ML Hunting 4, Oct. 2010

Saturday morning, Jacob and my nephew, Dusty, both shot deer. This photo is Dusty with his little doe and his grandfather's rifle. That was a cheap rifle in the early 1970s, but it shoots straight. It's .45 caliber and has tallied around a dozen deer. It hasn't been shot in years, but Dusty borrowed it and shot the nine-pointer shown below on his Dad's place the first Saturday of the season. Dusty is an excellent shooter.

Bill Scurlock

ML Hunting 3, Oct. 2010

I went back to the lease Wednesday afternoon and shot a nice doe on Thursday morning. She is 2nd place in our camp's trophy doe contest at 124 lbs. (1st place is currently 126 lbs.). One shot, and she didn't go far.   I didn't hunt very hard after shooting that doe. The temperature just kept rising each day. That may not have effected the deer (2 were killed Sat. morn), but I get tired of sweating while hunting, so I didn't hunt much more of the week.

Other members came to came on Friday and Saturday, and we spent most of Saturday planting winter food plots. Normally, these are already in by the first of October, but since it was so dry until last week, we held of on planting. We didn't want the seed to sprout and then burn up. Having received over 2 inches of rainfall in the last week, the food plots should grow well now.

ML Hunting 2, Oct. 2010

The season began with me missing a shot on a does early Saturday morning. I checked the vines, limbs and trees between where I sat and where the deer was standing, but didn't see any marks. Couldn't find any hair or blood where she stood or where she ran. Still don't know why I missed, just missed. That was my first miss with the Mark Thomas rifle. At that point, I was 7 deer in 8 shots with that rifle.

Jacob shot the doe (last post) on Sunday evening. I shot a nubbin buck (shown here) on Monday morning. Didn't see that he was a buck until I tracked and found him. I had to shoot again to put him down for good. That's the flattened round ball from the second shot in the lower photo.

I went home on Monday at noon to process and freeze our two deer and to take care of a couple of other things.

More later,
Bill Scurlock

ML Hunting Oct. 2010

On our hunting lease, muzzleloaders caught  up to the archers last week. When I left camp Saturday evening, it was 5 to 5. A nice buck (Mo's posted here about 2 weeks ago), 2 nubbin bucks, and the rest were does. It's still warm. The big bucks don't seem to be moving around much. It should get better in a couple of weeks.

Here's son Jacob with a nice doe from last Sunday evening. He made an excellent heart/lung shot, and she only traveled about 20 yards after the shot. I'd say that in 10 seconds, she was dead. Jacob used a .54 caliber Steve Davis rifle for both of this deer. We missed getting photos of the nubbin he shot this past Saturday morning.

More to come,
Bill Scurlock

Gone Hunting

I am liable to be in and out this week because muzzleloader deer season is open in Arkansas. If anything happens over at our hunting camp, I'll post when I return to a computer.

Bill Scurlock

New Dixie Gun Works Catalog

Just got the brand new Dixie Gun Works 2011 catalog in the mail today. This has always been the biggest and most comprehensive black powder catalog. It has 688 pages of black powder guns, muzzleloading accessories, shooting supplies and antique gun parts. It's a great catalog, and you can learn a lot, just by reading it.

You can get one at www.dixiegunworks.com.

Bill Scurlock

Steven Lalioff Pouch

This simple pouch was made by Steven Lalioff when he was writing his chapter, "The Traditional Hunting Pouch," for The Book of Buckskinning VI, published in 1992. Steve is also pictured on the cover of that book.

The pouch measures about 7" square, no inside pocket and a 7/8" strap. It's a basic bag, but very well made. I used it for years, but have basically retired it. 

Steve can be contacted at lalioff.com.

Bill Scurlock

Wilde Haversack

A few years ago at the Fort Frederick market fair, I realized that I had left my haversack at home. It's tough to do a 4-day market fair without a haversack, so I stopped by Ed Wilde's tent, Wilde Weavery and Trading Co.

This is the haversack I chose. It's just a plain pouch, meant only get me through that event, but I have used it many times since then. It measures 9-3/4" X 12" and has three copper buttons.

Bill Scurlock

Taylor Indian Sculpture/Zender-Dale Outfit

On November 9, 2009, I posted images of this Mike Taylor carved and painted wooden Indian bust. At that time it was just the carved and painted sculpture without the jewelry. This last spring we boxed up the carving and sent it to Jan Zender in Big Bay, Michigan. We asked Jan and his wife, Rochelle, to outfit Mike's carving in the appropriately styled and sized trade silver and ornamentation. Jan brought it to us at this year's CLA show, and Linda and I were thrilled.

Of course, Mike can do this same type of decorative work, but we like that idea of having a collaborative piece that features the work of three friends.

To give you an idea of the scale, this sculpture is 9" tall from the base to the top of his head (not counting the hair). The base is about 5" wide.

You can contact Mike Taylor at www.michaeljtaylor.com.

You can contact Jan Zender and Rochelle Dale at www.zenderdalearts.com.

Bill Scurlock

Mark Ewing Banded Horn

Mark Ewing, from Lincolnton, North Carolina, came by our table at the CLA show back in August. After some visiting and catching up, I asked if the horn he was carrying around was for sale. He said it was and handed it to me. I did not hand it back. It's about 15-1/2 inches around the outside curve and the base is 2-1/4 inches in diameter. I plan to run a review in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue. In the meantime, Mark can be contacted at 704-530-2829 or mark_ewing@bellsouth.net.

Bill Scurlock

Stolen CW Pistols

Two Pistols Stolen from the Colonial Williamsburg Gun Shop

Pistol 1 has an octagon-to-round barrel 8-3/4” long, .56 caliber. On a flat at the breech is a silver inlay with a hand and hammer stamp to show that the barrel is hand-forged. The top flat is engraved “Williamsburg 1991.” The lock is engraved with “Smith” under the pan. Stock is curly maple and relief carved behind the tang. The mounts are engraved brass.

Pistol 2 has a full octagon barrel approx. 10” long and is signed “J. Laubach at Wmsbg. 1981.” It also has a silver inlay on the oblique flat at the breech with a hand and hammer. Stock is curly maple and is relief carved behind the tang. Engraved brass mounts.

Also stolen was a powder horn approx. 14” long, engraved with “A Man of Words and not Of Deeds is Like a Garden of Weeds.”

A small black leather shooting bag was also stolen.

Contact George Sutier at Gsuiter@CWF.org or call 757-565-8747

Bill Scurlock

Milita from Sept/Oct issue

This is a beautiful photo from Ronald Poppe's article entitled "Militia Drill" in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of MUZZLELOADER. It's such a good looking photo that I wanted to show it here in color.

Bill Scurlock

The Book of Lancaster

I reviewed The Book of Lancaster: Carving Details for the Gunmaker by Susanne Warren-Bicio in the September/October issue. It's an excellent book of 68 detailed drawings by Susanne of the carving on a number of original Lancaster rifles. These drawings can be of greater value than many of the photos that have been published of these rifles because many of the details cannot be seen in the photos.

You can contact Susanne at www.historicalarmsmaker.com.

Bill Scurlock

Mo's 10-Point

I spent last weekend at the hunting camp, working on our cabin with Trey, Ernest and Trey's daughter, Camryn. Bow season opened last Friday, but the only one in the camp who went hunting on Saturday was Maureen, aka Mo. This is Mo with a nice 10-pointer she stuck at about 7:30 am. A perfect shot, and he only travelled about 25 yards. This is exactly how he fell, with the arrow in place. All Mo did was pick up his head for the photo.

Bill Scurlock