Friday, March 25, 2011

Mountain Buffalo One of the Greatest Hunting Films Ever




My off seasons are usually spent watching hunting videos. This season is no different. Recently I received a package of four DVDs. One of which I just finished watching. Without a doubt, Mountain Buffalo is the greatest hunting film I ever seen. Narration is available in a number of languages including English, German, French, Danish and Spanish. The German client scene is subtitled.

The film takes place in Northern Tanzania near Mount Loosimingor as Rainer guides and narrates each hunt. Watching the film you quickly realize that this film is much more about the hunt and the stalk rather than the kill.

If Mark Sullivan or Mark Buchanan films are your cup of tea you'd definitely find this film a bore. Unlike those films Mountain Buffalo is shot in documentary style. The production, cinematography, editing and narration is simply amazing. The film follows three cape buffalo hunts. Each gives you look inside Rainer Josch's hunting philosophy and style. Rainer's words illustrate this “The pursuing of an animal shall only become interesting when the hunt provides a challenge to the hunter. The taking of an animal should not be too easy, the risk of an unsuccessful outcome adds mystery and personalizes the hunting experience and is therefore a prerequisite...”

I truly love this film and I found out that Rainer has made a new film. Apparently it is already out in Europe and I can't wait until it comes out here in the US.



Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Merkel 47E Ready To Go


For the last year my 20 gauge Merkel 47E has been sitting on the sidelines even though its probably my favorite hunting gun. The reason is that it failed on me on the last time we shot. At station 7 on the skeet range the gun refused to fire on both barrels during a preseason shoot with Mike. We had no clue what happened, at first we taught perhaps the firing pin was broken but we've never heard of both pins breaking at the same time. The triggers would depress and you could hear the hammers drop although the round would not go off. We checked the primers on the shell and they were not punched. Cocking indicators were still cocked when releasing the triggers. I had no clue what was wrong with them.

Due to laziness I never had a gunsmith check them out until last week. I called Steyr Arms (formerly Merkel USA, formerly GSI Imports) and talked to their gunsmith. I sent the gun to them and just got it back. Apparently the safety catch pin came loose and blocked the hammers. So its an easy fix and therefore the quick turnaround. The cost to repair including shipping with $3K insurance was $112. It even came back with a much needed deep cleaning. I'll have to hit the range soon.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Japan Emperor Meiji's Drilling



I found this pic on the German Gun Collectors Association website. I did some web seaching and found the following info:

THE FOLLOWING GUN WAS MADE IN MUENCHEN GERMANY IN 1886 AND HAS BEEN UNDER CUSTODY OF THE MINISTER OF THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD AS FAVORITE GUN OF HIS MAJESTY , EMPEROR MEIJI. SINCE THE TERMINATION OF THE GREATER EAST WAR (WWII) THE GUN WAS RELEASED AND LATER TRANSFERED TO EX-COUNT USHIJI KABAYANA AND LATER TO MR. IJETSU MANJIRO.THIS MAGNIFICENT DRILLING WAS LATER TRANSFERED TO AN OFFICER OF THE U.S. ARMY WHERE THE GUN HAS BEEN IN THE FAMILY SINCE THEN.WE HAVE ALL RELEVENT DOCUMENTS BOTH IN ENGLISH AND JAPANESE AND PROPER TRANSLATION ETC.PART 1 0F 3,,,,GUN IS SOLD NOW ,,,,,,,,

Hunting as a Subject for Art


Hunting Trophy. 1862. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. Claude Monet


The Hunt. 1876. Oil on canvas. Private collection, Paris, France. Claude Monet


Game Still-Life with Hunting Dog. 1730. Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin

A Laguiole for My Father

As my father's birthday is coming up soon, I decided to get him a Laguiole knife for a gift. I think he'd appreciate these old world knives. Along with the knife I also picked up a sheath for him as well.


This is an 11 cm Prestige with Violette wood handles. The wood is nice straight grain. I actually like it more than my Snake Wood handles.

Here is the other side of the wood handles. The leather sheath is made in France from soft supple leather. The Bee is imprinted on the flap. I hope he likes his gift.

Volkswagen Jagdwagen

Back before the web, it was very difficult to find any information regarding European fine guns or hunting. Occasionally one could find a book at a gunshow or a catalog on the subject. Magazine articles were few as well. Double gun Journal, America's fine gun magazine, was not carried with regularity at local book stores. With so little info available, my father bought every year, every time he had a chance, was a Frankonia catalog. Frankonia, like Akah, is an old German hunting outfitter that carries fine guns from around the world.

While I was looking through one of those old catalogs and I found a very interesting ad. It was an ad for the Volkswagen Jagdwagen. I found the same ad on the web:

This VW never made it stateside. But I wish it had. This thing is sweet. Jagdwaggen literally means "Hunt Car." As you can tell by the ad it is marketed to hunters. The bottom right picture shows a hunter placing his rifle in the gun locker while his kurzhaar lays patiently on the ground.

Using a google search, I found one is in Oregon. Apparently it was imported into Canada and in time it was then brought into Washington. Eventually it made it into the hands of this Oregon resident.

It came with the roll cage and brush guard with winch as standard.


The bed holds the spare and a NATO jerry can.

Front and rear locker are also included.

The rear seats swivel and there is extra storage behind the seats.

This is the gun locker.

The gun locker opened.


Interior of the cabinet.



View of the tailgate opened.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Hemingway Book and DUTV DVDs

It must seem that I've been on a spending spree this month. I just received two packages from the the postal service. The first was a book I bought on Amazon. High in the Wild with Hemingway by Lloyd Arnold.


I bought this out of print book used from a seller on Amazon for only $6.99 plus $3.99 for shipping. So it only cost me just over 10 bucks. That's not bad. Others were selling used for over $25. This book other than the dust jacket is in perfect shape. Its cover is slightly faded at the binder and had some tears but the pages are all good and looks like its been barely opened or read. Browsing through the pages the photos are great, many of which I have never seen before in my books I have on Papa or other books I've seen.



The next buy is not so much a buy but rather a donation I made to Ducks Unlimited. With a $30 donation I received a gift of a 2011 calendar and the 2009 season of DUTV dvds. In all reality I did not donate because of some sense of altruism but rather I selfishly wanted the DVDs. Since the Verus Network no longer broadcasts DUTV and now with its moved to the Outdoor Channel, I've not seen this show in some time. I was looking for past season DUTV dvds and found that if I donate I could get them along with the calendar so I donated. Besides I needed a new calendar too so it made sense. My money (albeit very small) will help preserve duck hunting and duck habitats for future use so it money well spent.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

More Pics From The Utah Trip

I've finally gotten the pics my dad took during our Utah trip.






















Hubertus Small Game Knife

USPS came with a special package. I just received this Hubertus Small Game Knife. The first thing I noticed is the weight of this folding knife. This thing is a tank and solidly built. The fit and finish is just excellent. The stag horn handle is stunning.


The bolsters are German Silver and the liners are brass.

I'm not sure how old this knife is but the blade is labeled "Made in West Germany." Although its in new shape its unlikely this is a recent production knife.

The blades are die forged out of German high performance stainless steel DIN 1.4109

As a hunting knife, this Hubertus has the main blade, a saw and a gut hook. The saw blade is labeled Rostfrei which literally means "rust-free" or stainless steel.

A good look at the genuine stag horn handle and the main blade's locking device.

Here is a comparison to my boker bird knife. Both are made in Solingen.

The width of the Hubertus is significant compared to the Boker.

Two fine examples of old world craftsmanship. The Boker is a nice knife but the Hubertus truly shines. Honestly the Boker is a VW and the Hubertus is a Maybach. The Boker is a nice match with my Merkel M8, while the Hubertus matches perfectly with my Merkel sidelock.