This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes.  

U.S. Presidents have been very largely gun owners and users. This would be expected for those who had military backgrounds like Washington, Jackson, Harrison, Lincoln, Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush 1 & 2; but gun ownership also extended to presidents like Truman and Johnson, who did not. Some were avid hunters. Teddy Roosevelt, with his son Kermit, made an African Safari after he completed his term. Eisenhower included Georgia quail hunts among his annual activities.  The most flamboyant of them all was Jackson who fought at least 13 duels and was connected with about a hundred others, according to some sources.

On one duel about a disputed horse race, he faced Charles Dickinson. Dickinson was allowed the first shot and hit Jackson in the vicinity of the heart, Jackson put his hand to his chest to staunch the blood, and attempted to fire at his opponent. The gun misfired. Ignoring the code which would have counted this misfire as his shot, he recocked the gun and made a second attempt. This shot struck and killed Dickinson. Jackson survived and retained that bullet in his body for the remainder of his life.

A fine set of cased Henry Deringer pistols. These were made in larger and smaller sizes and were sold as pairs cased with accessories for loading and cleaning. Although Booth dropped the pistol that killed Lincoln, the mate to this pistol was never recovered.   

Jackson was also the first president to face an assassin. In 1835 Richard Lawrence waited for Jackson outside of the White House. When he emerged, Lawrence drew one pistol and attempted to shoot Jackson. This pistol failed to fire and he tried  with another. Both pistols malfunction, and Jackson rushed at Lawrence with his cane and beat him to the ground. Jackson had to be pulled away to prevent him from killing his assailant. When the guns were tested, they were found to be in perfect working order. Lincoln was not so fortunate, and John Wilkes Booth’s .44-caliber Derringer pistol fired and sent a ball into the president’s head. Booth also stabbed Major Henry Rathbone before jumping from the viewing box onto the stage. Booth  injured his leg when he jumped, but nonetheless escaped. This pistol may be seen today in a museum in the basement of the Ford theater, and the bullet is preserved at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

I will be producing a YouTube video where I describe, load and shoot a replica Derringer pistol, similar to the one used to kill President Lincoln. This replica is currently made by the Davide Pedersoli company in Italy and available from Dixie Gun Works and other sources in the U.S. Although .45-caliber (.440 patched round ball) and similar in size and functional characteristics to the original guns made by Henry Deringer in Philadelphia, the replica gun uses brass fittings, while the originals were most often made of iron and steel components.  The video, “Derringer Vs. Pizza Zombie,” may be seen at: http://youtu.be/YiIeURpyi34. I also have a more expansive post on this pistol on my Backyard Deer Hunting Blog at: http://www.hoveysmith.wordpress.com.

Although no guns that belonged to former Presidents were on exhibit at this  NRA Convention, related guns, commemorative guns and those of the same type were.  On this show I talked to collectors associations and an auctioneer about a variety of historic guns that were associated with U.S. Presidents. George Washington carried a brass-barreled flintlock pistol and a pair of such pistols belonging to War of 1812 General Amos Hall was shown by the American Society of Arms Collectors and described by Vincent Rausch. To find out more about the society go to: www.americansocietyofarmscollectors.org.

George Washington as a young man and surveyor also owned a flintlock Kentucky rifle, according to those at the  Contemporary Long Rifle Association. The use of flintlock guns as both civilian and military arms extended through the periods of the westward explorations of Lewis and Clark during the Jefferson administration, the war of 1812 and the Mexican war. Although considered second-tier arms by that stage, some unconverted flintlocks were also pressed into service by the Confederacy, although most were converted to the percussion system by the 1860s. The use of numbers of rifles by the U.S. militia under the command of Jackson resulted in the defeat of the British troops who were still armed with the notoriously inaccurate Brown Bess Musket. In an irony of war, the Battle of New Orleans was fought after a piece treaty had been signed in Europe, and the news was on its way across the Atlantic. To find out more about the Contemporary Long Rifle Association go to: www.longrifles.com.

The pistol maker, Smith & Wesson, started making rimfire revolvers by the time of the Civil War. The first were chambered for what is now the .22 short, but a more powerful .32-caliber gun was quickly introduced. A fine engraved gun was ordered by President Grant similar to the pair shown in this cased set, according to Roy Jinks, the Smith and Wesson historian. This started a practice of the company giving guns to the U.S. presidents. Known recipients included Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Ronald Regan and one was being prepared for John Kennedy, but he was killed prior to its delivery.

As a western rancher living on the edge of the Dakota badlands, Teddy Roosevelt used a 1976 Lever Action rifle and is shown here with that gun. As firearms technology advanced, he kept abreast of developments. Among the guns he took to Africa was an 1895 Winchester chambered for the .405 Winchester cartridge which he considered his “lion medicine”. Two Gatling guns chambered in the then new .30-40 Krag cartridge were used to support his charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba, and this was among the first tactical use of these guns to support an active engagement, rather than for protecting a fixed position. At least one of these guns still exist in private ownership, and I spoke to an attendee who had actually fired it. 

Miniature firearms and arms have been made since the Middle Ages, and one that I saw at the Convention was a tiny engraved Colt 1872 revolver that Miniature Firearms Specialist Wayne Driskill had just received for evaluation. This was one of a number of pieces that are likely to be auctioned during the coming year. This particular gun has ivory grips with a TR for Teddy Roosevelt carved into them. (The coin shown in the photo is a 25-cent piece.) The oldest piece that he had at the show was an English-made pinfire revolver. Although tiny, these guns are fully functional and would shoot, if proper-sized ammunition was available. To see more of these guns go to: www.waynedriskillminiatures.com  or contact him by E-mail at wdriskill@hotmail.com.    

One of two 1895 Winchester rifles offered in a raffle by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation at the NRA Convention.

 If for no other reason than its size and the fact that this Gatling gun was complete with its field carriage and caisson, the military marked .45-70 gun was one of the most popularly viewed pieces at the show. This gun was one of over 1,000 collectors-grade firearms that were to be sold by Rock Island Auction Co. in an event to be held  April 20-22 that is expected to bring over $3,000,000. If you see this post before the show broadcast date,  you can still participate. Call the company at (309) 797-1500 for details or E-mail the company at jvoss@rockislandauction.com to receive information about this and future events.

An original Gatling gun from the 1870-80s with its rarely seen field carriage and even rarer caisson. This gun has U.S. Military inspectors markings.

In an election year Presidential candidates often attend the NRA convention to address the association’s 4,000,000 members. This year Mitt Romney received the top billing of the Republican Party candidates, and spoke for about 40 minutes outlining what he termed as his vision for America which included an unambiguous promise to protect the rights of gun owners and hunters. Romney’s recent political activities have been associated with Illinois and Massachusetts, which have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. Nonetheless, as you will hear on this program, he passionately asserted that he would strongly defend and support gun ownership and hunting. Should he backside on these points, all Americans would have justifiable cause to remind him.

To listen to this segment of Romney’s speech go to my YouTube video “Mitt Romney on Guns at the NRA Convention, 2012″ by activating the following link:http://youtu.be/dk5K8KJtzT0.

The cooking segment of the show is about making whiskey at the Jack Daniel distillery in Lynchberg, Tennesses. There, Jessie James conducted the tour, and I recorded sections of it as we walked through the operation. Although this was not a sampling tour, everyone got a strong whiff of the fermented sour mash (sufficient to burn the nose hairs) when they stuck their heads down into the retort. Jack Daniel starts off as a clear 141 Proof whiskey and then is charcoal filtered and aged in charred white oak barrels. There is is ”fined” as the alcohol works its way into and out of the wood. This process is what imparts the amber color to the finished product. Red, Green and Black label Jack Daniel is bottled  from barrels depending on how high they are stacked in the barrel house. Gentleman Jack is twice filtered through the charcoal – once before aging and once afterwords. The whiskey may be aged for various lengths of time, depending on its position in the barrel house and color. A new product, Tennessee Honey, is made by mixing honey with Black Label Jack Daniel for a sweet after-dinner drink. Another specialty product is a single barrel malt where, for approximately $40,000, a person and the master distiller will select a single barrel, and this entire barrel will be specially bottled for him. The used charcoal is sold to grilling enthusiasts who want a bit of Jack Daniel flavor to their meat, and the sour mash left over from distilling is used for cow feed. This part of Tennessee is noted for its happy cows.  

Clifford Casey is an artist who lives in Norman, Oklahoma, who has chosen pencil as his preferred method of artistic expression. With just pencil and paper Casey can do a remarkable job of preserving the memories of a hunt and, using the flexibility that the method allows, can combine elements from different photographs in the same picture. The medium of using carbon-based pencil on paper is more precise than charcoal, allows better shadings and will last hundreds of years longer than color photographs, so long as it is protected from scrubbing and moisture. For about $225 he will draw an 14 X 18-inch image that can include two people – additional people incur an extra fee. For more information go to: www.cliffordcaseysart.com.  

 Ads on this show include those from Honest Abe Political Consulting from Springfield, Illinois, who advises political candidates to tell their constituents the truth that they are likely saying what they must say to be elected and then will do whatever is possible once in office. SIN, Inc.’s (Synthetic Industrial Non-Nutritives. Inc.) new Zombie pizza that requires no refrigeration and Real Pigment’s natural toxic pigments that enable you to paint like Michelangelo.  

Author’s dog Demeter, guarding a wild hog taken from Williamson Swamp a few years ago with a crossbow on a hunt during June’s blue moon. 

This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes.  

  Go once more into the breach Dear Friends as Hovey chainsaws his way into  Williamson Swamp Creek for Hog Quest 2012 to take hogs and wild turkeys with muzzleloading pistols, a muzzleloading rifle, flintlock shotgun and crossbow.

Chris, Brandy, Madison and Amber.

  The show starts with his introduction of his Great-Nephew-in-Law, Great Niece and Great-Great Nieces as he does a question-answer session on the niceties of wild hog hunting. In this discussion he tells about cutting paths through the dead-fall, slash and overgrowing vines of a clear-cut forest to safely get to his hunting area which overlooks a hog wallow that he has been baiting with corn.

  Navigating in the swamp at night requires the use of a GPS unit and flashlight to negotiate his cut trail and get down a steep bluff to the creek’s floodplain which is laced with intersecting creek channels. Nightfall on the third evening brings an unexpected event when turkeys fly to roost in a cypress tree further down the creek. In a change of plans, he returns before daylight the next morning and sets up for these birds in the creek bottom.

  At daylight he records an interchange between himself and two hens roosted in the tree and three gobblers across the creek. The result is that the turkeys fly down, but to a clearing somewhere in the cut-over timber and not into his decoys. Failing in both is attempts at wild hogs and turkeys, Hovey explains that hunting is the process of progressive, successive approximations with each hunt yielding knowledge to increase the likelihood that the next hunt will be successful.

CVA Optima pistol, repaired Tree Lounge "Ground Lounge", Gerber folding saw and Marble's soufanger extendable knife.

 Hunting tools to be used on these hunts includes the CVA Optima .50-caliber muzzleloading pistol which has arrived, Traditions’ Vortek .50-caliber muzzleloading pistol which is being shipped, CVA’s Electra .50-caliber rifle, Davide Pedersoli’s Mortimer  flintlock 12-gauge muzzleloading cylinder-bored shotgun, Marbles’ soufanger  (hog stabber)  extendable-blade knife, Tree Lounge “Ground Lounge” stand, solar-powered flashlight, Poulan Chainsaw, Gerber folding saw,  Garmin GPS unit, ThermaCell and Wicked Ridge compound crossbow, which is made by TenPoint Crossbows. 

Wallow day 1.

  The presence of wild hogs is indicated by large-scale disturbance of the wallow usually following each days’ distribution of corn, although other swamp animals also eat corn nothing tears up the ground like a drove of hogs coming in to feed. Usually the corn is packed in using a 1960s-era Camp Trails backpack that has been upgraded with new straps and a belly band.  

   Ads on this show include those from Honest Abe Political Consulting who councils politicians to be honest and tell people that they are telling them whatever they want to hear in order to be elected and that they will do whatever is possible when they get into office, and SIN, Inc.’s  (Synthetic Industrial Non-Nutritives Inc.) new whole roast hog available in pink or zombie colors that provides the butter, salt and sugar tastes that you crave in a product that has no known nutritional value.

  The show concludes with an original 10-minute outdoor musical composition by a group of 20-odd unschooled musicians to offer comfort and solace to anyone in this 24/7 connected world in honor of the anniversary of the death of his late wife, Thresa Babb Smith.

Detailed gun cleaning and repair is one of the many tasks to get done between hunting seasons.

This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes.  

  The weeks between the close of deer and waterfowl seasons and the opening of turkey season are the time to “fix up and put up” our gear, least we, like an early Renaissance composer, be crushed to death when our mountains of  gear collapse on us. In his case he was flattened by his own books. We are in more danger of  being tripped up by, stumbling over or being impaled by some inconveniently placed objects while we search through our piles trying to find something that we know we have “somewhere.” 

  Decoys are probably my worst offender, if for no other reason than there are so many of them. Take them out, restring those that need it, put on new weights and hang from the rafters or  stack them in a corner of a shed until next season.  After all,you need the floor space to make room for all of your turkey hunting  junk.

  As I hunt most often with muzzleloading guns, I shoot, clean and repair these. This year I undressed and cleaned Cantank, a .45-caliber flintlock rifle. You can see the details of this in a video “Cleaning a Kentucky Rifle” at: http://youtu.be/cbxxyn_74D8. I also repaired the fiber optic sights on another muzzleloader, put a new ramrod tip on a third, a scope on another and got a CVA Optima .50-caliber pistol outfitted with a red-dot sight for hog hunting.

  You remembered those boat motors that I could not get started last Spring? I took them to Burns Outboard Service, Inc. in Rincon, Georgia, near Savannah. On this show I interview owner Brian Burns about outboard repair,  keeping these engines operating in salt water and got some useful tips about preventative maintainance. Look for later bowfishing episodes using these engines.

Charles Eddins with power saber saw and drill.

These weeks are also the time to bring  home fix-up jobs to  conclusion. I received a letter from my insurance company of 40-odd years informing me that I had a brief period to put rails around my porch and install a stair rail on the front steps or they would cancel my policy. I special ordered a vinyl rail kit from my home-town building supplier, got it in time and put it up with the considerable help of my brother-in-law. I made the stair rail from 1 1/4-inch galvanized pipe which I was able to get locally and have cut and threaded.  The associated videos  are  ”Installing Vinyl Porch Railings“  and  ”Building a Pipe Stair Rail”  at: http://youtu.be/S3AQgXg1gEk. I have a few words to say about the insurance company on my show.  It was not so much that I objected to doing it (The house does look better.), it was the threat implied in the letter that gave me offense and the short time that I had to do the work made things unnecessarially costly.

New vinyl railings on porch and 1 1/4-in. pipe railings were installed with the help of my brother-in-law Charles Eddins. The porch took 5 1/2-hours to custom cut and fit.

  Working on these projects prohibited me from doing some hog hunting and attending the 45th. Annual Claxton Rattlesnake Roundup, whose quaint practices I describe on the show.  Nothing like a little snake handling before lunch to whet the appetite. I do not have any particular problems with snakes, although we have ample numbers of them. They do cause problems with biting my dogs, but all five that I have had bitten survived without treatment. The treatment is risky, and I cannot afford it anyway. One pointer went blind after being  bitten four times. Nonetheless, he still found his way around, hunted and was the best tracking dog that I had.

Auntie Thresa Claus

  This was also the time to bring to conclusion some cultural projects, like a new Christmas play, “A Visit from Auntie Thresa Claus,” that I wrote in 2009. This was read on my Christmas Show in December, 2010, and you can listen to the entire show or just hear the 2009 version of  the story on YouTube as “Audio Reading: A Visit from Auntie Thresa Claus.”   I started a Kickstarter launch on March 1 which will end on April 3, 2012 to stage the play and make a video. Kickstarter allows a creative person to post a project,  set a funding goal and a campaign period. If sufficient money is not raised,  neither the originator nor those who pledge are billed.  This allows a person to “test drive” a project to see if there is sufficient national support to advance it. My funding goal is $10,000. Backers can contribute as little as $1.00, and all will receive a reward. Those sending $25.00 will get a signed print of Auntie Thresa Claus and large contributors may even go on a deer or turkey hunt with me here at Whitehall. Go to: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hoveysmith/a-visit-from-auntie-thresa-claus for details. You will also find a short video about the play, a brief description of the revised plot and a bit of biographical information. I am nowhere near reaching my goal, and everyone’s help is needed.  

Rutabaga greens and roots ready to make a fine meal.

 The cooking segment of this show features “Cooking Home-Grown Rutabagas” where both the green tops and  roots are cooked. These are quite different from the almost bowling-ball tough waxed roots most frequently seen in the store, and the tops are between turnips and spinach in taste. Not only do I enjoy the fresh greens and the roots, but my dogs also eat them with enthusiasm. View “Cooking Home-Grown Rutabagas” at: http://youtu.be/IfgaCjDAh7w.

  Ads this week are from Buy Cheap, Make Cheap, Sell Cheap, Inc. whose new division advises insurance companies on how to increase profits by doing home inspections and demanding costly repairs to force older policy holders to drop their policies or do the repairs. Either way, the company’s risk is reduced. SIN, Inc., Industrial Non-Nutritives, Inc., in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, introduces a special all Irish green selection where everything on the table is formed of their base product, Glop, and colored emerald green which gives the diner the butter, salt and sugar taste that they crave with products having no known nutritional value.   

Snipe, a double-barreled D. Pedersoli muzzleloading shotgun and a Hobie Boat used to cross the canals to reach the flooded former rice fields on Butler Island, Georgia.

   This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes.  

Dottie Head

Snipe are so often encounted as a crude outdoor joke perpertrated on children that some, like my guest Dotty Head, don’t find out until they were adults that these are game birds that are legally harvested throughout North America and not made-up creatures.  Head relates her snipe hunt on Daufuski Island, South Carolina, where she and two younger friends were put out in the scary woods at night to catch some of these all-too-ellusive birds with a burlap sack, baseball bat and flashlight.  

  The smallish snipe belong to the family of shore birds and are almost always found near water feeding in saturated ground. After having been successful in taking a few snipe per trip in prior years, I returned to Georgia’s Altamah Wildlife Management Area to hunt Butler Island with the same muzzleloading shotgun that I had used a few weeks before to shoot a North Carolina swan.

  In a contrarian sort of way it seemed appropriate that having taken the Nation’s largest waterfowl with the gun that I sould also attempt to bag  the smallest. The prior-hunt-preparations went well enough, and I developed a load using 7 1/2- steel shot that would comply with the area requirements that only non-toxic shot could be used.  This shot would be loaded in my Thompson/Center Arms 12-gauge Mountain Magnum single-shot, which I would carry on the hike to the paddocks and back using a new sling just sent to me from BPI Industries.  It was comfortable on the shoulder, did not slip and used steel fasenings to connect it to screw-in eyes on the shotgun.

Mountain Magnum 12-gauge muzzleloading shotgun shown with BPI sling and J.J. Audubon's snipe. This scene was likely from Louisiana's Mississippi River Delta.

  To date, the Mountain Magnum has taken swan, geese, ducks, squirrels, rabbits and a turkey. Now it would attempt to bag itself a snipe. I had been sent the gun from Thompson/Center Arms. I increased the gun’s weight by putting beeswax and lead shot in the buttstock and adding a solid metal ramrod. This made the Mountain Magnum much more comfortable to shoot with 1 1/4-ounce waterfowl loads and 100 grains of  Hodgdon’s Triple Seven powder. The gun’s interchangable choke tubes give it added versatility. Reliability was enhanced by its using musket caps, instead of the tiny no. 11s. This gun, as a shotgun, was only made in small numbers and its production life was only a few years. Nonetheless, modified as I have explained, it remains one of the most useful of modern muzzleloading shotguns.

 The uncharacteristically warm weather on February 4, 2012, caused me to decided to hunt wet, wearing only calf-length rubber boots, rather than the more cumbersome hip boots or waiders.  On a previous hunt I had used a Hobie Boat to cross the canals around the flooded paddocks, but as that had been returned to the manufacturer, I hoped to find some of the DNR’s boats still in place to ferry me across the canal. None were present on the first launch areas that I checked.  One may have been in use by another hunter whose shots I could occasionally hear from a distant corner of the island.

  I slung my gun and trudged on to a crossroad on the west side of the paddocks. Here the ditch had not been re-dug in decades and the matted grasses had so clogged the canal as to make a dry-land bridge from the roadway-dike into the paddies. I saw a distinctively shaped tree growing by the road and took that as my landmark as I broke through the very thick and tall marsh grasses into the once-flooded part of the paddock.

   I did flush a few snipe, but did not manage to hit any of the swift flying birds. After tromping around for a hour or so, my hip joints started to bother me, and I decided it was time to move to a fresh area. The problem was that on this cloudy day I was unable to pick out my tree. (A good argument for carrying a GPS.) I knew the general direction, so I started towards the west end of the paddock, knowing that I would intersect a road. I did, but there was a water-filled canal in front of it. I thought about just plunging in and swimming across, but I did not know how deep that water was, I was carrying  heavy cameras and gear and there was also a 12-foot alligator in those canals somewhere.

Getting into and out of these flooded paddocks proved to be an interesting experience.

 Once again going into the interior of the paddock I paralled the road, pushing my way through the head-high grasses. I made my way towards the road heading for a tree that somewhat resembled the one I had passed going in. Myfeet suddenly broke through the vegetation, and I was rapidly sinking. I sat down, put my shooting bag and gun down on nearby clumps of stiff grass and extracted first one foot, and then the other.

  Fanny Kimble, the northern wife of a plantation owner, had lived on that island in the early 1800s and wrote a book, Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation,  in which she complained about her experiences and dammed slavery as an institution, although she and her husband profited from it. She rightly termed  Butler Island as, “The most amphibious piece of land I ever saw.” In this she was quite correct, and to extract myself I had to do my best imitation of a frog.

  After recovering both feet, I put my gun and bag down for added support and lurched forward about six inches, beat down another platform of  marsh grass, did another “hop” and so proceeded until I reached the drier ground next to the roadway where I beat down some 15 feet of   thorny briers to once again stand on the dike-road. My gun was now too wet to shoot, and that ended my hunt. Returning to my truck which was parked under the I-95 overpass, I stripped off my clothes, dried off and changed. My hunt finished, I went back to Darien on U.S. 17.  They were having  what they call a ”First Saturday” event with music, crafts, food, fresh produce and seafood. It was there that I met Chef Eric of the Darien River House, who I interviewed later, for the cooking section of the show.

  Chef Eric serves Thursday-Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and has a Sunday brunch from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.   You can visit his website at www.DarienRiverHouse.com or call for reservations at (912) 437-2510. He and I have almost identical thoughts on how to best cook wild-caught American shrimp and other seafoods, and he shared some interesting recipes.

  Ads on the show include one from a new sponsor, Man Scent, who retails fragrances like cosmolene, wood smoke, rosin and bread to make, “A man smell like a man, rather than a bucket of floral-scented slop water from your local florest.” SIN, Synthetic Industrial Non-Nutritives, Inc., also offers a new presentation of  its basic raw material “glop” shaped like  a 6-inch shrimp which its focus groups preferred to the 1, 2 and 3 foot lengths, “ to give consumers the salt, butter and sugar taste they crave, anyway, anytime, anyhow they want it,” according to company officials.

  Started too late to include on this show is the launch a new outdoor-friendly Christmas play. As explained below, support from listners, the outdoor industry, friends and business associates is vital to make a go of this project.

Old Auntie Thresa Claus soon to be young Princess Thresa Claus

  On March 1, I did a Kickstarter launch of  “A Visit from Auntie Thresa Claus.” This play includes gifts of a wild goose for Christmas dinner and a Daisy Air rifle to a young son. At this stage in the launch numbers are particularly important. Donations as little as $1.00 are accepted and will receive a reward. The first 100 who give $25.00 or more will also get a signed print featuring Thresa Claus. The first five who give $100 will see the performance/filming, attend the after-play party and have a chance to visit with me, cast and crew. Because I hunt, publish about guns, cook and eat wild game, this will turn off some potential doners who might otherwise support a new short Christmas play. The support of the outdoor community is needed to overcome this funding gap. If the project is not fully funded you will not be billed and I will receive no support.

The Shot Show is not all about guns and tactical gear. There is a place for art too, as illustrated by Tom Hoover and his Reflective Arts' display of prints, mugs, puzzles and other items that bring a little of the outside indoors.

This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes.  

You never know who or what one is going to see at large international trade shows, like the 2012 Shot Show in Las Vegas. This year I had a chance to exchange a few words with Brian “Gunny” Zins, and it is his quote that opens this show amid the clatter of  gunfire in the background. Gunny is an ex-Marine, multiple times U.S. pistol champion, now a TV Personality and reps for Glock Arms and SOG knives. He very much enjoys his present life, and he was not embarrassed to tell me so.

  This show is a special extended edition and runs a full 90 minutes of  interviews with knife, gun, accessory makers and people who make their living in different aspects of the Outdoor Industry. I also took this opportunity to do record a “live” segment on making homemade salsa from experiences derived in the now-closed kitchen of the Casa Hispanica Calente Maximessemo, in  Las Vegas. This pilot restaurant closed because you could only work in the kitchen wearing full protective gear and the kitchen exhaust fumes were so loaded with capsacins that it acted like a bear spray when released in an urban setting near a Las Vegas hospital.

Wenger's new multi-bladed hunting knife intended for the U.S. and European markets - a butcher shop in a pocket-sized package.

  Wenger is a maker of  Swiss Army Knives and introduced an interesting hunter’s knife  to sell in  the American market. It features skinning and gutting blades, a cork screw an awl as well as a combination bone-wood saw. It also has orange scales to prevent it from being lost in the woods. This knife  will retail for about $85.00 in the U.S.  For a look at this and the many other multi-bladed folding knives as well as their fixed-blade patterns go to www.Wengerna.com.  

Lady knives from HallMark.

HallMark Cutlery is owned by the Hall family and is a knife distributor that does cutlery design, sourcing and distribution. On this episode, Jessica Hall and I talk about knifes that ladies might appreciate for a Valentine’s Day gift. While perhaps on the unusual side so far as gifts go, small knives are very useful for many purposes in everyday life and we discuss several possibilities. To take a look at their entire selection of folding and fixed-blade knives go to: www.hallmarkcutlery.com.

Excalibur's new Eclipse crossbow is all black and picks up the modern "tactical" look in crossbows, but is also very useful for hunting from blinds where dark colors are desired to keep from spooking approaching animals.

   Next I consider crossbows and talk to Bill Troubridge, Randy Wood and Scott Belvedere of Excalibur, Ten Point and Barnett crossbows about their new products. Black, tactical and carbon fiber technology are definitely “In” this year, as are progressive improvements by all companies to reduce weight and, in the case of compound bows, limb width.  Ten Points’ Carbon Elite, shown in the photo L,  has all of these features. Crossbow makers realize that no matter how appealing the newest advances in crossbow technology might be, many in this economy are having to watch their money. Each has made the effort to produce very capable crossbows that can sell in the $500 range complete with accessories. These, like Ten Point’s Wicked Ridge brand, have medium-weight draw-strengths, proven technology, excellent triggers and will kill deer and other game day after day.  The lowest price crossbow offered by these three companies remains Barnett’s RC 150. The RC, and the Ranger before it, has a skeletal stock that may be adjusted to fit any shooter.

  The present RC uses compound limbs to develop a 150-pound pull capacity that with its short, light-weight arrows will kill smallish deer at close range  – been there, done that. This bow is a hanger-on of  Barnett’s previous attempt to always produce the absolutely lowest-priced crossbows on the market, and the RC is not as durable as Barnett’s more modern offerings, like the Jackal. The triggers on the RCs are imbedded in the stock and are not  repairable. The Jackal is, by far, the superior crossbow at a cost of  $300 + compared to the RC’s $200 +, with prices depending on sights and accessories.  Nonetheless, the RC retains the advantages of lighter weight and a fully adjustable stock for those who cannot handle a heavier crossbow. There remains a place in the market for an advanced RC with a more dependable latch-trigger mechanism.

Barmett Ghost with carbon-fiber components and a very large foot piece that is convenient for those wearing snow or marsh boots.

Bob Baker of Freedom Arms establish his reputation making beautiful and effective single-action revolvers chambered for the .454 Casull, and later, other calibers including the .22 L.R. Less well-known is that he also makes a single-shot pistol chambered for what are usually considered to be rifle cartridges for long-range pistol hunting. These are most commonly equipped with scopes and shot from braced or supported positions. I often hunt with single-shot handguns, but these are mostly muzzleloaders used at very close range in the thick cover where I take my Georgia deer. I kidded Bob about making one, but warned him that there were probably only six of us in  North America who might actually buy one. For more information go to: www.freedomarms.com.

  I am partial to 1911 platform pistols, and as I had been mostly writing about black-powder guns for the past 20 years completely missed Coonan Inc’s   .357 Magnum pistol.  Dan Coonan took up the challenge of making the 1911 shoot the rimed revolver cartridge in the 1980s and has been producing the guns ever since. He also modified the basic pistol to incorporate refinements that Browning made to his later 9mm High Power design. This allowed him to offer the gun with a 6-inch barrel and compensators without lengthening the slide.  These adaptations give better ballistics from the .357  because of the absence of the barrel-cylinder gap and the longer barrel. To learn more go to: www.coonaninc.com.

Not only is the buttstock adjustable, but many options including a vertical pistol grip and accessory lights/sights can be attached to the forend.

The new polymer Ruger American does not replace the company's existing line of bolt-action guns, but offers a 6.25 pound option in popular calibers.

  Hunting is not all about guns and loads. It takes a lot of other ”stuffs” to get us into the woods and be reasonably comfortable while hunting. One problem that I talked about in a recent show about a  North Carolina swan hunt was not having a place to sit so that I could rise and make effective shots on approaching ducks. Integrity Outdoor Brands now has a Hunters Seat with a swivel top with enlarged feet and a triangle of strong fabric to keep the seat from sinking into the marsh.  This seat carries easily in a pouch and the top moves silently so that it could also be used when deer hunting. To see these an other hunting aids offered under the San Angelo brand go to: www.SanAngeloproducts.com.

Irish Setter boots by Red Wing provide a variety of footwear options for hunters.

I was particularly taken by this Southern hog-hunting print which could depict a hunt anywhere from North Carolina to Texas.

  Concluding the show coverage is an interview with Randy MacMillan and Bill Henson, the “stars” of  the  “Coyote Tales  with Mac and Prowler”    TV show that is available on cable on the Legacy TV channel. To learn more about this pair of down-home characters and their coyote hunting and bowfishing episodes go to www.macandprowler.com. I attempted to entice them to come and hunt with me in Georgia, and we will see what develops. I certainly have the coyotes, and we need to be taking more of them on a regular basis to prevent deprivation on deer fauns and other species. If only we could train coyotes to home-in on armadillos. They may take an occasional one, but they and the hard-shelled opossums seem to be simultaneously increasing in numbers.   

The end product - a bowl of salsa that exactly suits your taste.

 

Making salsa can be a fun family event.

There is a lot of variability written into this recipe. It will likely take several ”experimental batches” until you obtain exactly the taste that you want. If your efforts produce something too hot for you to eat, then freeze it and use it in later soups and vegetable dishes a few tablespoons at the time.

Fewer than half of the shooting events at the Range Day are shown in this photo.

 This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes.

For me the Vegas Shot Show got off to a ripping start with shooting a replica .45-70 1877  Gatling gun which is being sold by Colt for about $39,000 each. It has been a long time since I shot that much lead down range in so brief a period. For most of us writers at the Range Day, which precedes the Shot Show, shooting the Gatling gun was a stand-out event.  This touch of the Victorian-era past was much more pleasurable than blasting off a similar number of rounds through a .50-caliber Browning machine gun – which many of us had experienced in the military.  The displays at the Range Day are not restricted to firearms, and a variety of exhibitors participated in this pre-show event. Colt also offers its line of more conventional handguns and rifles at: www.colt.com.

Some of Bauer's new hunting line.

Among the non-gun exhibitors at Range Day was the Eddie Bauer company that had a variety of  shooting and outdoor clothing intended for outdoorsmen/women. This was something of  a return to the Washington company’s original roots as an outfitter to hunters  living in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. When I lived in Alaska, I often used Bauer’s gear and still sleep in one of their down bags that I purchased in the 1960s. It could use some refurbishing, but it is still as warm as it ever was. Good gear will last. To see this gear on-line go to www.eddiebauer.com.

More relating to shooting, was EHP’s Hearing Protection equipment which includes an ear canal hearing aid device for about $300 as well as an ear-muff design incorporating the same technology with an ear cup that will resist ballistic impact from shot charges.  Both have circuits that cut out potentially damaging noise while allowing normal conversations to be heard. For more information go to: www.ehphearing.com.

Although I did not have a chance to shoot it, Cabot Arms introduced a left-handed .45 ACP 1911 Colt. This gun is an addition to their line of expensive, but very well made, 1911s which may run as much as $6000 a gun for match pistols. Not only does Cabot make these guns, but they have an associated company that actually builds machine tools to specifications that can range as close as one-millionth of an inch. Each part of their guns is made with such precision that no hand-fitting is necessary.  For more information on Cabot Guns go to www.cabotguns.com.

Cabot left-handed Model 1911 below right-handed version.

In recent years Browning has offered some of  the Winchester classic lever-action rifles, and this year the company has brought back the Model 71 lever-action in 348 Winchester. This gun was much-loved when it was introduced as THE gun for heavy northern deer and elk and for the ease that it packed on the horses used to get hunters into Western mountains during the late 1930s. I have  hunted with earlier Browning versions of the 1886 Winchester in .45-70 which was a similar half-magazine lever gun using the same action, and was very pleased with it.  To see these and other Browning-Winchester products go to:  www.winchesterguns.com.

Following somewhat along the path of earlier Barnes and Remington solid-brass bullets, Cutting Edge Bullets has introduced a line of machined bullets that may be loaded as hollow points, reversed and shot as hollow-based solids or fitted with a tough polymer tip to reduce bullet drop at longer ranges. These are now available to reloaders, and plans are to have these bullets offered as premium loads by a major manufacturer next year. This bullet is designed to penetrate about 2-inches, fragment its front end to make secondary projectiles, while the solid base continues through the animal. If this concept is appealing to you, get your bullets now, because once a contract is signed with an ammo maker, the company may  have few bullets remaining for other customers.  For additional information go to www.cuttingedgebullets.com.

Mike Leeds holding the Instinct L.

Although almost all of my present shotgunning is on game with muzzleloading shotguns, I found one gun of the several that I fired on Range Day that really appealed to me. My feeling about shotguns is that if I can hit something with it, it is a worthwhile gun. If I cannot, it does not appeal to me regardless of  who made it or how much it cost. Franchi introduced their Instinct L 12-gauge over-under, and I was able to break targets with it with monotonous regularity. The steel-framed version  fit me and shot well. That was the only one of the many shotguns I saw and shot at the show that I had any desire to shoot again. The gun is moderately priced at under $1,200, and would be a serviceable gun for upland work , close-in ducks with 3-inch loads and an occasional round of skeet or sporting clays.  At 5′ 10″ and 185 lbs., I fit the profile of the “average hunter.” If you have a similar body size you may also be able to shoot this off-the-shelf gun just as well as a custom-fit model that will cost many more bucks. I prefer the heavier steel-framed Instinct L over the aluminum framed SL. For a look at this and other guns in the Franchi line go to www.franchiusa.com.

If you ever find a shotgun that you can really shoot, let not money, love or kinship part you from it. You may never find another, not even of the same model gun, that you will ever be able to shoot as well.

The next four days of tromping through the Shot Show exposed me to thousands of products. For the purpose of my radio show, I elected to cover them in categories. On this episode I concentrated on muzzleloading guns and accessories which fit in with my gig as a Corresponding Editor for Gun Digest.

CVA's Optima Pistol.

CVA offered one  new gun this year which is the Optima muzzleloading pistol in .50 caliber which comes with a 15-inch barrel and their now-standard quick detachable breechplug.  This gun was introduced mid-season last year and has a suggested retail of $315.   I hope to hunt with this gun next year. In addition, they offer their 6.5-pound Accura with a new WeatherGuard coating and a ramrod with a build-on palm saver.  Other premium features on the gun include an adjustable trigger, one-piece scope base with rings, improved recoil pad and PBI’s new sling with steel fittings.

The interchangeable barrel Apex is available as a .45 or .50-caliber muzzleloader or in a variety of centerfire rifle calibers up to  .35 Whelen and .45-70 as well as a 12-gauge cartridge shotgun.  CVA continues to offer their low priced Wolf drop-barreled gun as well as the bolt-action Elkhorn and, at $177,  their least expensive muzzleloadeing rifle, the striker-fired Buckhorn. For more information go to www.cva.com.

CVA and Thompson/Center Arms have largely stopped producing side-hammer muzzleloading guns with T/C only retaining their Hawken and Firestorm rifles.  Most attention at the T/C booth was with their new switch-barrel and switch-stock bolt-action gun which puts the interchangeable barrel concept in a price range that the average hunter can afford. The Dimension  features a polymer stock, free-floating barrel and is offered in calibers from .204 Winchester through .300 Winchester Magnum.  Caliber and bolt-face interchangeability is aided by offering four bolt-magazines-barrel groups (A-D) to help the shooter properly match the gun’s components.

The new Dimension bolt-action rifle is offered with interchangeable barrels and a variety of stock options.

   For those who liked the Encore style action, but had no need for the interchangeable barrel capabilities in a muzzleloading rifle, T/C has introduced the Pro Hunter FX (Fixed Barrel)  which comes with the recoil-reducing stock, Encore action and a fixed barrel which considerably reduces costs. All of the Encore stock options will fit the frame, and this gun is also offered with a scope and the other features available in Encore-pattern guns, except for the ability to interchange barrels.  For more information on these guns go to: www.tcarms.com. 

Traditions continues to offer historic pattern muzzleloading rifles, pistols and miniature cannon. In their line of drop-barrel muzzleloading rifles, Traditions has reduced the weight of their Vortek and Pursuit models by using chromium- molybdenum alloy barrels. The result is that the Pursuit is the lightest of similar production muzzleloading rifles at 5.15 pounds in a .50-caliber rifle. The new Vortek Ultra Light LTR also has an aluminum receiver and 30-inch barrel which may now be purchased with a scope and detachable bipod. While the market generally applauds this trend towards ever-lighter guns, it comes with some costs in off-hand stability and increased recoil. If you are only going to walk your gun a 100 yards or less to your deer stand, a heavier gun will perform better for off-hand shots. With these untra-light hunting rifles, it is imperative that they be shot from stable rests if you are going to try to consistently hit an animal beyond about 30 yards.

If I am going to carry a lightweight gun I prefer a pistol,  and this year  Traditions’ Vortek pistol is

Tradition's Vortek with scope.

offered with a scope package which is an aid to us older shooters who can no longer depend on our eyes to focus well enough to take game with iron-sighted guns. It is unusual that both CVA and Traditions are now offering big-game capable muzzleloading handguns with such similar characteristics the same year. This is a small market. If you feel that you want to buy one of these guns, purchase it now because limited sales will likely cause production to stop after a few years.

I have probably used more of Davide Pedersoli’s replica guns than those of other makers  because this company has offered a larger variety of guns that have been suitable for hunting. This year they have introduced four new models related to the Civil War which are a CSA Richmond rifle, two patterns of Enfield, a Springfield rifle and the Mississippi or Zouave rifle with its distinctive brass patchbox. These models are made to exacting standards to replicate the originals in all respects including appropriate engravings and stampings.

From the top a Richmond rifle, Enfield rifle and a Springfield rifle.

   Chiappa, who introduced two rifles last year that were sold with a pair of differently marked locks, are now making an exacting copy of the Enfield rifle. Both companies have similar objectives in making their guns look and feel as much like the originals as possible including hiding the Italian proof marks under the barrel, reshaping components and copying the fine-line engraving on the hammer and lockplates as it originally appeared.  Chiappa has also in recent years introduced .22 L.R. versions of many guns and this year brought a .22 L.R. version of the U.S. .30-Caliber carbine to add to its 1911, Beretta 9mm and  AR-platform .22s. Their very interesting  .357 revolver with the barrel at the bottom of the cylinder has gathered increasing attention over the past year because of its low recoil and easy shooting characteristics. For more information on Chiappa products go to: www.chiappafirearms.com.   The new owners of Knight Rifles relocated production to Tennessee last year and resumed production of some of the Knight guns. They have decided  not to produce cartridge guns or the Revolution and Rolling Block rifles. Instead, they have concentrated on the striker fired TK -2000 shotgun, entry-level BigHorn and the bolt-action Disc Extreme rifles. The Disc Extremes are offered in both .50 and .52-calibers in styles that are similar to the old Master Hunter shown below. The new guns will be offered with breeches to take either the plastic 209 primer holders or with breechplugs that will accept bare 209s. Preloaded plastic primer jackets will also be available loaded with Winchester Muzzleloading primers. 

Knight .52-caliber rifles similar to this Long Range Hunter will be available with a simplified breech plug.

   Not at the show, but in the works, is a fixed barrel version of the KP 1 which will be offered in mid-year only as a .50-caliber muzzleloading rifle. This rifle originally had interchangeable centerfire barrels, but this option will not be available in the new guns. For more information on the new Knight rifles go to: www.knightrifles.com.   Dixie Gun Works has a place in the muzzleloading world as being a supplier of not only replica muzzleloaders and black-powder cartridge guns from various manufacturers, but is also a source of  hard-to-find parts, shooting components, information, supplies, books and materials related to muzzleloading and reenacting. In addition, Hunter Kirkland sells antique and hand-made muzzleloaders produced by some of the finest craftsmen. On this show I did an interview with Kirkland that traces the evolution of black powder self-defense guns from the flintlock through the percussion eras. For more on Dixie’s product and how to get their valuable annual catalogue go to their website: www.dixiegunworks.com. 

Two other companies Taylor’s & Co., Inc. (www.taylorsfirearms.com) and Cimarron F.A. Co. (www.cimarron-firearms.com), supply both muzzleloading and cartridge guns to Cowboy Action Shooters in styles that extend from the Civil War through the 1880s. I cannot say that between the two companies they offer every variant of every gun seen in the American West during that period, but they make a good stab at it. There are Colt and Remington percussion revolvers, both original-style and modern revolver conversions, Colt, Remington and Smith and Wesson cartridge pistols and an equally complete treatment of lever guns from the Spencer Rifle and 1866 Winchester through the 1887  Winchester 12-gauge shotgun. These guns are largely made by Pedersoli, Chiappa, Pietta and Uberti, which are all Italian firms.  One non-traditional varient is the Cimmaron Hybrid which takes a double-keyed Sharps Rifle and converts it into a .50-caliber muzzleloader by employing a 209 primer in a breechplug while leaving the Sharp’s set triggers, sights, etc. intact.  If some of the muzzleloading rifles that I discussed may be too lightweight, the Hybrid  is overly complicated and heavy, but if you’ve got to have a Sharps-style rifle to take your muzzleloaded beasties, this one should certainly do the job and will look good on your wall during the off-season.

  Harvester Muzzleloading has made hard-cast saboted bullets for muzzleloaders for about a decade and has recently introduced a ribbed sabot that reduces loading pressures by 50%.  This Crush Rib Sabot is offered with their Scorpion hollow pointed and polymer tipped bullets in both .50 and .54 calibers. The sabots are available for separate purchase to take  .40 caliber bullets in .45-caliber guns, and for 40, .44 and .45 caliber bullets shot from .50-caliber guns.  A quite-different bullet is their Saber Tooth which has an attached polymer base, similar to PowerBelt bullets, with a star-shaped hollow point. This bullet is available in .50-caliber in 250, 270 and 300-grain weights. This company also makes shotgun wads, including one identical to the Red Winchester wad for 1 1/4-ounce of shot that I commonly used in my muzzleloading shotguns. This wad is no longer sold by Winchester and I am pleased to see that it is available from Harvester. For more information on these products go to: www.claybusterwads.com and www.jron.com.

  After I returned home from the show, I received a catalogue from Rock River Arms, Inc.  I had shot a .308 version of this AR-platform gun at the Winchester Ammo booth using their new Razorback loads, which have delayed opening and are particularly designed for hog hunting. These rounds are available in both .223 and .308. I found the Rock River rifle to be the best shooting AR that I have ever fired. I was impressed with its good, although a little long, trigger pull, adequate weight for the caliber and shot-to-shot stability. Rock River has guns of this type in several configurations and calibers including the .5.56 mm – .223, 6.8 mm Remington, 7.62 mm – .308 Winchester, 9mm Luger, and .458 SOCOM.  Winchester Ammo could have chosen any of a very large number of  AR guns to showcase their new ammo. Their endorsement of Rock River’s rifles is a strong one, to which I am pleased to add my own. For more information on these excellent rifles go to: www.rockriverarms.com.

Swan taken from Bodie Island on a previous hunt. Shown with an original 1842 British musket and swan flag.

This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes.  

 Chance plays a significant part in any hunt, and the impact of weather conditions on waterfowl migrations directly controls the likelihood of success on any waterfowl hunt. On Part 2 of  North Carolina Swan Hunting, I continued to Nags Head and duck hunted the public blinds at Bodie Island on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore after taking my swan the previous day near Lake Mattamuskeet. In this episode I describe my hunt in very warm weather and contrasted it with another hunt two years ago when everything was frozen solid. On that hunt I harvested a swan with an original 1842 British musket loaded with non-toxic shot.

  Hurricane Irene had swept through coastal North Carolina and damaged the blinds at Bodie Island to the extent that they could no longer be safely occupied. In many cases shooting locations had been shifted to points where the hunters could set up on shore, but needed to stand during the entire hunt or bring their own stools or marsh seats. I improvised a seat by putting my decoy tub (a reinforced mortar box) over a hummock of march grass on my second day’s hunt at blind number 19, which was on a deep-water pond. Two days of hunting from this location failed to produce any ducks.  I could  have called in some swan, but did not attempt it for fear of pulling them away from other hunters who might have permits.   

 Swan migrations are less impacted by weather conditions than ducks and geese. During the 2011-12 hunting season warm conditions prevented large-scale movements of  most species of ducks and snow geese down the Eastern Flyway to coastal North Carolina. By the time I hunted during the last week in December, some gadwalls were down, the teal had arrived, there were very few snow geese and only the resident Canadian geese were apparently present. Swan numbers were about the same as seen on previous hunts. Those who were fortunate enough to draw one of the swan tags did not have any problems getting their birds, provided that they drew a blind location that was on one of the ponds at Bodie Island that the swan regularly used.

  Both the Thompson/Center Arms’ Black Mountain Magnum 12-gauge shotgun and the original .75-caliber (11-gauge) British musket that I used were loaded with 1 3/8ths ounces of number 4 HeviShot contained in plastic shot-cup wads to keep from abrading the guns’ barrels with the hard tungsten-based shot. In the Black Mountain Magnum I used 100 grains of  Hodgdon’s Triple Seven powder and in the British musket 100 grains of FFg GOEX black powder.  Over the powder I use a stiff 1/4-inch cardboard wad (available in 11 and 12 gauges from Dixie Gun Works), a buffer of 20 grains of Cream of Wheat and then load the shot cups, shot and top the assembly with two appropriate sizes of thin over-shot wads. Both guns were fired with CCI musket caps.

Restaurants to fit every pocket-book are available, including this inexpensive family-run restaurant at mile 5.5 that caters to locals and offers menu selections ranging from sea foods to bar-b-que.

  Interviews in the Nags Head area included one with John Bone, head of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce who outlined various winter activities and the facilities available in the area and John Wright, the owner of Sanctuary vineyards. Wright makes succpernon-based and European varietal wines from grapes grown on his family’s lands at Jarvesburg, on the mainland across the causeway from Kitty Hawk. His wines are only available from the Cotton Gin stores on the Outer Banks and a few other locations. On the show we tasted some of these wines as well as two others bottled by the Duplin Winery for the Native Vine shop located at the western end of the Kitty Hawk bridge. Duplin products are sometimes available at Wal-Mart stores and provide a nation-wide opportunity  to sample these excellent wines.

  The Sanctuary Vineyard does have an on-line presence, and you can visit their website at www.sanctuaryvineyards.com. John is continuously experimenting with his wines and can be depended upon to offer some new winds each year. Often, a portion of the sale price of these wines is used to promote local causes such as museums and cultural events. Sampling these wines is a unique activity that is available all year to hunters, surf fishermen, bird watchers, photographers and others who visit  the Outer Banks during the magical mid-Winter months when the throngs of Summer tourists are absent.  

Fermentation vessel being chilled to stabilize the wine while the adjacent one is being heated to promote fermentation.

 On line information for all area attractions is available to potential visitors from the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau at www.outerbanks.org, telephone no. (877) 629-4386, as well as from the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce at www.outerbankschamber.com,  telephone no. (252) 441-8144. The Bureau has a very informative booklet that they will mail to those who request it.    

Ads on this show are from the Packaging Division of  Buy Cheap, Make Cheap, Sell Cheap, who provides packaging that is only strong enough to stock on store shelves, but will instantly fail when used, making to customer return sooner to buy more products.  Also, SIN, Inc., (Synthetic Industrial Non-Nutritives, Inc.) was pleased to announce that their standout product, Puke Vodka, is now available in 5-gallon and 1-gallon pails for home consumption, so that the user can receive the full impact of his drinking experience in the safety of his own home.

Mattamuskeet swan. The author's bird is the gray-necked bird on the right.

This show may be heard  following its broadcast date by clicking on the following link:  http://webtalkradio.net/shows/hoveys-outdoor-adventures/. If it is not the current show, it is still  available as an archived show and on iTunes. 

The North American Tundra Swan is the largest waterfowl that may be taken on the Continent. This magnificent bird breeds in the Arctic areas of Alaska and Canada and migrates from there to winter in coastal North Carolina and Virginia in populations that number in the hundreds of thousands. A limited and closely controlled harvest of these birds is allowed each fall with the majority of the birds taken in Coastal North Carolina near Lake Mattamuskeet and fewer on the Outer Banks. Swan shooting is also allowed in some states in the Western Flyway, but the grain-fed birds taken in late December and January from eastern North Carolina taste much better than those harvested from the alkali lakes of the desert Southwest.

If a sport takes more junk to do than this, I don't think I want to do it.

 For decades, I have hunted these birds with a variety of muzzleloading shotguns using the non-toxic shots now required for all waterfowl shooting. As this is a draw hunt, I may not go every year; but when I am drawn I assemble my growing pile of swan hunting materials and head north. In recent years I have taken a boat in case I am not drawn for public blinds at the Lake Mattamuskeet Wildlife Refuge or for the blinds on Bodie Island which is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Using a boat allows me to hunt on public game lands in Pamlico Sound. My boat is a 14-ft. aluminum boat that is fine for lake hunting, but is only suitable for very near-shore work in protected waters near the sound. This year three hunters sank a 19-foot duck boat when waves driven by high winds splashed water over the back of the grounded boat and flooded it with the result that the boat pulled itself off shore and sank in 15  feet of water. The hunters were stranded until they were rescued several hours later.  These shallow sounds can be dangerous and unforgiving places in any weather that is harsh enough for ducks to fly well.

The weather for this season’s hunt was unusually warm to the extent that mosquitoes were bothersome at Bodie Island compared to my hunt two-years-ago when many of the fresh-water ponds were solidly frozen and there was  2-inch-thick ice in front of the blinds on Lake Mattamuskeet.  The result was that the swans had arrived, but other species such as snow geese and many varieties of ducks had not yet come in anything like their usual numbers. As with any hunts that are scheduled months in advance, I must go and take whatever weather there is. This is the reason that I stay for several days to increase my chances of success.

This year’s gun was a Thompson/Center Arms Mountain Magnum 12-gauge single-barreled percussion shotgun. The gun features interchangeable chokes and a relatively short barrel because it was principally designed as a turkey-hunting shotgun, rather than a waterfowler. I increased the gun’s weight by adding lead shot and beeswax to the hollow plastic buttstock and also often use a metal, rather than a wooden, ramrod. These weight additions, along with a slip-on recoil pad, make the gun more comfortable to shoot with 1 3/8-oz. waterfowl loads. The charge I used was 90 grains of Hodgdon’s Triple Seven FFFg powder, a 1/4-inch over powder paper wad, 30-grains by volume of Cream of Wheat, a red Winchester plastic wad for 1 1/4-ounces of shot, 1 1/4-ounce by volume of HeviShot no. 4s, and two thin over-shot cards to hold the shot. The Mountain Magnum rifle and shotgun were somewhat unusual in that they used musket-cap nipples, instead of the more common no. 11 caps; and I employed CCI’s Musket caps on the gun. I like these larger caps for waterfowling because they are easier to handle than the tiny no. 11s.

Billy Best (L), Andrew (C) and Author (R) at Mattamuskeet.

Through a series of chance circumstances I hunted with Billy Best and his son Andrew when we appeared to claim a blind that a person had drawn, but could not legally hunt for some reason.  (Perhaps he forgot his Federal Duck Stamp or HIP report.)  By chance, this was blind no. 6, which is located in an impoundment back from the lake. Very often this blind is frozen in when I come to hunt. As it was still very windy,  I had thought that this blind would be an ideal as waterfowl from the lake might come seeking quieter waters. This proved to be the case,  and we had the best shooting that I have ever had from a Mattamuskeet blind. I had two chances at swan. On the first opportunity, the cap fell from the nipple as I raised the gun. On the second, I apparently aimed between two approaching swan and missed them both. We all did shoot some ducks, and I also took a coot. You may now view “Coot Soup for the New Year” on YouTube by clicking on the following link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sirFsYeHvAM.

It is entirely possible to miss swan, as was illustrated the next morning when I was invited by  Carl Hyatt  to join his group from Wilmington to hunt a private farm near the lake. There were thousands of swan over us shortly after dawn when they flew to feed in some of the many fields around the lake. These are very large farming operations, and these particular swan were coming to glean waste soybeans remaining after the harvest. The youngest shooter in the group had not taken a swan before, and he struggled to overcome a gun that did not fit him and was perhaps a bit over-coached by his dad and everyone around him, including me. It was agreed that he was to have the first opportunity at a swan when one appeared. He emptied his gun and did not hit it. On the second one, he repeated this event, and I fired a follow-up shot, dropping the bird stone dead in the decoys. Taking that bird finished my hunt, and I did not reload. I could not shoot another swan and nothing else was flying.

Permit holders with their swan.

One-by-one the other shooters filled their tags, although two of the birds had to be run down and finished off. On these enormous birds you must shoot at the head and neck to kill them cleanly. In the meantime, our young shooter continued to manipulate the gun and fire. Between he and his dad, one swan was killed leaving him as the last shooter to fill out. At long last, a swan landed in the decoys and he killed it by shooting it in the head and neck. In retrospect, that was about the only shot that he could likely have made with any degree of precision with what was for him an oversize and ill-fitting shotgun.

A very effective spread of mixed painted plywood and Bald's full-body swan decoys.

Bon Bald with one of his swan decoys and calls.

Although some shot opportunities would likely have been available had we just sat in that field, the calling and full-body decoys made by  Don  Bald  and the plywood silhouette decoys brought by  Hyatt, really worked to bring the birds in close enough to shoot.  If anything, this hunt illustrated that decoys and calling were useful and that nothing beats good gun pointing. It is also vital to know where the gun shoots with a particular load. It is common for heavy waterfowl loads to pattern low in many guns, and HeviShot loads will often impact  feet below the point of aim. With my muzzleloading guns, I tailor the loads so that they shoot to the point of aim, even if I must use less powder and/or shot to achieve that result.   On this hunt, I  fired two shots and killed one swan, which is about my usual result. I resolved the loose-fitting cap issue by crimping the copper caps as I put them on the gun, and never had another cap fall from the gun. This was a simple act that I had to be reminded to do.

Bald, who is from Illinois, is noted for his championship-quality hand-made turkey calls. Some of these he makes out of ivory or other exotic materials, although he also commonly takes even these “art calls” and kills birds with them. He hand molded and carved his full-sized swan decoys, but does not offer these as a commercial product. His swan whistles are also custom crafted, and with proper inducement, perhaps he might be persuaded to make another one. His calling appears on the radio show as the frequent softer and higher-pitched calls in the background that are frequently masked by the louder calling of the live birds. To see Bald’s calls, which are unusual and handsome, go to his website www.baldscalls.com. He may be contacted by E-mail at baldscalls@baldscalls.com.

Although I had my Swan, I continued my planned hunt to the Outer Banks to see what conditions were like there after Hurricane Irene had swept through the previous summer.  Some coastal areas had been hard hit, particularly the small community of Stumpy Point. There, half-sunk boats and  debris still choked the canal from two hurricanes ago, and last year’s storm had not resulted in any significant improvement. Although people had, and were, rebuilding their homes, the town’s few businesses remained largely closed. This community needs some help from heavy-lift cranes and other construction equipment to help restore it to functionality and restore it a place where a visitor might want to come to enjoy the water, fishing and hunting opportunities in a truly wild environment.

 On the next show I will continue my hunt on Bodie Island and contrast the wild and cultural environments between the largely uninhabited lands of  Hyde County and the built-up resort and tourist facilities found across the sound in Dare County where towns like Nags Head attracts tens of thousands of summer visitors.