Monthly Archives: June 2016

Wolves on Vancouver Island

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by Woodsbum

A wolf warning has been issued for the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve near Tofino, B.C. (that’s Canada, eh). It appears that the wolves up there are starting to get overly familiar when it comes to human encounters. Since May 1 of this year, there have been 14 documented/reported wolf encounters.

Here is the article: WOLVES

Because I have been to Washington Dept Fish and Wildlife meetings about wolves and compared those “numbers” to eye witness accounts of people I know (including myself), I know that “official” numbers are always WAY off. I use a rule of 10 when I deal with “official” numbers like this. Since government organizations don’t want to alarm the general population, I always multiply the “official” numbers by 10. If a number seems overly inflated, I divide by 10 to get the more accurate representation. A different system is used when referring to certain political party statistics that include replacing their “official” numbers completely after an average of 10 minutes of research, but that is a different subject…..

In liking to spend time in the woods, I have run into all sorts of critters. I have even seen wolves here in Washington. Of course my encounters have never been added to the “official” encounters list just like 99% of the population’s. Suffice it to say that the sudden increase in wolves around the country is actually quite scary. Wolves are no joke and have really messed up Yellowstone’s animal populations. Some sort of conservation program needs to be implemented to keep wolves from over hunting other animal populations.

Since our government loves to hear themselves regulate and not produce any real results, this means that you must protect yourself. Make sure that you don’t let any wolves within 100 yards of you when you are out in the woods. They will stalk you and they hunt in packs. While you are messing around and focusing your attention on one wolf, there will be others coming up behind our beside you. Carry some sort of protection with you. I like firearms, but you should at least carry bear spray and keep it handy. Also, be really careful about food scent and storage. Don’t keep fresh meat substances in your tent or around your camp. Hang it in a tree away from your camp so there is a “buffer” zone. Also remember the wash plates and bury scraps away from your camp. All this should be second nature to the regular camper, but it is good to repeat these things to at least refresh safety procedures.

Be safe out there…..

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The Lost Art of Cut Shells

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by Woodsbum

Back before slugs were produced, people had to improvise a bit. What they came up with was a great way to use bird shot and make it operate as though it was a slug. Watch the video:

If you watched this to the end you can see how the entire hull shoots out the barrel and keeps the shot together until it comes in contact with the target. As it was explained in the video, you have essentially created a 70mm Glaser shell.

As you can probably imagine, these would fire best out of a break action shotgun and would probably not feed too well. I wonder if some tape would hold the shell together long enough to feed through a pump, but powder escaping the shell would be a concern.

I can definitely see this as a great self/bear defense round in a coach gun and now wonder if I should consider getting one for just this purpose. This is quite ingenious, however. Little tricks like this make me quite happy.

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Blocked Barrel

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by Woodsbum

For those that read my site regularly, you know that I am fairly into firearms. I like all types of firearms, archery, knives, and about anything that flies through the air towards a target. Some weeks ago I had a problem with my muzzleloader where a jag got stuck in the barrel and I somehow pulled the tip off the end of my ramrod. These obstructions are now cleared of my barrel and I will be taking it out to shoot sometime soon.

It is not an easy task to clear something from a muzzleloader barrel. In most muzzleloaders the breech plug is not something that is easily removed. Instead, you have to pull out the nipple and cleaning plug to pack in some black powder to shoot the obstruction out. Only do this if you know that the obstruction is not double load. You do not want to discharge a double load of black powder. This may cause injury to yourself and/or your firearm.

To clear the stuck jag in my rifle, I ended up having to use 50 gr of Triple 7 powder. This is almost a full charge. At lower charges the jag wouldn’t move at all so we had to increase powder loads until it came loose. There really was little other choice, but luckily it came out without issue.

Just remember that you do have a cleaning screw that increases the flash hole size to pour the powder into. That screw has to come out to load it. If you don’t do that it is possible to have the nipple bust loose due to back pressure. Once filled, you will need to put that screw back into place along with the nipple.

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