Gunner Quinn
I hope that this article will serve as a starting point for novice hunters who should continue to seek more on the topic. Even after decades as a hunter, I continue to learn more.
Hunting will be a serious business in the near future. So I will do my best to present tried and true practices and advice, and attempt to describe what I believe hunting conditions and practices might be during the coming bad times. If we are hunting to survive, then losing a game would be unacceptable and perhaps tragic. High-quality protein during a famine or lean times would be very hard to get.
Lessons From The Past
I once had a neighbor who asked me to fix an old single-shot .22 rimfire rifle. The firing pin had been worn out from much use. It was a very old, battered, and simple single-shot .22 Long Rifle (LR) rifle. This was a Winchester Model 67A — a model that first manufactured during the Great Depression. The Model 67A was produced from 1934 to 1963. After repairing the firing pin, I know the bolt of the Model 67A quite well. After it had been repaired I attempted to return it. The owner then offered it to me as a gift. But after hearing his story about his experiences with the rifle, I figured that I should refuse, politely of course, since he was a friend. It would be better if it stayed in the family. This was no ordinary .22LR rifle.
Here is the gist of my friend’s hunting recollections: During the Great Depression, the folks in northwestern Montana were not at first all that aware that there was an economic depression underway, yet he said “…it was hard to get anything to eat”. He was just a boy at that time and one day the rifle was given to him so that he could hunt, and that he did. He hunted deer. One day the Sheriff showed up and had him get into his pickup and took him to a distant town in the middle of nowhere in western Montana. There were people there who were starving hungry so the Sheriff took my friend hunting and filled up the bed of his pickup with deer to deliver it to several families.
These were desperate times. Deer were being hunted out hard and so it was not easy to find them. So only the best hunters could get them. My friend explained his .22 rimfire deer hunting technique: This is the best way to do it, but not the only way: You would have had to get quite close to hit them right between the eyes to knock them out and then put one behind the ear to finish the job. First take aim. Then make a noise to get their heads up and their nose pointed right a you. He would then have just a moment to take the shot. Taking a shot with enough accuracy with an iron-sighted .22, he would had to have been within 50 yards to make a headshot right between the eyes on a deer. It would be difficult even at that range. Look what recently happened when Trump turned his head: the bullet missed. Heads constantly move so it is a difficult shot to take.
I was told he took 77 deer with that .22 rifle.
While I do not advocate hunting deer with a .22 LR rifle, that young boy once certainly did. It would not be the most reliable way to get meat. I turned down the offer of this rifle as a gift because of it historical significance and potential as a cherished family heirloom. Yet, as the Lord would have it, at a later date, someone gave me the same model rifle that had been lovingly preserved to me years later from their late father’s arsenal. It is a prized rifle as it is an ode to our forefathers and my case a friend, and the greatest generation who “endeavored to endure” through hard times. Our nation’s history and the blessings once bestowed upon this nation should not be forgotten.
My mother grew up barefoot in a dirt floor log cabin with 8 kids that her father built on his 100-acre farm that he worked with horses. One of the most precious photos I have of her was as small blond headed little girl amongst the chickens in front of that log cabin wearing no shoes and a simple dress. I grew up part hillbilly as a result and on a small ranch where as soon as we could walk we were running around outside playing with our animals and in one of the three lakes swimming and fishing, and in the swamp hunting and catching frogs and crawfish. My brother and I caught 121 frogs in one evening. We were natural-born hunters. I had my first horse by age 8. It was a wonderful childhood that firmly planted my feet on the ground — and in touch with nature.
I am so not far off the farm, and confidently know that If my not-so-distant kin could live off of the land hunting and farming, that I can too. As a youngster, I taught myself to shoot and hunt on that very same farm where my mother grew up. I vaguely remember helping Grandpa slopping the hogs, yet it is an important memory. I was provided with a Savage Model 24 over and under, .22LR/.410 break-open shotgun and, as I described in a recent SurvivalBlog article, the rest occurred naturally.
Without all the modern technology and conveniences my Grandpa fed a family of ten throughout the Great Depression in Missouri. (Some called it Misery.) In the family history I could find, I learned that my ancestors arrived on this land on one of the first ships. I also learned that I might be related to Captain Bloody Bill Andersen, an infamous historical figure of the Civil War. Anderson was one of the deadliest and most notorious Confederate guerrillas. He was known for performing ballistic testing blackpowder rounds by shooting through layers of dead Union solders. I may have inherited some of his genetic proclivities.
I should have more respect for my maternal Grandpa who worked long back-breaking hours to feed a growing family when the nation was impoverished and my kin suffered from grinding poverty, and malnutrition. Some starved to death. Fortunately for that side of the family their roots were firmly planted in our pioneer past and used 1800s technology and methods to suffer through the Great Depression relatively well as a result. I am indeed fortunate to have that family history within living memory and that culture handed down to me. The other half of my ancestors lived in relative luxury and had soft hands. So, I consider myself a sort half-breed, with one foot in each world. However, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world and my maternal mother’s lineage became the dominant part of my psyche.
Subsistence Hunting
While we should keep our shooting skills sharp with occasional practice (hopefully with a .22 rifle), each round in the box could represent a dead deer and something to eat. What price would you pay for good meat when there is nothing else left to eat? Ammunition during the Great Depression was horribly expensive and during WW2 there was none to buy. Special wartime ammunition production had to be ordered by the U.S. Government because the civilian market had none and people had little to no ammunition to hunt with.
Ammunition? Get it now while the getting is good. Invest in precious metals that preserve life. Common caliber ammunition will be better currency than silver, since it will sustain life itself.
The Humble .410 Shotgun
I started out with what is arguably ideal: A Savage Model 24 over and under .22/.410 shotgun. During WW2 the U.S. Air Force used this model as a survival gun for downed aircrews. The .410 2-1/2 inch standard shell is noticeably on the light side, but good enough for small birds, and squirrels out in the open. I used the .22 LR to shoot pheasant. And .410 slugs would be good enough on deer at close range well under 50 yards and it could also handle .45 Long Colt, but the smooth bore will not stabilize this round, so slugs and 00 buck are the only viable choices. The .22 LR in an expert hunter’s hands can even take elk.
One of the advantages of standard velocity .22 LR is that is subsonic and hence no crack is heard and the surrounding forest can absorb the minimal muzzle blast from a full-length barrel. The .22 magnum eventually became the poacher’s favorite. And then there is the almost forgotten .22 WCF that shares the same case diameter as .22 magnum and could be used interchangeably in the .22 magnum rifle. .22 WCF (Winchester Center Fire) ammunition is now obsolete and considered “unobtainium.” It was a .22 caliber (.228) 45 grain flat nose round at about 1,500 fps so it packed more punch than standard velocity subsonic 40 grain RN solid .22 LR. Today .22 LR comes in a vast array of choices and is much improved, and more suitable than ever for small game. Choose an expanding .22 LR for squirrels and such, and the solid 40 grain for everything else.
Subsistence hunters are highly skilled and can take game with small caliber rifles because they can get in close and know exactly where to hit the animal. They are consistently successful hunters and the best them will use traps and snares, as well. The .30-30 Winchester and other rifles are in the subsistence hunter’s arsenal. The .30-30 rifle is a handy and lightweight package and much more capable than .22 LR and it has much greater range and accuracy than shotgun slugs. Winchester’s Model 94 Trapper model has a 16 inch barrel that does not degrade the ammunition’s performance appreciably at woods ranges and it is a handy and light 6-1/2 pound carbine.
Modern .410 3 inch magnum shells are an improvement and very capable of taking deer at close range. Some older .410 double barrels or drillings offer a cylinder bore (no choke) barrel, with the other barrel, a modified choke. However, most double-barrel .410 shotguns have identical chokes. The second barrel allows a quick follow-up shot. If both barrels are used simultaneously, the blast and shot expended if using two .410 3 inch magnum shells is about the same firing one 12 ga 2 3/4 shell. 00 buck is available in .410 3 inch magnum shells. A .410 provides about half of the payload and subsequent killing power of 12 gauge 2-3/4 inch standard shells and is about half the weight.
Lower-powered cartridges of a bygone era required better shot placement and more diligent effort in true hunting. To put this in more definitive words: tracking and getting close enough to hit more accurately using only iron sights. Rifle scopes were only introduced in the 1940s in appreciable numbers and were a luxury item at that time.
Larger Shotguns
20 gauge and 12 gauge shotguns can kill just about anything when loaded with the wide array of different ammunition available from bird shot to buck and slugs. 12 gauge ammunition is now found in amazing variety and found anywhere for sale so it is the ideal choice for today’s potential subsistence hunter. The 12 gauge shotgun is the most powerful and most versatile firearm for the least amount of money if hunting can be productive inside of 100 yards. Most 12 gauge shotguns are made for only 2 3/4 inch ammunition. Most modern shotguns currently in production can use either 2 3/4 inch or 3 inch magnum shells. 12 gauge 3 1/2 inch magnum ammunition has the equivalent power of a 10 gauge shotgun and may have too much recoil for most shooters. A 12 gauge shotgun chambered for 3-inch magnum shells is the more practical choice. A hard cast 12 gauge slug can have similar or more killing power than a .45-70 Government inside of 100 yards.
Shotguns can impart excessive recoil to te shooter. There is a practical limit to how much killing power is useful and how much recoil the shooter can tolerate before they become gun-shy or develop a serious flinch that causes them to habitually miss what they are aiming at. Most people flinch to a degree, it is the bad kind of finching that is detrimental and causes us to miss more than hit the target. As far as rifles are concerned, the .30-06 with heavy bullets is typically the most recoil and muzzle blast that most adults can handle without developing a flinch. Muzzle brakes are becoming increasingly commonplace and they work wonders as they can greatly reduce the felt recoil.
Single-shot or double-barreled break-open 12 ga shotguns are practical and versatile. With barrel inserts, it is also possible to shoot .22 LR and centerfire pistol and rifle cartridges. With a .22 LR or .22 Magnum rifle, a shotgun with a modified choke and a barrel for waterfowl, and a .30-30 rifle, the subsistence hunter would be able to hunt just about anything in the Continental United States. For a subsistence hunter in a dystopian future, these tools would be good enough. And they’d be truly practical in the hands of a skilled hunter. That is a hunter who can hunt all game, who is an opportunist ready to take whatever game presented itself. Modern hunters are however not as skilled as they were 50 to 100 years ago. So we should and can use modern cartridges and scoped rifles to give us the advantages we need.
(To be continued in Part 2.)
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