Hawken Rifle is my choice for Hunting Big Game in New Hampshire

Hawken Rifle is my choice for Hunting Big Game in New Hampshire, as my friends know, I Hunt the old way. I only Hunt with Muzzleloader Rifles, Pistols, or Cap and Ball Six Shooter Revolves. Plus I'm a Bowhunter.

Above is one of my St. Louis Hawken Rifles. This one is a 50 Caliber, it has open blade sights and just like all Hawken Rifles it has double set triggers. It weighs 10 pounds and it is dead on at 400 yards.

I have had many folks ask way is it that I don't use the modern day Firearms for Hunting. The answer is a very simple one. I believe in being fare to what ever Game Animal I happen to be Hunting. The other way that I use in order to be fare to Bears and Deers when I'm Hunting, I use the Hunting techniques of Stalking and Still Hunting.

Right now Black Bear Season is open here in New Hampshire, which I have been out enjoying. In my area Black Bear Season is runs from the 1 September to the 8th of November. There are actually three different Seasons for Bear Hunting here, there is the General Season, which is the one that I take part in. There is Baiting Season which runs from 1 September to 21 September in my area, and there is Dog Season which runs from 19 September to the 8th of November in my area. I don't believe in Baiting which putting out food to get a Bear to come to you, and I don't believe in using Dogs for Big Game Hunting.

Hawken Rifle is my choice for Hunting Big Game in New Hampshire, one mighty important thing I really want to make clear to folks, If you are a first time Bear Hunter or you have not been using the techniques of Stalking or Still Hunting for at least a few years, then please do not Hunt Bears using these techniques. The reason I say that, has to do with the fact that a Bear will at times, will actually cycle around and actually start Hunting you. You have to be able to be totally aware of everything going on in front, behind and to the sides of you all at the same time. I have been using the techniques of using the techniques of Stalking and Still Hunting since I was 10 years old. That's not to say that you have to using those techniques that long. One of the best ways to get started with using the techniques of using Stalking and Still Hunting is to get out in the woods during non Hunting Seasons and practice following a Deer, or even a friend.

Remember to always be safe when out Hunting and always know where your shoot is going to end up after you pull the trigger!

The Hawken Rifle has been claimed by many to be the most beautiful rifle of all time. It has even been referred to as the "Stradivarius of firearms". Its mighty fine look lies not in fancy engravings or finishes, but in its graceful flowing lines and simplicity. Never before or since has there been a rifle reached the perfect convergence of form and function. Like the steam locomotive, the Hawken Rifle occupied only a brief window of time in our American History, until it was passed on by improved technology and quietly forgotten. The Hawken rifle was made popular in the seventies by the movie “Jeremiah Johnson” starring Robert Redford, which was actually based on a true story about one of the Original Mountain Men.

Hawken Rifle is my choice for Hunting Big Game in New Hampshire, during the 1840’s the settlers and trappers such as Kit Carson and Jim Bridger were moving West across the Mississippi River into uncharted wilderness and living off the land in extremely harsh conditions for several months, even years. The rifles at the time were slim and graceful, of the Kentucky and Pennsylvania type, and of relatively small bore. Many were ordained with German silver furniture, ornamentation and engraving. What the Mountain Man needed was a shorter more powerful rifle that was also a very dependable and utilitarian tool. The St. Louis gun shop of Samuel and Jacob Hawken answered the call for such a rifle, as well as other less known gun makers such as John Gemmer and Horace Dimick. These guns were handcrafted one at a time, before the advent of interchangeable parts. Like the pistol that was developed by Henry Deringer, many small handguns became generically known as “Derringers” when technically they were not. The same became true with the plains rifle being called “Hawkens”, when another gunsmith could have made them.

The plains rifle is usually a percussion, not flintlock, black powder firearm. It has a large bore, normally .50, .54, or .58 caliber, with a massive 1” octagon barrel from 28 to 36” in length, (which at the time was shorter than the 40” barreled guns from the east). Because of the heavy barrel and large bore, the plains rifle could hold huge charges of black powder and was very powerful, capable of killing any animal on the North American continent such as Buffalo, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, Elk and Deer. It was also known for its accuracy and extreme reliability.

Have a good one
Dale in New Hampshire

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