The majority of hunting seasons are now over, or about to end. Most hunters put their guns and bows away for the year, with little or no regard to maintenance. Now is a good time for some well-needed, post-season maintenance. Here are a few tips that might help.
Muzzleloader hunters are notorious for putting their guns away loaded. In New Jersey, a muzzleloader is considered unloaded when the cap or primer is removed. We do this almost on a daily basis. It is easy to forget that there is still a charge in the gun, so check your muzzleloader and make sure it is unloaded.
A lot of smoke poll hunters think that as long as the barrel is clean, everything is OK until the next year. As everyone knows, black powder and pyrodex is very corrosive. When you shoot your gun there is some degree of blow back through the breech plug. The powder blows back and gets into everything on your gun.
After cleaning your barrel, don’t stop there. Pull the nipple and breech plug. Clean them good with your powder solvent, then take a good quality bore butter and put it on the threads of both pieces. This will stop the parts from seizing together. If you have an older gun with a bolt or slide action, they must be cleaned and lubed also.
Make sure to clean the area that the bolt or slide travels in. Use bore butter to protect these surfaces. Rusted bolts and the channel they slide in are always overlooked, but cause a lot of misfires because the bolt can’t close hard enough to make the cap or primer fire.
Most guns have removable trigger assemblies. Remove this assembly and clean all the parts with a gun wash. Be sure to use light grease or a good gun lube before reinstalling the assembly on the gun. Last, but not least, go over the entire outside of the gun with quality gun oil or firearm wipes.
Bow hunters have it a lot easier because they do not have as much maintenance to do. Here are a couple of steps to take if you are putting your bow away for the year. Wax all surfaces of the strings and cables. Use a good quality bees wax or a graphite wax. This will stop the fibers from fraying.
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Back the limb bolts out three or four turns. Be careful not to go too far or the limbs can pop off and you could get hurt. This will take pressure off the limbs, string and cables. Most importantly, do not store your bow where mice can get to it. You would not believe how many bows I have restrung because of these little critters.
Taking these steps now will help you for next year’s season. Doing the proper maintenance now will save you time and money.
For you bow hunters who don’t want bow season to end, Big Daddy’s Sports Haven in Millville is starting its winter bow league. The league is shot on their Techno-hunt system. It’s a virtual hunting simulator with more than 800 hunts. Call (856) 451-9009 for more information.
The deer check has come to a complete crawl. Very few deer are being seen or tagged in.
Beaver dam rentals has a total of 228 deer. Scott Swink shot a 4-pointer during winter bow. Lynn Waterman says that it has been very slow with mostly does tagged in.
Anthena Spiotto at the Newport Country Store says she has not had any bucks checked in, and very few does.
Big Daddy’s has a total of 387 deer checked in. Garrett O’Donnell and Leroy Henry both shot their first deer this year during permit shotgun season. Ron Slade tagged a nice 9-pointer, and George Taylor shot a beautiful 8-pointer.
The last day of duck season in the coastal zone is Saturday. I hear that Ludlams Bay is loaded with Bufflehead and Goldeneye. The snow goose season still has plenty of time to hunt. The geese are in thick everywhere.
Source: TheDailyJournal.com
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