Gary Reeder
The younger Goerg gave the Misfits credit for bringing
Saturday, November 30, 2024, 13:10

his Father's popularity back alive. Our constant talking about Goerg and his hunts plus showing the pictures of how he hunted with very minimal equipment but always his S&W 44 Magnums influenced others that had never heard of Al Goerg.
I talked to quite a few younger handgun hunters and those that wanted to be a handgun hunter and showed them the pictures of how Goerg hunted in the snowy north, with nothing but a 9X9 tarp and a mummy sleeping bag plus a few cooking utensils. Hunters these days would laugh if they walked up on a camp set up like Goerg used.
Goerg mentioned that on many of his hunts he relied on his shooting to get him the meat for his hunt camps. Even a few misses could make for a meatless camp. He shows a Ptarmigan in one pic and he mentioned steaks from the Mountain Goat.

Goerg's standard camp is shown below.

Goerg was a handgun hunter pure and simple. He had 2 S&W model 29s, in 44 Magnum, one standard sights and the other with a 1X scope on it. He also used a Ruger single shot Hawkeye in 256 Winchester along with the custom XP-100 in 6mm that I showed in the picture of the damaged gun from the plane crash. He also had a modified rolling block from a converted rifle into a single shot pistol that he used on several bears. He never wore camo as that wasn't the "in thing" back in the early '60s. He never took those 300 to 400 long shots like the young handgun hunters these days think is necessary, He depended upon his skill at crawling up close enough to make the shot.These were his guns and his game.










His main love was bear hunting and he took several. He took 2 of them with a modified 22 Hornet single shot pistol.

To say Goerg was my hero growing up would be an under statement. I wore out his book and it took me over 20 years to find another. I memorized everything he wrote hoping to be a handgun hunter of his equal one day. Unfortunately I never made it that far but I sure tried.
If you don't have Goerg's book Pioneering Handgun Hunting grab one when you see it. You won't regret it. If you don't think it is worth the money you spent I will buy it back from you.