Looking for Turk with Bessie.

[Ugly Sauce]

Bessie and me went looking for Turk yesterday, opening morning, but they were no where to be found. Hiked all over some state land and could not hear a single gobble. Put 16 hours into the effort. But, the weather was good, the land was nice a dry, didn't get my butt wet, the grass was green, and I counted over 40 elk. Watched one herd for a while, then they were joined by another. The Luger just went along for the ride, just "because". She deserves to get out once in a while too, and I feel weird and naked without a side arm. A Luger and a flintlock musket...quite a pair eh?

 

[stillquietvoice]

Nice pair, is that a Brown Bess smooth bore?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Yes it is, and as smooth as can be. I've polished that bore until the cows, and the bull, and a couple of horses came home. !!!

 

[22250Rem]

Wonderful pair. I used to take my Luger along when deer hunting. It rode in a padded case in my backpack because my late uncle who brought it home after WW2 thought it would make a good sidearm for things like putting a wounded deer out of its suffering without using a 12 ga. slug gun from two feet away. Got to use it for that purpose once and it's one of my fondest hunting memories. Still carry it afield sometimes in deer season in case I ever get another opportunity to do that. My uncle would have loved it.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Exactly. Mine was my Grandfather's, brought back from WWI. He was with the 116th Canadian forces and saw a lot of action. He was a Lt. and carried that throughout the war. He mustered out as a Captain, and "obtained" it in one of the first actions he was in. I'm not sure if it came from Vimy ridge or the Somme. After the war, (he carried shell fragments in his back for the rest of his life) where he lived in the far white North in Canada, there was so many moose around town that he could get 25 yards or closer to one, and pop it in the heart, and that was the winter meat. I hope "Gramp" would be happy that I carry it sometimes. I had a Luger collector/expert look at it, and with all the documentation, German unit markings, etc., he told me to never shoot it again, or even take it outside. !! As if I'm going to sell it. !

Hey by the way, I was born in Lockport, NY.

 

[22250Rem]

Mine came from what was called "The Mittlewerks At Nordhausen", which was the German V2 Rocket factory that was hidden inside a mountain to protect it from air strikes, ( it was previously an old gypsum mine). My uncle was a young Army Air Force ground crewman working on B-17's in England. He came from a German family and was bi-lingual . When Germany surrendered in May 1945 he was sent to Nordhausen as an interpreter between the Americans and all the German civilians that had been hired to help Uncle Sam pack up and ship the whole operation to the states. The Luger was part of a display in an office area along with a Nazi parade flag. My paternal grandfather also served in the Canadian forces in WWI.... He was in the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, in France from about Aug. 1917 right up to the end of the war, but never brought home any war trophies that I know of. Turkey season starts tomorrow and I should probably put the Luger in the soft case and put it in my knapsack. Just because it hardly ever gets out anymore.

 

[22250Rem]

..... Got talked into it. The Luger didn't make it out for the Turkey opener but I made up for it the other day. Spent a beautiful spring morning in the woods even if I didn't hear a single turkey all morning. On the way out in the late morning the Mossberg and the Luger got parked on a fallen tree for a quick photo shoot. Felt good to get the Luger out again after a few years and maintain its status as a "woods gun" which would please my late uncle. He never owned any safe queens or guns that gather dust although in his later years the Luger became a "closet queen". When his job had him in Ohio for a few years in the early 1950's that Luger eradicated a lot of Rats down at the local dump on summer evenings and ten years ago I used it to put a wounded deer out of its misery so it has some credibility as an all purpose "utility gun". He'd be happy to know it still gets out & about occasionally.