CVA Muzzleloading Blog

I could reach out and touch a caribou at any reasonable distance.

I went to Newfoundland in 2012 to try for a woodland caribou with my CVA Accura. I also had an Apex with a .300 Win Mag Bergara barrel. I had asked my guide if he would carry the .300 Win Mag, while I carried the 50-caliber blackpowder rifle. I knew that sometimes caribou don’t come in close enough to get a shot with a 50-caliber rifle. I felt comfortable shooting my 50-caliber out to 200 yards, but past that 200-yard mark I felt more comfortable shooting the .300 Win Mag Bergara barrel. By having both, I knew I could reach out and touch a caribou at any reasonable distance. I scheduled a 5-day hunt for the caribou. Newfoundland is an island, so the caribou there don’t migrate like the caribou in the rest of Canada and Alaska do. The guide knew where they were before I arrived. These caribou were holding on a remote section of the island.

A friend and I flew into St. John’s, Newfoundland. We both had caribou tags. When we arrived, we loaded up in a truck and traveled about an hour to the lodge. The next morning we got up early and drove about 2 hours by truck and then took 4-wheelers to reach our hunting area. That 4-wheeler ride was one of the most-brutal rides I’ve ever taken. My jaws hurt for almost 2 months after the constant pounding we took on the 4-wheelers. There were no roads into our hunting area; the guide just drove the 4-wheelers cross country, and we followed. Finally, late in the afternoon after we had left the 4-wheelers, we found two caribou bulls sparring with each other. They pushed and shoved each other back and forth before drifting away from each other.

Then the nice bull I wanted to take started coming toward us. So, I prepared to make the shot with my CVA Accura 50-caliber. My guide had a range finder and continued to give me the yardage to the bull. The caribou got to about 100 yards and then turned and walked away from us. When the bull was at 275 yards, I handed my guide the 50-caliber Accura. I took the CVA Apex with the .300 Win Mag Bergara barrel.

I hand-load my cartridges, and I use a Hornady 270-grain bullet. I have Nikon scopes on both my guns, because I like the circle rings inside the scopes instead of crosshair reticles. Once you get your scope mounted, you can go to the Nikon website (www.nikon.com), enter the caliber, bullet weight and the muzzle velocity you’re using and get a trajectory chart. Then you know the bullet drop from 100 to 500 yards. With that information, I can set-up the circle rings inside my scope to aim according to the bullet drop at various ranges. I got a perfect double-lung shot on the bull, and he only traveled 20- or 30-yards before he went down. My friend also scored a caribou on that same day. By the time we got the animals caped out and quartered, both 4-wheelers were loaded down. My caribou was a Safari Club Gold Medal caribou.

I was trained in the military and taught there that 90 percent of the second shots a shooter takes are misses. Our instructor always told us, “Make that first shot count.” I’ve used that philosophy throughout my hunting career. This was one of the reasons I didn’t have a hang-up about using a single-shot muzzleloader rifle like the CVA Apex. Having the advantage of a range finder and having done my homework on my riflescope and at the rifle range, I didn’t hesitate to take the 275-yard shot. Even though I reloaded after the first shot, I didn’t have to take the second shot. I believe hunting with a single-shot rifle tends to make you a better hunter, since you have to know that you can make the shot.

By Joe Sebo CVA Pro Staff.

Editor’s Note: Chuck Paddock of Covington, Indiana, is the host of “Open Season TV” on the Pursuit Channel.

I took my wife and daughters on an antelope hunt in Gillette, Wyoming. My wife never really had hunted with me before, I knew this hunt would be a relatively-easy hunt for her, and she’d have a lot of fun on it. The lady who owned the property allowed us to hunt under one condition, “The girls and your wife have to take their antelope first, before you take yours,” she told us. Of course, those words tickled me.

For the hunt, I chose the CVA APEX platform with a .243 barrel and a 95-grain Winchester bullet. We took four antelope in 4 hours. My oldest daughter Ashley, who was 14 at the time, shot her antelope at 170 yards, and it dropped immediately. What’s amazing is she took that antelope within the first 15 minutes of the hunt. My wife Lori was next, and she took the biggest antelope of all of us at about 150 yards. The girls were starting to get hungry, so after Lori took her antelope, we headed back toward the ranch. I spotted a herd of antelope and told my girls, “I know we can get down in that creek bottom, sneak-up on those antelope and probably get a shot.” The girls said, “Okay, let’s make this hunt.” We all got down in the creek bottom and made a stalk on this herd of antelope. When we were 150-yards from the animal, my 12-year-old daughter Lauren and I got our Bog Pods set-up. She made a perfect shot. We had three kills with the CVA APEX and the .243 Bergara barrel.

I was the last person in line to shoot, but that was fine with me, because I had filmed my wife and daughters taking their antelope. We drug Lauren’s antelope back to the truck and loaded it up with the others. We were all in agreement that we’d go back to town and get something to eat, and I would hunt the following day. Just as we were getting back to the ranch, I spotted a really-big antelope. We drove down one of the ranch roads. I got out of the truck and ranged a tree in front of the antelope at about 400 yards, so I estimated that the buck was 50- to 60-yards behind that. I sat down on the ground and got my tripod set-up. When the antelope turned broadside, I aimed just-above the top of his shoulder. I took a deep breath, let the air out and prepared to squeeze the trigger. When my APEX rifle reported, a second passed. I then heard the whop of the bullet hitting the animal, and the antelope started running. I asked my girls, “Did I hit him?”

After about 60 yards, the antelope stopped and toppled-over. When we reached the antelope, I saw that the bullet had hit him behind the front shoulder and had dropped about 8 inches from my aiming point, right into the kill zone. We loaded the fourth antelope up after taking a bunch of pictures, went to town and finally got something to eat. After a late breakfast, my wife and daughters got manicures and pedicures – definitely not your typical hunting trip. However, what made this trip so exciting for me was that this was the first hunt my wife had gone on with me after 19 years of marriage. I knew this antelope hunt would be the best starter trip for her. It was a rifle hunt, the weather wasn’t cold, and it would be a spot-and-stalk hunt. My daughters have been hunting with me since they were small. But for all of us to go on the hunt together, each take an antelope in the first 4 hours of the hunt, and everyone have a good time, this trip was amazing. The good news too is that our family loves antelope meat. In my opinion, antelope is the best-tasting wild meat, other than elk, that you can eat, as long as you prepare it correctly.