A Word on Rifle Slings

It is no secret; if you can't shoot offhand, you are going to miss opportunities at game. In Gun Culture 2.0, we've moved away from hunting marksmanship in favor of defensive marksmanship and competition marksmanship. With the exception of rifle events in Cowboy Action and 3-Gun, offhand proficiency with a rifle has largely waned. Certainly, in the modern hunting world long-range shooting from a backpack, bipod, or improvised rest is more en vogue than it has ever been. That's all well and good---it takes solid equipment, considerable skill, and lots of trigger time to make those quarter to half mile shots. But, it does zero good when that grey-muzzled and sag-bellied whitetail buck springs up from a blow-down.

 Clinton & Charles Robertson from RAF Lakenheath, UK & San Marcos, TX, USA & UK

Enter the sling. There has a been a good deal written on the rifle sling and numerous authors have made the distinction between a sling and a carrying strap. When most people think of a rifle sling, they think of it as a carrying strap. These folks are missing out on a huge advantage in offhand shooting. A proper sling makes for a more stable shooting platform and can really make the difference in taming that buck fever. In this brief article, I'll discuss the three slings that made me a believer in the value of having a quality sling on a hunting rifle. 

I was first cured of my LSU Disorder (Limited Sling Usage) after reading up on the superb marksmanship challenge, Project Appleseed. Project Appleseed is a rifle shooting course hosted by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association. Appleseed recommends a USGI web sling, like those issued for the M1 Garand for its shooters (http://www.appleseedinfo.org/as_faq.html). This sling is cheap (I paid $16 for mine), easily adjustable, and excellent for wrapping around the forearm. This sling provides an economical and effective way to reduce wobble. However, I have noticed that when considerable tension is applied to the sling via the forearm wrap that the length adjustment buckle has a tendency to slip. Your miles may vary based on material (cotton or nylon), but this is a decent option for the sportsman on a budget who a wants a real sling. 

USGI Web Sling mounted on AR-15

The best sling option for offhand shooting is the Ching Sling popularized by Lt. Col Jeff Cooper. The Ching Sling uses three mounting points and a large loop to allow the shooter to wrap the strap around the tricep. This is considerably more stable than the hasty sling method mentioned for the USGI web sling. The downside, of course, is that the Ching Sling requires the installation of additional sling studs on most rifles. Depending on your firearm of choice, this can be impractical or unpleasing to the eye. An alternative to the storied Ching Sling is Andy Langois' Rhodesian Sling (http://www.andysleather.com). The Rhodesian Sling provides most of the support of the Ching Sling without requiring the extra sling stud. Setup is simple. Adjust the loop so that it can be quickly and tightly pulled around the tricep and the adjust the length of the remaining sling. If you so like, you can trim the excess leather (there is quite a bit) to prevent snagging and flopping. I have found the Rhodesian Sling to be considerably better in providing stability than the web sling, but it sacrifices a little speed in the process. Did I mention it is leather? Not the crappy, plasticized leather found in your wife's purse but honest to goodness real leather. It smells as good as rare backstrap tastes, and that is saying something.

 Rhodesian Sling mounted on Winchester 1885 Highwall

If supported shooting isn't your aim, but a lightning fast mount is, then the ideal sling for you is the Boonie Packer Safari Sling (http://www.redi-mag.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=14). This extremely unorthodox sling carries the rifle in front of the shooter, and the elongated straps actually run through the sling swivels and over the barrel and buttstock. This sort of sling takes a bit to get used to, but it provides the fastest time to sight picture of any that I have tried and offers excellent muzzle control. With good irons (receiver aperture, ghost ring or express leaf) or a low-power scope this setup provides truly remarkable speed. With a little practice, you'll be envisioning yourself putting heavy rounds into an incoming Cape Buffalo.

The author with a Winchester 70 riding on a Boonie Packer Safari Sling

As someone who enjoys hunting on the ground and in particular still-hunting, these slings have greatly improved my ability to make offhand shots quickly and accurately. Though someone who lobs rounds in the next county from a stable prone may not benefit from them as much, they are not limited to this shooting discipline. While browsing a large outdoor retailer recently I stumbled across a obscene mechanical arm that mounts to a treestand's footrest and provides a benchrest like platform for rifle shooting. If I recall correctly, it ran about $300. At the time, I thought it was absurd and couldn't understand why my shopping buddy thought it was worth purchasing. Then, I remembered. I know how to use a sling. 

Van Winkle, Deer Hunter

     Hunt long enough, and you’ll eventually wind up on your back with your hat pulled over your eyes. There has always been a humorous notion that old men go to the woods to nap, while monarch whitetails with bone chandeliers stop and stare. I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t done it on more than one occasion myself. The fact is, I even have a favorite nap location while hunting. There is a monumental hill behind my childhood home, amidst sloping hay meadows. Sit there in the early afternoon and the native grasses dance in a hypnotizing, golden sway. The small sumac thicket just on top of the hill rustles quietly, all the while providing a bit of cover for the slumbering hunter. Every year I’ll perch on this peak, rifle in hand. It’s an ideal location because you can observe multiple meadows and funnels that consistently produce deer. Yet, my attention never lasts more than a couple hours because the spot is so undeniably comfortable. Pretty soon, the warming rays of sunlight rain down, and the fleece clothing, the soft grass, and the perfect peace becomes too much to bear. I’m dreaming.

Though we’re still a ways from the late November rifle season that I celebrate in Oklahoma each year, I’ve already had my annual hunting nap. Now, as a Kansas resident I have the opportunity to participate in different hunting seasons. In 2013, Kansas began a two-day antlerless rifle season in October. This is quite a rarity and was certainly an opportunity that I was not about to pass up. Therefore, with thoughts of tenderloins in my head, I began scouting several weeks before. Luckily, I found public land nearby that screamed whitetails. This public hunting area consisted of cropland (milo) adjacent to a considerable lake, with a good amount of deciduous timber nearby. After a couple of hours of scouting I found a grassy clearing interspersed with old trees on a point of timber that jutted out into the cropland. Classic deer territory! Sure enough, there were a good number of tracks on the edge of the field. So, I walk around a bit to determine how I would set up and finally selected a good tree. As I sit at the base of the tree (thinking about shooting lanes and travel corridors) I see something peculiar: there in a nearby oak is a dilapidated deer stand, made of 2x4 lumber. I take this as a good sign, and make a point to hunt here on opening morning.

     Fast forward to October 12^th—I’m battling sinus problems and a head cold. I feel like doing nothing but sleeping. Nevertheless, I wake early and resign myself to a few hours sitting on the ground. Despite a sunrise at 7:30 AM, by the time that I get on site just before 7:00 the light is already filtering into the fields. I scramble as quickly as I can to my spot, trying dearly to minimize my footfalls and not to sweat (as if that were possible). Once situated, I erect the tang sight on my 1885 Winchester. I’m packing old-school hardware, designed shortly after the American Civil War and firing a cartridge that Theodore Roosevelt made famous in Africa (the .405 Winchester). No doubt, it is an odd choice for the modern deer hunter, but I’m an odd deer hunter. As I sit motionless, I am truly impressed by the game that I hear nearby. Because I am next to a lake, I not only am greeted with the familiar calls of mourning dove, squirrels, and wild turkey, but also with flocks of Canadian geese, mallards, and numerous shorebirds. I enjoy my revelry for about 45 minutes, constantly scanning for any sign of movement. After this though, I’m grumpy. I’ve managed to sit on a broom-handle-thick stick, ants are crawling on me, I can’t breathe well, and my butt hurts. What is a man to do? I lay on my back and look at the yellow-green leaves amid the treetops. Two minutes of sleep—not one more.

     When I rise, I recommit to this hunting thing. Maybe I’m not so sick after all. I gaze south on my back-trail, where I can see the farthest. In an instant I catch motion in my peripheral. A little spot of brown soon manifests into a full-fledged deer right before me. A yearling doe now browses on the high grasses just on the edge of the cover, her tail twitching happily as she feeds along. I can hardly believe it. My plans simply don’t work out like this. As she passes in front of a tree I raise my rifle and prepare for the shot. Now she has passed me a bit, but has found something particularly savory and has reoriented herself where she is quartering towards me. This would be a marginal shot with a bow, but I am packing “Big Medicine” and place the gleaming gold bead directly on the shoulder blade. The recoil of the rifle, usually fierce, is not even noticed. In an instant she goes down where she stands and I am awestruck. No doubt, this deer was a gift.

     As I dress her out, I remind myself to show thanks and take a few photographs. I attach my tag and make the drag back to the truck. Despite the small deer, it is tough with the congestion and I make a couple stops. Regardless, I can’t seem to wipe the smile off of my face. The days of hunting unsuccessfully, of fighting the wind and cold, seem so far away now. I’m certain to hunt more this season. I’m undeniably hooked, but perhaps I’ll take a few more naps this fall. There is no peace like that which God provides and I find it most frequently on the peak of some hillock or the base of a grand old tree.

Deer Season Prep 2013 - Muley Madness

December 4, 2013 marks the opening of the Kansas deer firearm season. This will be the second year that I’ve attempted to kill a deer in Kansas. Last year, well, was pretty much typical for hunting big game in the United States: limited land access, neighbor/poaching problems, and a full time job. However, I’m hoping that this year will be different altogether. For one thing, I’ve got a different tag in my pocket this time around. Last year I had a whitetail either-sex tag; now I’ve managed to draw an either-species / either-sex tag that will allow me to harvest a mule deer.

It wasn’t for trying last year that no venison was added to the Kansas freezer. I had opportunities thrice, but it never did work out quite the way I had expected. During early archery season I managed to sneak up on a bedded doe on public land. She saw me before I saw her, as she was concealed by a large cedar tree. I drew the full 70 lbs. of my bow as she quickly bolted from her bed and trotted about thirty yards. Facing away from me, she craned her neck to see what had gotten so close to her. By this time I was at full draw with my 30-yard pin dancing tiny circles over her exposed neck, like a little red firefly. Tempting, oh so tempting. Alas, I did not want to take such a low probability shot so I let her go. Then comes rifle season! Surely, I thought, I will get my game now.

Well, rifle season was a bubble-burster from the start. To begin with, the private land that I was going to hunt on opening day was, how shall I say, occupied. Turns out someone else had intended to hunt it and didn’t think to ask the landowner, who I was hunting with. The rest of the season pretty much followed suit.

Fast forward to July of this year—I’m hunched over a glowing computer monitor rapidly punching my credit card information in like some addicted eBay junkie. The Kansas Department of Parks, Wildlife and Tourism requires that firearms hunters not hunting on their own property go through a lottery system in order to draw tags for elk and mule deer. Now, as much as I would like to draw an elk tag, I knew that the odds were astronomical: something like 2% if you don’t include all of the preference points. Mule deer, however, are more within reach. I’d known folks who had drawn out on these tags. So, I gladly volunteered about $40 for the tag lottery and held my breath. After a few weeks, and numerous phone calls to the KDWP office, I was informed that I drew an either-sex / either-species tag for the eastern mule deer zone. Wahoo!

The eastern zone includes western Kansas east of Highway 283 (and 183) out to Highway 81, which divides Republic, Cloud, Ottawa, and Saline Counties. Although more and bigger muleys are found in the western extremes of the state near the Colorado border, I opted to put the eastern zone as my first choice because of the sheer distance that I would have to travel. Gas prices and vacation days are at premium and I didn’t want to break the bank with this hunt. So, ever since I’ve been scouring the Walk-In Hunting Land (WIHA) available in Kansas using a .kml layer in Google Earth. Call me a high-tech redneck! I’ve also been trying to plan and pack appropriately for the hunt. Despite hunting in Oklahoma for darn near a decade and a half, I’m a little short on “big country” hunting experience. My part of Oklahoma consists of the Northern Crosstimbers, where blackjacks and post oak meet prairie grasses. So, I’ve hunted a few prairies, but never the great expanses.

Like any other good hunter will tell you, planning and packing is half of the battle and half of the experience. In thinking about how I will hunt mule deer, I’ve pretty much decided upon the traditional spot and stalk of western big game hunting. I’m a still-hunter by nature, so the actual mechanics of the hunting won’t be that much of a stretch. As for equipment, I was a little short. Truth be told, I haven’t have a “real” pair of hunting boots since my freshman year of college or so. What’s worse, I’ve never owned a pair of binoculars. Never. As the saying goes, evening a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while. I’ve managed to kill quite a few deer without these items, but I know that they will be essential when I’m hunting the rolling prairies (or is that red hills?) of western Kansas. After a trip to the local boot store and to the nearest Bass Pro Shops I am now the proud owner of both binoculars and hunting boots. Jack O’Connor I ain’t, but I do feel a little more prepared for the big hunt. I opted for mid-range products all the way around. I didn’t want junk, but I wasn’t exactly rolling in cash either. Therefore, I’m going to be glassing with a pair of Nikon Prostaff 7 binos (8x42) and walking with a pair of Rocky Lynx boots. I’ll be dreaming about mule deer until December, but until then I’ll be putting these products to use bowhunting whitetails. Hopefully I can offer some comment in under a month!

Missouri

River fog-banks cloud

the hushed knifing j-stroke

St. Jo needs castor

Cut willow and beaver slides

prophesize many pelts here

September

Tapered wings o’er the stubble—

skirting, twisting,  and turning

streamlined whispers of dun:

feathered rockets in noon-day sun.

A pair break from the pond,

circling round the treeline

and over the old red barn.

“Incoming!” my partner shouts,

but before I see them

they are gone.

Then a stream from the east,

a flight of twenty buzzing by—

the sound of tearing silk overhead,

gentle cooing fills the sky.

Muscle memory takes over—

the auto pulses:

One—two—three.

Helicoptering feathers

lofting downwards:

A brace of doves,

my buddy—and me.