Posted by Caleb in Kansas [162.158.75.115] on Friday, December 07, 2018 at 13:47:30 :
In Reply to: Last Saturday in Rifle season. posted by The Dodge Boys [162.158.79.8] on Friday, December 07, 2018 at 07:22:55 :
I took a beautiful 9 point on opening day here. Dad and I try to make a point of hunting with an "antique" rifle. I use a 98K Mauser for long range work. It was built in Belgium somewhere around 1939 from what I can tell and Dad sporterized it and rechambered to 30.06. It feels right in the hand. The last 2 seasons I have hunted with my Grandfathers Winchester Model 94, which I took this recent animal with. I was always told that he bought the rifle right before my great Uncles shipped off to join the war effort. According to the numbers, this rifle was built in 1941.
Every time I pick up this old Winchester, I can feel the heritage, it is unexplainable. My Dad is from Minnesota and when we visited, we would travel up to Northern Minnesota to visit his Uncles whom he spent a great deal of time with, working on the farm, as a teenager. Inevitably, evenings would end sitting around a hot cast iron stove (no insulation in the house!) eating venison chili and listening to stories about their time in the service and life in the woods of Northern Minnesota. Grampa only ever had one deer mounted, a 10 point that he was very proud of and he took with this old .32. My grandmother hated having it looking over the dinner table, but despite that fact, it became a great center piece for sharing stories.
I have never kept a trophy from hunting, but this year I feel driven to do so. Not because it is a spectacular rack to be shown off, but because it brings all of these special memories of the people and their stories. I can only hope that one day, in my old age, I will be able to sit down in front of a roaring fire, hand my own grand child that rifle, and tell them the story of the hunt, and all of the stories about all of the men whose hands it has passed through and why they were so special.
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