fur traders /mountain man

[nagantguy]

https://brushbeater.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/the-mountain-man-as-a-rifleman-an-analysis-of-a-better-survivalist-strategy/

[trapper9260]

Thanks for posting. Good write up.

[nagantguy]

Walk quietly, notice every smell and sound. Move slow , use natural or man made cover, use your rifle judiciously and with great skill.

The Corps spent years teaching me what Men used to just know.

[popper]

http://www.gpoc.com/lost-in-colorado.html
http://mman.us/rendezvous.htm

[MaryB]

Prairie dog hunting is great training, object is shoot as many as possible before they scoot down holes. Moving targets, fast paced, offhand shooting if walking... next up would be rabbit hunting to hit a small fast target... both are done with rifle not a shotgun like used for bird hunting.

[GhostHawk]

IMO the difference between the single shot rifleman and the 30 round magazine fed bullet thrower comes down to a state of mind, a "thought" or will.

"Make THIS one count, it may be the only one I get."

I have seen a lot of people blasting away with AR's and AK's.

I've seen exactly one gentlemen who had an AR10 in .308 who was getting groups at 200 smaller than most get at 100.

And he was taking single shots. The mag was in the rifle, empty. He would slip one into the chamber, close the action, check target, check wind, line up fire. And then 5 or 10 minutes later would fire another. Now he could put em where he wanted.

Know how many AR's and AK's I've seen blasting at cardboard boxes 18" wide and 2 feet tall at 25 yards that could not hit the box more than 2 or 3 times out of 30?

Too many to count.

If they were old hands they'd get more, never more than 1/3rd of the total.

I'll take my single shots thank you. They may use smokeless powder, they might have scopes or Red Dot sights on them.

But the guy pulling the trigger has this thought in the back of his head.

Make it COUNT. Make every single one count.

OP great article, enjoyed the read. TY sir.

[starmac]

Just my way of thinking, but them old time practical mountain that depended on their senses, skills and rifles to live day to day, would probably not be shooting single shots, all else equal today.

[KCSO]

I started with a single shot rifle and have hunted with muzzleloaders for the last 50 years. Have no use for an AR hi cap anything for hunting. A different mind set.

[jim 44-40]

Good info. Love the art work. I was born to late,wish I could have lived back in them days.

[Love Life]

IMO the difference between the single shot rifleman and the 30 round magazine fed bullet thrower comes down to a state of mind, a "thought" or will.

"Make THIS one count, it may be the only one I get."

I have seen a lot of people blasting away with AR's and AK's.

I've seen exactly one gentlemen who had an AR10 in .308 who was getting groups at 200 smaller than most get at 100.

And he was taking single shots. The mag was in the rifle, empty. He would slip one into the chamber, close the action, check target, check wind, line up fire. And then 5 or 10 minutes later would fire another. Now he could put em where he wanted.

Know how many AR's and AK's I've seen blasting at cardboard boxes 18" wide and 2 feet tall at 25 yards that could not hit the box more than 2 or 3 times out of 30?

Too many to count.

If they were old hands they'd get more, never more than 1/3rd of the total.

I'll take my single shots thank you. They may use smokeless powder, they might have scopes or Red Dot sights on them.

But the guy pulling the trigger has this thought in the back of his head.

Make it COUNT. Make every single one count.

OP great article, enjoyed the read. TY sir.

That’s because the people you see blasting away aren’t trained, lol.

[Preacher Jim]

The only interesting rifle is an accurate rifle be it single shot or semi auto.
Just my 2 cents comment.

[popper]

The links I posted are about real mountain men, mostly kids and they usually 'worked' just a couple years. Most had English flintlocks, a few changed to percussion. Funny story about the double trigger ones and a bear. They really covered a lot of territory, St. Louis to Ca. Most never made any $$, beaver trade only lasted ~ 10 years.

[starmac]

Well believe it or not, there are still real live men that still live basically the same way, even make their living trapping, some places fishing and trapping, but none I know of are using muzzle loaders. lol

[webfoot10]

There used to be a guy by the name of Wild Miles that lived up in the Alaskan bush. He lived
on a houseboat that he would pull up on the banks of whatever river that he happen to be on
when winter caught him. He used to write articles for either MuzzleBlasts or Muzzleloader magazines,
not sure which. He made carved items and nick-nacks to sell in his spare time in the winter when
he wasn't trapping or hunting. He used a muzzleloading shotgun for all his hunting. He wrote about
his adventures in the bush for about a year. Then he just disappeared and I haven't heard anymore
from him. Does anyone else remember his articles?

[starmac]

I never heard of him, but if he just pulled his boat up on the river banks to live in through the winter, the ice may have got him during break up. From what I have seen of the rivers during break up, that would not be a good plan, some years worse than others.
Most interior rivers would not work for any kind of house boat, I am thinking he would likely have been down in the south east, which would not have the ice problems as bad either.

I talked to an old trapper that lives some where in the neighborhood of 150 miles from the closest road. He hitchiked from New York up here in 72 and went to where he currently lives 3 years later. He still gets his income from trapping to this day. He did commercial fish for quite a few years in the summertime, but the buyers moved out several years ago, so shut that down.

[MaryB]

I use an AR-15 and 30 round mags prairie dog hunting. Just because you have the ammo doesn't mean you blast away. It is scoped and I pick a target and fire.

6" target, 100 yards, cold barrel left, hot right. I wanted to see how bad the pattern would open up during rapid fire. Shot off an ammo can with a sweatshirt rolled up on it for a rest.

https://i.imgur.com/eMcflA7.jpg

[starmac]

I will admit to wasting ammo sometimes, just as fast as I can lever a lever action, but seldom miss a clay target with it while doing it.

I have never been real keen on sitting at a bench and seeing if I could shoot one hole groups for long periods.

[472x1B/A]

I never heard of him, but if he just pulled his boat up on the river banks to live in through the winter, the ice may have got him during break up. From what I have seen of the rivers during break up, that would not be a good plan, some years worse than others.
Most interior rivers would not work for any kind of house boat, I am thinking he would likely have been down in the south east, which would not have the ice problems as bad either.

I talked to an old trapper that lives some where in the neighborhood of 150 miles from the closest road. He hitchiked from New York up here in 72 and went to where he currently lives 3 years later. He still gets his income from trapping to this day. He did commercial fish for quite a few years in the summertime, but the buyers moved out several years ago, so shut that down.


Hmm. Gonna have to agree with this post, first paragraph at least. Been to Alaska a few times, mainly on the Nak Nak river. Seen ice at break up at least 30'' thick for over 2 - 3 miles. When this lets loose I wouldn't want to be in a boat on either bank, unless it was 15 -20 feet up out of the water.

[Edward]

IMO the difference between the single shot rifleman and the 30 round magazine fed bullet thrower comes down to a state of mind, a "thought" or will.

"Make THIS one count, it may be the only one I get."

I have seen a lot of people blasting away with AR's and AK's.

I've seen exactly one gentlemen who had an AR10 in .308 who was getting groups at 200 smaller than most get at 100.

And he was taking single shots. The mag was in the rifle, empty. He would slip one into the chamber, close the action, check target, check wind, line up fire. And then 5 or 10 minutes later would fire another. Now he could put em where he wanted.

Know how many AR's and AK's I've seen blasting at cardboard boxes 18" wide and 2 feet tall at 25 yards that could not hit the box more than 2 or 3 times out of 30?

Too many to count.

If they were old hands they'd get more, never more than 1/3rd of the total.

I'll take my single shots thank you. They may use smokeless powder, they might have scopes or Red Dot sights on them.

But the guy pulling the trigger has this thought in the back of his head.

Make it COUNT. Make every single one count.

OP great article, enjoyed the read. TY sir. Not to step on your parade but you might be hanging out with the wrong crowd ,I shoot black powder but some of my 800 yd targets with a AR15 6x45 Dtech upper would suggest you need to expand your exposure to (shooters) :bigsmyl2:

[webfoot10]

From the pictures that Wild Miles posted in his articles he used log ramps and log rollers to get the boat
up onto flat land away from the river bank. He used comalongs and chains to move the houseboat.
It didn't appear to be that big. Must have had a lot of time on his hands to haul this boat around and write some of the stores he did. I'll look in my old muzzleloader mags and see if I can get more
information on him.

[starmac]

They do that with all the freight boats and barges that service the interior villages on the Yukon and a couple of larger villages, but they use heavy equipment to get them in and out. It would be possible to use comealongs on smaller boats, in fact many do with their fishing boats.

I still think he may be in the south east somewhere, a guy would stay busy just cutting firewood to keep warm in a boat in the interior.

[shooterg]

Might want to check out the groups some put downrange at 200/300 rapid fire with ARs in NRA High Power competition.
The guns WILL shoot !

[MaryB]

Using hand loads my AR is sub moa to 300 yards(longest range I have available), the above target was cheap American Eagle 55 grain target ammo. Stuff is okay and accurate enough to 100 yards, past that it sucks!

[Warhawk]

Good stuff, I’m currently reading a big book about Kit Carson.