Reeder Custom Guns - " Get good with what you have"....

Well. Tonight I am posting this at 3 AM due to insomnia. I am sorry but the domestic political news has me wound up like an eight day watch.

So I decided to read a couple of chapters of my Al Goerg. To me, it is a time machine going back to a simpler time when my Dad was a young man and became an exceptional hunter.

I recall when Dad and I would go out and about gun shopping, shooting and all he made a comment that really rings true.

" Get good with what you have." This was his response to me buying all kinds of firearms and trying to find the perfect gun, so to speak. Dad shot almost all of his deer with three guns. A Browning Sweet 16 Lightweight ( Massachusetts is a shotgun state) , a Remington M742 autoloader in 3006 and of course is SW Model 29 5 screw in 44 magnum.

He made a lot of sense. As I am readying Al Goerg I noticed that his favored gun was a scoped SW M29 44 Magnum with a modified scope mounted to the barrel.

It reminds me of the Ruger Redhawk Hunter that I had Gary more or less rebuild after decades of hard service. It reminds me of what Al and some contemporaries would carry in the field. I am thinking about this.

This spring , unless things happen badly, my friends and I plan to go to Florida for some wild hog hunting. It is a great guys trip . I went almost two years ago and used my TC 4570 Contender and killed three pigs. Fun and I still have some vacuum sealed meat. Hmm. Better eat it up.

Anyways. I am thinking of the scoped 44 route a little more and more. Al went after mountain game , moose, black and brown bear as well as caribou with scoped 44's.

So. I am thinking that for 2021 I will do more hunting as well as the needed practice with the Redhawk.

Well. It is now 3 AM on the dot and I need to "get up" in 2 hours. Hmm. Maybe 3 hours if I take the right route to work.

Take care all. JOhn

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I was struggling with insomnia last night as well. Mainly for my own reasons that are personal. Though I will say the state of the country has me worried as well. I have recently purchased a copy of Pioneering Handgun Hunting. I look forward to reading it and then possibly passing it on to someone else. The idea of getting good with what you have is some thing that has been rolling around in my head for quite a while. Reading a lot of Jim Taylor‘s articles and some of the posts on this forum I’ve really got me thinking about not putting more guns in the safe but more time in with the guns that I have. The idea of getting better at being a hunter and woodsman ship is some thing that appeals to me as well, but I still have yet to put the time in on it. Definitely convicting to read what you’ve written. Thank you again for your comments and your post. I’ve always appreciated your viewpoint on things. Even though I don’t post much I feel it’s best to read, or listen more than it is to speak. Thanks again.

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My dad is similar. I’m glad you are going on your pig hunt with friends again. I remember you writing about the last one. If the Good Lord says the same I’m going on a trip with some great folks In February. We will be hunting pigs with archery gear. I can kill a pig much loser to the house than this trip will be but we have a real good time together and that is why I go. My Pop is still able to go, just had to slow down. I missed the trip one year and there. Was sleet ice in the morning. Pop slipped and hurt his leg. (It was broke). He refused to call it quits and had them put him in a lawn chair next to a feeder. He then killed 2 big hogs with his bow. Late that night he agreed to let somebody drive him home and then to the hospital. Dog Gone his hide! Crazy old man!

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and a lot more with his S&W Model 29 and he did it mainly because nobody told him he couldn't. In his eyes, his 44 Magnum with that 1X scope on it were high tech and there was no reason he couldn't do the things he decided to do. He had confidence in his gun and his hunting ability so he just went out and did it.

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where do you go to hunt hogs in Fla?

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Believe it or not Florida is one my favorite places to hunt. The one issue for some is that the best hunting is on private land and you need to pay a guide or outfitter to have some fun. It is the way that they do things. You know. When in Rome do as the Romans do.

Ages ago when I was a young man I hunted a place in Lake Wales on a large cattle ranch with a guide named Mike Acreman who ran Dixie Wildlife Safaris. I had tons of fun but sadly the business folded with some ranch troubles.

I hunted with my Dad for a day hunt at Little Lake Lodge where we shot four wild pigs. Dad used his shotgun and I used a 50 caliber Contender BP handgun.

One year I did go down and hunted the Townsend Ranch for a day hunt. I did shoot one small pig as I was pressed for time.

Almost two years ago my friends and I went on a guys trip to West Shore Outfitters. We had a ton of fun. I did have to cut my trip a tad short as it turned out Mom ended up at the ER 2x. I had no idea. She didn't want to ruin my hunt so to speak. I did get three pigs. Hunted out of box blinds. It reminded me of hunting black bear over bait. Again it is a great guys trip.

This spring we will go again. We're thinking of Black Tine Outfitters. In addition I did print out a bunch of information on other ranches.

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" Get good with what you have"....

Thank you

Good advise from your father.

Goerg took Big Horn Sheep, Brown Bear, Black Bears

john w

Hello Joe