Four of us, from our local black powder club, had a squirrel camp this weekend. The location, in Parke county was excellent. Very secluded. The property and cabin is owned by the grandfather of one of the guys in our club.
Grandpa and his son stopped by for a few minutes, Saturday night. Other than that, we had no contact with anybody.
The cabin is nice but primitive and let's just say breezy. It is board and batten construction with a tin roof. No insulation. We kept a woodstove going and it was comfortable from about the knees up. Lol
Cold was radiating off of the floor and walls.
The area was full of game. Mouse, squirrel, rabbit, coyote and deer tracks, in abundance.
Although it was only 10 degrees when we got to camp, the sun was shining, nicely. It did warm up to 20 degrees and the squirrels came out to forage and play.
I had taken my .36 caliber Isaac Haines flintlock rifle and my .62 caliber (.20 gauge) smoothbore French Fusil Fin that I just finished building a couple of weeks ago.
I ended up hunting with the Fusil. I missed a Fox squirrel due to a slight hang fire and ten minutes later I bagged a Grey squirrel. A few minutes after that, my buddy put a Grey squirrel on the game hanger with his .36 caliber flintlock rifle.
We worked our way back to the cabin to warm up and another friend came back in to camp a few minutes later. He had missed a couple with his .25 caliber flintlock. (Yes, 25 caliber flinter that he shoots .240" #4 buck shot in.) Neat little rifle with an "A" weight, swamped 42" Rice barrel.
Went back out a while later and I ended up putting a rabbit on the game hanger with a shot from the Fusil. Kicked him out of a brush pile and made a nice running shot on him about 30 yards.
One of the guys quartered up the game, did an egg wash on them followed by some pancake batter mix and crushed up Ritz crackers, salt & pepper and a little Cajon seasoning. He fried them in the skillet for 15-20 minutes and then added several cups of water, covered them and simmered them for about 2 1/2 hours. He then fried them for a fee more minutes to crisp them up. That was some of the best eating a person could even want.
The cold weather hunting was a good reminder that packs, bags and straps don't carry the same when you have 3-4 layers of clothing on. It's also harder to reach stuff on your person. Reloading is obviously slower with cold fingers. There was plenty of wool to go around and no one got cold, despite the temps. I woke up at 5am to 0 degrees and by 8:30 it was showing -4
There was plenty of laughter and reminiscing about camps gone by and friends gone under and even more good conversation, long into the night.
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Grandpa and his son stopped by for a few minutes, Saturday night. Other than that, we had no contact with anybody.
The cabin is nice but primitive and let's just say breezy. It is board and batten construction with a tin roof. No insulation. We kept a woodstove going and it was comfortable from about the knees up. Lol
Cold was radiating off of the floor and walls.
The area was full of game. Mouse, squirrel, rabbit, coyote and deer tracks, in abundance.
Although it was only 10 degrees when we got to camp, the sun was shining, nicely. It did warm up to 20 degrees and the squirrels came out to forage and play.
I had taken my .36 caliber Isaac Haines flintlock rifle and my .62 caliber (.20 gauge) smoothbore French Fusil Fin that I just finished building a couple of weeks ago.
I ended up hunting with the Fusil. I missed a Fox squirrel due to a slight hang fire and ten minutes later I bagged a Grey squirrel. A few minutes after that, my buddy put a Grey squirrel on the game hanger with his .36 caliber flintlock rifle.
We worked our way back to the cabin to warm up and another friend came back in to camp a few minutes later. He had missed a couple with his .25 caliber flintlock. (Yes, 25 caliber flinter that he shoots .240" #4 buck shot in.) Neat little rifle with an "A" weight, swamped 42" Rice barrel.
Went back out a while later and I ended up putting a rabbit on the game hanger with a shot from the Fusil. Kicked him out of a brush pile and made a nice running shot on him about 30 yards.
One of the guys quartered up the game, did an egg wash on them followed by some pancake batter mix and crushed up Ritz crackers, salt & pepper and a little Cajon seasoning. He fried them in the skillet for 15-20 minutes and then added several cups of water, covered them and simmered them for about 2 1/2 hours. He then fried them for a fee more minutes to crisp them up. That was some of the best eating a person could even want.
The cold weather hunting was a good reminder that packs, bags and straps don't carry the same when you have 3-4 layers of clothing on. It's also harder to reach stuff on your person. Reloading is obviously slower with cold fingers. There was plenty of wool to go around and no one got cold, despite the temps. I woke up at 5am to 0 degrees and by 8:30 it was showing -4
There was plenty of laughter and reminiscing about camps gone by and friends gone under and even more good conversation, long into the night.