DB>VH>DB>        I shot my first deer with a high-power rifle (vs shotgun) 
ther
DB>VH>DB>        using a 45-70 trapdoor that was borrowed from my company
DB>VH>DB>        commander.
DB>VH>Now that's the way to do it -- you can never go back and re-shoot that
DB>VH>first deer, so it pays to do it right.
DB>        So very true! I still remember my first deer in 1955 that was
DB>        taken with a shotgun in Western NY.  That buck weighed 145 lbs
DB>        hog dressed. It took me 4 hours to get that sucker out of the
DB>        woods! Shot it at about 5pm just at the end of shooting light.
DB>        I dragged it to a farm house and called my dad from there.  He
DB>        was damn glad to hear from me as he had been so worried that he
DB>        was about to report me missing.
Yes -- after a few experiences like that, you come to understand what
they mean when they say "The fun's over and the work starts when you
pull the trigger."
I've always admired the indian approach -- spend a day hunting, and come
back and tell your wife "There's a buffalo about five miles over yonder
with one of my arrows stuck in him." :-)
DB>        The hide of that Ft. Huachuca deer is still in use! It is part
DB>        of my "period dress" for ML gettogethers.
How'd you tan that hide?  The club I hunt with (when I'm lucky enough to
be in Virginia for hunting season) kills about 100 deer a season, and no
one tans the hides.  I've promised myself to collect and tan enough next
time to make buckskin coats for myself and my wife.
DB>        I remember sitting at the education center one day and watching
DB>        two cougars stalking a herd of deer not 200 yards away.
DB>        Some times the old days were good!
If not for the myriad of regulations and do-gooders, the old days would
be eclipsed by today -- lots of good hunting in places where there was
no hunting only a few decades back.
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