Fighting Cabin Fever

Tools to survive January

Around Traverse City hunting season is pretty much over, except for rabbits and squirrels, both of which face big opposition from the woman of the house, there is not that much ice for ice fishing and it is just too cold for "normal" fishing, so cabin fever rules.

Last weekend I shot a couple rounds of skeet, but they are not real birds, and I've been around for work, a short trip to Mexico and another to Arkansas, which translates into a lot of reading time.

Jackson Landers' "Eating Aliens" is a very insightful and entertaining book about his adventures and misadventures hunting invasive animals species in the United States and nearby places. Mr. Landers targets exotic and feral animals and fish, gets many and misses some, and faces the general incompetence and lack of interest of federal government employees, be it mismanaging black iguanas in Gasparilla Island or feral pigs Virginia's Black Bay Wildlife Refuge, and some very dedicated and accomplished Missouri Department of Conservation battling Asian Carp. In my view his biggest miss is not targeting the most destructive of all exotic invasive species, Felis catus or your neighborhood house cat, which by the way tastes just like rabbit.

I also read Steve Smith's "Shotgunner: Reflections on Birds, Guns and Dogs", which is well written and beautifully illustrated by his son. What a winning combination! We both share the passion of hunting birds with side-by-side shotguns, and in general I agree with most of his reflections, and may have a slightly different view on others, particularly in the matter of chokes. But besides providing grounds for conversation of libations, there is little if any practical consequences in these minor differences.

And yesterday my wife and I drove down to Grand Rapids, MI, to meet our friends Bob and Pam Scott. While Bob and I visited the Huntin'Time Expo, Pam and Maria went...shopping! At the Huntin'Time we met our friend Jeff Helms of Agawa Canyon Outfitters to discuss a new possible adventure in bear country, had plenty of small talk with guides from here, there and everywhere, looked at gadgets (that is Bob's specialty), and almost avoided buying anything until close to the exit.

I stopped to look at a full tang damascus knife, but when I handled it the handle and balance were disappointing, then I saw a folder nearby. It was a KA-BAR Dozier Phat Bob. A limited edition with a 3 inch D2 steel blade and greenish Micarta handle, with a line lock as robust as we can expect. The knife feels massive and capable. It probably will seat ingloriously within my collection, butit may find a more dignified life. Let's see what the future brings.

Earlier in the month I did some reading on John Donne (1572-1631) and was particularly struck by Meditations XVII ("no man is an island...from whom the bell tools") and Elegy III - Change. I leave a small extract of the later:

...

To live in one land is capitivity,

To run all countries a wild roguery.

...

...change is the nursery,

Of music, joy, life and eternity.

An Ideal 22 Rifle

Stevens 414 Armory "Ideal" Rifle

Last Friday as I was driving home after a strenuous but short business trip to Mexico I stopped at Great Guns in Acme, just of M-72 as you are arriving in Traverse City. It has been a long time sinceI had visit this shop and as it is my habit I started browsing at the used gun rack.

The issue is that there are very few modern guns designs that atract my attention. Plastic, stainless steel and tactical designs just don't turn me on. I must confess that I love my Beretta A-400, a truly innovative autoloading shotgun, but when out hunting I carry one of my classic (and old) side-by-side guns, not the A-400.

Also, in the recent past I started gathering (I am not disciplined enough to be a "collector") .22 rimfire rifles, and I was really missing a traditional single shot falling block exemplar for a long time (or at least since my dear friend Stan Bell refused to trade with me one of the nicest Martini Cadets you can dream about. His lame justification is that he wants to keep the rifle for his grandson. What about my grandson?!)

Well, a hunk of walnut and steel with a deep and secular patina coating it immediately got my attention. It had a massive bull barrel with some tapper, a sizeable forend, an elegant under lever, globe front sight, miniscule peep sight and a Whelen shooting sling in great condition. As I handled the heavy but well balanced target rifle, or would it be a military trainer?, I quickly found the Stevens name and immediately the names IDEAL and FAVORITE came to mind.

While I waited for another customer to be helped I used my i-Phone (even I sucumb to modern technology on ocasion) to ckeck some information on the piece, including going price on the most popular on-line auction sites. But soon I was being tended to and negotiations started, and the price was more than reasonable. I used a snap cap to test all functionality and when satisified, done deal!

Later on the day I was able to continue my research the STEVENS 22 Rim Fire No. 414 ARMORY and a 1921 Stevens ads that I found surfing the internet reads the following:

Accuracy is the finest recommendation any rifle can have. It means everything.

Balance, sight adjustment, barrel alignment, easy trigger control, smooth action, "feel" - these are the qualities an accurate rifle must possess.

High prices do not  necessarily insure this accuracy, but the Trade Mark that has stood the acid test for 57 years does.

- And that was one of the principle reasons the U.S. Olympic Rifle Team selected STEVENS last year.

You can improve your shooting with a Stevens.

For all ages, for all needs, at all prices.

J. STEVENS ARMS COMPANY

By the way, the price in the 1920's was US$ 21.00!

Bill Ward's "WALNUT and STEEL - Vintage .22 Rifles" dedicates its Chapter Two to Stevens. It starts like this: "it seems only proper to begin a review of vintage .22 rifles with the originator of the most popular cartridge of all time. that man is Mr. Joshua Stevens, and the cartridge, of course, is the .22 long rifle." Mr. Ward talks about Mr. Stevens and the popular SCHUETZENFEST of a time gone by, the boy's rifle Stevens Favorite and its bigger and more serious brother the IDEAL or No. 44 Rifle.

Stevens at one time was the biggest firearm factory in the world, as "the Favorite became the most popular youth rifle of the early 20th century, while the 44 and its brethren would go to become the premier target rifle of the same era."

I was slightly disappointed to discover that my beloved Aguila 22 Super Colibri would not shoot through the heavy 26-inch long target barrel. As that is the only ammo that is safe to be used in my basement I had to make a trip to the Cedar Rod & Gun Club to test my "new" target rifle.

At a stepped through deep snow 50 feet distance I shot the rifle at NRA 10 Meter Air Rifle Targets, first off hand and then supported. The two targets on the picture clearly show that all shots hit the black bulls-eye and the groups could be covered by a quarter. The rifle probably can do better than that, but I have not shot a target rifle on paper in about a decade, so give him a break.

While in terms of pratical accuracy the Stevens 414 Armory does not have the ergonomics advancements or superb sights of modern target rifles, I doubt that it is far behind, if behind at all, in intrinsic accuracy.

I am completely in love with my almost century old new Stevens 414 Armory and I just need a more robust bullet trap to realize its full fun potential.

Killers in Africa

I just finished reading "KILLERS IN AFRICA, The Truth About Animals Lying in Wait and Hunters Lying in Print" by Alexander Lake, published in 1953, and while it is an absolutely entertaining book, it raised some questions about another book, from one of my favorite "non-serious" writers, Peter Hathaway Capstick. But more about that later.

Mr. Lake was born in Illinois and raised in Michigan, and moved to Africa with his father (or family) in his teenager years. He apprenticed under prominent hunter Nicobar Jones and made a life out of hunting and guiding during the first half of the twentieth century.

According to Mr. Lake there is very little real danger in hunting big-game (by big game we should understand as "the ones that bite back!"), but "Each man was mauled or killed through his own ignorance, or careless, or reckless, or a poor shot, or hysterical, ir dependent on native gunbearers for support." Or in the words of the great Brazilian writer Jorge Amado, "those that are not competent cannot get established."

Besides the Big Five (Leopard, Lion, Buffalo, Rhino and Elephant), the book covers Hippos, Crocodiles, Snakes, Baboons and Antelopes. Mr. Lake's closest calls came while hunting chacma baboons and that reminded me of a history that Ed, a professional hunter that I met during my first time hunting in Africa with Mankazana Safaris. Ed told about a Norvegian hunter that was a police sniper and that would come to Africa and spend most of his time hunting baboons, because it was so close to hunting people! Ed was very clear about how afraid he was of the viciously dangerous baboon, particularly when they had to enter thick bush after a wounded baboon, 12 gauge pump gun in hand.

Regarding animals that are called "plains game" nowadays (what a misnomer), Mr. Lake says that "There is satisfaction in African antelope hunting beyond anything the big-game hunter will ever know. There can violence, too, for wounded kudu, sable, or bushbuck can be ugly customers whose slashing hoofs and sweeping horns can kill as surely as lions' fangs and claws."

Mr. Lake rightly did not believe in "shock" killing power and did not favor big-bore or double Express rifles ("Don't kid yourself that you can hit a big-game beast just anywhere with a .600 Nitro-Express and drop him cold every time."). He advocated careful bullet placement, and preferred "a military Lee-Enfield .303. If deprived of my .303 I'd be perfectly happy with a 6,5 mm Mannlicher-Schoenauer and a 160 grain bullet; with a .270 Winchester and a 150 grained soft-nosed bullet; or, for that matter, i'd be satisfied with any good modern rifle of comparable size."

One of my favorite passages in the book is when he is teaching a young prospector named Sachse how to hunt and engages on a discussion with other members of the expedition and says: "True hunting is never butchery. It's almost one hundred per cent sportsmanship. A true hunter has a sympathetic bond with animals. He tries to kill quickly and cleanly and never permits a wounded animal to suffer for long. Just now Sachse spoke of an 'urge' to hunt. Shows he's normal. Hunting's an atavistic urge and usually a healthy one."

The other is his discussion about the proper diet for a person that wants to hunt in Africa. "Unless you've been on a good meat diet and eaton your food well salted, you'll find yourself strangely weak and listless when energy is most needed. If you're a man who lives exclusively on fruits, vegetables, and grains, chances are you won't be able to endure a prolonged African hunting trip." And for a couple pages he goes on about the importance of carnivorous diet. I apologize for my good vegetarian friends in India, but I just love it!

But back to Capstick! The structure of Capstick's "Death in the Long Grass" (1977) is REALLY similar to that of "Killers in Africa" (1953), but a quarter century later. And if you read the Snakes chapter in both books you will find frigthening similarities on the stories about a matting couple of black mambas, especially when both snakes' heads appear over the long grass! I really love and cherish Peter Hathaway Capstick books and the way he writes, but for a long time people have questioned if he wrote fact or faction, and of all the adventures that he wrote about happened to him or to someone else. Well, in this case, evidence is against him.

In any case, I will read again Capstick's books and will look for more Alexander Lake books as well! And I recommend you to do the same, as both have had significant more hunting experience and write much better than I.