Posted by THE CHEESEBURGER (Member # 1286) on 03-19-2005 04:12 PM :

0400. It was cold. THE CHEESEBURGER pulled into the parking area and saw Lennie standing in front of his vehicle snapping the lock on his flintlock rifle to check his spark. It was dark and Lennie didn't know if he was getting a good spark or if the sparks were just landing in the wrong place. This time he raised the weapon up to his chin to get a good look and POOF! Lennie quickly snubbed out the fire in his mustache.

It was the middle of January in Wheeler Wildlife Refuge in North Alabama. Wheeler Refuge is primarily a place for waterfowl to winter over, but the refuge has some really great deer and other animals too. You can't shoot the ducks or geese of course, at least not yet until the Snow Geese start showing up, but there is an either sex bow season for deer from October to the end of January plus a two week deer by flintlock season in January.

THE CHEESEBURGER had met Lennie before on the trail, but never had the chance to talk to him much. Lennie said he was waiting on his buddy Squiggy. He said Squiggy busted his butt and twisted his ankle hauling a spike back across the big ditch the day before and was hurt bad. Lennie doubted Squiggy would show up, but he was going to wait anyway. They were both in their early sixties and retired from Dunlop in Madison.

Flintlocks are the kinda guns when you pull the trigger the hammer falls and a small piece of stone strikes the steel plate called the frizzen on the lock and casts a shower of sparks into a little pile of powder which ignites and hopefully flashes through a little hole in the side of the barrel and ignites the main powder charge and sends the projectile down range to the target. All this sparking and flashing happens within a few inches of your eyeballs.

Lennie wanted to talk. THE CHEESEBURGER was trying to get his gear together and get down the trail and was a polite listener yet impatiently wanted to get into the woods. "Blah, Blah, Blah... ," Lennie told where he was hunting. THE CHEESEBURGER pointed out where he was going. Lennie said Squiggy would probably be about 500 meters to the south if he shows up and would travel right past THE CHEESEBURGER because of the wind direction. THE CHEESEBURGER said that's okay as long as he passes before it gets light.

Wheeler Refuge's flintlock season is very sporting and THE CHEESEBURGER looks forward to it more than any other hunt. The weather is always bad and Wheeler Refuge is a wet place anyway, but the deer are in rut and THE CHEESEBURGER already has more than a few deer by January after slaughtering the **** out of them deer for a couple months.

Lennie kept talking. He told THE CHEESEBURGER how Squiggy was a real dumbass. The day before Squiggy had felled out of his tree, shot a spike in the butt, reloaded by putting the ball down the barrel before the powder, pulled the ball, loaded another charge, then another charge and ball on top of that one, fired again and got knocked out of the tree again by the recoil. While Squiggy was hanging from his safety belt, he saw the deer had three holes in it but was still standing. Squiggy climbed back into his stand to reload again, but he dropped his ramrod. The deer finally hit the ground. Lennie noted THE CHEESEBURGER carried an extra ramrod.

Flintlocks are temperamental. The flint has to be sharp and fixed in the jaws of the hammer just right so it strikes the frizzen low and hard. Strike too high and your sparks take longer to get to the powder in the pan. Them sparks got to hit that powder just right or ain't nothing going to happen. The touch hole has to be clean so the fire can shoot straight into the barrel or you are gonna be waiting a long time for a muzzle blast. Only real black powder works well in flintlocks. Substitutes require higher ignition temperatures. The state rule book says black powder only anyway. Then there is rain, humidity and just plain misfortune.

Lennie would not shut up. Him and THE CHEESEBURGER exchanged information on sources of black powder. Since September 2001, the Feds tightened up sales of real black powder. In Huntsville Wiley's does not sell it anymore and JC's wants an outrageous price like eighteen bucks for a pound of GOEX. THE CHEESEBURGER told him how you could buy it through the
internet from the Maine Powder House for twelve dollars a pound for Swiss Powder but you had to order twenty-five pounds minimum, but no more than fifty pounds. Swiss Brand is quality powder.

Wheeler Refuge is a great place to hunt, but like any other public land, if it is easy to get to, some one else will all ready be there. THE CHEESEBURGER'S favorite area requires the price of entry of a good walk over broken terrain. Tourists are kept out of the area by a lack of roads and distance over terrain. Shallow water and mud inhibit access by boat. Even a bicycle is more trouble than it is worth because of the dead fall. You got to walk.

THE CHEESEBURGER put his stand on his back and tried to escape, but Lennie kept blabbering. As THE CHEESEBURGER headed into the dark, Lennie was still talking. It was cold, but THE CHEESEBURGER was dressed light for the forty-minute walk to avoid over heating. When THE CHEESEBURGER gets to where he wants to be, he takes a break to cool down, changes his socks and T shirt and puts on his warm clothing. You can put on all the heavy clothing you want, but if your under clothing is wet, you are going to shiver your butt off.

Hunting in January is as much a challenge of the hunter against the elements as it is hunting the deer.

Well THE CHEESEBURGER headed down the main trail and stepped off into his core area- an old clear cut that grew into a very serious briar patch about one square click big surrounded by mature hardwoods. For a stretch of a couple hundred meters, the briar patch skirted the edge of the river. When the water is low you can travel along the bank to avoid the briars, but the water was high because of all the rain, so THE CHEESEBURGER had to make a passage through a secret cut trail rather than follow the river bank.

When hunting The Refuge, it is important to watch the river level. A foot or two of water can make a lot of difference where you can go or not. Of course if you go by boat be careful because the water level can fluctuate and you may find your boat is a big sled in the mud.

THE CHEESEBURGER started up his tree. Nearby is an old stand hanging on the base of a Sweet Gum. The tree had grown up around the stand. This has been a good place for a long time. As THE CHEESEBURGER gets higher, he can see a flashlight approaching the other side of the briar patch. It must be Squiggy! A bunch of deer bolt beneath THE CHEESEBURGER'S stand in the dark. THE CHEESEBURGER remained motionless. The light did not veer off to the cut rail and kept coming straight along the river bank. The briars and bamboo are extra thick along there because of the ample sunlight and high water table. That is not the place to be in the dark! Some more deer scrambled by THE CHEESEBURGER.

Cut overs or clear cuts are great deer habitat. They don't look pretty at first, but the following year new growth returns with a vengeance. With good cover and plenty of browse, these areas can hold a lot of deer.

As Squiggy approached, THE CHEESEBURGER could hear beau coup swearing and thrashing. Every once in a while, the light would disappear or go backward or spin around in circles. After about thirty minutes, Squiggy finally emerged limping, sweating and bleeding with his shirt in shreds. It was starting to get light. THE CHEESEBURGER and Squiggy exchanged polite greetings and Squiggy kept moving as he wiped the blood from his face. *** **** ****** ******* *******! THE CHEESEBURGER loaded his .54 caliber Thompson Center flintlock with powder and a patched round ball.

Thompson Center makes some excellent firearms and they have a lifetime guarantee. Things break a lot on flintlocks and frizzens wear. While there is some discussion among purists whether a hawken is an authentic style, it is close enough. Tennessee Valley Muzzleloaders in Corinth, MS makes some fine custom rifles, but they are about too nice to drag through the briars.

Lennie had said earlier him and Squiggy had built their guns from Dixie Gunworks kits. THE CHEESEBURGER has heard it was best to make a cheap pistol kit for practice before you take on an expensive rifle kit. Lennie had pointed out his gun was better than that mechanically fumble brained Squiggy's poor excuse for a rifle.

Whatever gun you pick or make, selection of barrel twist will determine the type of projectile that will fire best out of your gun. Slow twist barrels like 1:66 are best for round balls. A faster twist such as 1:28 is ideal for conical bullets or sabots. Sabots are difficult to load for a second shot with real black powder because of fouling, but you can load well lubricated patched round balls without cleaning forever. 1:48 is in the middle. You can start with a conical for your first shot and follow up with a matching load for an easy loading round ball.

It was legal shooting time and THE CHEESEBURGER was in a trance fantasizing about dropping a big one like Daniel Day Lewis did in the opening scene of the 1992 version of "The Last of the Mohicans". Several does came along the river and walked past THE CHEESEBURGER. Too early. THE CHEESEBURGER had taken a doe the week before and wanted something better. The does headed into the briars. A spike with one side busted off came by later. He got a pass too.

The Refuge is over run with deer. THE CHEESEBURGER remembers traveling down the road into the refuge past buckless' house last year and seeing a herd of 50-75 in the field. There are plenty mature bucks, but THE CHEESEBURGER notes both of the does he took out of Wheeler this year were not lactating so there must be a sex imbalance.

The morning drifted on. THE CHEESEBURGER heard a twig break and there he saw the ugliest deer he ever did see! It was a big buck with a sinful rack. On one side it had a long 18"- 20" straight spike pointing up with a deformed brow tine curled around the base. The other side had three long twisted points going in every direction off a heavy beam with no brow tine. THE CHEESEBURGER wanted this deer! This would be a great skull mount. THE CHEESEBURGER checked the powder in the priming pan on his rifle.

Black powder comes in several grades from course to fine. 1F is course big granules for cannons and large bore shotguns. 2F is used primarily in rifles .45 caliber and larger. 3F is fired through small bore rifles and pistols. 4F is the finest and used for priming flintlocks and making pipe bombs. In high humidity or wet conditions 3F can be substituted for priming powder because the larger granules are less likely to absorb moisture than 4F which is like dust. Swiss is the best powder. Goex is okay and the most common powder available in the states except when the powder mill in Louisiana blows up on occasions. Then it is Elephant Brand from Brazil which is the nastiest stuff around with foul smelling smoke and sticky residue. If you ever wonder why Kentucky and Tennessee rifles had such long barrels it is because early American powder was of poor quality and it took a long barrel length to burn it up. European weapons of the same period like the German Jaeger rifle had shorter barrels because their powder was better quality.

The ugly buck was moving with a purpose. Sticking his nose in the air and poking decisively through the trees in jerking motions. THE CHEESEBURGER could see warm air blow out of the deer's nose into the cold. THE CHEESEBURGER slowly brought the hammer of his gun back past half cock. Click! The buck paused. Then went back to putting his nose to the ground. THE CHEESEBURGER shouldered his weapon. Tree in the way- no shot here. The buck moved behind THE CHEESEBURGER and went into the briar patch and THE CHEESEBURGER lowered the hammer on his weapon.

The best flints are machined from German Agate. It is a very hard stone and lasts for several hundred strikes and produces a bright white spark chipped off the face of the frizzen. They cost about twelve bucks for three. English gun flints are cheaper at 12 each for the same money, but some of them are of varying sizes and require effort to tune up them right. Arkansas flints are cheap and vary in quality. You can always knap your own. This takes some practice. If you are not getting any spark at all, your frizzen probably is not hard enough and needs to be replaced.

Crap! THE CHEESEBURGER wanted that deer and settled back down. Looking through the hardwoods in Squiggy's direction, THE CHEESEBURGER could see several does grazing under the hardwoods along the river bank. Maybe Squiggy will move them this way if he comes back. THE CHEESEBURGER waited. Crack/BOOM! THE CHEESEBURGER heard a rifle shot from the other side of the briar patch.

Flintlocks have to be tuned so the sparks fall a short direct distance to the pan and give quick ignition. The quicker the main charge goes off, the less likely you are to flinch. The pan should only be half to two thirds full of powder and below the level of the touch hole. The touch hole must be open and clean. The intent is for a minimum amount of powder to flash through the hole to light the charge in the barrel. Too much priming powder is a distraction and the practice of stuffing powder in the touch hole just blocks the flash and delays ignition causing a hangfire. The frizzen needs to sit tightly on the lock or the priming powder will sift out.

Noon. The does have long since wandered away and Squiggy must be gonna stay all day so THE CHEESEBURGER packs up, blows the powder out of his pan and lowers the hammer all the way down before lowering his firearm to the ground.

Flintlocks are more unsafe than any other firearm. Even if the priming pan is empty, unburnt powder can be left remaining on the lock or fall through the touch hole from the barrel into the pan. It does not take much powder to get a flash. Most quality weapons also have a double set trigger which can have a very light pull when set.

When THE CHEESEBURGER got back up to the main trail, he noted there was no blood on the trail. Guess someone missed. The day had warmed and THE CHEESEBURGER had to shed some clothes on the way back. Think about how cold it was over two hundred years ago before Gore-Tex or Thinsulate and how the soldiers wintered over at Valley Forge. We might all be speaking English if them troops had wimped out and the US ARMY had collapsed in it's infancy.

The trail back to the parking area followed the edge of a large private field. This year it was planted cotton, but previous years it has grown corn or soybeans. Wheeler Refuge also leases fields to farmers who leave a certain percentage of crops for the wildlife.

THE CHEESEBURGER saw Lennie's truck was still there, but Squiggy's vehicle was gone. Squiggy must of gone back a different way. And speak of him as you may but Squiggy drives up and pulls into the parking area. He gets out and says he just went up to the store to get some more cigarettes. He asked THE CHEESEBURGER if he saw the does and spike. "Yes and yes."

"And the retarded looking buck?"

"Yes, but couldn't get a clean shot."

"Then that wasn't you that shot?" Squiggy inquired.

"No" THE CHEESEBURGER responded.

Squiggy blows into a wild rage! THE CHEESEBURGER steps back to get out of the way as Squiggy throws his orange cap to the ground and starts stomping on it while he slobbers at the mouth. "It must of been that Lennie! He's done screwed up again and he ain't gonna tell me!" Squiggy yells.

Squiggy proceeds to telling THE CHEESEBURGER what a dumbass Lennie was "Yesterday Lennie fell out of his tree, shot a spike in the butt, reloaded by putting the ball down the barrel before the powder, pulled the ball, loaded another charge, then another charge and ball on top of that, fired again and got knocked out of the tree again by the recoil. The deer was still standing with three holes in it! While Lennie was hanging from his safety belt he tried to reload again but dropped his ramrod!" Squiggy said he had to finish the deer off with a fourth bullet hole.

Then Lennie went back to the vehicles to get the cart while Squiggy dressed the deer and drugged it up to the main trail. But Lennie took a short cut across the private field and got delayed while he was getting a ticket from a Game Warden for trespassing. Of course the GW had to check for outstanding warrants too and Lennie had ****pile of unpaid parking tickets. Squiggy got tired of waiting for the cart and started dragging the deer back, but busted his butt crossing the big ditch and twisted his ankle!

Well the venting helped Squiggy settle down. He was certainly not in shape to hunt the afternoon a few minutes ago. The conversation drifted into great deer drag stories and THE CHEESEBURGER showed his fold up cart to Squiggy. Squiggy said they always used Lennie's homemade cart and turned to show THE CHEESEBURGER the cart in the back of Lennie's truck.

WHAT THE HOLY HECK? The bed of the truck was empty! And there coming up the trail was Lennie pulling his cart with a big buck with an ugly rack!!!! On one side it had a long 18"- 20" straight spike.. .

THE CHEESEBURGER threw his hat to the ground and started stomping on it!

Classic

Miss that ol' boy and his stories.

Wonder who has found his special place at Wheeler and hunts it today?

Maybe someone has or maybe they haven't...

The era of THE CHEESBURGER was a great time to be a member on here. His writings always brought a smile to my face. Sure do miss his posts.