My Scouting Trip had a Green Theme Today.

C

coote

Joined
Apr 3, 2006
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I went for a walk up into the head of the valley where I live. It is a semi-rural area and game animals sometimes wander on to places where I have permission to hunt. While I've bagged quite a few feral pigs in the area over the eleven years that I've lived here, there haven't been many around recently. I saw no sign of them today, but I enjoyed looking. I'd hoped to have a better story to tell... but there is always next time. I paused in the bush to get a photo of my green accessories.
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That rifle is a Ruger American Predator .223. I've found it to be very accurate, although the action kinda reminds me of an old Lee Enfield .303 Br military rifle... with all the compression in the magazine it is a bit 'clunky' to operate. I've dedicated this rifle, meanwhile, to shooting Barnes MPG 55 grain projectiles. There is a local company that loads these relatively economically using once-fired brass. I like the idea of having these lead-free projectiles on hand. I think that one day lead-free will be specified for hunting in some areas so it is good to understand how they work. Also, I do a little 'free' pest control for a few people and it is good to be able to say that I have lead-free ammo.

I thought these MPG bullets might be safer as I was under the impression that they pretty much exploded on impact.... and that was a comforting thought for me when I think about shooting on farms near livestock and people. However, I'm yet to see one of these bullets fragment on impact. I fired four successive shots that went right through a six-inch green pine log. I am yet to test them on game. I did head-shoot one rabbit, but that isn't really proper research. I can find very little info about these projectiles..... other than the military and police like them for practice (as they may be liable for cleaning up lead one day I suppose).

If the MPG don't turn out to be good hunting bullets, I have some Barnes TSX ready to load.... plus I have some factory loaded 55 grain soft points which do their business well.
 
While the pigs have been staying away from my neighbourhood this year, they have turned up elsewhere. I've been trying to remove hares and rabbits from a friend's farm maybe ten miles away. I got several of the offending hares and rabbits, but I also shot five hogs. And more recently I have set traps in suburban areas close to town and caught two hogs.... and one of these was a good-sized boar. (I'd post a photo, but there is too much blood on it). The boar was one of two pigs the residents had seen just a few yards behind their house.

And just a few days ago I was doing another 'rabbit' job, when I heard a bit of a commotion coming from the landowner's chicken yard. I spotted a big black cat eying up the fowls, so when it stepped into full view I shot it.

So... while this thread hasn't had a lot of Becker content so far, I'm hoping I'm following a suitable theme. It is nice to do some of these activities with a leather-clad 'nine hanging on my belt.

Below is a photo of one of the suburban pigs I trapped. I was not delighted to find this. It was a skinny sow, it was raining and muddy, and I would have preferred to have been sitting on the sofa reading a book:
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Local hares:
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The chicken-stalking feral cat:
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Waiting for hares or rabbits to appear:
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Good hunting there, keeping you busy and it looks like you got the tools for the job.

The Ruger American is a fine rifle for the price, love the last pic, I have a similar one elk hunting last fall.
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Dang, Cold One, Is that a Ruger American in the picture? What caliber did you choose?

My bare Predator rifle cost NZ$1,199 but the barrel came threaded... and I think the threading job might normally cost around $100.
 
Ruger American 6.5 creedmoor with a YHM R2 suppressor, threaded barrels are a must have now.

Headed back to Colorado in a few weeks with several Becker and Carothers knives. Forgot my BK24 in my truck last year so I processed my bull elk with a Carothers DEK1. Will make sure I have several knives with me this time cause an elk fresh from wallowing in a mud hole will dull a knife fairly quick.
 
Yes. I've read about knives that hold their edge for a long time, and in over fifty years of hunting I don't think I've ever owned one. They all seem to get dull doing skinning and butchering.
 
The DEK1 made with Delta 3V steel held it's edge for pretty much the whole elk but by the end I was doing more sawing at the hide then I would have liked. Having an extra knife or 2 would have made the process quicker and less tiring.
 
Maybe I am not the experienced knife sharpener I fancy myself to be... but no matter how I sharpen a knife, I find that it loses its hair-shaving ability fairly quickly. I've had a selection of abrasive stones, commercial systems like the TriAngle Sharpmaker, diamond tools, abrasive paper and stropping compound. I've watched 'experts' on YouTube, and read reports on how many bits of wood can be chopped before an edge loses its ability to shave. I've purchased magnifiers so that I can take a good look at an edge.

I prefer a thin, 'sharper' angle on my blade, but I've also tried bigger angles that are naturally stronger and which might be less likely to deform. But they all get blunt relatively quickly when skinning and butchering game. When I started hunting, a lot of hunters and farmers had a large belt sheath which held both their knife and a short sharpening steel. I carried a steel for a while, but stopped eventually. However if there is a lot of meat or fish to be processed, I can't think of a better way to keep a knife in sharp working condition than the careful use of a good old-fashioned sharpening steel. I have carried small pocket stones and diamond sharpeners, but they don't really seem to work as well for me as a few strokes along a good steel. I worked in the fish processing industry for a few years, and while abrasive stones were regularly used to keep the right geometry on a knife, I observed that sharpening steels were in constant use.

While heavier (thicker) blades have their uses ( a BK9 with a thin blade would not be a good chopper, hammer or lever), I prefer a thinner blade of relatively 'soft' knife steel for fish and game processing. My reasoning is that the softer steel responds well to the sharpening steel, and the blade is less likely to snap or chip. A blunt or unsuitable knife can really detract from the joy of a good day out.

But I've learned something else too. When I was a young guy I was in the right religion and I really knew stuff. Now I realise that I was a bit of a tosser in that regard... and while I have had a lot of experience, a lot of it has shown me that I know very little.
 
Here's a story about an unhappy experience with a knife.

Years ago I used to be able to hunt feral goats on a block of land that I could walk to from my childhood home. One day I went hunting with a single-barrelled 12 g shotgun. I had some Brenneke rifled slugs and a few shot cartridges..... probably number two lead shot. I came across a goat within shotgun range. It was pretty much facing me when I fired. The slug travelled virtually the whole length of its body. It went down, but the job wasn't finished. I hastily fired a shot cartridge at it from a very short distance, but that didn't seem to do much at all. So I laid down the gun and pulled out my trusty Mercator lockback pocketknife and cut the poor animal's throat. Having recently watched a farmer butcher a sheep, I decided to sever the spine as well... so I forced my knife into a gap between the vertebrae.... and the danged blade snapped off. So I finished the job using a big rock as a club. I don't remember how I butchered that goat, Maybe I just gutted it and carried the whole thing home.

Back then, the Mercator locking pocketknife was the only locking folder that I knew of. Lots of people used them. The steel seemed to be fairly hard, which would have helped with edge retention but also made the blade relatively brittle. I remember seeing these knives advertised for sale at 95 cents each. Nowadays I think they cost around $50. The one I currently have was given to me by a lady who I helped when her husband passed away.

I've got another Mercator knife story too. An old farmer who lived up our street was going on a trip. At the airport... just as he was about to enter the metal detector.... he remembered that he had his Mercator knife in his pocket. In a flash of inspiration he slipped it into his shoe. And the metal detector did not detect it. His lucky day.

In the photo below you can see my latest Mercator knife. I keep it for old time's sake, but I don't think I've ever taken it out in the field. There are also a couple of practical knives there. The blue handled one has a handy, hygienic sheath. It was made in NZ ('Victory Knives') and it is great for field butchery. The black-handled boning knife is a Giesser. These were used as trimming knives in the fishing industry when I was involved. Both the Victory and the Giesser sharpen well with a steel. That is my kitchen steel with the white handle. And of course a couple of the best chopping and all purpose-knives are shown as well. One I have ground to a pointier shape, the other is still original.
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