upcoming deer seasons. Hopefully then, a curious buck will be drawn out to investigate the tick-tick-ticking of your rattling antlers reverberating through the autumn air…in our outdoors.

The most important piece of equipment you will buy for big game hunting in the open plains of North Dakota is a scope for your rifle. I believe that the scope makes the gun, and if you have a budget and have to choose between an inexpensive Weatherby Vanguard with a nice Swarovski or a high end Weatherby Mark V and a cheap Tasco, go with the good optics and save the money on the gun (this is speaking from a hunter’s perspective, not a gun collector’s).

Personally, I like to compare the following specs on scopes when comparing:

• Magnification – more isn’t always better, it depends on the application
• Percent Light Transmission – bucks move in the morning and evening, low light times.
• Reticle – I want a plex that I like
• Objective Size – bigger means more light gathering
• Eye Relief – More means not cutting your forehead open from recoil
• Weight – Not a huge factor, but I make note of it (sometimes heavy is better, meaning strongly built)
• Field of View – compare FOV at the same distance, if it’s small you won’t be able to find your target when you shoulder the rifle
• Cost – I’m not rich

Two years ago, I decided to replace a cheap scope on my Browning .308 BLR rifle. I did a lot of research, and for this rugged gun I decided to get a “most bang for the buck” scope. I decided on a 3.5x-10x-50mm Burris Fullfield II, which is one of the best scopes for the money out there in my opinion. I purchased it new in the box off of ebay for about $100 less than I could find it locally.
 
I  chose this standard power range due to the fact that on occasion, I may be walking cattails or shelterbelts “pushing” deer and would want low magnification to allow me a large field of view (FOV) for quick shouldered shots, and I liked the 50mm objective lens over a 40mm to allow for greater light gathering in low-light morning and evening hours. I went with an adjustable magnification (vs. just a straight 4x or something similar) for those times (which are most of the time for me) that I hunt by walking out in a field that I know a buck will return to in the afternoon, lay down, and waiting for him, oftentimes until the end of shooting hours – times like those are when I may need more magnification for longer shots. Also, my .308 is capable of shots that are somewhat long range (although I probably wouldn’t shoot at an animal over 250yds with it) so I don’t have to worry about having a scope that’s overkill for the rifle. I also really liked Burris’ ballistic plex, which includes dashes for different distances (and they have an online chart to let you know, for your caliber, what distance those dashes dictate for your gun – of course, you should verify that yourself at the range).

Alternatively, last year I acquired a Weatherby Mark V Accumark chambered in .30-.378 Weatherby Magnum. This rifle is in a different class than my lever Browning .308. For starters, it’s a very large caliber (as well as being expensive at roughly $5 per round of ammo). It was a used rifle (as was my BLR when I acquired it), and already had a very nice scope on it – a Leupold VX-III 3.5-10×50mm. However, for this gun, which is made for accurate, long-distance shooting, I wanted more magnification. This isn’t a gun that I will be toting through cattails at well over 10 pounds, it’s a rifle I will be still-hunting with in pursuit of big game and it is capable of taking long shots, so I want to be able to see the target well at a distance.

The Weatherby Mark V Accumark is a high-end gun, and while the Burris Fullfield is a very capable scope, I determined that I would bite the bullet on this one and make a higher-end optics purchase to complete the package. On a side note, if you are putting optics on a magnum rifle be sure to look into quality rings and to make sure that the rings on your gun will not allow your scope to move if you’re shooting something with a lot of recoil.

I would like a Swarovski, but can’t afford it, so after looking at about 10 options I narrowed the field down to two choices for my Weatherby.

• Leupold VX-III 6.5-20LR: $650
• Burris Black Diamond 6-24SF: $700

When comparing these two, I noticed very similar specifications. One difference is that the Burris goes up to 24x, that’s a nice feature. But, the other variation on the two was eye relief. The Burris specs eye relief at 3.2-3.7″ while the Leupold boasts relief of 5.3-5.6″. While you may have never seen the .30-.378 cartridge, you can guess that it packs a punch and I want as much eye relief as I can get – for comfort as well as safety. This drove me to decide on the Leupold for the Weatherby.

Hopefully my process of determining a scope on two different guns will help you in your next optics purchase. Make sure to check out the Chuck Hawks website, it’s got tons of information on there and can aid you a lot in your next firearms purchase. Now I need to find a .25-.06 for that VX-III that I pulled off the Weatherby.

Check out our Firearms and Reloading Forum and show pictures of your best spotting scope for hunting or find all the spotting scope comparisons here.

Courtesy of the ND Outdoorsman Blog

Venison recipes amount to the hundreds, maybe even thousands if you're creative enough

When it comes to fish and wild game cooking, Uncle Lynn is the beginning and the end, though you may have to take this with a grain … err, dash of salt and pinch of pepper. His wild game cooking philosophy permeates from the mantra of “don’t hide the flavor, work with it and enhance it. Embrace it for what it is.”

His philosophy revolves around not masking the taste with excessive marinades and sauces, but rather, giving it your own personal twist.

Figure this: If you don’t like chicken or beef stir fry, it’s probably more about the stir fry than the ingredients. If you do enjoy a Hawaiian kabob with traditional beef steak, then a teriyaki venison kabob may be just the twist that has you salivating for more.

Glazed venison pate is not your idea of fine dining? Live on the edge. Maybe curried deer is a better option.

To preface this discussion on new and unique venison recipes, keep in mind that the quality of a final dish depends heavily on initial care and preparation in the field. During and immediately after the kill, do your best to keep the meat clean and cool.

No matter what happens in the kitchen, if meat is dirty or spoiled there’s no recipe that can transform it into tasty fare.

With more deer hunters taking the field, and even adding multiple deer to the take, here are a few tips from Uncle Lynn as your freezer begins filling with venison.

* My latest and greatest is something called venison sauerbraten. Spell it however you’d like but begin with good, clean venison free of connective tissue. Put any marginal cuts away to the side and save those for sausage. For this dish we want 1 inch-by-1 inch cubes of deer. Sautée in olive oil, not crunchy but brown. Add in mild red wine and then add sour cream; salt and pepper to taste. It’s quick and easy, but not how we traditionally enjoy venison.

It's extremely important to take good care of your game, especially with warm weather

Finally we need to create the “sauer,” which is simple. Just add a balsamic vinegar. Add crushed ginger snaps and simmer it into a thick sauce. This is best served over noodles; I prefer a green spinach noodle.

My next choice is venison lasagna, not with ground venison, but rather with thin sliced deer strips. Again, I would prefer a nice cut from the round. Cut across the muscle into quarter-inch thick strips and layer that in with your traditional lasagna. One other suggestion is to add one or two egg whites into the marina sauce. And my own preference is also to use ricotta cheese. This enhances the taste of venison, and any lasagna, for that matter.

And Uncle Lynn adds emphatically: “Don’t get stuck in rut, there’s a world of opportunities just waiting. We’ve become to complacent, cooking wild game the way it’s been done for decades. Which is fine if that’s what you enjoy, but open your eyes and mouth to other possibilities.”

With white-tailed deer opportunities at record levels, the excuse “I’m tired of venison sausage, brats, jerky or any traditional method,” is no longer valid. As Uncle Lynn can attest a little imagination and preparation is all you need.

If you don’t believe me log on to the Web and do a quick search and you’ll find even more possibilities.

For most bow hunters, tuning their bow means being able to hit what they are aiming at. And for others they just hope their bow will become tuned by itself. But they are wrong. Tuning your bow now might mean the difference between trophy and tragedy.

First things first, you should not attempt to tune your bow if it has just been purchased, (new) or you have had a new string and cable put on. The string and cable will stretch, and the quality of components will depict on the amount of stretch that will occur. Most strings that bow manufacturers put on will eventually stretch to the point that they are not very accurate. The string and cable can stretch many inches, it does not happen all at once but you will know when it has stretched out of tolerance. I just recently had the string and cable on my bow replaced, after I had trouble with inconsistently flying arrows (it had to be in a 3-D tournament). Needless to say my score was just slightly below average and my confidence and pride was injured.

Once we have gotten our bowstring and cable broken in, we can look at some arrows. Most manufacturers have arrow charts where arrow lengths, draw weight, draw length, and point weight are taken into account. These charts are a good place to start, and find your arrow size. One thing to keep in mind if you shoot a release is that there is very little bend on the arrow when compared to shooting fingers; this gives the release shooter the advantage of shooting virtually any arrow. Even if the arrow is over or under spined the bow could tune without a problem, but if not you might want to select a different weight arrow.

After we have our arrows cut and put together we start with the tiller. The tiller is normally measured from the point where the limb meets the riser out to the string. Either measure with a ruler or a string. Measure the top and bottom of the riser. If the measurements don’t equal each other, adjust the tiller by tightening or loosening one limb bolt or the other until the tillers match exactly.

Next make sure your nocking point and rest are adjusted properly. Adjust the rest so the center of the arrow’s shaft goes through the center to upper 1/3 of the hole where the rest attaches to the bow. Then crimp the nocking point on the string or tie your string loop but not too tight so you can’t move it. Then use a level on the arrow to make sure that it is level with the sight window. Next is to check your center shot. The center shot on most bows should be between center and 3/16” to the left of center for a right handed bow. To find the center shot, take a piece of masking tape and place it just above where the limb meets the riser. Measure the limb and place a small mark at the center of the limb. Make another mark 3/16” inch to the left of center, and then do the same for the next limb. With the arrow on the rest, line up your string along the marks. When the string is aligned with the marks it should bisect the center of the arrow shaft if it does not adjust your rest accordingly.

Peep sights are one of the easiest but most overlooked aspects of bow tuning. With the peep in the string but not tied into place, nock an arrow and draw your bow with your eyes closed. When you open your eyes you should be able to see through the peep without moving your anchor or the bow, if not adjust until you can.

Now we are ready to tune your bow. The first step is to make sure there is no contact of your fletching to either your rest or riser. The best way to do this is a powder test. Spray the back six or seven inches of the arrow, and also spray the rest and the shelf. Shoot your arrow at a target and carefully remove it for inspection. Check the shelf and rest. If any new marks have shown up you are getting contact from your fletching. Depending on where the marks in the powder are depends on what you should do to correct this. If the marks are on the rest, or in contact with your fletching, rotate your nock to eliminate contact with your rest. If there is contact with the shelf, change the spring tension on your rest then repeat.

Next is paper tuning. Paper tuning makes it easy to see what the arrow is doing when it leaves your bow. Set up a piece of paper about six feet away and shoot through it into a solid target. If there is a clean hole, the diameter of the arrow with three tears where the vanes went through. Shoot the same arrow a few times to check your consistency. If the tear is vertical or at an angle, adjust the nock height. If the point of the arrow went through lower than the nock end, lower the nock or raise the arrow rest. If the tear is to the side adjust your arrow rest the direction of the tear until you get bullet holes. Once you are shooting bullet holes, step back a few feet and try it again. If it is good there your arrow is traveling straight.

The last thing you need to do is group tune your bow. After you sight in your bow, go to your maximum accurate range, shoot a group and note any shots that were just poor shots, caused by you. Next shoot another group, but back your top limb off ¼ turn then see if your groups get better or worse. Repeat until you reach one full turn. Then return the top limb to zero and repeat the test for the bottom limb, using a different paper target. Once you have completed this, set your bow to the tiller measurement that grouped the best overall and adjust your sights to the new setting.

With some patience and a little effort, you can eliminate any thoughts of missing the buck of a lifetime due to a poorly tuned bow.

Spring Seasons are going to be opening up in the flyway this month

It’s hard to believe that another spring season is around the corner. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was preparing for my first spring season, an exciting opportunity to persue my favorite gamebird, the snow goose. Like all types of outdoor activities, the spring season has evolved with a boatload of new gear to help you make your hunting easier and more successul. But nothing has changed my hunting more than the use of the ecaller.

I can still remember the first time I used mine. I purchased a popular portable tape player and purchased a “snow goose feeding” tape. I cannot remember the manufacturer of that first tape, but it did an alright job for the time. This player was like magic. With the push of a button it would lock up their wings like I just rang the dinner bell. I grew up persuing this wary bird in my earliest fall memories and I can tell you that in certain situations geese just won’t look at your decoy spread, let alone migrating snow geese. But with the spring season, coupled with an ecaller we would get every bird to take a look. Now taking a look and decoying are two different scenarios, but the sign of locked wings circling at 400 yards on our spread was something I’ve never experienced in the fall. And I can’t stress the importance of the ecaller for making that happen.

A lot has changed since that tape player. I still have it, and bring it along “just in case” but I’ve moved on to newer, better technology. These days, volume isn’t as important as it used to be, clarity and realism has taken precedance. The snow goose has evolved and caught on to the use of ecallers, and like decoys, concealment, etc. you either evolve with them or you’re left behind.

Nowadays, the buzz is all about CD players and MP3 players. I don’t know many who’ve moved into MP3 players, but the comfort knowing that it’ll never skip is the main reason for it’s use. But since we built our own, I will never look back. For a reasonable investment, you can create an amazing 4-speaker unit that’ll give you what you need for spring snows.

Now I’m not going to take all the credit for the unit described in this article, I was assisted by Jed “gandergrinder” Fluhrer who came up with idea of the case and Zach “Decoyer” Herrmann who created the mounting supports and speaker boxes.

The Creation

Toolbox case carrying the deck, battery and components

 The first step in your search of the “better ecaller” is to decide on the components you’ll want to use. And nothing is more important than the CD deck. Now of course, any deck can work, but I recommend purchasing one with a built-in amplifier. You could certainly use an external stand-alone amp, but if you’re unfamiliar with what you’re doing you could end up blowing your speakers. I witnessed this first hand with my hunting partner’s unit when I was hunting in Nebraska a few springs back.

I chose to use a CD deck that had a built-in 240 watt amp with 60-watts per channel. I also chose one that had a remote control, which at times was a VERY handy feature. Since I planned on using 4 speakers this seemed sufficient.

125-watt stereo speaker (left) and 30-watt outdoor speaker (right)

The next step was deciding on the speakers. This is a big decision as well, as there are a lot of options out there. Since we were building two units, we chose different routes with each. One unit was built using 30-watt outdoor speakers. The other unit was built with 125-watt stereo speakers. The 30-watts speakers were louder, higher pitched and wasn’t as draining on the battery than the latter. The 125-watt speakers were considerably loud, but most importantly, it had the bass that no outdoors speaker can replicate. If you’ve ever been up close to a large flock of feeding snows, you know there’s a constant deep pitched “murmur” (feeding noises) that can be hard to pick out from long distances. The 125-watt speakers, coupled with our CD that produced those murmers were deadly for up close birds in the field.
Once the deck and speakers were decided, next you’ll look into the components, case and battery.

Small deep cycle battery fit into place

I had originally planned on using my 12-amp batteries from my other electronic units, but we changed and went with a small, deep cycle battery which was a good decision. Keep in mind you’ll need one that’ll fit in your toolbox or whatever case you choose to use. Depending on where you hunt, in my neck of the woods lugging around a large, heavy battery was the last thing I wanted to do.

We next chose to use a hard plastic toolbox as the carrying case. This way it could fit the deck, battery and all components. The speakers would carry separetely. With spring hunting, or any hunting for that matter, you never know what type of weather you’ll expectSo we had to create a unit that would stay dry and could be used in any types of weather. So what we did was built a wooden frame in the toolbox that not only held the battery steady in place,

A simple base to hold the battery and to elevate the deck off the floor of the box.

but also elevated the deck off the bottom in case any moisture got into the case. And to accommodate the remote control, we cut out the section of the box where the deck was facing, and inserted and caulked plexiglass in place. This would allow the remote control to be used from a distance without getting out of my blind. Being able to control the volume as the birds get close is important, and to save battery life and your sanity is also important. I say sanity jokingly of course. If you’ve ever spent the entire day listening to a snow goose CD you know what I’m talking about.

A couple other features we added to the box was with the mount, the connections and on the outside. For the mount, we added velcro to the base of the wood, and to the bottom of the deck. This not only kept the deck in place, but would allow it to be removed if necessary. On the connections, we had to plan carefully.

Holes drilled for speaker wire to get in/out

Keep in mind that keeping moisture out was extremely important, and we didn’t want to cut this corner. So we drilled holes in the back of the case, just big enough for the cable to get through but not big enough to also allow moisture. And I used velcro to keep them stable. Using velcro is optional, but I’ve found it to be handy. Now there are a few ways to connect the wiring and clamps, but I highly recommend getting your hands on a soldering gun. This will produce solid connections that’ll last.And I also recommend building the connections so that they “slide together” for a solid hold and can be removed easily when you’re day is done. And finally, for the exterior. I stapled elastic strips along all the sides and the top (we did this to the speakers as well). This allowed me to stuff surrounding vegatation to conceal

Sturdy connections where speaker wire connections slide into the receiving connections to the CD deck

the case like the modern field blinds of today.

And the only thing you need now is the CD. Be very careful, there are a lot of poorly produced CD’s on the market. I’ve purchased around a dozen or so tapes and CD’s over the years and there’s really only 2 I recommend personally. The first is the “Shoot ‘Em in the Lips” CD, by Hunting Snows and the other is the “Snow Talker” CD by Performance Calls. If you have a CD-burner, I recommend making a backup or 2 before you hit the field. A skip in your CD will cause a lot of headaches in the field, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

There are a lot of ways to customize your ecaller, like the plexiglass front to allow remote control use

The final steps are optional, depending on what you purchased. It just so happened that the speakers I purchased were pink, so I used Krylok Ultra Flat Black spray paint to paint it entirely black.

For the 125-watt stereo speakers, the speaker boxes were built out of left over wood around the shop. You could certainly purchase these if stereo speakers are the route you choose, but that’s of course up to you.

Now is this the only way to create a good ecaller? Heck no! You’ll probably come up with your own ideas, your own options, your own customization. “Face” one of the members on Nodak Outdoors built his Ecaller out of a full body snow goose decoy. This ingenious idea is just what I’m talking about with customizations, so have fun with it. Remember you should be building a unit to last.

An example of another clever Ecaller idea

If you’ve created your own Ecaller and would like to share you ideas, I’d love to see it! You can email them to info@nodakoutdoors.com.
Materials Used

CD Player (w/ built-in amp)
Hard Plastic Toolbox
4 speakers (we used both 30-watt outdoor speakers as well as 125-watt stereo speakers)
Electric cable
Battery clamps
Cable clamps
Plexiglass
Deep cycle battery
Velcro strips
Misc. wood
Elastic lace
Soldering gun (optional but recommended)
Black Spray paint

When you get a great target in your sites, you'll want to have a proper rifle shooting technique molded in your mind

An old neighbor of mine who was just as good at busting sporting clays on the skeet range as he was at busting my chops regarding my tales of fishing and hunting misadventure, asked me what my problem was when he read I didn’t get a deer on opening weekend a few years back.

I told him it wasn’t for lack of trying, I fired 12 shots, and missed every single one of them. Having never hunted with a rifle before, I told him that I was new at it. Being a veteran of World War II, and from all indicators on the skeet range one night, an excellent mark, he said that was no excuse and gave me a tip he used in training soldiers on the firing range.

“Shoot an unloaded gun” he stated matter-of-factly. He and his fellow trainers knew who the flinchers were when they’d hand a soldier a gun, the recruit would pull the trigger and immediately wince, despite nothing happening. It was an easy fix after that, he related. Sure enough, the flinch was my problem. Last season, I was able to eliminate most of it by mentally preparing myself before each shot and practicing with my 30.06 more often than in previous pre-seasons.

This year, my shooting skills and the resulting groupings have improved, thanks not only to his tip but also by the addition of a smaller caliber rifle to my collection. Both factors have the flinch out of my firing, and have my shots marking the bullseye more consistently.

Perhaps the biggest advancement has come from the use of the .22 rifle I asked for last Christmas. When many of my friends looked at me like I was a 30-year-old preschooler, in regard to the teenager’s gun I had on my list to Santa, I simply explained my hopes for what a smaller firearm could accomplish in my preparations for the next deer season.

So far, the experiment has paid dividends far greater than the cost of some quizzical stares; not only with better form on the shooting range, but also helping me to focus on the shot rather than the noise and motion with the larger caliber rifles I shoot each fall. I find that the lack of bump and boom with a small caliber rifle has helped me focus on the target, keep the crosshairs in the black, and maintain a steady aim. The feeling that I won’t receive another red crescent moon on my forehead is nice too.

This same mentality has transferred over to the bigger calibers I shoot, helping me to remain calm, breathe and aim while not fearing the larger jolt and noise. Having practiced with the small rifle all summer, this fall’s sighting in and practice rounds with the .270 and 30.06 have been much more productive. I am consistently putting groups of bullets within a four-inch circle, and I am more confident in my shooting skills compared to a year ago. I find that my eye remains on the target before and after the shot and I am more aware of shot placement because I am settled before I squeeze the trigger.

While these are probably hurdles many hunters overcame when they first picked up a rifle at age 10 or so, it may be they now know up-and-coming young hunters and shooters who suffer from the same ailment. By focusing on the problem and addressing it from a variety of ways – including these – those experienced hunters can assist the new ranks in making both the sports of shooting and deer hunting more enjoyable. After all, a safe, flinch-free and fun deer season is what we’re all looking forward to…in our outdoors.