Winchester 1886 Limited Edition 1 of 500 45/70

Winchester 1886 in 45-70 This is a 1 of 500 Limited Edition Octagonal 26 inch barrel straight grip rifle perfect for Cowboy Action Shooters, Hunters and Collectors. This rifle is unlevered and unfired, new in the box with paperwork. This was a limited production runs of 500 units only. No more will ever be made in this exact configuration. Model: 1886 LTD 45-70 Lever-Action rifle, 26” Octagonal barrel, Satin Antique Blue Finish, Satin-Finished Walnut Straight Grip Stock, Steel Crescent Butt Plate, Steel Fore-end Cap, Full Length Magazine Tube, Adjustable Semi Buckhorn Style Rear Sights, Rollmarked 1 of 500, this is a large heavy octagonal barrel lever action and would make a good big game hunting rifle or cowboy shooter. The 45/70 was the favorite round of the old Buffalo hunters. This is the hard to find straight grip model with tang safety.

Texas Small Town Life

I have an email buddy that I met on a Homesteading website that lives in Central Texas. We started trading emails a while back and found out we both had similar interests and had roamed about some of the same towns in Texas while growing up. Just the other day we discovered that we graduated from the same University in West Texas and even admired the same girl while we were at the time in our lives that we spent too much time doing just that. Paul sends me these writings of his life in small town Texas which feeds my desire and hopes of someday returning to a small town for the remainder of my life. I so enjoy these windows into Texas country life and many of my readers have told me that they to are from small towns and miss that life. I am posting Paul’s emails to jog the memories of small town life. Thanks for the letters Paul. Wild Ed

Bah humbug! Sun woke me up a little after eight o'clock this morning (not being married, I get to get up whenever I want to). The skies were blue and clear, but it was windy because a norther came through last night. By 9:30 am and it had clouded over (meal planning tip--white gravy does not go with cold, cloudy days except for breakfast), the temp is 30.5, but with the gusty wind, it feels like 22.1 (according to the weather station).I keep scaling back what I am going to do today. I wasn't going to do all that much to begin with. If I scale back much more, going down stairs is iffy.Maybe the carne guisada and guacamole at El Flamingo in Brady would cheer me up. There is an official weather station in Cherokee, 6.5 miles by road, to the NE. They are showing 12.31" of rain in the last 12 months. I honestly don't believe I have had that much.Since a big part of the rain came in quick bursts during the night, there are younger children that are truly confused when the subject is brought up. Now that gas is cheap, some people are taking younger children to parts of the country where it rains as an educational experience. Most of the teenagers can remember rain but it is not something their peer group puts much value on. Dry is not suited for high definition visual entertainment.

Called Kirk. We talked about the old drought and the new wind turbines he is installing on his place. The conversation moved on to fruit trees and his success and my lack thereof due to cotton root rot.Kirk began to describe a grasshopper Vicky found impelled on a peach twig. I wouldn't relate to a grasshopper impelled on a peach twig, late night drunk, much less early morning sober.Kirk went on to say that when he was telling the same tale to Human, Human had an expression of a person who knows the answer to the inquiry, but is waiting for you to finish.When Kirk did finish, Human told him that it had been done by a butcher bird. Human said that when he was growing up he had seen butcher birds capture grasshoppers and impel them on thorns or barb wire. The theory being that butcher birds like their insects dry, as opposed to juicy.Kirk now believes if one drives in the country, one can see insects impelled on sharp, hard objects. Although Kirk allows it would be some feat to impel a grasshopper on a twig and another feat to make a grasshopper stay on a fence barb. Not to mention that the butcher bird would most likely loose his dinner to passing thieves.I decided to go to the barbershop for my usual cut and trim. It was the warmest thing I could think of that needed doing. And getting a haircut matched my ambition and mood.Lee and Chuck run a pretty typical west Texas barbershop. There are so many things to see, it is like walking in a Catholic church. Mirrors along the east wall with bottles of Jeris Hair Tonic and Lucky Tiger Hair Oil on the shelf on top. There are four mounted bucks with racks and one of those weird three horned sheep, whatever they are called. (I get the creeps looking at those horns. Anybody that raises them things is one odd duck). They had to take the big boar's head down, just getting to old. See that thing was worth a hair cut. The biggest wild hogs in this area are black, and just like people and other critters, they keep getting bigger. They can take a lot of the fun out of walking at night.There is the obligatory huge calendar with cowboys and cattle reproduction from Arrowhead Bank. Arrowhead has outstanding calendars, thinking seriously about moving my account.The is also a home artist painting of a rancher walking out the barber shop followed by his grandson. There is another painting of the ruins from the old Rudolph Baumann stone house over by Smoothing Iron Mountain.The back wall is all old photographs of early settlers and different events in Llano County history. One picture that caught my attention today was taken in 1907 of the busiest corner on Main Street. There was a small blurb about a telephone pole in the picture being wound in wire, eight feet high to keep horses from chewing on the pole.This was just one more of those things that are hard to believe. But a week ago Roland at the feed store said his father-in-law's sheep would eat mesquite shoots. And horses will chew on boards around a corral. So I wondered whether the horses were hungry enough to eat dead wood or if they were trying to get some needed mineral from the wood?

That was the question I posed to Lee when it was my turn to sit in the barber chair. Lee is the oldest practicing barber in the State of Texas. And I can't imagine anybody, anywhere, having more local knowledge than a barber who was raised in the county and who has been cutting hair in the same town for 56 years.Lee said he didn't know if the wire had any thing to do with the horses being hungry or seeking some mineral in the wood. 1907 was even before his time. But Lee went on to volunteer that the wire might have been tightly wrapped around the pole to keep men from whittling on it while standing around talking. That actually made some sense to me.Don't ever hardly see anyone whittling anymore. Pretty much a lost virtue. Whittling was once one of the popular and democratic activities of our country when it was new. Sam Houston has always been one of my heroes, as he has for many Texas lads. Probably the most frequent imagining I have, was his last couple of years. He had won some battles, and he had lost some. Some of the battles were military, some of the battles were political, and some of the battles were personal. The last political battle was to stand against the large majority of Texans as U. S. Senator and vote against secession. The informed populace sent him home to Huntsville for his courage. Houston's third wife, Margaret, was young, pretty, and devoted. She was also a proper, strict, and hardcore Baptist. It was a good morning when Margaret accepted his explanation for walking over to the Courthouse, or the blacksmith, or the general store, or anywhere. Sam would go past the wood pile, select a good piece of wood and he was off.Huntsville reminded Sam of his boyhood home in Marysville, Tennessee. Sitting around, talking and whittling with his friends, slowed down the pace of time and events and made them manageable.Last year, Lee, his son, and his grandson, went to Alaska. For a 79 year old kid who spent all but six of those years in Llano County, Alaska pretty well knocked Lee's socks off. The place inspired and energized Lee at a good point in life.Today, Lee talked about sitting around a fire in the evening in Alaska, and whittling a piece of spruce wood. Lee says spruce is the absolute best wood for whittling; not too hard, not too soft, and not too many knots.As I said earlier, whittling, like so many traditions, has all but disappeared. Businessmen and other respectable people got tired of men spitting on side walks, talking crude and walking away leaving piles of wood chips. We made spitting illegal. Maybe we belittled the whittled to where it no longer mattered a whit.I wondered what the reward was from whittling. Every voluntary act has some purpose and benefit; otherwise we wouldn't voluntarily do them. It does seem insignificant and silly at first, but then I got to thinking about stressful times in my life. I liked to mow grass. Actually liked to. It made me feel good. You see, there were a lots of things out of control, that in spite of my efforts, remained unmanageable, or even got worse. But mowing took some chaos and made it smooth and shiny. Mowing let me know, that if I kept after what I was doing, I could at least make a difference in some things.Maybe problems in life are like a stick of wood. Some are too hard for anyone to change by themselves. But there are problems that just one person can take on, and bit by bit, or whit by whit, eventually make disappear.The clouds moved back around Austin, and most of the Hill Country enjoyed a sunny afternoon.I also asked Lee if he had ever heard of a butcher bird or noticed impelled insects. Lee said that he personally didn't know of the bird or such bizarre tactics. Lee went on to allow that it all sounded a little far fetched, even for barber shop talk.Sure hope that Kirk, Vicky or Human don't have any alcohol or drug abuse issues.
Paul

The Lowly .22 Rifle as a Survival Weapon

I have been getting a lot of email and questions lately about what I would recommend as a survival weapon. I have a lot of different opinions about what constitutes a survival situation and what is a survival weapon. What I have been telling these people will not float well with many, but I will give my reasons for doing so also.

Most of the people asking are not experienced shooters or hunters. Most of these groups already have something or know what they want. Most of the people asking are city or suburban residents and have little or no experience. My recommendation to them is to acquire a good quality .22 in the action of their choice be it semi-auto, pump, lever or bolt action. Then to go buy a bunch of whatever mart bulk .22 shells and start shooting. The more you shoot a .22 the better you get at using it under pressure.

The lowly .22 can be used to stop almost anything. It may not be the best but it will eventually work. One can grab a rifle and 500 rounds of ammo of very little weight and be on his way. I have read stories of Eskimos hunting polar bear and seals with the .22. Native Americans in the Northwest hunt moose with them. Poachers have long chosen the .22 rifle as the weapon of choice. Maybe not the best choice nor politically correct but it will work in a survival situation.






Now pay attention to what I am about to tell you about ammo as this is very important. There are three .22 cartridges that are a must have in a survival situation and you should have enough of this stored in a cool dry place to last as long as you will need it. I would also get some extra parts for your rifle such as magazines, firing pins, ejectors and springs. The first cartridge is the Remington CBee .22 Long Rifle. This is a subsonic round with .36 grain hollow point that moves at 780 feet per second. It makes about the same noise as a pellet gun when fired from a rifle and is an effective small game cartridge at close range and when you do not wish to make a bunch of noise. The next cartridge is the CCI Velocitor which moves a 40 grain hollow point bullet at 1435 feet per second. This will be the cartridge to use for self defense, larger game or predators. Last of all I would purchase as many bulk packs of Federal Champion .22 long rifle in solids or hollow point bullets as I could afford or need as they are reliable and will feed your rifle for all the rest of your shooting needs.


Each of us must decide what we need in a firearm but for those without experience the lowly .22 will get you into the game and it sure beats a stick or throwing rocks.
GOD Bless the Republic. Wild Ed

The Magnum Rimfire Wars-.17HMR VS .22WMR

There seems to be a running battle between shooters and hunters over which rimfire is best. I have both and find uses for both of them where they outshine the other. I do not really understand all the arguments and hostility. I will try and give you a common sense explanation from my experience of what I have found for each round. I recommend you go to Hornady, Federal, CCI and other ammo websites and read about each cartridge and what the specifications are at different bullet weights. I am really impressed with the new Hornady 30grain .22 WMR round as it gets the speed and flat shooting of the cartridge almost up to the .17 HMR but with close to twice the bullet weight.

I have found the accuracy of the .17 HMR to be superior to the .22 WMR in nearly every firearm I have shot it in. It is flatter shooting and has better long range accuracy as it is affected by wind drift less. I have found the .22 WMR to be superior in impact and knockdown in almost all cases. I have killed, as have many others, game that I would not have shot except under ideal conditions with the little .17 HMR. I have also lost a grey fox that was hit about two inches behind the shoulder at thirty yards. I have seen marginal kills of prairie dogs at long range with both cartridges but more with the .17 HMR. That could be because I can hit them farther out with the .17 HMR as I shoot it more on prairie dog hunts because of less wind drift and better accuracy. You can not beat the .17 HMR for a day of gunning jackrabbits or prairie dogs with a rimfire cartridge.

The bottom line is that both cartridges have a place in my gun safe. I find that for long range varmint shooting I tend to pick up the .17 HMR. For fox size and larger predator hunting I pick up a .22 WMR and pick my bullet for the task at hand. I have seen to many well shot coyotes and cats run after good hits at long range with the .17 HMR. They may have been dead but they were not recovered. If a bobcat or fox makes it to a brush pile or hole it is lost. I want to anchor them where they stand and find I need at least .22 Magnum performance to consistently do it.
I think if you honestly evaluate each you will find you need at least one of both calibers.
Good Shooting, Wild Ed

Calling the Texas Grey Ghost

The shrill scream of a woodpecker in distress bounced off the side of a chalk hill as I watched the edge of a cedar break for movement. I was sitting with my back to a large live oak with scattered brush piles and cactus between me and the brush. As I studied the brush line I caught movement only steps away to my left as a grey fox circled the speaker of the tape player to find the screaming bird. Out of the brush line busted another grey fox intent on finding dinner. The first fox looked back at the second and gave me opportunity to raise the rifle barrel and send a 22 magnum bullet home. The second fox hit the brush before I could bolt the gun and line up the target. I reached for the tape player, ejected the woodpecker tape and inserted a grey fox pup in distress while turning up the volume. Within seconds the second fox returned and ran into range with every hair standing on end. I settled the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. In less than 5 minutes of exciting calling, I had two beautiful prime grey fox on the ground.

In over 40 years of predator calling, I have had similar scenes unfold over and over. Calling coyotes, bobcats, fox and other predators has been a sport that I go back to again and again. All of the predators are fun, but I find grey fox to be the mainstay of my calling and produce the most consistently successful calling trips. Some say the grey fox is not as smart as other predators, but I tend to believe that they are just more aggressive. The following are some of the things about calling grey fox that I have learned through the years.

The grey fox prefers small prey. In other words, think cottontail size and down. The most successful sounds are grey fox pup, baby or high pitch cottontail in distress, squealing rodents and bird distress such as woodpecker, meadowlark, quail and cardinal. They will come in to the courser sounding jackrabbit and other calls just not as consistent as the smaller prey voices. I usually start out with a bird in distress or cottontail, simply in case there is a bobcat or predator besides fox in the area as I have very few other predators come in to the grey fox in distress sound, although coyotes will sometimes check it out. I then switch to the grey fox pup or grey fox in distress call. This is your bread and butter sound for calling the grey fox. If they hear this sound they Will come check it out. You may not always see them but if they can hear it they will come.

Calling grey fox is not rocket science, but there are constants. You must call in an area that has a population of grey fox. I like to call the edges of the thickest brush and cedar breaks I can find. I could tell you to always have the sun at your back and the wind in your face, but you and I know that the best places to call always seem to have the worst wind and light. With that in mind remember the fox will enter or try to get downwind of the sound and use his nose. This means you must see the fox before he gets downwind and smells you. A spray of grey fox urine on a bush close to where you are sitting will often give you ample time to pull the trigger before the fox is fooled by your smell. Camouflage is important, but not near as important as covering your face and hands so they do not shine. Movement will give you away, so look with your eyes and move your head slowly. I have often been busted when raising a gun barrel, so I now use a decoy. My best decoy is simply a turkey tail feather tied to a fishing swivel and hung from the nock of an old camo hunting arrow. I stick this arrow in the ground at a slight angle out in front of my speaker and the slightest wind will twirl the turkey feather. I have shot many a predator stalking the twirling turkey feather instead of looking for me. Silence is the rule of the day for calling. Get into the area and set up making as little noise as possible. The screaming cries coming from your call should be the first sounds that a predator hears. Slamming truck doors and loud talking is a sure ticket to an unsuccessful calling stand.

The last method is for those of you that wish to harvest the maximum number of grey fox in the shortest time. In this run and gun type of calling, I would recommend at least two people as you will need a spotter and a shooter. I drive ranch roads and senderos at night and use a red lens spotlight. The only sound I play is the grey fox pup in distress and turn the volume up loud as my goal is to call every grey fox within hearing to the truck in 15 minutes of calling. If you wish to call other predators at each stop, simply start with another sound and switch to the grey fox pup in distress if nothing else comes in. Kill or no kill, I drive away to the next spot to call after 15 minutes. I like to have at least a quarter mile distance between calling stops. My favorite firearm for this method is a twelve gauge shotgun with full or super full chokes. Some of the specialty turkey chokes work great for this shooting. I use heavy number five or six shot. Most of the high brass pheasant loads are great for grey fox. When I reach a calling location I stop the truck and quietly get into the back of the truck. I then set the caller on the top of the truck facing the speaker in the direction that I would prefer the fox come into view. Turn the red lens light on and leave it on the whole time you are calling. I turn the call on at its loudest volume setting and proceed to pan the light in 360 degree circle until a fox is spotted. Keep the main part of the light beam above the fox with just enough to illuminate the eyes as it comes in and drop the beam directly onto the fox when the shooter is ready. I have had as many as five fox come in at one calling stand. This is truly an efficient method to harvest grey fox and works great on many of the big ranches.
Have a great season calling the Texas Grey Ghost.

Wild Ed

PREDATOR XTREME

I remember the outdoor magazines I got to read as I was growing up and how I hung on every word of some writer telling of a hunting or fishing adventure. I used to devour the words of some of the great riflemen and pistol experts about their favorite caliber or firearm. The magazines were full of self help and how to articles that taught me many of the outdoor skills I have today. I am not mentioning the names of these publications on purpose and also because many of us had different favorites. I have quit buying the ones I could hardly wait to get in my youth as the magic is gone. They now cover mostly adventures that the average person can not afford to go on and are chock full of people pimping the latest greatest piece of junk from whatever company paid the most advertising money. Many articles today are really an infomercial on some product and I for one will not pay for those.

I have been a predator caller and hunter since my childhood and read the works of the Burnham Brothers, Russell Tinsley, the Stewarts and other great callers though out my lifetime. A while back I picked up a magazine that was just on Predator hunting. As I thumbed through the pages I began to get excited as I saw a pattern. Again I saw stories by real hunters doing things I could afford to do right here at home. Sure there was plenty of advertising with someone using the latest electronic caller and the greatest long range super rifle, but right along side were articles about Urban hunting, camo, hand calls and other how to and self help stories. There were articles written by champion callers and some of the old time greats; whom I will not name so as not to offend the guilty or point out the old guys. Best of all there were stories by guys just like you and me. I read articles on making my own camo ghillie suit, reloading and other do it yourself things that would save money not just spend it. There were even stories on using adult airguns and pellet rifles. I again felt the magic, I sent in a subscription and started receiving the magazine on a bimonthly basis.

I recently did not get my subscription copy and waiting for it to show up was difficult. When the next issue hit the newsstands I sent an email to Predator Xtreme to please check my address and information as I had not received my subscription copies for two issues. Three days latter I received an envelope with both copies in the mail. To me that was excellent customer service as we do not know why I did not get my copies. Just like when I was a kid I have a magazine I read from cover to cover over and over. Now if they will just go to a monthly publication instead of bimonthly so I don’t have to wait so long. Good Reading, Wild Ed

I have no connection to these guys therefore I can say what I believe without fear of losing compensation and have nothing to gain. If I recommend a product it is because I use it and like it. If I use a product and it does not work or is not a quality product I will tell you. If I get bad or good customer service I try to let you guys know what happened.
Here is a link to Predator Xtreme http://www.predatorxtreme.com/
I just renewed my subscription. If you like predator hunting I believe you will enjoy this magazine. Wild Ed