Codger_64
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- Oct 8, 2004
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In the fall of 1989, not that long ago, I picked up my winchester and a few shells and went out into the woods to hunt. My father had passed away the day before Valentines day, and the Mod. 94 Winchester had been his. As an afterthought, I tossed the tiny Craftsman wood handled version of the Minuteman 104OT in my pouch, since it had been his as well.
I was not in a "hunting frame of mind", not seriously filling the role of predator. My mind was elsewhere. Thinking of the man who last held this rifle in the woods, and all the things that go through your mind when it really strikes home that your father is gone and the role of family patriarch has fallen like a lead weight on your shoulders. Any of you whose own father has gone on will understand this feeling.
As I walked a fire road cut around a stand of young pine, a deer burst from the thicket so near I did not have time to raise and aim the short .30-30. I instinctively shot from the hip, only realizing what I had done when the deer crashed and thrashed once at the edge of the woods. I sat for a moment on a log by the deer and drew my hunting pouch strap around for the water flask. As I was returning the flask to the pouch I noticed the little wood handled Craftsman Minuteman of my dad's. It was then that I realized I had left my big deer hunting knife, the old Walden 165OT at home.
Well, to make a long story not much longer, I field dressed the buck with the Minuteman, and with two pine saplings tied with paracord for a travois, dragged the deer home. Now home with the deer on the gambrel, I had my choice of Schrade knives at hand. The big 15OT, the 165OT, and the ever present 152OT Sharpfinger. But that Minuteman was there, and it seemed fitting that it finish the job. And it did. Oh, it was quite dull by the time the deer had been skinned and butchered, but it did the job.
. That has been a few years ago, and while I still have and cherish that old rifle, and the Schrades, the little Craftsman has long since disappeared. I'll find another one one of these days and carry it just as a reminder of days gone by.
The 104OT was by no means designed to be a big game knife. And I strongly suspect that it wasn't even meant to be a small game knife. In fact, the pattern descended from the708 series open stock called a "gentleman's knife". But it's heart was Schrade Old Timer and when pressed to do so, it handled a much larger chore with aplomb. Generations of hunters have depended on Schrades afield and in their daily lives, and will continue to do so, even though production has halted. The knives live on in pockets and hunting pouches from sea to sea, and across borders North and South.
Anyone else have a Schrade related hunting story?
Codger
I was not in a "hunting frame of mind", not seriously filling the role of predator. My mind was elsewhere. Thinking of the man who last held this rifle in the woods, and all the things that go through your mind when it really strikes home that your father is gone and the role of family patriarch has fallen like a lead weight on your shoulders. Any of you whose own father has gone on will understand this feeling.
As I walked a fire road cut around a stand of young pine, a deer burst from the thicket so near I did not have time to raise and aim the short .30-30. I instinctively shot from the hip, only realizing what I had done when the deer crashed and thrashed once at the edge of the woods. I sat for a moment on a log by the deer and drew my hunting pouch strap around for the water flask. As I was returning the flask to the pouch I noticed the little wood handled Craftsman Minuteman of my dad's. It was then that I realized I had left my big deer hunting knife, the old Walden 165OT at home.
Well, to make a long story not much longer, I field dressed the buck with the Minuteman, and with two pine saplings tied with paracord for a travois, dragged the deer home. Now home with the deer on the gambrel, I had my choice of Schrade knives at hand. The big 15OT, the 165OT, and the ever present 152OT Sharpfinger. But that Minuteman was there, and it seemed fitting that it finish the job. And it did. Oh, it was quite dull by the time the deer had been skinned and butchered, but it did the job.
. That has been a few years ago, and while I still have and cherish that old rifle, and the Schrades, the little Craftsman has long since disappeared. I'll find another one one of these days and carry it just as a reminder of days gone by.
The 104OT was by no means designed to be a big game knife. And I strongly suspect that it wasn't even meant to be a small game knife. In fact, the pattern descended from the708 series open stock called a "gentleman's knife". But it's heart was Schrade Old Timer and when pressed to do so, it handled a much larger chore with aplomb. Generations of hunters have depended on Schrades afield and in their daily lives, and will continue to do so, even though production has halted. The knives live on in pockets and hunting pouches from sea to sea, and across borders North and South.
Anyone else have a Schrade related hunting story?
Codger