Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2022 i American Frontiersman

How calm and cool would you be if that was you depicted on the cover of our summer 2022 edition of American Frontiersman? That was our first thought when artist Mike Del Rizzo sent us his early sketches shown here next to a couple of pieces of reference material. When outdoor writer and photographer Richard P. Smith was invited to accompany Montana game warden Lou Kis on a mission to relocate a problem grizzly, he didn’t think much of it. After all, he’d photographed black bear relocation efforts in Michigan and didn’t expect this to be much different. That is, until the enraged bear fought back, grabbed Kis and all hell broke loose. Despite the chaos, Smith somehow kept on snapping his camera’s shutter, resulting in as action-packed series…

I had a dream once, one of those that lingers. I was walking in a dark, ancient forest and came upon a hard-faced man in a leather shirt cradling a longrifle. He looked at me, I looked at him; then, he looked into me. This dream-message has kept alive in me an abiding interest—no, commitment—to our 18th-century ancestors, the founding generations and their values. It was a time of struggle, as it has always been here: seemingly endless conflict and problematic survival. It was also a time of change and hope. Feeling that way, and born to the gun, as many of us are, the time finally came when I could fulfill a lifelong dream and acquire a longrifle. It was to be more than just something to shoot; I…

Gun buttstock covers evolved to protect the stock and provide quick access to ammo. Quick-shot cowboy shooters love them. I just like the look. I chose to make a buttstock cover for my Benelli 20-gauge Ultra Light shotgun because that’s the gun I use the most. I chose 3-millimeter vegetable-tanned leather since I want to keep the shotgun as light as possible for ease of carrying long distances, quicker shoulder mount and swing. ■ Measuring Up I’ve never made a buttstock cover before, but it makes sense not to run the leather around the recoil pad because it’s durable enough and leather there will get wet, dirty and wear out fast. Then, I decided to include a small pocket for ammo and a leather tab to go around the recoil…

1. The Romans used fishing flies as early as the 2nd century A.D., but fly fishing as we know it developed in England in the 13th century. 2. Dry flies, which represent adult insects, are fished upstream, while old-fashioned wet flies, which often represent emerging insects, are cast downstream diagonally across the current, allowed to swing to the middle and then fished back. 3. Streamers represent small fish and are fished downstream, while nymphs represent insects in a juvenile stage and are fished mostly upstream. 4. In the past, wet flies were often fished with a dropper, or additional fly with its own tippet, tied to the leader. This gave the angler two chances with each cast to catch a fish, but today, using droppers for trout is illegal in…

Back in late May of 2021, when our country started to emerge from pandemic hibernation, there was a nationwide shortage of all kinds of things—among them, chicken wings. It was significant enough that several segments about it aired on network and cable news channels. Just prior to the Memorial Day weekend, I shopped every other day in five different grocery stores, but there wasn’t a wing to be had. And when they finally appeared on the shelves a couple of weeks thereafter, they were selling for $5! I can remember when a pound of wings sold for $0.29, and even then, people didn’t know what the hell to do with them other than make soup. The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, claims to have “invented” wings one night in…

AS A LIVING HISTORIAN AND REENACTOR, I find the territorial period (1854-1861) of my home state of Kansas fascinating. One day while browsing the Kansas State Historical Society website, I stumbled upon the diary of Samuel Reader. Born in Pennsylvania in 1836, Reader was an inveterate diarist and kept a daily diary from the age of 13 until he passed away at the age of 78. In 1855, Reader moved to Kansas to settle in the newly formed frontier territory. He was also an amateur artist and illustrated his diary. There was a full-color self-portrait he did, captioned, “Orderly Sergeant Reader, Indianola Free State Guards, On Parade, June 21, 1856.” Immediately, I knew I had to put together a Free State militia impression. In the self-portrait, Reader is standing in…

Most of us can recall with great clarity the first time that we stepped into the woods in pursuit of whitetail deer. Most of the time, it was under the guidance of an older family member like Dad or Grandpa—or perhaps a long-time friend for those who started later in life. While how we got into the woods varies greatly from hunter to hunter, odds are that whoever put that first deer rifle into your hands loaded it with Remington Core-Lokt ammunition. This American hunting staple is arguably responsible for downing more game than any other ammunition in the country and has been serving outdoorsmen since 1939. The Core-Lokt bullet represents one of the first major advances in modern projectile design: mechanical locking. By tapering the copper jacket like an…

➤ Go long on the leather lacing so that you can attach an antler button or some such accent piece and leave some trailing ends. ➤ If you want a raised comb on a rifle stock, just cut a piece of leather to fit, punch it, stuff it with leather scraps to the preferred height and stiffness, mark the placement that fits your face and then stitch it on. ➤ Put a glove on your hand when using a leather punch. It really helps prevent fatigue so you can keep punching. It also helps to rest the downward handle of the leather punching tool on your leg (while sitting) so that you’re pushing just one handle down and not both. Again, this saves wear, tear and hand energy to keep…

THE YEAR WAS 1791. After months of brutal captivity, Jenny Wiley had broken free of her rawhide straps and traveled cross-country for many miles across rain-swollen rivers and wet woods. A mixed Cherokee and Shawnee raiding party was hot on her trail trying to recapture her. Exhausted, she broke out of a wooded thicket on a riverbank to see a log house across the swollen stream. She began to scream. Jenny could not have been luckier; the man she could see on the porch of the cabin was Henry Skaggs, one of the most experienced longhunters in what the Cherokee called the Dark and Bloody Ground, now Kentucky and Tennessee. “The Long Knife”By David Wright “The Still Hunt”By David Wright The log house was a small fort called Harman’s Station,…

Former Montana game warden Captain Lou Kis from Kalispell had a reputation for being tough, and he’d certainly earned it: A grizzly bear he tangled with in 1987 that was intent on ending his life did not impact his longevity in the least. Kis outlived that bear by almost 35 years, passing away on February 20, 2022, at the age of 95. It’s ironic that Kis did his best to try to save that bear’s life, but he was left no choice when the 500-pound male turned on him. To Kis’ credit, he was able to use the .357 Magnum handgun from the holster he wore on his side that day to defend himself when the grizzly attacked. It’s fortunate, too, that the revolver was loaded with six rounds, because…

JOHN JAMES AUDUBONÕS painting of a male and female Passenger Pigeon is one of the most striking and colorful in his iconic book, Birds of America, first published in sections from 1827 through 1838. In addition to his artistic fame and skills, Audubon’s prose collected in his book Ornithological Biography, 1831, describes the birds he has painted and some of his experiences in the field: “The multitudes of wild pigeons in our woods are astonishing… “In the autumn of 1813, I left my house at Henderson, on the banks of the Ohio, on my way to Louisville…I observed the pigeons flying from northeast to southwest, in greater numbers than I thought I had ever seen them before…The air was literally filled with pigeons; the light of noonday was obscured as…

Elk must have abundant, quality habitat: food, water, shelter and places to roam. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s (RMEF’s) Managed Lands Initiative since 1984 has protected and enhanced more than 7.9 million acres across the U.S. to benefit elk. In 2019, the latest data available shows that the RMEF and its partners carried out conservation projects enhancing 404,164 acres of elk habitat in 23 states to aid wild, free-ranging elk. These projects have included prescribed burning, reclaiming strip-mined lands, creating dependable water, protecting lands, and thinnings and removing some bushes and trees that choke out forage for elk.…

I’ve always enjoyed shooting lever actions. I didn’t have as much time to use them as I wanted to in years past, but they are amongst my favorite rifles to shoot. Like many gun guys my age, a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun got me hooked in my youth. Target practice in the backyard doing my best Wild West gunslinger imitations with my father were some seriously good times. I then spent a short time with a Marlin 39A but eventually lost touch with lever actions until the late 1990s. It was around that time that one of my coworkers at my off-duty job in a gun store got me hooked on the Single Action Shooting Society. Along with a ton of time on a couple of Ruger Vaqueros in…

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. We have all heard that saying before, but you can’t truly appreciate it until you find yourself enduring some harsh conditions without being completely miserable. It’s true that 12 degrees Fahrenheit is cold, but with the right gear, you can withstand it for several hours. For this test, I wore my TrueTimber WaderTech Zip-Front Parka. It features the prairie-camouflage pattern that’s among the most versatile that TrueTimber makes. The sherpa lining does an excellent job of warding off the cold, as does the three-piece hood system. Additionally, subtle touches like zippered pockets and neoprene cuffs come together to make this the best hunting coat that I have worn to date. MSRP: $120. (truetimber.com)…

Most people will use any available wood to build a fire, but a little bit of knowledge will go a long way in producing a quality fire when there is a choice. Knowing the difference between how softwood and hardwood react is very important. Generally speaking, softwood is better suited for use as kindling to get the fire ablaze and allow the larger pieces to catch. Softwood has a lower ignition temperature than hardwood and takes less heat energy to ignite. Hardwood is best as fuel to produce hot coals for cooking and warmth. Softwood makes terrible coals that tend to be soft and ashy. Common softwoods include pine, spruce, willow, poplar and hemlock. Most are “spitfire woods” and are not ideal for sleeping next to due to the embers.…

Old Trapper Beef Sticks Yes, we absolutely love the name “Old Trapper” as much as we love the taste and quality of their products. We’ve been chomping away at the newest releases like the Deli Style Beef Sticks, Jalapeno Beef-N-Cheese combo packs, and our absolute favorite—the new 18-ounce bag of beef sticks! They have plenty of great flavors to choose from. (oldtrapper.com) Streamlight Beartrap Nope, you won’t catch any bruins with Streamlight’s new multi-function Beartrap work light, but you sure will be glad to have one of these handy around camp or home. It delivers up to 2,000 lumens and features both spot and flood beams. The Beartrap can rotate 270 degrees in its frame and clamps to virtually any surface or stands on its own for hands-free task illumination.…