Austin & Halleck 12-gauge shotgun shown here with a Canada goose and load components.

  February 2011, found me on a snow goose hunt in coastal North Carolina where I used an Austin & Halleck 12-gauge bolt-action shotgun. This gun is no longer made, but was noteworthy for being very light , (I increased its weight by adding  beeswax and lead shot in the butt and a solid steel ramrod up front.) too light, for heavy duck and goose loads. It had the advantages of taking an interchangeable choke and working well with the plastic wads that I needed for my usual load of HeviShot no. 4s which will abrade steel barrels if not used in protective cups.

  My load here was 100 grains of Hodgdon’s Triple Seven powder, a 1/4-inch thick cardboard over-powder wad, 20-odd grains of Cream of Wheat, a plastic shot cup with some crumpled-up plastic in its base to take up the excess space and 1 1/4-ounce (by volume) measure of  no. 4 HeviShot. This was topped off with a pair of thin over-shot cards to retain the shot. A very similar load was used in the Thompson/Center Arms’ Mountain Magnum 12-gauge shotgun that was used on this year’s North Carolina swan some 10 months later.

  This design suffered because of a mainspring that weakened under use and the care that needed to be taken to insure that the slam-fired bolt was properly adjusted to strike the 209 primer. Once I solved these problems by putting two lock washers around the firing pin rod to increase spring speed and replaced a too short firing pin, I had a gun that I could depend on. Despite the rifle version failing on me during a South Dakota bison hunt and the shotgun on a swan hunt, I later used the shotgun to take a turkey, snow geese in both North Carolina and Canada and honkers in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

  The gun points, shoots and handles well once its weight and mechanical deficiencies are overcome. After modification, the A & H becomes one of the best single-shot muzzleloading shotguns ever made and its simple bolt design makes it relatively easy to load in the field and clean. My gun was shipped to me in a puny plastic case and the solid steel breech-plug-removal rod knocked a hunk of  wood off the fancy maple pistol-grip stock before it ever went to the field.

   I produced a YouTube video about the 2011 snow goose hunt and it can be viewed by clicking on the following link: http://youtu.be/KKDHz-yOhKc. This hunt was also featured on an episode of my radio show, “Hovey’s Outdoor Adventures.” This, and other shows featuring these guns, may be found by going to my website www.hoveysmith.com and clicking on the live link to the show immediately below the banner.

"Cantank" a .45-caliber Navy Arms Kentucky rifle that finally bagged its turkey after already taking deer and small game.

Ruger Old Army revolver with Georgia deer and squirrel taken on the same hunt.

"Buffalo" revolver with 60-lb. doe.

  Load development and hunting with these revolvers took some time and included taking squirrels with the Buffalo. I  concluded my hunt with these pistols with taking my buck with the Ruger and on the trip out also killing a squirrel with the same load. What these loads tought me was that these guns can be capable close-range killers of deer-size game when used with adequate charges of Triple Seven powder which develops 10 percent more energy than black powder. With appropriate loads these guns can produce the 500 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy generally considered to be the threshold for reliably killing deer-sized game in hunting situations. 

    

Hunters with swan from field shoot at Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina. Author is holding his swan on right.

This grimy and wrinkled photo was recovered on the road. This was a fairly late picture of the Inn because it shows Ginger, the most recent of Joey Simmons' dogs, and a TV dish.

The final blow to the historic Mattamuskeet Inn came with Hurricane Irene in 2011 when the storm swept over the Outer Banks and pummeled  the mainland areas of coastal North Carolina. I, as had thousands of hunters, stayed at the Inn over the years to hunt waterfowl with the Simmons family and a succession of  assistant guides. Some of these guides, like Adam Jones who now works out of Engelhard, have started their own guide services. There was also a succession of memorable dogs, such as Meg, who recovered my first swan, and most recently Ginger who appears in the photo of the Inn.  

Happier times at the Mattamuskeet Inn photo with Joey Simmons with Lab Meg, me with swans, Tom Jones (upper L., L. of sign) and Adam Jones, who I also hunted with in later years, in the bottom center.

  Joey Simmons and his wife lived at the lodge during its last years of operation.  As they raised their family I enjoyed hunting with them and hearing stories of his father’s and grandfather’s hunting experiences. I added my little bit to Mattamuskeet lore by taking, so far as I know, the first swan in living memory with a flintlock muzzleloading musket loaded with the now-required non-toxic shot.  

  That was my most memorable hunt with Joey. During the morning we hunted a flooded impoundment. While we attempted to shoot what few ducks were flying on a blue-bird day,  we watched as another group of hunters in the “swan blind” progressively shot their birds. Their technique was when  a swan flew over them everyone in the blind shot and kept shooting until the swan fell dead. After they limited out, we exchanged blinds, and it was my turn to show what this replica of a Brown Bess musket “Indian Gun” that was sold by Dixie Gun Works could do. This .75-caliber musket is 11 gauge and wads in this size are available from Dixie. I had it stoked up with 100 grains of  FFg  black powder and likely about 1 3/8ths ounces of steel no. 4 shot.

  This gun had no choke, but fired reasonable patterns with the steel shot, although I had to aim a bit above the bird to drop the shot charge on the target. This is a robust gun using a 1-inch flint (an original English flint salvaged from a shipwreck), and I had no doubts that it would function if I did my part. Joey called an approaching swan using the same type of hail mouth calling that I use today.  The swan came in, and I crouched in the blind. Not only did it come, it landed in the impoundment outside of the decoys - too far for me to shoot. This was  too much for Meg who bounded off the dog step and went after it.

 The swan took flight to escape the charging dog and flew in the direction of the other blind where the hunters were rearranging the decoys. The swan then reversed its direction and came back towards us. “Move over here. It is going to pass by this corner of the blind,” Joey said.

  I pushed and half climbed over my partner  and Joey in the tight blind and stood by the door as the swan approached. The swan continued plowing through the air with those enormous wings. As it made its closest approach to the blind, Joey said, “If you are going to shoot, take it now.”

 I cocked the massive hammer, raised the gun and started pulling past the bird with the barrel. The gun caught on some brush tacked onto the blind,  and I had to lift over it and resume my swing.  By this time the bird had flown by the blind and was pulling away. I swung past the bird, held above it and pulled the trigger. The black smoke erupting from the gun completely obscured my view.

 The hunters in the other blind later said that they did not think that I was going to shoot.  When I finally did shoot they saw a pillow of black smoke erupt from the blind, envelop the bird and it fell dead on the water. It was  hit from beak to feet with the charge of steel no. 4s.  That blind erupted with a  cheer. By the time I heard their encouraging shouts,  the smoke had drifted away, and I could see the bird dead on the water with Meg swimming out to get her bird.

  Even by the time that I made by first hunt in 1998, the Lodge was showing signs of age with continuous patch-up work being needed to keep the plumbing and electric systems working. The Oyster Bar at the lodge provided some after-hunt activities as well as good-eating seafood. When the Simmons family disposed of the lodge, it was in need of considerable repair. The new owners purchased it, sight unseen, so the story goes. They attempted to fix it up, but when Irene swept through and did additional damage it was apparently time to knock the entire structure down and start over.

Only the sign, the shell of the Oyster Bar and a container for the debris was all that remained of the Mattamuskeet Inn when I returned to hunt in December of 2011.

  Blowing around outside was a fairly recent photo of the Inn,  as Joey’s most recent dog, Ginger, was in it. This  is the somewhat wrinkled photo with the grit on it at the head of this post. I have many fond memories of my experiences at the lodge as, I am sure, do thousands of others. I regret seeing it go, but I have no doubt that the new owners are making the correct economic decision.

The sign looks a little battered and forelorn standing beside the bare spot where the rooms once stood.

There are still nearly places that cater to hunters. The Hyde-A-Way  (252) 926-8101 is a little further down the road at Fairfield and Carawan’s  Motel (252) 926-5861 is located at the other end of the causeway. Harris’ restaurant has changed owners and is now known as the Lone Goose, but it still offers dinner and supper. Hotel Engelhard (252) 925-1461 or toll-free at (800) 290-53411) is located at the other end of the lake and has a limited menu. When I passed by, the hotel was operating, but was for sale.

  I also shot my swan with a muzzleloading gun in 2012. This time it was a repeat visit for a Thompson/Center Arms Mountain Magnum 12-gauge shotgun loaded with Hodgdon’s Triple Seven powder and HeviShot.  This hunt was recorded for my radio show, “Hovey’s Outdoor Adventures” and may be heard by visiting my website and activating the live link below the banner. If it is not the current show, it is still available under the “archived shows” tab or on Apple’s iTimes as “All About Swan Hunting: Part 1.”

Author's "hero shot" drew him a disdainful look from a likely member of the Swan Society and inspired this post.

 As I was attempting to use the self timer on my camera to take what in the trade is known as a “hero shot” with my 2011-12 swan in front of the Mattamuskeet Wildlife Refuge sign, a small eco-friendly car with a swan license plate on the front drove up and stopped.  The lady driver sat in her car and took a photo of  my swan and muzzleloading shotgun. As she was preparing to drive away I waved and she gave me a dismissive look and wave off  such as one might bestow  upon a child who had done something  distasteful, but knew no better.  She made it quite clear that she did not want to talk to me.

  As she was obviously very interested in swan, we actually had more common ground than she might have thought. I suspect that her passion about these birds has resulted in her being a member of the Swan Society whose members follow with considerable interest the annual migration of the various swan species from the Arctic to their wintering grounds in the U.S. Those in the Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina, area are legally termed Tundra Swan, but are biologically perhaps more correctly called the Whistling Swan, compared to the Trumpeter Swan, which is an endangered species restricted to the Western Flyway.

Hunters with an age-range of swan. Lake Mattamuskeet, 2012. Note orange tags on legs of each bird.

 A limited harvest of Tundra swan is permitted in North Carolina and Virginia and in a scattering of Western states during their Fall migration. This is done by permit only with the number of permits depending on the annual swan reproduction. The biological objective is to keep swan numbers in check so that they do not overstress their nesting  or wintering environments. These large fowl eat a lot and can deprive other migrating species, such as ducks, of food. Before their was a season, North Carolina guides referred to them as “Sky Carp” because they consumed much of the plantings done  for ducks and geese.

When I hunt swan in late December and early January they have been in the state for about a month and have been fattening on corn, soybeans and other field crops. This diet makes  them the best eating of all waterfowl. Those taken from alkali lakes of the Desert Southwest are not nearly as tasty.  When I have one, I often have a swan for my Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.  Unlike turkey, swan meat is dark because of the many blood vessels used to drive those powerful wings. When properly cooked, it tastes like a very good roast beef.

Why kill swan?

  1. Population management is the primary objective that most federal and state wildlife agencies will cite for maintaining an annual swan harvest. Each hunter who draws one of the limited number of tags has the chance of taking  only one bird per season, and must report the results of his hunt whether he went or not, any bands recovered, etc. The penalty for taking an illegal bird may include fines of between $500 and $1000 and might also mean confiscation of the firearm, vehicle, boat and  gear associated with the hunt.

2. The challenge  is to attempt to take one of these magnificent fowl cleanly with one shot. Using muzzleloading guns, which are slow to reload and most often only have a single shot, puts an additional burden on me, which I accept as part of the hunting experience. Over the years I have taken a number of swan and often, but not always, killed them with a single shot.  To be effective, this shot must be at the yard-long head and neck of the bird.  As I have most often have only one shot opportunity at the time, I am careful to try for only close-range birds and, in addition, must keep all of my shooting components dry. By the time I hunt swan,  I have used that gun and load for the entire hunting season and know it very well.  The best advice that I can give any swan hunter is to know your gun and exactly where you must point it to get a good killing pattern on your bird. Some heavy waterfowl loads can shoot a foot or more below the point of aim.

Thompson/Center Arms Mountain Magnum 12-gauge muzzleloading shotgun that the author used to kill his swan.

An episode of my radio show, Hovey’s Outdoor Adventures, broadcast on January 9, 2012, presented hunts from  a public blind at Lake Mattamuskeet and also a shoot in an agricultural field about 15 miles from the lake. On the field shoot some of the cartridge-gun shooters struggled to take their birds. I killed my swan with a single shot from my Thompson/Center Arms Mountain Magnum 12-gauge shotgun using 100 grains of Hodgdon’s Triple Seven powder, a 1/4-inch hard cardboard over powder wad, 20 grains of Cream of Wheat, a red Winchester plastic wad for 1 1/4-ounces of shot, about 1 3/8 oz. of  no. 4 HeviShot (a tungsten iron non-toxic mix that is heavier than lead) sealed in the barrel with two thin over-shot cards.

  This single shot ended my hunt. I am not always so fortunate and had missed a swan the day before by apparently letting the eye guide me to shoot between a pair of approaching birds, rather than picking out one and killing it. Wingshooting, even on huge fowl like swan, is never a sure thing in hunting situations; as was abundantly illustrated on my radio broadcast.

 The previous discussion covered the mechanics of swan shooting, but more challenges to the hunt are to arrive with all of the gear you need, physically make something of a trek out to your blind location (particularly at Bodie Island on the Cape Hatteras National Wildlife Refuge where you may walk through a mile of flooded marsh to your blind) and put up with severe weather conditions during your hunt. This year was quite warm, whereas two years ago every small pond was  frozen solid and only the largest part of the lake and the salt-water Pamlico Sound had open water. (You can see a video of this hunt by clicking on the following link: http://youtu.be/BCPjQOBr7aI.) Walking through flooded marshes and operating boats under these conditions can be quite interesting. This year some hunters sank a 19-foot boat in the sound when waves crashed over the rear of it, flooded it, pulled it off  the bank and sunk it in 15 feet (or more) of water. Fortunately, the three hunters were rescued.

Swan ready to go into the oven.

3. Swan are excellent on the table. During past centuries it was a hanging offence to be caught eating a swan in England, as these birds were reserved for the Royal table. In North America these birds have been eaten since colonial times. When they have been on good feed they are excellent with the younger gray birds being better than the older ones, as is typical with any fowl. For best results swan need to be plucked and cooked in moisture.

4. Swan hunting provides a much-needed income boost to area residents who live in an impoverished part of coastal North Carolina.  Hyde County, the location of Lake Mattamuskeet, does have large-scale agriculture in areas that are dry enough to farm; but much of the area is undeveloped marsh and forests. The county’s population is only about 8,000 with the principal non-agricultural employers being county government,  a prison and the school system.  The Fall waterfowl hunting season provides a  boost to the economy by filling motels, restaurants and giving local merchants some needed trade.

5. Human interactions are also part of the swan hunting experience. These include running into other hunters, (as I did and unexpectedly joined two different groups on their hunts), interacting with local residents and even, in my case, attempting to give the area a boost through my radio show. When you and others are facing the same challenges there is a bonding between like-minded people that, although temporary, can be quite strong. You come to care about each other and each other’s problems and challenges.

6. Fun is a word that has thus far been absent from this discussion. Where does it come in? Killing an animal, as an act, brings a complex series of emotions. There is an elation that you have struggled to accomplish something and have successfully completed it. There is often “Ha-Ha” humor in the sometime completely ridiculous situations that hunters get themselves into that is easily understood and shared with other hunters. These experiences ultimately related to story telling, that can get so extreme  and enjoyable that it actually interferes with the ongoing hunt. (You cannot put two talkers in a turkey blind together, for example, because they will never stop yacking long enough to get their bird.)

 Killing a swan, to me, is no more enjoyable an act than slaughtering a pig at a “hog killing.”  I have seen, and dealt, sufficient death in my life to say that I  appreciate life and take it only when I am going to make use of  the animal. To me the highest value that an animal has, even a swan,  is to provide food for the hunter’s family. I have trophy heads on my wall, but I am more interested in shooting meat rather than horns. The best trophies, the most long-lasting ones, are trophies of the mind rather than horns on the wall.

  So where does that leave me and “the swan lady.” I think it is a safe assumption to say that we both respect these native North American birds and wish them, and their kind well. My enthusiasm does not extend to the  imported European mute swan or Australian black swan, which are now wild breeding populations. Mute swan by the thousands are now causing problems in a number of states and are even mixing with migrating populations of swan that winter in North Carolina. Control measures are now being conducted on these populations. Often the best, and least expensive, measure of control is to open a hunting season on them and consume them. In these hard economic times and in a country, and world, where millions are going hungry, there is no reason for not utilizing these exotic swan as a food source. If they were good enough for European Royals, I think that they are good enough for us too.

Christmas dinner featuring swan, swan dressing and giblet gravy.

Wild turkey with cornbread dressing on a Christmas platter. The centerpiece of the holiday meal.

 The large Christmas meal is a once-a-year event and very often its preparation is staged over a period of days prior to the climatic family feed. With my own now-reduced family, I do four days of  Christmas-related cooking starting with cooking the breads that are going to be used for my cornbread dressing and ending with the last pots being put on the stove and the dressing cooked on Christmas day. In 2011, I recorded a series of YouTube videos describing as many of each day’s activities as I could put in four short-form YouTube videos and concluded with a video on making turkey soup from the left-overs.

  This series is Parts 1-4 of  “Four Days of Christmas Cooking.”  Being a diabetic and unfortunately sharing this condition with some other family members, I do not do cook the sweets, cookies, pies and cakes typical of many families’ Christmas celebrations. About as sweet as I get is a sweet potato souffle’ which has raisins and artificial sweetener with a few real marshmallows on top. The short-format media exhibited some constraints. On Part 2 where I actually cook the souffle’, my Flip camera ran out of memory and the actual mixing of the dish was not recorded. To compensate, I have written out the recipe below.

Hoecake and eggbread for dressing.

Part 1. “Eggbread & Hoecake” are made to go into the dressing which will be cooked on Christmas morning. After baking these are crumbled and stored in the refrigerator until needed. These products are cooked slightly underdone, but are still temptingly eatable as they come from the oven. If you have a family I recommend cooking two batches of each, or you will likely find that family members will finch them and you will have none remaining when you  need it. To insure that you do, crumble the breads after they cool and store them in a plastic bag. This recipe was tested and approved by “hound dogs.”

 This video may be viewed on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/7-RxOrMtgAQ. The others will be similarly posted as they are produced.

Souffle', chopped products and turkey.

Part 2. “Sweet Potato Souffle’ and Chopping.” On day two of this four-day cooking cycle, the wild turkey (goose or swan) is taken out to start to thaw in preparation to cooking the next day, and I make the Sweet Potato Souffle’. This dish will keep very well under refrigeration and has marshmallows put on top of it when it is re-warmed prior to serving. I also chop up the nuts for the souffle’ as well as the onions and celery that will go into the dressing and boil the eggs that I will use in the giblet gravy and potato salad.  

  On this video I also discuss pairing knives and a common type of  Japanese cooking knife that was made for me by Master Bladesmith Murray Carter. Carter has just published a book “Bladesmithing with Murray Carter.”  In this book he describes how he became the 17th generation owner of a Japanese knife-making company following a hands-on apprenticeship in rural Japan that lasted over a decade.  He has now moved to Hillsboro, Oregon, where he has his shop and also teaches Japanese blade-making techniques. He also  hand-forges traditional Japanese-style, and other, knives for the world market using some tools that are centuries old.  Carter is also producing a video series about Japanese cooking knives, how he hand forges them, their uses, sharpening and long-term care.  His products may be viewed on his webpage, www.CarterCutlery.com and inquiries made to  murray@cartercutlery.com or by telephone to him at  (503) 447-1029.

This video may be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AisWaf9zSsQ by clicking on this link.

  Sweet Potato Souffle’

  5  pounds of sweet potatoes, boiled and drained, 6 medium eggs, 1 1/2 cups of raisins, 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped pecans (or other nuts), 1/3 cup of margarine, 1/4 cup of  sugar substitute, 1 teaspoon of  vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, 20 small marshmallows.

 Place drained hot sweep potatoes and place in large bowl. Quickly add and stir in butter, eggs and other ingredients. When egg whites have turned white, taste and adjust sugar, raisin and nut content as desired. Do not over sweeten as the product will become sweeter as it looses moisture during cooking.  Pour into greased oven-proof ceramic or glass dishes in a layer about 1 1/2-inches thick. Place  in oven at 350 degrees and cook until firm and the product starts to pull away from the edges of the container – about 20 minutes. Sprinkle marshmallows on top  prior to re-warming on Christmas day.

Wild turkey and recovered stock or "drippings" for turkey dressing to be made on Christmas Day.

Part 3. Cooking a Wild Turkey.  Cooking the turkey provides not only the meat for the holiday dinner, but also the stock, or drippings, that are needed for making the dressing the following day. Cook the turkey in a pan to which water has been added, cover the bird with aluminum foil and crimp the top and sides to make as steam-tight a tent as possible.  As the bird was pre-thawed, the cooking time for this one was a bit over two hours. The fowl is cooked to somewhere between the point that the legs can freely wiggle to they fall off at the touch. The drippings need to be carefully removed from the roasting pan (They will badly burn skin and make a terrible, slick mess on the kitchen floor.) and at least a quart preserved for use in the cornbread dressing.  The cooked onions and celery may be diced for use in a post-Christmas turkey soup or meat-rich hash.  

 The video on turkey roasting is available at: http://youtu.be/WmCm5eVNb4Y.

A sample of wild turkey, vegetables and cornbread dressing served on Christmas Day.

Part 4. Christmas Day Cooking. Baking the cornbread dressing, cooking the vegetables, carving the turkey, making fresh iced tea as well as getting the table ready are all tasks that take place on Christmas Day. Even after the meal there is food to put away and a considerable pile of dishes to wash. As much is done as can reasonably be managed. This year I served a small bowl of turkey soup instead of the usual salad.  The potatoes for what was to be a potato salad were over-cooked while I was posting these videos, so those became mashed potatoes. Frozen corn and hand-shelled butter beans were made into succatash by the addition of some margarine, salt and pepper. No one asked about dessert and I did not offer any, although I had some pear sauce and “Hovey’s Health Bread” that I could have served. I had cranberry sauce in the fridge, but no one asked for it and I forgot to put it out, as I am not particularly fond of it. (Hint. Write down your menu and check off what goes on the table. I did the first but not the last.)

The video of the last day’s events may be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr69gzDAFeo.

  Although not originally a part of this series, I also produced a video on making turkey soup from the leftover turkey meat, rice and unused chopped up onion and celery. This can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KVM9TZkMzE.

The final product of the Christmas meal is a tasty soup made from the wild turkey carcass and trimmings with the addition of left-overs from the Christmas meal.

Repairs were made to the Tree Lounge "Ground Lounge" (folded in foreground) and the "Elusive Whitetail" climbing stand that was also made by Tree Lounge (background).

 ”O crap!” was what I thought when I felt the rear wheel of my truck run over something as I backed out from under my parking shelter. I knew that nothing good had happened. I had just run over one part of my “Ground Lounge” Tree Lounge deer stand.  I moved it off to the side and then went to my dentist appointment. What was particularly bad about this was that now that Tree Lounge is no longer in business, there was no chance for me to get a new stand or replacement parts.

Tree Lounge climbing stand.

  As any pioneer, farmer, tinkerer or shade-tree mechanic knows, such an event is not necessarily an “epic failure.” Somehow, someway, I was going to take what I had around the house and repair this stand. The “Ground Lounge”  is a prop-up-against-the-tree type of stand that is lightweight and particularly handy for turkey and deer hunting. It gets the hunter off the ground in a more comfortable position (although I use a cushion in it too) out of the wet or snow.

Factory-made version of the Tree Lounge “Ground Lounge.” This stand used the same aluminum tubing and seat material of the more common Tree Lounge climbing stand. My version was slightly different in that it did not have the rounded curves at the top of the stand.

Materials used to fix nylon strap and seat.

On examination, what I found was that one arm of the stand was badly bent, another slightly bent and the welds were broken on the hinges that connected the upper and lower parts of the stand. The seat and other limbs of the stand were intact, except for the broken welds. I did not have a welding outfit, but I did have an assortment of small power tools, files and a bucket full of miscellaneous bolts, screws, washers, etc. that I had collected over the decades. I am more a “wood guy” that a “metal guy,” so I had a small wood-workers vise and some 1-inch tomato stakes.

  The concept was to cut out the badly bent portion of the limb, replace it with a section of wooden stake; and then use nuts and bolts to re-establish the functionality of the hinges.  As it turned out, not only did my ”Ground Lounge” need help, but rodents had also chewed a foot strap from my “Elusive Whitetail” climbing stand, that was also made by Tree Lounge. This was a simple matter of fitting and attaching a new nylon strap and a bit of cord so that I could pull both foot straps up to slip my boots under them.  The rodents  had also taken hunks out of the seat and gnawed through the fabric in several places.

 I had already repaired the climbing stand and shot a video of the experience. My repairs on the “Ground Lounge” would provide sufficient new materials to include a second type of  Tree Lounge stand in the video.

 The approaches that I used to fix these stands is not necessarily the best possible repair. I would hope that those with access to welding equipment, tube fabrication technology, a wider assortment of metal “junk” and a machine shop could, and would, do a better job of  repairing the “Ground Lounge” that I did.  

Elusive Whitetail on tree.

  One thing that I found almost enjoyable is that the American-made versions of the Tree Lounge stands used English-standard dimensions. So if you are going to work on either a traditional “Tree Lounge” climbing stand, the “Ground Lounge” or “Ladder Lounge” dust off your old set of socket and hand wrenches and use these. I suspect that the Chinese versions with the D-shaped tubes use metric components. As a measure of economy, Tree Lounge stuck with one size of 1-inch square aluminum tubing for their stands, so far as I have seen. This is handy because replacing broken or bent segments can be made with 1-inch outside dimension steel tubing or pipe or the wooden tomato stake that I employed.

  I dressed the tubing smooth with files or a Dremel Tool to remove the sharp edges and lumps of aluminum weld that interfered with the smooth fit of the parts. As I used a nut and bolt to reconnect the hinges to the limbs, I had to remove metal from inside the tubing to allow for the bolts to clear. There was sufficient clearance that the slightly bent limb was left “as is” because it did not interfere with the stand, which is always going to be used on less that perfectly level surfaces anyway. So, the minor difference in limb lengths cause by the bend is not significant.  

 The repairs that I did using expedient materials worked, and importantly in this economy, was accomplished without any cost, or a round trip to town for parts. A good-looking repair? No it is not, but the deer and turkey I take using this stand will never know the difference. It will get the job done. 

  As no new Tree Lounge stands are likely to be available in the forseeable future, repairing those that you already own is the best way to keep these excellent stands in use. The seats and straps are the usual parts that fail. The nylon fabric used in these seats is similar to “filter cloth” used in the paper and clay-minerals processing industries. Canvas may be used for seats, but this will have to be replaced more often and is not nearly as weather resistant as nylon or other polymer-based fabrics. To extend the life of these stands, keep them out of sunlight and do not leave them in the woods all year. If given only a tiny amount of care, these stands will last for decades.

 I have a video up on YouTube on the repairs. It may be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsao_vKe9I4 if you have trouble viewing it below:

Dill Deer Potato Salad uses a mild homemade Italian deer sausage and dill weed to make an outstanding potato salad.

 Potato salads can be terrible. The worst are made with bland potatoes and too much mayonnaise and are like salty, lumpy library paste. Many of those shipped into chain restaurants in 5-gallon pails fall into this category.

  If you are going to make an outstanding potato salad start with potatoes that have some taste. The best that I have found are smallish potatoes from Ontario. These are oblong and about 2-3 inches long. They were called, and labeled in French, as Earth Apples. They were crisp, very slightly sweet and relatively easy to peel and cook. Unusual features in my potato salad is I mix Italian-flavored mild deer sausage in mine along with the addition of dill weed. The sausage is fried, granulated and cooled before adding to the salad. Towards the final stages of mixing I add about half a teaspoon of dill weed to 2-pounds of boiled potatoes and 1 1/2-pound of dry granulated deer sausage. I do this as I adjust seasonings and put in additional salt and pepper as needed. I prefer a light coating of mayonnaise on all of the products and the final mix is quite stiff with all of the ingredients being fully visible.

  The mix of sweet/vinegar/peppers/boiled egg/onions with the deer meat gives an interesting complexity to the dish and converts it into a one-pot meal if desired. Serve this with buttered rye bread and a Burgundy wine and you can have the makings of a memorable meal from a dish that is all to often an industrialized product and taste like it.

  Be brave. Experiment with your potato salad by adding sausage, other meats, flavored vinegars and other products to come up with a product that is worth eating. I use wild-game sausages that I make from wild hogs, deer and geese. An Italian sausage from your grocery store would be a good start. Just pre-cook, drain off any liberated fat and cool before adding the meat to the potato salad. There is also no reason that salmon would not work or even canned tuna, if nothing better was available.

  I have a YouTube video “Best Dill Deer Potato Salad” that illustrates the making of a potato salad that was served as part of a pre-Christmas family event. The filming was done by Amber, my 12-year old niece, who has the makings of a budding film maker. She caught on very quickly to framing, composition, following action and capturing key parts of the salad making process to make the 9-minute video. The clicks and snaps that you hear are from the tripod. This is a reasonably heavy tripod that is fine for still photography, but too noisy for use with a video camera that also records sound. Next time I will use a quieter tripod or discover how to lubricate this one.  Watch the video at: http://youtu.be/s_47cetZWV4  if you have any difficulty in viewing it here.

The small parts including the  hand and springs show  discoloration and pitting as a result of being uncleaned during a three-week hunting period.

  During the production of my 7-part YouTube video series on “Modern Percussion Revolvers” I hunted with Cabela’s Buffalo stainless steel revolver which is made in Italy by Pietta. While using this gun on squirrels and deer I would sometimes fire a chamber or two, clean those chambers and the barrel and brush off any residue from the Triple Seven Powder (A black powder substitute.) for the next day’s hunt. When I had secured my deer, I completely stripped the gun down and found that corrosion had pitted some of the small interior parts and discoloration started on the trigger and hammer.

Deer and squirrels were taken with the pistol.

Although it is a pain to fire all the chambers, completely clean in soap and water, dry and reload, this is still necessary when using either black powder or the majority of the black-powder substitutes. This needs to be done if the gun is made of regular blued or stainless steels. Although called “stainless,” this steel will corrode when exposed to black powder and atmospheric moisture. In extremely dry climates this may not be such a factor, but it is in the humid southeastern U.S. where I live.

  There are trade offs in life, and the ones related to stainless steel firearms are that these steels do not machine as cleanly as high-carbon steels. The result is that screws may be very hard to remove the first time the gun is disassembled. However after they have been removed and replaced 10 or so times, particularly when lubricated, the threads will “clean up” and the process will become much easier. These steels are also softer than the typical high-carbon steels used on firearms. Care must be taken not to cross-thread the  screw seats when replacing screws or percussion nipples. It also pays to use fitted screwdrivers and are ground to fit the heads of the screws to prevent buggering them if they are difficult to extract. With these precautions and a tray or towel to hold the small parts these guns may be dissembled and reassembled without fear of damaging the gun; provided that you are patient and take your time.

  Always make sure that you remove and clean the nipples as these tend to clog, sieze in the cylinder and cause misfires. Twists of damp and then dry paper towels are very useful for cleaning the tiny holes in the nipples.

Ruger Old Army with 8-point Georgia buck and bonus squirrel.

As the concluding part of my 7-part video series, “Modern Percussion Revolvers,”  I planned to take deer and/or hogs with two stainless steel pistols. One was made by Pietta in Italy (Cabela’s Buffalo) and the other the American-made Ruger Old Army. In a pervious post I described how the Buffalo revolver took a small doe with two shots which demonstrated the potential usefulness of the revolver as a hunting tool.  Having multiple-shot availability is helpful if you have a wounded animal on the ground that might run off, you have the potential for several targets or you  might need another shot  to keep from being chomped upon by a wild hog.

Ruger Old Army with GA gator.

The Old Army was not new to me. Previously, I had  taken squirrels as well as finished off alligators beside the boat by sending a pistol bullet into their brains at point-blank range. The advent of Triple Seven powder, which gives higher velocities, and new percussion revolver bullets designed by Kaido Ojamaa provided a load that exceeded 500 fpe. of muzzle energy  giving the Old Army big-game killing potential. The details of these results are reported on a previous blog,  and will also appear in the 2013 Edition of the Gun Digest Annual.

While I had previously dismissed the percussion revolver in favor of more powerful single-shot muzzleloading handguns, others, such as Florida hunter Rudy Betancourt, had been quite happily killing deer and hogs approaching 200 pounds with these revolvers and Triple Seven loads. I arranged to get some of the new flat-nosed 240-grain bullets from Kaido Ojamaa in time to confirm that with a 35-grain load of  Triple Seven FFFg powder they  gave an average velocity of 987 fps and 519 fpe from the gun’s 7 1/2-inch barrel. (Inquire about the 240 and 255 grain versions of these bullets and 6-cavity molds for them from Ojamaa at kaido93@hotmail.com.

All I needed to do was to find a cooperative deer. Six set ups did not produce a deer that I could shoot because the animals were too far, running or  obscured by brush. Ultimately I went out before sunrise and set up about 30 yards from the boundary of an overgrown cut-over area and more mature timber. Deer frequently walked along this edge.

Because I had spooked deer before with the noise of cocking these revolvers (three distinct clicks), I pre-cocked the gun. This is a very dangerous practice, and I cannot recommend it.  If you must pre-cock the gun because you expect close-range game, make sure that there are no possible twigs, etc. that can touch the trigger as you raise the gun. Also do not put your finger inside the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot. Lay the finger alongside and above the trigger. I got into this habit  from years of shooting set-triggered muzzleloading guns that fire at a touch of the trigger.  There are single-shot muzzleloading pistols that you can “silent cock,” but not percussion or cartridge revolvers.  This is also a dangerous thing to do in a tree stand as the cocked revolvers will fall butt first with their barrels pointing upwards,  toward YOU, and frequently fire.

  Half an hour after I arrived at my spot a buck approached from the right walking the edge of the cut-over. When he reached a path, he hesitated and spotted something strange (me). He took two steps towards me along the path and stopped again. I had already raised and sighted the pistol on the deer. When it started to turn away I shot, putting the bullet at the point of the shoulder. The deer bounded off at the hit, and I heard it crashing through the small trees in the overgrown clear-cut before it went down.

The 240-grain bullet broke the shoulder joint and exited the buck after passing through its lungs. It had penetrated about 12-inches of deer on its diagonal path through the animal. The wound channel was perhaps not as big as it would have  been with a .44 Remington Magnum, but  was quite impressive. I cut up most of this deer for the freezer that afternoon and made deer burger from the cuttings the next day.

One problem that I found with the 240-grain bullet was that after two or three shots the other bullets would creep forward in their chambers under recoil pressures, hit against the barrel and tie up the gun as the cylinder was rotated.  These could be pushed back into the chambers under finger pressure and the shooting continued.  The slightly longer 255-grain version of this bullet may alleviate this problem.

The first meal from the deer used the boiled neck roast to make “Perlow with Green Balls.” The “green balls” come from the fact that  I also put Brussels sprouts in this rice-based dish. An approximation of this free-form recipe is given at the end of this post.

“Modern Percussion Revolvers. Part 7 B. Big game hunting. Blog version.”  is an 8-minute video that may be seen on YouTube by activating the following live link: http://youtu.be/YligBXZFFQg if you have any difficulties in viewing it here.

A 12-munute version of this video with more information on hunting techniques and deer habitat is also on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/LWNh24pbpZs.

Perlow with Green Balls

Perlows are rice-based dishes often done with chicken and/or wild meats to which peppers are added to make a spicy after-hunt meal. These are free-form creations, but most commonly have some fowl, any wild game meat, sausage, peppers and more or less vegetables as they are available. Traditionally they would be cooked in a cast-iron pot over campfire coals or on a wood stove.

This particular one was constructed with:

2-medium boiled ducks with meat stripped from bones

1 deer neck roast boiled and meat removed and shredded

12 Brussels Sprouts

6 small mushrooms

1 cup brown rice

2 cans tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1 pound frozen butter beans

1 chipped large Spanish onion

1/4-chopped bell pepper

1 small diced very hot red pepper

1 medium hot round red pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Pressure cook and shred all meat. Retain  broth. Add all ingredients to pot and boil until Brussel sprouts are tender. As rice cooks and absorbs broth (start with 4 cups of broth to one cup of rice), adjust liquid content as needed to keep from sticking. The dish, as shown here, is a very thick soup; but could be served dryer if desired.  The rice should be slightly firm and not cooked completely soft.

The original Tree Lounge tree stand. Many accessories were added over the years including wheel kits and covers.

  Regrettably, the Georgia based company Tree Lounge that was started by Bob and Margaret Hice is no longer in business. The Hices sold their company, but the new owners went bankrupt and they got their company back with a load of debt. In addition they received something of a black eye because the new owners sent production to China, and the resulting stands were not as rugged as the originals. 

The Ground Lounge tree stand.

Bob and Margaret resumed production at the original factory in North Georgia. They re-introduced the original model of the stand with an elaborate set of accessories, added a new line “Elusive Whitetail,” and made a “Ground Lounge” and “Ladder Lounge” to enlarge their product offerings. During this time Bob died and Margaret, who always ran many aspects of company operations, took over management.

  With much reluctance the last of the company’s 40-odd employs were let go and

The Elusive Whitetail tree stand.

the company closed its doors last spring. To hear a more complete version of the story, listen to an interview that I did with Margaret on “Hovey’s Outdoor Adventures that aired on Oct. 17, 2011, on WebTalkRadio.net. This show is available as an ”archived show” and may be heard by activating the drop-down menu. I found Margaret, who is the secretary of the the Georgia Chapter of  Safari Club International, representing the Chapter.  

Margaret Hice at the EPIC Game Fair.

To listen to the show  from the EPIC Game Fair, which includes Martaret’s interview,   go to my website www.hoveysmith.com , and click on the “Hovey’s Outdoor Adventures Radio Show” link just below the banner. That will take you to  the  WebTalkRadio.net show page. 

The original stands were rugged and can be expected to last for generations.  I do not know of anyone supplying parts and accessories for them. If someone is, please reply to this post.

The Buffalo revolver and its deer. The first shot struck high, just above the hammer, and the second passed through the heart.

  Least one think that all we gun writers have to do is to step out our back door and pop a deer with whatever hunting tools we happen to fancy at the moment, that is not quite how it works for me. After so many trips in the field that I lost count and one trip out of state to a hunting preserve, I finally managed to get a smallish doe with two shots fired from Cabela’s .44-caliber Buffalo Revolver. 

Cabela's Buffalo revolver disassembled for loading in the field. The cylinder is removed so that the caps can be crimped to tightly fit the nipples.

 This is an interesting gun as it has the strong topstrap of the 1858 Remington design, adjustable sights, a 12-inch barrel and my version is all stainless steel. There is a less expensive brass-framed model  which is not recommended for the load I used.  This load consist of  of 40 grains of Hodgdon’s Triple Seven Powder (FFFg)(10 percent more powerful that black powder), an Ox-Yoke Wonder Wad (lubricated felt), round ball and topped off by Ox-Yoke’s wax Revolver Wonder Seals. This is a powerful load in this gun and approaches 500 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy. I had previously condemed all percussion revolvers as being suitable only for small game or for point-black kill shots on deer, but this load has big-game killing potential on the smallish deer and hogs that  I mostly shoot.   

  I attempted to use heavier elongate bullets in this revolver, but found that they shot less well than round balls at 50 yards.   These efforts are documented in a series of  seven YouTube videos on the wmhoveysmith channel.  ”Part 1. The Pistols” may be seen at: http://youtu.be/PB0SYhonsqM. As this work progressed I received correspondence from other pistol shooters, notably Florida hunter Rudy Betancourt, telling of their experiences with this gun and load.  Betancourt has killed hogs weighing up to 170 pounds with this load and several smaller hogs and deer.

  I tried one shot at a deer, but the ball was deflected by an intervening branch and did not touch the animal. My next opportunity was when I was sitting on the ground and a deer walked past at about 30-yards across the valley. My first shot hit a bit high on the spine and knocked it down. My second shot penetrated the heart and finished the animal. Both bullets passed through the small deer with the heart shot penetrating about 10-inches of fur, hide, bone and flesh.

  This experience illustrated the chief advantage of using a revolver – having the possibility of a rapid second shot. This is particularly important to me as my aging eyes no longer see iron sights well, and I must now shoot without my glasses to use them at all. Disadvantages of this revolver for hunting are the loud cocking noises (three distinct clicks as the mechanical parts function) and its shiny finish. On previous attempts I spooked deer on both accounts. On this hunt I did the particularly dangerous practice of precocking the revolver and laying it in my lap so that I only had to raise the gun and fire as the deer approached. (I do not recommend this practice as it is an easy way to shoot oneself in the foot, leg or somewhere else. If anything, it is even more dangerous to have a cocked revolver in a tree stand because should the gun fall it will frequently fire, and because of revolver’s weight distribution, the butt will hit first with the barrel pointing upwards – towards YOU. I say this because pre-cocking the gun is such an obvious solution to the problem of close-range deer being spooked by the noise of operating the gun.)   With many single-shot muzzelloading hunting pistols it is possible to silent cock the gun by pulling back the trigger, pulling back the hammer and then releasing the trigger and slowly lowering the hammer to to allow the sear to catch on the hammer’s full-cock notch. Such an action is not possible with the revolver. Even if the gun was on half-cock and the hammer “silent cocked” from there, there is still the harsh metallic sound of the spring-powered pall locking up in the cylinder notch.  Starting from half-cock  would eliminate two of the three “clicks,” but still be quite loud.  Although, working from half-cock might be only marginally safer as falling half-cock guns will often fire too.  

  If I were to design the ideal muzzleloading revolver for hunting I would employ a dull matt or black finish, make the gun of stainless steel, give it a longer cylinder,  adjustable sights (and a scope rail for us older hunters), 12-inches or more barrel, a fast twist barrels for elongate bullets, a hammer-blocking quiet safety and a larger grip, while retaining the loading lever style of the Remington 1858 or Ruger Old Army (better).  Will there ever be such a gun? There could be. However, for something that a person can purchase today, the Cabela’s Buffalo stainless revolver is the best available, now that the Old Army is no longer in production.

  The Ruger can shoot elongate bullets better and run over 500-foot pounds of muzzle energy with a newly designed 240-grained bulled designed by Kaido Ojamaa which works both in percussion revolvers and in cartridges such as the .45 L.C.  He also has a similar bullet that weighs 255-grains. I am now deer hunting  with the Old Army.  I passed on a spike this morning.  More on my hunting experiences with the Old Army as they happen.