History comes alive: Shooting a deer with a 153-year-old gun
By Tex McDonald There is always the question should I purchase a new rifle just cause it’s soon to be deer season again? Should I just stick with Ole Faithful “Betsy?” Is there an extra hole in my gun cupboard that needs filling? Can I just tell the “Wife” that controls the finances that ole Betsy is done wore out and I just have to get this new one that’s on sale for near half price? What a dilemma this can turn out to be. This problem is pretty simple for me most times. I’ve only bought a few brand-new rifles in my life. A new model 1895 Marlin in 45-70 in the early 1970’s when they first came out again. A Buffalo Bill commemorative model 94 in 1972 at a clearance sale, and a new Model 1892 Winchester in .44 magnum, takedown a few years back. That’s just three new ones for me. I’ve traded or bought and sold well over 1,000 rifles, shotguns and handguns over the years. All used, in various conditions, some just to resell, some to keep as part of a collection and some to give away to young folks, fundraising banquets and special friends and family members. A good number I sold were estate collections that I got a fair value for the remaining family. This year for the annual Manitoulin Island Ontario deer hunt, I decided to use one of the older rifles I had and try and get a deer with it. I initially bought this fine rifle in 1995 from Rob Sheppard and his dad Ron. Rob wanted to use the money to buy an ole Mazda pickup. I said the gun will outlast that pickup for sure. Now this turned out to be a very special rifle. It was a model 1865 Spencer rifle made in 1865. It’s one of only 3,000 that were made. Of that number, 2,000 were sent to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts National Guard and most of the other 1,000 went to Canadian Troops. This particular rifle was used by the Queens Own Rifles to fight with in 1866 in battles along the Niagara escarpment against the Fenians. The rifle is marked with the “WD” and big broad arrow to show it was used by the military. It was chambered for 56-50 rimfire spencer cartridges. It has a seven shot tube in the butt stock and is a lever action. Spencer was one of the first repeating lever guns out there that were made in any quantity. They started in 1857 and got it perfected in 1859. It was in production by 1860 in a small frame version. The U.S. Army purchased 45,733 of these 1860 carbines, then an additional 18,959 Model 1865 carbines as well and also 30,502 carbines made by Burnside. That’s a pile of Spencers. Most of these were all for Northern troops in the civil war. While mine is not a civil war souvenir it has a far greater place in Canadian history as well as the fact that it was one of only 3,000 made in that model the 1865 rifle. A few years later (1998) I was in Boise Idaho visiting with my friend John Taffin and one day he was tied up doing something or other and I had asked him if there were any old gun shops around that may have some parts for the older guns. He gave me good directions and in an old shop I found a replacement block for my rifle. The intent was to alter it so I could shoot centerfire ammo rather than the obsolete rimfire ammo. Well as some things go this project set on the back burner till this year. I contacted my gunsmith buddy “Buck” and asked him if he could alter the spare block for me. He said yes and I drove over with the rifle and spare block. I told him I would like to take a deer with it this fall or perhaps a bear. I left the block with him after the measurements were taken and came back home. He called after he had the block done and I brought the rifle back for the final fitting. I left it there with him. He had a few other problems to sort out once he got to the fitting and it was a much larger job than we both anticipated. I got a call on a Tuesday night it was ready. Ed Hable and I went down to pick it up. Buck says try it and then we can talk about the bill. I had left some primed cases there for him to test fire to be sure it was working ok. That evening I received three boxes of spencer ammo. It’s loaded in Indiana using Starline brass and a 340 grain FP lead bullet. A couple days later we tried it out and it grouped pretty good for me at 25 yards. While doing some research on this rifle I made contact with Rob Greive who is the curator for the Queens Own Rifles Museum at Casa Loma in Toronto. He indicated he would like the rifle for the museum. I was going down that way in September to bring my wife Heidi to the Toronto Airport so we set up a date of September 30 to meet and go to the Oshawa gun club and do some shooting. Rob got two of his friends Boris and Les to sign us in and we commenced to shooting. Boris did best by far. He shot a three shot group at 50 yards that you could cover with a Looney. That’s some shooting. I made up my mind then to do a bit more practicing and use it this November. The trigger pull on this rifle is very heavy, in fact it’s 12 pounds and that takes some getting used to. The first day hunting with my ole buddy Randy Noble I had a tough time
How to Capitalize on Late Season Weather Fronts
Harsh weather of the late season can cause hunters to stay at home. That’s a shame because late season weather fronts can be golden for the hunter who is willing to brave the conditions. By Bernie Barringer When I was young I was fortunate to have a neighbor who was a bowhunter. He became somewhat of a mentor to me as he took me out bowhunting many mornings and evenings until I got a driver’s license and was able to transport myself to the areas I hunted. During one of these drives, he made a statement one time that has stuck with me through the 45 years I have been toting a bow into the whitetail woods. “When the deer are on their feet, you need to stay put and let them come to you,” he said. “But when the deer are bedded, that’s when you should be going to them.” He’s gone now, but after all these decades, this seeming overly simplistic advice has become the cornerstone of my late season hunting strategies. The advice to stay in the stand when the deer are moving and feeding is solid, but most hunters don’t follow the second part of the equation; the part where you go on the offensive and go to the deer when they are bedded down. This advice is never more true than during a late season when the deer are hunkered down in thick cover waiting out a snowstorm. Get Your Sneak On If a deer can have a puzzled look on its face, this doe had one as she looked up from her bed and saw me hunkered down in the swirling snow only 12 feet away. She looked as if she simply couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She didn’t even get up as I moved off. I didn’t find the buck I was after on that particular outing, but I learned something. Deer just aren’t accustomed to seeing hunters out in their thick bedding areas during a blizzard. But think about it; what better time to still hunt through thick bedding cover than when the deer’s ability to detect your sound scent and sight is diminished? When the weather is nasty, bucks head to the creek bottom thickets, standing corn and cattail sloughs where they can hunker down out of the wind to wait out the storm. Moving through these areas with great caution can put you shockingly close to a mature buck. In addition to their diminished ability to detect danger due to the conditions, they tend to let their guard down. Deer are so unaccustomed to seeing a person in there during these times that they often pause upon recognizing you, giving you enough time to get off a shot. This is especially true in cattail sloughs and in standing corn fields. I have shot deer in their beds from 2-3 yards when they had no clue I was on the planet. Move slowly with the wind in your face as much as possible, picking your way along, step by painstaking step. Visualize everything around you looking for parts of deer and movements such as the flicker of an ear or turn of a head. You won’t see whole deer, you’ll see parts of them, then you can plan your final approach. Strategic Stand Sits We’ve all noticed that the deer pile into the feeding areas whenever a storm ends in the afternoon. I once watched this phenomenon from the seat of my pickup, but these days, I want to be in the stand as the storm ends. Today’s technology puts radar right at our fingertips. By viewing the radar on a phone or tablet, we can predict the moment the snow will end and I want to be in the stand when that happens. By heading to a stand positioned over a food source a half hour before the snow quits, I have allowed my tracks and most of my ground scent to be covered up by snow, and I am position to strike when the deer appear. All this, of course, takes some planning ahead of time. Glassing and using scouting cameras will tell you where the deer are most likely to appear in the fields. Additionally, knowing the bedding areas the deer use during harsh weather fronts also gives you an advantage. In the winter, deer use two primary kinds of bedding areas. I call them thermal bedding areas and solar bedding areas. The thermal areas are the ones I mentioned earlier where the deer tuck in out of the wind in the thick stuff during cloudy, windy and snow or rainy conditions. Solar bedding areas are preferred during sunny days even when the thermometer drops to the bottom. Following a storm, a cold front usually moves in with high blue skies and northwest winds. Deer will find a south-facing slope where they can take advantage of the sun’s warming rays while the wind blows over the top of them. I’ll find beds right on the back side of a ridge. The bucks like to bed here because they can smell what’s behind them and see the area in front of them. These areas usually have little to no thick ground cover because of tree canopy, so the deer can get plenty of sun. Knowing if the deer are more likely to be bedding in a solar bedding area or a thermal bedding area—and knowing where these areas are located–will be a big advantage in your decision of where to set up to ambush them on their way to their evening feeding spots. Know Where to Go In the winter, deer need to eat a lot to create the body heat necessary for survival. That means they will take chances with daylight feeding patterns they wouldn’t take when the living is easy in the early season. You may see mature bucks feeding in open fields fully two hours before dark, which is the middle of the afternoon
Difficult Hunting Decisions: Stay or Go?
Possibly the most difficult decision a DIY bowhunter has to make during the course of a constantly changing season is whether to push on or to move on. Here are some tips for making the right decision. By Bernie Barringer I’d waited three years to draw this Iowa tag, so I was really torn when I received the news. It was October 31, 2013 and I had been in Iowa a few days; I was getting nice bucks from 140-160 on trail cameras. The daytime buck movement was just starting to heat up. So when my wife called and informed me that her mother had died, and the funeral would be on Saturday, my whole world was thrown into a tailspin. “If you want me to come home, I will come, just say the word.” I meant those words when I said them, just as much as she meant the words she said to me when she told me to stay and hunt. I guess that’s part of why this marriage has lasted for 35 years. This may be an extreme case, but you don’t have to find out a family member has passed away to be faced with what I believe is the most difficult choice in DIY hunting away from home: Should I stick it out a few more days or should I bail out on this plan and move on to potentially greener pastures? In 20 plus DIY bowhunting road trips, I have been faced with that decision dozens of times, and often, I hate to admit it, I zigged when I should have zagged. Most often when faced with this decision I am not looking at the option of just packing up to go home with my tail between my legs. I am more likely choosing whether or not to resort to a plan B that is already in place; a move to another hunting location that I have already researched. Knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em is a decision that can be different on every hunt and may change during any moment of any hunt. There are some basic guidelines I have learned to help me make the decision. Weather influences I left Kansas early one time because the November forecast was for several days with highs in the 80s with south winds. South winds were terrible for the stands I had in place, and try as I might, couldn’t seem to find good locations for that wind direction. I wasn’t seeing much buck movement during the day and with hot weather coming, I felt my chances were better elsewhere. I spent a sweaty day packing up all my gear and headed to North Dakota. I arrived in North Dakota two days later during a blizzard. The trail cameras I’d left there earlier in the year showed great daytime movement and I started immediately seeing chasing activity at all times of the day. It was one time when I made the right choice. Long stretches of rainy weather can influence you to move as well, and in some cases, extreme cold or wind could cause the deer to hole up for a few days. Keep an eye on the forecast and make the best decision you can with as much information as you can gather. Today’s technology allows you to get an accurate long-term forecast at the touch of a finger. Radar shows what’s coming and when. Some good examples of excellent hunting weather apps are MyRadar, Accuweather, and Scoutlook Weather (my favorite). Hunting pressure I have been to places where I was getting more trail camera photos of other hunters than I was getting of shooter bucks. This is one of the unknowns that can’t be researched ahead of time. You can make calls to biologists and game wardens to get a feel for the hunting pressure you are likely to encounter, but their advice is nothing more than speculation and the reality might be quite different than they expected. In one case I almost backed out of a plan because I was told the hunting pressure on an 800-acre piece of public land in Kansas was quite intense during the first week in November. I decided to go there and battle it out because the property was large and I figured I could snake my way into some deep piece of cover and find a buck. I hunted there a week and saw a total of three other bowhunters. I guess they have a little different idea of hunting pressure than I do. One time I arrived in Missouri and found the parking lot of a public hunting area full with seven trucks. The license plates showed that these trucks were from five different states. While these types of situations cannot be predicted, there is no excuse for finding yourself in a crowd due to other hunting seasons. Once again in Missouri, I awoke on a Saturday morning and went to my hunting area before daylight, surprised to see so much activity around me. A weekend youth hunting season opened up that day. I wasn’t caught off guard because I knew the season was opening that day, but I was unprepared for the amount of pressure a rifle season brings and I hadn’t chose my stand site accordingly. A little foresight would have helped me use the pressure to my advantage if I had planned ahead. Outside influences Once I had big plans to hunt a piece of property out of state and it was with great optimism that I had all my spots marked out on Google Earth for some boots-in-the-dirt scouting. I called the biologist a few days before leaving home to ask him some details about the kinds of crops that were planted in the food plots on this public hunting area. He told me that they were going to do a controlled burn on several hundred acres of switchgrass prairie on that property the
Top 10 items for the Hunter’s Christmas List
By Bernie Barringer I’m always looking for something new and nifty that will fill a need, solve a problem, or just scratch a hunting itch. Here are 10 of them for this year’s Christmas list. Feel free to wrap any of these up for me and put them under my tree! OZ20 Vehicle Deodorizer Ambient odors are insidious, and your vehicle collects them from every possible source as you travel down the long and smelly road of everyday life. Your dog’s hair, the rogue french fries under your seat and the variety of odors that come off our own bodies; they all collect and co-mingle inside our vehicles, then conspire to hitch a ride with us whenever we leave and venture into the field. Ultimately, they all can sound like alarm bells to a whitetail’s nose. Life teaches that cheap insurance comes in many forms. The latest of which for hunters is the $39.99 OZ20 Vehicle Deodorizer by ScentLok. The OZ20 Vehicle Deodorizer emits a powerful stream of ozone molecules that seek out and destroy virtually all types of odors and bacteria in their path. When ozone comes in contact with these contaminants, their chemical structure is changed to a compound that is no longer recognizable as an offensive odor. As ozone continues to attack these compounds, the odor is destroyed through oxidation. Simply plug this affordable marvel into your truck’s all-in-one 12V receptacle and let the odor destruction begin. Cool Slogan T-Shirts for the Hunter These shirts will make a statement about who you are as a hunter and meat eater. Three different versions each have their own graphics and statement, “DIY=EARNED”, “PUBLIC LAND OWNER” and the best-selling “ORGANIC” which features the high quality, fresh organic protein which is one of the reasons we hunt. Only $23 each with free shipping. https://moveu.us/stores/bbb Meaty Delivery: Rugid meat pack kit A high quality Rugid cooler stuffed with the meats of your choice: sticks, various kinds of jerky, sausages and other meaty snacks. Choose between tailgater packs, Jerky selection packs, hot meat mixes, etc. Great idea for the outdoorsman and a great gift idea for the meat lover. If you have a hankering to reload, you can also buy the kits of meats to refill your cooler for the next outing. This is a great gift idea to get for a huntin’ buddy but hey, a second one for yourself is a good idea as well. Hint, hint. https://www.meaty-delivery.com/ Kenetrek Merino Wool socks Quality Merino wool socks have improved hunting experiences in cold and damp weather more than just about any other product. One of the leaders has been Kenetrek in producing great quality socks that can be worn day after day in any weather. Merino wool keeps damp feet warm without the itch. When you need tall boot protection without the bulk, slip into this tough as nails medium layer sock with reinforced heel, toe and shin pads so you won’t feel any lace pressure. Insulates when damp, and itch free. The socks are available in several thicknesses and designs for the various hunting applications, be it a evening treestand hunt or a week in the mountains. https://kenetrek.com/collections/socks Field &Stream Whitetail Pack Billed as the ultimate treestand hunter’s backpack, the Field & Stream Ultimate Whitetail Hunting Backpack, features a convenient rattling antler connector so you’ll never have to fumble through your pack when it comes time to rattle. The padded shoulder straps provide the ultimate in comfort, while an easy-grip handle helps with transport. The main compartment features exclusive Push Past access with a pocket that makes it easy to retrieve flashlights or knives inside. The pack also features a flip-down front panel and easy access to four zippered and two slip pockets. The waist belt includes removable 5-inch side pockets. Thanks to the roomy design and abundance of storage, everything you need in the field fits neatly into this pack. If you carry lots of gear into the woods with you, this will keep your stuff organized better than ever before. Stacked climbing sticks The Stacked Ladder Sticks are revolutionary climbing aids. They’re fast, quiet, super solid on the tree, and stack together like red solo cups. With their light-weight, compact, vertical nesting design, and the shoulder strap that’s included, you’ll forget you’re carrying them. The non-metal construction material allows these sticks to grab the tree and hold-on unlike the metal sticks of yesterday. There are no bolts or screws to break or come loose and no weld joints to fail. This product meets and surpasses industry standards recognized by TMA (Treestand Manufacturers Association). https://www.stackedoutdoors.com/product/ladder-sticks-stack-of-4/ High Output Scent Dripper Designed with a higher output to simulate higher deer traffic. It can help you pattern and inventory bucks daytime and night. This unit will operate for up to 7 to 12 days on 4 FL OZ of scent depending on conditions. It normally shuts down during rain & bad weather, so it saves your valuable scent. High Output Scrape-Dripper and Hot-Scrape® with Scent Reflex® Technology helps get more action faster at mock scrape locations. http://wildlife.com/Hunting-Scent-Dispenser-Product_Details.php?Super-Charged-Scrape-Dripper-Combo-12 Pro Ears Stalker Gold The Stalker Gold is perfect for hunting and shooting enthusiasts. The “chop” cut cup makes it easy to shoulder the firearm without interference, while providing comfort and control aiming. The Stalker Gold has an NRR of 25. The exclusive DLSC Technology has the fastest response time in the industry at 1.5 milliseconds. Military grade dual circuit boards ensure a rugged and reliable pair of ear muffs, no wires to snag or break, and maximum adjustability, backed up by a 5 year warranty. The internal gain setting is pre set to hear the quietest sounds at the greatest distances. The Stalkers are favored by bow hunters for clear audiophile sound and are aware of the prey. http://proears.com/product/stalker-gold-series/ Black Diamond Storm Headlamp Rugged, fully waterproof workhorse for foul conditions and big adventures, the Black Diamond Storm Headlamp now features 350 lumens of power and three different colored night vision modes. The redesigned lighting profile offers
The Deer Hunt from Hell
By Bernie Barringer Sometimes things do not go as planned. I’ve taken dozens of bowhunting road trips over the past 25 years and there’s been some fantastic ones and a few I would like to forget. My 2018 hunt in Kansas is shaping up to be one for the record books as far as new lows are concerned. Anticipation is a big part of the attraction for me. I analyze aerial photos, study anything I can get on the public land properties and talk to anyone in the area who will give me information. I shoot my bow every day and go over my gear, checking and packing everything. My enthusiasm was running especially high this year because I was going back to a large piece of public land in southeast Kansas that I have hunted many times. I have bagged some nice bucks on this property over the years and I have found a couple great spots for hunting during the rut. In one of these spots I killed a 130-inch 8-point my last trip here in 2016. That was the third buck between 125 and 145 I have shot there in the past five years. It’s a natural funnel between a steep river bank and a steep bluff. It’s a mile and a half from the access point and I’ve only seen one other hunter in there over the years; and he was only there one day. It’s a lot of work to get there, but it’s a bottleneck that funnels deer travel into a very predictable area. This is the kind of place that makes you feel you just need to put in your time when the bucks are cruising and you’ll kill a nice buck there every year. A couple weeks before I was to leave, I learned that the river was flooded out of its banks and almost the entire property was underwater. I watched the weather carefully over the next few days and by two days before I was to leave, a call to the KFWP property manager confirmed that the river was back to normal and he said the deer had moved back down along the river and it would be business as usual when I arrived on November 1. I made the 12-hour drive down and arrived just after dark and pulled into the motel I had used in the past. The motel looked strangely deserted, but I walked in and rang the bell at the front desk. The place had changed hands and the new owner was an Indian (the dot kind not the feathers kind) who didn’t speak English. I tried to explain that I wanted room 151 because I could park my hunting trailer on the grass right beside the room and plug it in to electricity, so I would have lights and get my chest freezer running. Finally, by pointing at the motel layout diagram on the desk, I got point across and paid the one-week rate. Soon as I got into the room it became clear that the new owners didn’t consider cleanliness a high priority. I kicked a couple dead crickets into the corner and began unloading my clothing, gear and food for the week. The bathroom wasn’t very clean and the room had a musty smell as if it hadn’t been used in a long, long time. There was a mouthful of toothpaste in the sink that had been deposited by a previous occupant and it had been there long enough to become fossilized. I ran the sink full of water to start soaking on that. I started an ozone generator to work on the smell and sprayed down the bedding and curtains with Scent Killer. I settled down in front of a football game on TV and within a couple hours the room had started to smell better. A pickup pulled up outside and a guy went into the room right next to me. That’s interesting, there are 40 empty rooms and the owner decides to put this guy right beside me. No big deal though, right? I had just dozed off when I was awakened as the prostitute showed up next door. The thin walls left little to the imagination as I tried desperately to ignore the noises and go back to sleep. But two hours later it was 1:00 a.m. and I was staring at the ceiling pondering two questions: “How much does it cost to make a middle-aged fat guy squeal like a little girl?” And “How long can they keep going?” Finally they wrapped it up and the argument started. Seems she doesn’t take credit cards. After some yelling, she left. I had finally just drifted off to sleep again when she came back. More arguing. Despite all that, I was out the door before daylight. My first morning after arrival, I like to drive the back roads around the property, glassing for deer to get a feel for what the rutting activity looks like and gauge the number of trucks in the parking areas. I didn’t see a single deer over the next couple hours, but I did see an unusual number of trucks for a weekday morning. But several were from out of state. New York, North Carolina. I walked into some areas I had scouted in the past and discovered a shocking lack of deer sign in areas that are normally really good. No rubs. Hardly any scrapes. Hardly a fresh track in any of the trails. Still I put out a couple trail cameras. I headed back to the motel to change clothes before making the long march back into my favorite funnel for an evening hang and hunt. When I opened the motel door, I was hit in the face with a strong smell of perfume. Seems the maid had been there and didn’t like the musty smell so she hosed down the entire room with some kind of a super strong smelling something