Saturday, February 18, 2006

Good writing

I've been surfing aimlessly, and found this paragraph by noted gun writer Elmer Keith. Mr Keith talks about receiving the very first .44 Magnum pistol ever produced by Smith and Wesson, then tell us:
That was the start of the .44 Magnum. As I remember, it arrived in February. Emmett Steeples and I took it down to Wagonhammer Springs, and pulled off the road there to sight it in. About 60 yards from the parked car there was a little black stump of mahogany about four inches in diameter projecting out of the snow. And just six or seven yards to the left of it was a big old buck mule deer, bedded down. When he saw us, he pulled his down into the snow. His horns were long gone, but his old white face and the way his ears flopped out to the side, proved him to be an old buck. I believe I fired 16 shots at the little stump, adjusting the sights with a screwdriver, and resting both arms out the car window, until I hit the stump three times straight – or what was left of it. Emmett says, “That old buck thinks we don’t see him.” We pulled out and left him lying there in his bed with his head pulled down tight in the snow, thinking we hadn’t seen him. He well knew if he jumped up that we would see him. Out of season, we had no intention of bothering him whatever, but it was interesting to watch how he pulled his head down and thought he was hid. We left so he could stay hidden.
A buck mule deer watched the sighting in of the very first .44 Magnum pistol, from a hidey-hole seven yards from the target.

Hell of a story.

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