Western Rendezvous 1991

Here's a scene from the rendezvous, after our ride in. It was a gorgeous site.

Bill Scurlock

Fishing on 1991 Western Ride

On the 1991 ride into rendezvous in Montana, we camped by this lake, don't remember the name, where I first tried my hand at fishing. Didn't do any good here.

Bill Scurlock

Grayling Lake 1991

This is one of my favorite older photos. It was taken by David Wright while I was fishing in Grayling Lake in Montana. There's a linen line in my fingers. The hand-forged hook was baited with a piece of bacon fat. Incredibly, I caught 3 graylings. I think I could have caught more, but a little squall blew up and ruined the fishing. They just quit biting.

This was during a horseback ride into the Western Rendezvous. I was a guest on this ride (my first period ride into rendezvous) of the AMM's Upper Missouri Outfit. Good times.

Bill Scurlock

Shoot on Sunday

I'm hosting a shoot at our farm west of Texarkana on Sunday afternoon. It's just an informal, stand-in-the-pasture shoot. Richard Henry and Robert Tibbit are providing targets and matches. We haven't gotten together since March or April, so a lot of local guys are looking forward to it, including me.

Bill Scurlock

Spike Buck 1982-83

I shot this spike buck in about 1982-83, and Ernest Cook (right) finished him off with a shot to the head. This was on the Lafayette County Wildlife Management area in South Arkansas. We used to do a buckskinners' camp there each fall during ML deer season. This deer survived a close shave a day or two before I shot him. One of the guys in our camp cut some hair on his neck with a round ball. Said all he had was a neck shot through the brush, so he tried it. There was a smooth groove cut in the hair on this deer's neck, but the skin wasn't broken.

My rifle in the photo was a .45 caliber made by Hobbs and Hopkins in Elkridge, Maryland (they use to run H&H Barrel Company back in the late 70s to early 80s. I sold this rifle back in the early 80s, and wish I had it back. Ernest is holding a .54 caliber, half-stock English sporting rifle made by Kit Ravenshear. He still owns and uses that one.

Bill Scurlock

Caney Creek Again

A year or two after the photo in the last post, we did another trek into Caney. We started out with more guys than shown here, but one guy got hurt and I think two others helped carry his stuff out and didn't come back. This was the second morning. It was drizzling rain and just above freezing. We had four guys and two pieces of canvas, so one went underneath while the other one covered us. From the left: Mark Baker, Tim McCrae, Rooster Bob and Bill Scurlock. The photo was taken with a timer on my camera.

Bill Scurlock

Caney Creek Wilderness Trek

Here's another one with the local guys heading out on a trek in the Caney Creek Wilderness of Arkansas. I think it was somewhere around 1986-87. From the left: Bill Scurlock, Rooster Bob McKellar, Ernest Cook, David Pearce, Ken Womack and Bobby Bailey.

Bill Scurlock

Dog Hollow Trek 1984

Been going through some old images and found some that brought back good memories. In 1984, some of the local guys took our first period trek up Dog Hollow in the Ouachita Mountains of Western Arkansas. From left to right: Ernest Cook, Oran Scurlock, Bobby Bailey, John Upton and Bill Scurlock. For Bobby and me, this was our second trek, the first being with David Wright and Steve Davis the year before in East Tennessee.

Bill Scurlock

Mark Wiley Table

Another piece of furniture we bought from Mark Wiley at the Raid at Martin's Station is this nice table. It's very well made and comes apart for travel. The legs and stretcher are maple, painted with milk paint, and the top is larch. Top top measures 53 inches long. More details will be in "Prime Possibles" in the November/December issue of MUZZLELOADER.

You can contact Mark at WileyHouseShoppe@yahoo.com.

Mike Walsh Lantern

Linda and I picked this ships lantern up from Mike Walsh at the Fort Frederick Market Fair last spring. Mike does excellent work and was chosen in 2009 and 2010 for inclusion in the Early American Life magazine's Directory of Traditional American Crafts. This is a big lantern measuring 16 inches tall. A full review is scheduled to appear in "Prime Possibles" in the November/December issue of MUZZLELOADER.

You can contact Mike and see more of his work at www.earlyamericantin.com.

Bill Scurlock

Mark Wiley Ice Box

We met Mark Wiley at the Raid at Martin's Station back in April, and bought this ice box from him. It's made of painted poplar and lined with 1" foam. It even has a well-designed drain hole in the bottom. The pipe sticks out underneath and has a threaded cap on in, but you can't see it without practically laying on the ground. It's very nicely done, and we look forward to using it in our camps. A review in MUZZLELOADER is scheduled for the November/December issue.

You can contact Mark at 724-714-7549 or email WileyHouseShoppe@yahoo.com.

Bill Scurlock

For Trade and Treaty

Mike Nesbitt wrote a review on this book in the Sept/Oct issue. This is another excellent book published by Track of the Wolf. It covers the firearms of the American Indians from 1600 to 1920. The photography is excellent and printed in full color. It is available from store.scurlockpublishing.com.

Bill Scurlock

New Brown Bess Book

This new book by Erik Goldstein & Stuart Mobray is the best book on Brown Bess identification to date. One of the great things about it is the professional color photos of each model, from the Pattern 1730 to Pattern 1809. The photography and format allow you to clearly see the many variations in each pattern and the evolution of the model over almost 100 years of production. I wrote a full review in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue. Copies of The Brown Bess are available from store.scurlockpublishing.com.

Bill Scurlock

Roland Cadle Half-Size Horn

At Fort Frederick in April, Roland Cadle told me that he was making a horn for me to put on my table at the CLA show, "so you will have a quality horn to show instead of the backwoods stuff." At this year's show he brought me this 1/2 scale powder horn, completely hand made by him in the Philadelphia horn fashion. It has turned pewter rings, turned wooden base and tip, dyed green, and iron loops for the strap. It measures about 9 inches around the curve and a base diameter of about 2 inches. It's a beautiful little horn that I'm proud to display on my table.

Bill Scurlock

Doe and Fawns

On the way from the house to the office yesterday morning, I drove up on a doe and two fawns. I was about 25 to 30 yards from them. I didn't want to chance getting out of the truck, so I took the photos through the windshield again. In addition, it was overcast and not real bright. Consequently, they're not as sharp as I would like. These are the first fawns we've seen on the place this year.

Bill Scurlock

Jan Riser Housewife

Jacob bought this nice housewife from Jan Riser at the CLA show. The green exterior is wool dyed in osage orange sawdust and over-dyed with logwood by Anne Ramsey. The interior is made it from various pieces of vintage homespun fabric. The inside has a couple of spare buttons sewn on, a needle in the pincushion on the right in the middle photo and several lengths of thread in the interior pockets. Jacob will get years of use out of it, like I have from the one Linda made me years ago. 

You can contact Jan at artriser@mindspring.com.

Bill Scurlock

Clay Smith Trade Rifle

I wrote an article about this rifle in the September/October issue. Here are a couple of color images of this nice rifle. Shoots good too!

You can contact Clay at www.claysmithguns.com.

Bill Scurlock

Allen Heiser Throwing Knife

Mike Nesbitt reviewed this throwing knife from Arrowhead Traders in "Prime Possibles" in the September/October issue. It has an overall length of 13 inches and is well balanced for throwing. While made for throwing, it can be used for heavy camp chores as well. 

Bill Scurlock

Brian Beckum Whitetail DVDs

I reviewed these two DVDs in the September/October issue. If you aren't fired up about hunting season yet, get these videos, and they will cure you. Through these videos, Brian Beckum takes you on a number of fair chase hunts and uses flintlocks to harvest a number of bucks and does. They're great for a new hunter but also quite enjoyable for those of us who have flintlock hunted for 30 years.

You can order these at www.beckumoutdoors.com.

Bill Scurlock

Rich Pierce Flints

These flints by Rich Pierce were reviewed by Mike Nesbitt in the September/October issue. Mike had good results with these Missouri-made flints.

You can contact Rich at longtrekflints@gmail.com.

Bill Scurlock

Deer By House

We've been seeing two nearly identical bucks, traveling together, this summer. Usually it was just after dark when we saw them. This is one of them I saw when I was driving home about 6 pm last night. He was standing at the wood's edge about 100 yards from our house and 25 yards from the driveway. Was able to get my camera out and shoot through the windshield, hence the glare at the bottom and the fussiness of the images. Pretty decent buck. Sure gets the blood pumping. 

Bill Scurlock

David Crisalli's Gunner's Mate

Featured in "Prime Possibles" in the September/October issue is the Gunner's Mate by David Crisalli. It is a handy sized tool that can take the place of a bag full of tools at the range or in the field. It is well designed, good looking and has the feel of a traditional styled gun tool. And the several functions I have tried all worked beautifully. 

You can order these online at www.luckybag.us.

Bill Scurlock

September/October Issue

A lot of you have already received your subscription copy of the Sept/Oct issue. This one features a painting by Andrew Knez, Jr., on the cover. This work is entitled, Watching the Back Trail. Andy's work has appeared several times in MUZZLELOADER, and we appreciate all of the fine work that he does.

You can contact Andy at www.andrewknezjr.com.

Bill Scurlock