The Measure of Peter Capstick's Books

You can count me as a fan of Peter Hathaway Capstick. I don't apply the term 'fan' to myself very easily, either. I prefer to define myself on my own terms rather than in relation to other people's creative output.

I still haven't read the complete works of Capstick but I've read enough of his books enough times over that I feel qualified to write about them as a literary critic. It helps a bit that the man is dead, since I would probably never have the nerve to say any of this to his face.

His first book, 'Death in the Long Grass,' is a classic that I have written about before. I discovered that book and Capstick's work in general while browsing at a book store in the hunting section. I saw this brand new book with a dust jacket that screamed '1970's design' at me. And I thought to myself that if this book had been written over 30 years ago and was still in print as a hardback then there must be something to it. 'Death in the Long Grass' was Capstick's best book, though some of his later books came very close to that greatness. '

'Death in the Long Grass' had a real impact on the way that I wrote about hunting and I think that some of that language might have made it through the editorial process for 'Eating Aliens' (launching in August of 2012). Capstick throws out these magnificently over-the-top metaphors which I want desperately and shamelessly to steal every time I read them. A kudu or cape buffalo is not just 'dead' when Capstick shoots it. It is 'dead as fair play', or 'dead as courtesy,' or 'dead as nickel beer.'

Having now written a couple of books myself, I look back on DITLG and am really impressed with the work that the editor must have done on that book. A lot of editors would have taken that text and struck out half of the language that I love in it on the basis that its "too over the top," or that the slang might be unfamiliar to most Americans. Then the descriptions of some of the kills would be toned down and silenced by many. Capstick's ornery political judgements might have been muted. Most editors would probably have ruined Capstick's first book in the interest of printing and shipping a very safe, politically correct book which nobody would even remember today. Instead, someone had the backbone to let Capstick's voice really shine and the rest was history.

However, in practical terms DITLG was a tough act for Capstick to follow. In that first book he had told the best stories of his years to date working as a professional hunter. It had skipped around from one year and species to another, going pretty much wherever the stories were. As Capstick wrote book after book he seems to have run out of material.

Capstick solved this problem for a few books by writing beautifully about other hunters' careers. One of my favorites is 'The Last Ivory Hunter,' about an old ivory hunter friend of Capstick's who had a genuinely fascinating and unique life in Africa. I often wish that he had written some more books in that vein and perhaps he would have done so had he lived longer than his 56 years (chain-smoking and drinking like Hemingway were probably what caused the heart troubles that ultimately killed him).

There was a long series of 'Death in the...' sequels. 'Death in a Lonely Land,' 'Death in the Silent Places,' etc. Many of these are worth reading. I think that the worst of the lot was probably 'Sands of Silence.'

'Sands of Silence' was a dangerous book for Capstick to write because it tells the story of one particular safari that he took in Namibia well after becoming established as a writer. Because he had a camera crew along for the safari it is very clear that he went out there with the express intent of writing a book and making a film about this one trip.

I say that this was a dangerous book to set out to write because he appears to have boxed himself into a corner. He had to produce this book for his publisher, and I would bet money that he had a fat book advance riding on it. Regardless of whether this particular safari was especially interesting he had to write a book about it.

As it happened, nothing especially interesting took place. Or at least nothing that was all that interesting to Capstick. It would have been very difficult for him to write about leopard hunt number 873 (or whatever it was) with fresh eyes at that point. Yet he still had to produce this book about it all. I know the feeling after just wrapping up the final edits on 'Eating Aliens.'

While writing that book there were a great many trips that I took in order to hunt and fish for all sorts of odd things. In many cases there were species that were must-haves for the book, yet when I got out there and went after them I found that there just wasn't a story worth telling about it. Its always a good yarn when I get either lost, stabbed, or stranded somewhere along the way. Preferably with alligators or stingrays involved. But I am in fact writing non-fiction and so everything I write has to actually have happened and one can not always contrive to bump into alligators or get lost and stabbed. Sometimes I came home after a lot of time and expense on the road and I had to shrug it off and move on to the next species.

So I certainly have a good bit of sympathy for Capstick at that point of his career. He'd already told his best old stories and even while he was trying to create new ones he was subject to the vagaries of reality. I don't think it helped that he seems to have been pretty comfortable, financially. The description of his trip in 'Sands of Silence' sounds entirely too comfortable for drama. Hot showers, plenty of staff, and well-maintained vehicles. Nothing was left to chance and so nothing much could happen by chance. And where is a story going to come from like that?

I can't really tell whether there even was an editor for 'Sands of Silence.' It was reading this book that really impressed what a good job the editor of 'Death in the Long Grass' had done. In Sands of Silence, one suspects that Capstick's established name and excellent book sales might have put him in a position where he could wave away any sort of editorial interference at all. And brother, did he ever need it!

Capstick's snappy style was dead as the balanced budget amendment by the time he got around to 'Sands of Silence.' He'd always had a slightly annoying habit of over-using ellipses at the ends of sentences (an ellipsis is one of these things in punctuation: ...). Here, its totally out of control. There is no rhyme or reason to when he uses an ellipsis rather than a period and it isn't clear to me that he has any idea what that punctuation is even for. An editor with half a brain -- or at least some backbone -- should have done something about this.

Not only was Capstick lacking in a story but he didn't know how to tell it any more, either. On page 53 he sort of punted and wrote: "If I could describe the terrible heat, you wouldn't believe me."

C'mon, Capstick! That's what your job consists of. Just describe the terrible effing heat already, ok? Tell me that it was as though Satan had left the door open or something.

'Death in the Long Grass' was like a story told by a campfire over a meal of sliced rhino heart s'mores. By the time that Capstick got around to 'Sands of Silence,' it feels like your boring great-uncle and aunt forcing you through a slide show of their 50th anniversary trip to Niagara Falls.

Is there advice here for outdoor writers? Man, I hope so. This is what I have learned, as an outdoor/hunting writer, from reading the full spectrum of Capstick's work:

1. Don't box yourself into a corner where you contractually have to write a whole book about one expedition.

2. Accept the fact that a good editor can make your book better than you did.

3. Comfort and security are the enemy of adventure.


I will really try to take these lessons to heart. As an aside, I was reading over Capstick's biography and I realized that it bears an uncanny resemblance to my own thus far. I'm from Charlottesville, Virginia, and Capstick is an alumnus of the University of Virginia right here in Charlottesville. He had a respectable career as a stock broker before deciding to walk away from it all at the age of 30 to become a professional hunter. I spent 11 years as a wholesale insurance broker before leaving that career to become a full-time professional hunter and outdoor writer at the age of 32. Capstick's first book was better than mine was but I think I'm getting better as I go along.

Not being a smoker or a heavy drinker, I hopefully have fair odds of living longer than Peter Capstick did, although doing things like guiding clients on bear hunts and planning a documentary film in Sierra Leone later this year probably won't do much for my life expectancy.

Private Mentorship for Hunters

Very rarely do I mention this publicly, but during the winter months I offer limited services as a hunting tutor and guide. Most of the guiding work that I do is by word of mouth and I simply haven't felt the need to advertise it.

Without any sort of doubt, my most satisfying days of work at any job I have ever held have been as a hunting tutor. When a student bags her first deer or his first squirrel, it is a life-changing experience that I am thrilled to be a part of.

What I offer is not the conventional services of a hunting guide. Most hunting guides are in the business of knowing where a trophy animal is, generally on private property. They take you to the spot where they know that trophy animal is likely to be and they tell you when to shoot and then afterwards you can usually go back to the lodge and kick back with a martini while someone else butchers and skins your kill.

That's not how we'll be doing things. My job is to teach a beginner the craft of hunting. If you get an animal at all, it will not have a record-sized rack of antlers. I will teach you how to skin and butcher the kill yourself and we will both be getting our hands dirty. My goal is to make you a capable outdoors person in your own right. You'll learn a little bit of tracking, some natural history, and whatever woodcraft is demanded in the course of the day.

No experience hunting or shooting firearms is required. All materials except for lunch and clothing can be provided, including weapons and ammunition. Basic shooting instruction is available if necessary. This is not the same thing as my deer hunting classes, though there is some overlap in terms of what can be covered. Alumni of my classes are very much welcome.

There isn't much of this deer season left, but available dates include December 27th-31st, and January 2nd-6th. During that time, we can hunt for deer, black bear, squirrels and turkey, with possible opportunities for rabbit, Canada geese, mourning doves, and other assorted small game.

In the latter half of January, dates may be available for small game. My standard rate is $150 per day, with an additional $50 per day for an additional hunter. More than two hunters at a time is not advised.

I am also available for hunts on your own land, although rates may vary depending on how far away you are. In some areas of Northern Virginia, deer season extends into March on private land. If you have any questions, or to schedule a private hunt, please email me at Jack.Landers@gmail.com

[Photo copyright Jackson Landers, copyright 2011]

Whitetail Cheese Steak Sandwich

My eight year old daughter was butchering an aged whitetail hindquarter yesterday and she had an idea. She wanted something like a burger, but without the meat being ground. After some discussion and experimentation she and I essentially re-invented the Philly cheese steak by shaving very thin sheets of meat from the hindquarter, soaking them in pepper and Worchestershire sauce, and cooking them in a pan as sandwich meat.

It worked brilliantly. I ate about four of them over the course of the night until I was physically incapable of taking another bite.

Ingredients:

Approximately 4 oz. of thinly shaved venison hindquarter
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Worchestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon
Ground pepper, 1 tsp
Finely minced fresh onion, 1 tbsp
1 slice of American cheese
Mayonnaise
A tomato
A sub roll

Briefly marinade the venison in the worchestershire sauce and pepper. Melt the butter in a pan on medium heat. Cook the sliced venison in the butter for about two minutes. When the meat is still pink and almost cooked, use a spatula to gather it together on the pan into a patty-like arrangement. Sprinkle the onion over the meat and drop a slice of cheese over it. Cover the pan for about 30 seconds, which should be long enough to rapidly melt the cheese. Slide the cheese-covered meat onto your sub roll, which should ideally be toasted and already dosed with the mayo. Add some sliced tomato and you're all done.

Is this recipe rocket science? No. There is nothing very complicated about it and yet I could not stop eating these things. The sandwich in the photo was made after I had run out of buns and sub rolls and was putting them together with regular sliced bread.

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers]

Roanoke Times Interview

I have been a big fan of Bill Cochran's hunting and fishing column in the Roanoake Times. In fact, Bill's column is one of only a very small handful of links that have been up on the margin of this blog since the very first month that I started it.

It was very flattering to get an email from Bill asking me about doing an interview for his column. The piece ran today in the print edition of the Times and it is also online right here.

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers. This photo has nothing to do with anything. I just wanted a nice picture to go with the blog entry so here's a catfish that I photographed in New Orleans.]

What is the Best Deer Cartridge?

New hunters often ask me what cartridge their first deer rifle should be chambered for. This is an important question, but some definitions are in order before I answer it.

Every modern firearm shoots what we call a 'cartridge.' You know that shiny thing that you take out of a box and put into the gun to make it go 'bang?' That is a cartridge, not a bullet. The bullet is only one part of the cartridge. Some well-known examples of cartridges would include the .30-'06 (pronounced 'thirty ought six'), the 30-30, the .357 magnum, and the .22 LR (colloquially called the 'twenty-two' or the 'twenty-two long rifle').

Usually a given model of rifle is sold in different versions that are each 'chambered' for different cartridges. You could have a couple of otherwise identical Remington Model 700 rifles and one of them shoots the .308 Winchester cartridge and the other shoots the 7mm-08. The ammunition between them is absolutely not interchangeable.

Think about it like picking out the hardware for a new computer and then choosing the operating system.

There are many hundreds of different firearm cartridges that have been invented. Most are obscure and the beginner does not need to be concerned with them. Different cartridges were developed to do different things well. For example, some are designed solely for long-range accuracy to be used for competitive shooting. Others are meant to propel an especially heavy bullet in order to quickly kill very large prey. There are all sorts of engineering problems that various cartridges were intended to solve.

Most of these can, under the right conditions, theoretically kill a deer. But some are better suited for deer hunting than others. For example, you could hunt deer with a .50 BMG if you really wanted to but this would be sort of like commuting to an office job every day in a dump truck.

The new deer hunter should narrow down the list of options first by ignoring every cartridge that is not readily available in local stores. Suddenly, our list of hundreds of cartridges has been reduced to perhaps a few dozen at most. Next, for hunting deer we should ignore magnum-sized rifle cartridges. They have more power than you need, with more recoil to boot. Magnums also tend to be more expensive ammunition.

Lets throw out everything that shoots a bullet with less than .23 caliber. All of the .22s, such as the .22 LR, the .223 Winchester, the .22-250. All of these shoot bullets that aren't quite big and heavy enough to reliably kill deer for a beginner.

By the way, the word 'caliber' refers to the nominal diameter of the bullet. Calibers can be expressed in either English or metric terms, though a given cartridge is usually named in one or the other and stays that way. Strunk and White might not approve, but it is standard practice to mix metric and English units within the same sentence when discussing cartridges.

We are now left with a pretty short list of cartridges, which I will list off with a brief summary of their features:

.30-'06 - This is the most powerful of the non-magnum cartridges commonly used to hunt deer. It can be found any place in America that sells hunting ammunition. As of this writing, you can buy a box of ammo for anywhere from $18 on up. A rifle chambered for the .30-'06 can do double duty on elk or black bear, if need be. In fact, you could use this for anything in North America if you really needed to. The .30-'06 is a very flexible cartridge that can do many different jobs with the trade-off being that it has relatively heavy recoil. Out to around 200 yards distance, this cartridge can punch through the body of a deer at any angle to hit the vital organs.
.270 Winchester - The .270 was created by putting a narrower bullet into a .30-'06 shell casing. It offers much of the power of the .30-'06 with a little less recoil and a flatter trajectory. By 'flatter trajectory' I mean that it is easier to shoot accurately with this cartridge over long distances. On deer, you won't notice the different trajectory until you are shooting out past 150 yards. The bullets that the .270 shoots are somewhat light and this wouldn't be a great choice for a gun that you might want to also use for elk or other big game. But for deer, it works great.

.308 Winchester - This cartridge is significantly shorter than the previous two that I mentioned. This means that the magazine, bolt, and receiver of the rifle can also be shorter and result in an overall lighter gun to carry around all day. The .308 is what we call a 'short action' cartridge. It has a lot less recoil than the .30-'06. The .308 is used by many long-range competitive marksmen. It doesn't hit as hard as the .30-'06 but it still does a great job. The ammunition is inexpensive and plentiful. The .308 would not be a good choice for prey larger than deer.

7mm-08 - This short action cartridge was invented by putting narrower bullets into the .308's case. The original purpose behind creating the 7mm-08 was to get most of the performance of the .308 with less recoil. It excels at this. My daughter first shot a 7mm-08 when she was six years old and the recoil didn't bother her a bit. And she's small for her age. Like, the .270, this cartridge is known for its flat-shooting characteristics. It performs very well on deer-sized prey, but what you lose here versus, say, the .30-'06 on the opposite end of the spectrum, is flexibility. If a deer is standing 200 yards away and it is quartering away (facing mostly away from you, at an angle), then I would not take that shot with a 7mm-08. The lighter bullet cannot be relied on to punch through so much flesh on the way to the vital organs.

.30-30 - The .30-30 is a cartridge designed to work well in lever-action rifles. I won't bore you right now with a lot of technical details for why this is the case, but most .30-30 ammunition is loaded with round-nosed bullets that aren't very aerodynamic. They lose velocity quickly. Even if your accuracy is perfect this wouldn't be a great gun for shooting deer out past 100 yards. It just can't be relied on to penetrate enough. But in the Eastern US, the vast majority of deer are taken within 100 yards anyhow. A .30-30 is usually intended for short-range work. It is good for hunting deer in brush or woods with low visibility. All things being equal (which is to say in rifles of the same weight with identical recoil pads), the recoil is milder than a .30-'06, but heavier than a 7mm-08.

These five cartridges are what I suggest a new deer hunter narrow their choices among. If you have the opportunity to try shooting each of them then you'll be able to make a more informed decision.

I believe that a new deer hunter should hunt with the most powerful of these cartridges that he or she can shoot comfortably. There is a limit for all of us at which the recoil of a gun begins to affect us. One of the differences between a good marksman and a poor one is being able to recognize and admit where this line is. There is nothing unmanly about admitting that recoil is bothering you. If the recoil is making you flinch even very slightly right before the gun goes off then you should probably be shooting a lighter cartridge. At the very least, try using a slip-on recoil pad (The 'Limbsaver' model is one that I can personally vouch for).

In my opinion, the especially light cartridges are tools for advanced hunters rather than beginners. Cartridges like the .243 or the .223, where it is legal to use them on deer, are best left to experienced hunters who are very good shots and who have an instant and detailed grasp of every detail of deer anatomy from any given angle. Heavier cartridges provide a little more room for error, which is important to a new hunter.

As for choosing a specific rifle for a beginner, I discuss this (as well as more about cartridges, etc.) in my book, 'The Beginners Guide to Hunting Deer for Food.'

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers.]

Last Call for the December Deer Class

I've had multiple last-minute cancellations for the deer hunting class this weekend here in Charlottesville. This puts me in a pretty tough spot, since most of the expenses are fixed regardless of the number of students.

If anyone wants to sign up at the last minute, this would be a good time. This is probably the last deer class that we will be able to do, since the deer farm that supplies the fresh deer for the class to work on will be closing soon and eliminating their remaining animals.

As covered by the New York Times, reviewed by We Love DC, and many, many other newspapers, magazines and blogs. The class will be this weekend, December 10th and 11th.

The cost per person is $380. This price includes all ammunition, use of rifles, a few meals, and other class materials. For a full description of what the class involves, I suggest reading the review on We Love DC.

If interested, please send an email to jack.landers@gmail.com. We accept credit cards and bank transfers through Paypal under this email address. Personal checks or cash are also accepted. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to shoot me an email.

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers.]

Five Gifts for Over $100

Perhaps I've been too much of a cheapskate. Every year I do a list of the top five gifts under either $30 or $20 on this blog. If consumer spending really does drive the American economy (which I don't fully buy but that's beside the point) then I'm not doing my fair share. In that spirit, here are my top five Christmas gifts for hunters and fishermen for over $100.

1. The Brinkman charcoal smoker. I received one of these as a gift a few years ago and have gotten someone else's money's worth many times over.

Here's the neat thing about having a smoker: it widens your fishing options. If you live near the coast and catch Spanish mackerel then you probably have a low opinion of them as food once they've been out of the water for more than a few hours. But if you brine the filets overnight and then put them on the smoker then they are delicious. Any oily fish is, really. Eat it as-is, or put it on toast with butter, sliced onion and capers, or use it in potato salad. Ditto carp (which is good many different ways), gizzard shad and every other fish that I have ever tried smoking.

The Brinkman is just large enough to smoke all sorts of other things as well. Whole venison hindquarters stack in easily if you take off the last few inches of bone. I smoked an entire wild ham for Thanksgiving last month by removing the top wire rack to make room. I'll be experimenting with squirrels on it next week. Everything tastes better smoked.


2. 'Blizzard Stalker Pro' hunting boots, by Rocky. Another gift from a few years ago, these things have kept my feet extremely warm in outdoor situations where I would have welcomed the excuse to turn around and go inside. But no, my feet were perfectly warm twenty degrees below freezing so I sat there and kept hunting through the bad weather. Stupid damned boots...

3. Lets just go nuts and throw something really expensive on here. For close to $600 you can make a new hunter (or an experienced one) extremely happy by buying her or him this Leupold VX-3 rifle scope. If you worry about getting the right thing, trust me that this is it.

I personally do not own this exact model, but I have a less expensive model by Leupold on my primary deer rifle and I can vouch for the quality. The difference between this and a $100 scope won't be noticed at the shooting range. The difference will become clear when its drizzling and when the sun is almost down and the light is so low that when you look through a cheap scope all you see is foggy blackness, while the Leupold will still let you see the deer or pig or sasquatch or whatever you are hunting and you manage to make the shot after all.

4. Its not like I would ever consider spending more than $20 on myself for anything except a tank of gas or a heart transplant. But if I wasn't such a cheap bastard then I would buy myself a set of shooting sticks or a tripod along the lines of this Bog Gear shooting tripod. As many shooting rests do, this thing can double as a camera tripod. Personally, I tend to normally use cheap $20 monopods because I know I'm just going to keep losing them in the woods. But my shooting would probably be better at longer ranges if I had one of these.

5. If you are terrified that your daughter or husband is going to ruin their hearing at the shooting range with their new hobby then you can do something about the problem this Christmas. Buy them a set of these neat electronic hearing protectors by Peltor.

This type of hearing protector electronically filters out loud sounds that could damage hearing, while amplifying quieter sounds. That means that the user doesn't have to remove their hearing protection at the range in order to understand what the person next to them is trying to tell them (which is probably, 'keep your ear muffs on because this next shot is gonna burst your eardrums!).

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers. Why am I including a picture of fresh rainbow trout? Because trout taste really good when you smoke them on your Brinkman smoker. And its dark while I'm writing this and I can't take a good photo of my smoker or my boots or rifle scope right now. So enjoy the barely relevant picture of the trout, ok?]

SBW Reviews My Deer Book

My fellow blogger, The Suburban Bushwacker, has posted a short review of my first book today.

Seeing reviews from guys like SBW really means even more to me than the reviews that have run in big newspapers, written by experienced hunters. I appreciate the feedback from the big guys as well, but someone like SBW is the audience that this book was aimed at in the first place. Intelligent adult beginners.

What I wanted to accomplish with this book wasn't impressing experienced hunters. I wanted to tell new hunters what they need to know in order to have that life-changing experience of getting their first deer. I wanted to give them this information without confusing them with things that they'll have trouble getting right at first and don't really need to know to take a non-trophy deer.

And by the way, after the last deer class where I had to literally turn people away, the December deer class coming up this weekend still has open spots so I implore anyone interested to please sign up. Its probably the last one ever, since the deer farm is closing. Email me at Jack.Landers@gmail.com for details or with any questions.

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers. This is not a whitetail deer at all; rather it is an axis deer from India which I photographed in the wild in Texas. I'm pulling an all-nighter editing edits on 'Eating Aliens' and I just had to reach for an invasive deer photo... ]

Five Gifts for Under $20

Its that time of year again where I like to make lists of things that you might want to consider buying for the new hunter or fisherman on your Christmas list. My list has changed since last year, owing to my experiences hunting and fishing around the US while working on Eating Aliens.

So here it is. My annual list of the five best gifts for under $20 for the modern beginning subsistence hunter and fisherman. I'll do a pricier list later.

1. The Jitterbug fishing lure is absolutely the best $6 that you can spend on fishing tackle. Arbogast has been making it since 1938 and there is a good reason why its still in production. The Jitterbug catches fish. Largemouth bass, in particular. It makes you look like you actually know what you are doing. Last month I was in Texas to write and hunt and film a documentary and while I was there I tried again and again to catch a nice Texan largemouth. I failed miserably right up until my last afternoon in the Hill Country, when I remembered that I had a Jitterbug still in its packaging on the back seat of my car. I tore it from the plastic and swapped it out for the failed rubber worm on my line. On the very first cast with this lure I nailed a 15 inch largemouth, which was dinner. On my second cast I hooked up with a 14 incher, which I released. There was no third cast because I was worried I'd keep catching fish and I already had dinner under control.

I've had many 'very first cast' stories with Jitterbugs. A strong runner-up is the Hula Popper, also made by Arbogast. Both the Jitterbug and the Hula Popper come in different colors and versions. The ones I have linked to are the classics that have worked very well for me.

2. Hank Shaw's book, 'Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast' will make even an advanced hunter or fisherman look good. Hank has recipes for things that you probably didn't even know that you could eat. If the deer aren't around or the fish aren't biting you'll still know some wild plants and mushrooms that you can bring home for dinner.

3. The Butt-Out tool. It says what it does and does what it says. I won't get too graphic in my description of this thing, but suffice to say that it makes a very unpleasant step in gutting any medium to large animal easier and faster than it would otherwise be. I own one and have used it on hogs, whitetail deer and fallow deer and it has always worked well. Just remember to put it in the dishwasher when you're done.

4. Thorlo hiking socks. I know they're socks. For Christmas. Shut up. They're comfortable and warm. When you're hunting deer from an ambush, your feet get cold while you're waiting around. Serious socks are the answer and Thorlos are the best. My fraternal twin brother hiked the Appalachian Trail with a guy named Mud Elephant who supposedly invented the things and sold the design to a company with the deal being that they'd give him free socks for life. Then they got sold or something to some other company that told him to get lost and now Mud Elephant doesn't get free socks anymore. He has to pay for them, just like you'll have to. But its still not very much money considering the 'oh yeah, the Thorlos are up!' feeling that you get when they come out of the dryer.

5. I hear that the Beginner's Guide to Hunting Deer for Food is a pretty good book...

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers]

Take a Beginner Hunting

To all of the experienced hunters who are reading this, I have a favor to ask. Right now, assuming that you use Facebook, post a status update with an open invitation to take an adult beginner out on their first hunt.

We've still got plenty of hunting season left. In Virginia the season goes all the way through the end of December. Plus there's turkeys, geese, squirrels, etc. Whatever you are hunting next weekend, offer to take a beginner out with you. I guarantee that you will be glad that you did it.

As hunters, we tend to lament the gradual loss of hunting in American culture and the diminished numbers of people buying licenses year after year. You can do something about this right now. You don't need to make a donation anywhere. You don't need to show up at a rally or write a letter to your Congressman. Just go hunting and take somebody new with you. Post that status update on Facebook and find out who wants to learn how to hunt.


[Photo copyright 2010 by Douglas Ghizzoni. That's me on the left in the gray shirt at the end of a butchering demonstration, with John Durant in the red shirt]

The Gully Doe

Late yesterday afternoon I bagged my first wild deer of this season.

We set up on a hillside looking down towards the stream bed at the bottom of a steep wooded gully about 200 yards across. I had documentary filmmaker Helenah Swedberg along. Her process of trying to make the shot was every bit as challenging as mine.

I prefer to use natural concealment when I hunt. Pricey tree stands or box blinds are not my style. A large fallen tree provided an ideal natural blind to sit behind with a steady rest for my rifle. We dropped a couple of towels on the damp ground to sit on. A bit of new brush and some fallen dead branches obstructed my line of sight. I walked along the expected path of my bullet to clip branches and push aside dead wood.

The terrain would steer a deer towards us sooner or later. A pair of long ponds flanked us on either end of the gully and the stream connecting them. The steepness of most of my side of the gully made it unlikely that whitetails would cross at any point other than the shallowest crossing of the stream where footprints in the mud gave it all away. For this reason both my rifle and Helenah's camera were pointed right at the crossing.

Within an hour of dusk the woods came alive. Squirrels came down from their trees to feed and fight with each other. A great blue heron flew low and smooth from one pond to the other and I watched it from above, so close that I could have hit it with a rock.

The deer first appeared about 200 yards away at the edge of the woods. I wasn't clear on where the property line was over there, and besides that Helenah still had her camera set up pointing the other way. I looked at it through the scope and passed up a pretty simple shot hoping that something else would come along. We tried to keep track of where it was but it disappeared behind a thick tangle of brush.

The sun had dipped below the Blue Ridge Mountains. Official sunset was rapidly approaching. Here in the shade of the woods I started to worry about how much longer I would be able to see anything through my scope and whether Helenah's Canon 5D would pick anything up either.

And then there it was. Probably the same deer reappeared on the other side of the gully with less than five minutes of shooting light remaining. I contemplated waiting. It seemed to be headed in the general direction of the crossing that we were ambushing. If we did nothing and waited then it was very likely that it would walk right down into the open to the point where Helenah had pointed her tripod and camera at. But by then the light would be gone.

I whispered, 'deer, right there!' to Helenah. I looked back behind my shoulder and she seemed to recognize where I was looking at. The rifle came to my shoulder and I leveled off the crosshairs of the scope onto the deer.

The doe was about 130 yards away. She was standing almost broadside, quartering slightly towards me. Because she was within fifty yards of the property line I decided that I had better try for a spine shot in order to avoid any sort of legal problems with retrieving my deer. I didn't want her taking a single step before dying. The crosshairs centered right above and slightly behind the shoulder.

Then the gun spoke and the doe dropped like the proverbial ton of bricks and rolled a ways down the hill. Behind a fallen tree! I couldn't see her very well. I saw the white of her tail sticking out and inferred where the body was.

As always with anything that looks like a spine shot, I jacked another cartridge into the chamber and kept my eye on the scope and my finger hovering over the trigger ready to take another shot at a seconds notice if she started to get up. For at least a full minute, maybe more, I stayed ready for a follow-up shot.

I did this because a slightly flubbed spine shot looks exactly like the real thing. At first, anyway. If you look at an individual vertebrae on a deer or most other animals you will find a sort of dorsal projection of bone which is called the spinous process. If your bullet clips the spinous process without hitting the actual spinal cord then the deer will be shocked and knocked out instantly. The lights go out right away, exactly like a real spine shot. No struggling or kicking. But a minute or so later the deer will suddenly get to its feet and run away (unless something more vital has also been hit). A deer wounded in this way can be expected to recover completely but its still a hell of an awful thing to put an animal through for nothing.

Because of this risk, when you think you have a spine shot then you should proceed with caution and keep the gun ready to put another shot in the deer if it starts to get up. Do not be that guy who was high-fiving his buddy and whipping out the cell phone when the deer jumped up and ran off while the rifle was leaned up against a tree.

As it happened, the deer turned out to be dead four or five different ways. My spine shot had angled back after entering and done a full-on Grassy Knoll job on the doe. One single 180 grain bullet had knocked out the spine and then changed direction inside of the deer's body, traversing nearly the whole length of the body, ripping apart the very backs of the lungs, the liver and the digestive system before exiting right in front of a hindquarter, re-entering into the top of that hindquarter (perhaps the deer was twisting around from the force of the bullet?), smashing through the femur and then exiting again.

This sort of thing is why I hunt so often with a .30-'06. It keeps things interesting.

The only bad news on the human side of this transaction was that Helenah didn't quite get the shot on camera. But that's hunting for you. Wildlife photography of this type seems to really be almost identical to hunting. We're both trying to stay hidden and quiet and figure out where an animal is going to be in order to point a lens at it and push a button at just the right moment. It takes practice to get it right. In retrospect, I had enough time before dark that I should have waited at least a few more seconds until I had a clear signal from Helenah that she had the camera on the deer and was ready to go. Live and learn. We'll get it right on the next deer.


[Photograph copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers. This photo does not depict the deer that I shot during the hunt described. The doe in this photo is one that I photographed in Texas a few weeks earlier.]