I figured I was done. The freezer is packed, the truck has been washed, and most everything big has been put away. I still have some guns to clean and a final R&R on the minor tools of the trade but then...my almost 17-year old boy tells me he'd like to go deer hunting. I do have an unfulfilled tag and even a room reservation but...my freezer is quite happy. Really, if it was just me, I'd probably pass. But this is something of an event. He's hunted small game with me before, and has shot lots of the guns around here many times. He's fine with it all... but never really showed much enthusiasm for it. Other things were far-more engrossing for him, and I understand that. We're almost a century apart in the world we've grown-up in, 1960s rural Pennsylvania and 21st century urban Colorado are effectively different universes. Not sure what has triggered this (COVID lockdowns, no church, minimal school and social interactions, etc.) but I just spent the last 20-minutes demonstrating how the reloading process for a .308 shell works and then further explaining the technical differences between an 1886 Winchester and an AR-10. I'm thinking this is a "trainable moment" and I don't want to miss it.

86 winchester would make a nice gun for a kid to shoot his first deer. It would add some serious panache.

Good luck.

Thankyou! Considering that the gun was my Great-grandfather's, panache would be only a small part of it.

All the more reason. If I am counting right, your son would be the 5th generation. I can't say I know I have a family gun with that sort of track record.

What caliber is the 86?

Lloyd, gotta go when you get that ask!

And my 16 yo will also be getting what for him will be a fifth generation gun....my Fox Grade A 12 gauge.

Brent: .33WCF, the only non-black powder chambering in the '86 that I know of. A pain to reload for but, really, the only option for shells anymore. Great gun but accordingly, I shoot it sparingly. You are correct, 5th generation.

James, great idea! A gun like that needs to be kept and appreciated. A great start if your boy is so-inclined. We'll be taking the '86 as a back-up for the latest addition to the arsenal here, the Ruger American.

Consider it the victory it is, Lloyd. That is a fine young man you have raised, my friend, and the diversions available to these kids would have boggled our minds.

Yesterday was Christopher’s 14th birthday. The burgers were 1lb of venison, 1lb of Italian seasoned ground turkey, and 9 ozs of chorizo, a bold tablespoon of steakhouse seasoning, and, grilled gently over charcoal. I put about 6 venison steaks on the grille, and let them go about 1-2 minutes each side, but, the only takers were my paleo man neighbor, and I.

It was a victory here, too, as the burgers all went, even my squeamish wife had one and noted it was delicious.

Good hunting, buddy.

Best,
Ted

Call around, there might be a food bank or other non profit that will accept game. Maybe, you can get your boy out and fill the tag without having to overly worrying about what to do with it.

33 WCF is not my favorite, but I don't have a 4-generation gun going on 5, either (at least not 5 generations in my family). If I did, .33 WCF would be my favorite

If I was that kid, I know that's the gun I would want to hunt. And I would stick my hunting license up under the buttplate afterwards too. (I know there is no hole there, but there could be).

The closest thing I have to your 86 is a 97 Winchester 12 gauge (3 generations), and it has licenses dating back to 1917.

Well post a picture of your son, the gun, the deer (if there is one), and all three!

GREAT, GREAT!!
Wonderful news
Remember the trip is for the son and not the meat
Y'all have FUN!!
No pressures
Mike

p.s. My little boy Allen will be 49 on his next birthday

Brent: My very first shotgun was my great-grandfather's '97 Winchester, essentially the sister gun to this 1886. It was pretty used-up before it was modified for use during a fairly violent coal-mining strike in the 1970s and was rendered non-huntable after that. My brother bought a very clean 16 gauge version to replace it.

Ted: Funny you should mention venison dinners of late, I made two giant burgers from some older grind that I found while rearranging our freezer to make room for the most recent addition. It was something I called my DEA mix (deer, elk, and antelope) and my boy and I had them for dinner Friday last. Still good, even after a long haul in our freezer.

Skeettx: It should all be fun. Going over Rabbit Ears pass at night and in December, eating dinner at a very authentic Mexican Restaurant, staying in a cosy-but-tatty hotel, gearing up at zero-dark-thirty in the morning, stepping out of the truck with a rifle into the bitter cold, scouting and stalking game. If I can let him take the shot, I certainly will.

Long story short, at home with a nice doe in the truck cooling down. My boy and I had a good adventure.

Wonderful, Lloyd. I’m sure the memories will last a lifetime.

Great. In fifty years he can recall this trip. In telling the doe might grow eight points. Time does change memory.

I've noticed that seems to happen to certain people around here. But every doe I ever shot is still a doe, and the bucks I killed never grew more antler points afterwards either.

Excellent Lloyd, a memory that will last a lifetime. Glad to hear you and the boy are getting out and enjoying good times together.
Steve

Probably the best part is his interest in doing it himself next year. He participated in everything post-shot and wasn't deterred a bit. This is a significant departure from past attitudes.

Train up a child in the way that he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Prov. 22: 6

I remember all of the lessons my Dad and Uncles taught me about hunting, shooting, gun safety, shot placement, and hunting ethics. I recall my Dad telling me that he would gut my first deer for me, and permit me to observe. But he warned me that if I made a gut shot, he would stand back and talk me through the smelly messy job, and that I would then remember to only make clean, humane, killing shots in the future.

Those lessons were very important, and it is equally important that we share those lessons, and pass them along to the next generations of hunters. It is also important to thank the Lord for every minute we are able to spend in the field with a gun, whether we come home with a limit, or empty handed. Hunting is a gift that those who do not participate can never comprehend.

Amen to that one Keith. Kids have so-many distractions and conflicting forces at work on them anymore. For the very first time, going was his idea and it made all the difference. He's telling me that some of his friends are interested in hunting as well, so that's likely a component here too. He's also enamored of this little Ruger American and wants to get familiar with it(!). Best Christmas gift he could ever give his old man, besides sprinting over to the downed animal and hustling it back to the truck (he's a big boy). Easiest extraction I've ever participated in.

If some of his friends are interested that is an opening you should not pass up.

Thanks for sharing the story,
Lance

Cold and slow here this AM. Putting away my No. 10 grinder after making 15lbs of Italian sausage from the recent doe.



My first deer in a long while and surprisingly fat...



In a desperately dry climate up near the Wyoming border, this ranch was/is irrigating alfalfa and it shows.