Dec. 22, 2010
Last weekend was another gun deer season here in Ohio. I had enough to do preparing for Christmas, but Nathanael kept after me until Saturday afternoon. I grabbed the new Deer Creek rifle and we went up on Utah Ridge behind Chauncey. We worked our way along for an hour or so when we met a group of three guys coming down the ridge. I dropped down into the valley and we were poking along when we heard some shouting. There would be a yell, then half a minute of silence, then another yell. Finally I asked Nat "is that a call for help?" He thought it was, coming from the ridge opposite us. We went up it, walked the forest road (more an ATV trail by now) along its crest and came to a guy in orange with a shotgun who was totally turned around.
I had walked this area a year or so ago with the dogs and thought I remembered where the trail ended up on Coal Run Road. The hunter said he was parked there, that his dad was there and that they were separated when he tried tracking a buck they had seen. Off we went, up the trail, for a lot longer than I remembered it being. I noticed that the sun was no longer to my left but behind me, but I had faith in where we would end up. After all, I had walked this before with the dogs, right?
We did end up on a road, right where I had walked before with the dogs. However, it was West Bailey Road, and we were within a half mile of the Chauncey village park, not on Coal Run Road near the guy's truck. I had forgotten that the road to Coal Run branched off to the West. I dragged the poor guy (and Nathanael) on an extra mile's hike! He was not in good shape and had to take a five minute break every ten minutes, and he was a hurting puppy when we got to our Subaru so I could give him a ride to his truck.
The next afternoon found Nat and me up on Utah Ridge again. This time there were no other hunters out that I could see. We hadn't gone very far along the ridge when I saw what looked like a deer bedded down in a little draw to our right. I couldn't tell for sure though. I borrowed Nathanael's 4X binoculars (I had foolishly left mine at home) but couldn't make out what was down there, a stump with a funny root or a deer. Finally the "stump" jumped up and ran off, not giving me a decent shot.
The day before, when I tried to dump the prime out of the pan at the road, I hadn't seen any powder come out. After the deer ran off I checked the pan and there was no priming charge. I re-primed, then we continued along the ridge. Didn't see anything more though. I checked the prime several times and found it gone, unless I held the rifle with the lock side tilted down. Something more to check when we got home. Then when I was going to shoot the load out at the end of the day the flint had fallen out, so it was good that I didn't see any more deer!
At home I found that the lock screw was loose causing a gap between the pan and the barrel. When I tightened it the end of the screw came out the side of the lock and blocked the hammer. This was probably why I hadn't tightened it before. A few licks with the file and the problem was fixed. The lock sparks well with a new flint and the lock screw tight. I'll have to stomp around in the woods again with a primed pan to see if it is or not.
All in all we had a good time. We at least saw a deer. The rifle was a joy to carry, not too heavy. The weather was cold enough so the snow wasn't wet, although it was slippery going down from the ridge to the valley bottom. I think Nathanael enjoyed himself which was the most important part of the whole exercise. And I found a problem with the rifle which I was able to fix.
Dec. 24, 2010
Today I took the dogs on a long walk up Utah Ridge, and I carried the primed flintlock (I had previously shot load out of the barrel). When we returned home, the priming charge was still in the pan, the flint sparked and there was a very satisfying flash. All seems to be well in my world again.
-Winter Hawk-
