first one since I broke it

T

the possum

Joined
Jul 31, 2002
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Last night I was driving in the rain when I spotted a O'possum crawling thru the ditch along the road. I screeched the car to a stop, jumped out, and chased the 'possum a short distance. I kicked him to disorient him, then drew my Bowie knife and beheaded him.

I broke this knife last year and reground the point. It doesn't cut half as well as it used to, due to the balance/center of rotation/center of percussion being thrown off so badly. I thought about retiring the knife from vermin killing altogether, but I guess I'm still too attached to it to give up on it. Since I broke it, I've used the knife to finish off several raccoons that were already mortally wounded by my .45, but this is the first critter that the knife can claim all for its own since that fatal night last year. The total count now stands at 6 possums and 18 raccoons for this particular knife. (count does not reflect wounded animals that were merely 'finished off' or other knives)
 
possum,

I still think you have the best reviews of anyone here. They may not be as technical as some, but they sure are interesting.

great review and Thanks
 
Speaking of...

A guy from Texas in my platoon was telling me about wild boar hunting. He'd let loose his pit bulls and they would latch onto a boar so he could close the distance and use his bowie. It sounds like a real rush, moreso than blowing up squirrels with .222 :D
 
A bear? Yeah, someday, I might go after a blackie. But I'd bring a sword instead of my Bowie.

Right now I've got five bucks in my pocket, so I'm only $1295 away from a guided blades-only boar hunt with Larry Harley. :D

Dave- Well, schucks. Thanks for the compliment. If you're actually interested in hearing some more of my coon killing misadventures, I could link to a couple stories I posted over on shooterstalk.com.
 
I can't help but laugh when I read your stories. I trap racoons all through the spring and summer, around the farm, and shoot any other varmints that show up when I can. Closest I get to having time to hunt.
Some people think I'm nuts to actually stop what I'm doing to go get a .22 or 12 gauge cause there's a coon headed for my stand of sweet corn or just wandering across the yard. And they really can't understand going to all of the trouble of finding their tracks, and baiting and setting a trap ( I got 16 and possum last summer)
I really think I should follow your lead and make my next knife project a monster coon killing bowie, or maybe some kind of special throwing knife :D No more "how could you do that they're so cute" just eyes bugged out heading in the opposite direction ;)
Nobody likes their trash torn open and strewn all over, or their pets chewed up, and they really were in a panic when a (very very likely it was rabid)sick fox started hanging around. Most of them like complaining and hiding in the house better than my solution though :confused:

Whatever happened with your plans to make a new bowie? Is that still in the works?
 
Matt-
Glad to hear you're doing something about it. Last year in late summer, the first night I went coon hunting in a while, I saw at least 18 of the little buggers, and killed 9. (3 or 4 more probably crawled into a hole somewhere and died of their wounds) My best is 10 coons and 3 possums in one night, and they were all within a 150 yard radius! There were several other times I got 10 coons in a night, and one night I killed 8 in the same silo. As you can tell, they're pretty overpopulated around here.

Yeah, I finally got started grinding on the new Bowie a couple weeks ago, and still have a lot of cleanup and finish work to do on it before sending it out for a differential heat treat. I think I may have exceeded the maximum size I can use though. It's 24" long, and seems quite a bit heavier than my old 21" version. Maybe next time I'll have to experiment with a banana grind or maybe a wide convex edge with slight hollow grinds instead of flats.
Don't worry, though. You'll all get to hear about the first coon it claims. ;)
 
Sounds good!
The coons are really overpopulated around here too. We've got a bunch of city slickers moving out here, and they do a lot of stuff that atracts them without knowing any better. Like putting a food dish out for an outdoor pet and trying to put enough food in for a week instead of just feeding it twice a day. That and one woman was actually feeding them for awhile, she probably had a hundred showing up at her back door every night, went through 50lbs of dog food a week! Its only just started to actually seem like spring around here and they're already showing up all over the roads, and I've seen alot of tracks.

Who are you sending the bowie to for heat treat? If they have a forge its probably alright that its a little long. Especially for a diferential HT. It doesn't matter if the handle and everything are brought up to temp, just what you want to actually harden.
I started heat treating my own knives made with O1, and with my little set up I don't think I've ever gotten anything but folder blades heated all the way through.
 
Mr. Shade,
Sounds like you need some good ole' boy, much like yours truly, with a good .22 and alot of sub-sonic ammo as to not bother the city-slickers!

Of course, that does sound like alot of meat to waste... anyone know a good racoon recipe?
 
You'd be stealing all my fun :D
Recipes for coons? hmmm, I don't think that would fly to well with the cook ;) That and the majority of the ones I got last summer didn't look/act real healthy.
I have been kicking myself for just burying them in the garden though (did you know you could get 14 cantalope off one vine if you bury racoons head to tail around it :) ) I stopped in at a gunshop that specializes in black powder and re enactment stuff awhile back and got a kit to build a new rifle. They were selling hides for $16 and tails for $3 :eek: I got about 300 bucks just rotting away.
 
You really run them down and kick them and then use a knife to finish them?

Is that a standard way of hunting them?

Im not making a moral argument here, I am just curious. Never heard of that before.
 
Originally posted by Richard
You really run them down and kick them and then use a knife to finish them?
Click to expand...

I had heard that before but I never really took it seriously. I'm a city boy ad never had much exposure to what my mother would call "redneck sports". Then a guy in my platoon was telling my section about some of his hunts. I definitly want to try it once in my life.
 
Originally posted by Richard
You really run them down and kick them and then use a knife to finish them?

Is that a standard way of hunting them?

Im not making a moral argument here, I am just curious. Never heard of that before.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. It's a great rush. For someone who loves knives as much as he loves hunting, I guess it was just a natural progression for me. Kicking them isn't always required, but there's so many different situations I get into, ya never know what's gonna happen. Coons are pretty viscious, more like little bears. They take a lot of killing. It's no time to mess around with the latest "tactical folder". :) (though I've done it with a folder plenty of times) I'm always interested in getting others to share in my hunting, so you're all welcome to drop by if you're in the area.

I'm sending the new blade to a guy by the name of Oates down in Texas. Seems he does the heat treating for Texas Knifemaker's Supply. He'll do a clay coated quench, since I want 2 hardened edges. (the main edge, and the 15" sharpened false edge on the spine)
 
I hadn't thought of that on the size issue, the length limit might be due to the depth of his quench tank. You might want to contact him and make sure it will work out OK.
 
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