2015 FUMLA Bunny Hunt

The following is transcribed from my field journal. There are typos, misspellings and editings as there would be for transcriptions of other period journals. This entry is from the 2015 FUMLA Bunny Hunt outside of Dore, ND. 2015 FUMLA Bunny Hunt

Muzzleloader Area, Dore, ND

Sunday, December 20, 2015

It was a Sunday afternoon and our party was set to meet at our usual gathering place in the Muzzleloader area outside of Dore, ND. While there was some snow on the ground it wasn't like the snow we'd had last year. Last year it was a cold, overcast day and was below freezing with a good amount of snow on the ground. This year there was but a thin layer. It was 34 degrees when I'd left home.

I hiked into the gathering place wearing my wool leggings, sky blue light capot and wolf eared cap make from blanket scrap, my .58 J. Henry trade rifle in tow. I could see by the tracks that there were at least three people who had previously been on the trail. I followed the tracks left by the sled that had presumably been brought to bring in supplies. By the time I reached the gathered party my side seam mocs were soaked through.

As I got closer to the gathering place I could see four men, all of whom I recognized, and I identified myself as I got closer. "Hello the camp!" "Hello Leif!", was the return greeting. Our party today consisted of Dave F., Dave E., Tod, Rod and myself.

The group was gathered around a small fire, with coffee on the boil and water that Tod was heating for tea. Despite the fact I was more properly prepared for the cooler weather today compared to last year, even brought along in my small haversack a small sheet iron skillet and some venison sausage my family had made several weeks prior, I forgot my tin cup yet once again. Tod just smiled and offered me the use of his kettel drink out of, yet again. I enjoyed some tea this time.

In short order Rod noticed some rustling in a large cottonwood about 20 yards away. He caught sight of movement about 30 feet up. Slowly the group began to surround the tree, with the exception of me, who had managed to not have loaded my rifle. What a fool I was, and when we heard the growl from the limbs overhead I loaded as quickly as I could.

Saying the beast was larger than what we expected would be an understatement. It was about two feet in length with a bushy tail roughly as long. Its claws looked like the talons of an eagle. Its snarl revealed teeth like a badger and it's eyes leered at us with hatred. It locked eyes with Rod, who instantly fired his .58 Derringer. The beast scurried to the other side of the large limbed, at which point Tod fired his trade gun, spraying bark towards the flurry of fur. Dave E shot next as Dave F pulled out his cap and ball pistol and aimed up at the branches. Tod fired again and the beast frantically scurred to the other side of the limb. I finally had completed loading my Henry and arrived next to Rod when he fired his second shot, hitting the ferocious animal. The beast shrieked and flailed itself to the other side of the limb just as I raised my rifle. He kept on ducking back and forth on the limb as he tried to quickly make his way to the trunk of the tree. Each time as I was about to fire it would weave to the other side of the limb. The hairy mass of hatred suddenly appeared energized as it locked eyes with Rod again, who had landed a shot into the beast, and charged. Right as this happened Tod fired, the beast screeched one final time and dropped twenty five or so feet to the ground. With determination in his eyes Tod quickly grabbed the flailing animal by the tail and quickly finished him off while the rest of us stood with knives drawn ready to unleash havoc. We all stood gasping for a long moment, trying to catch our breath and come to terms with what had just transpired...

Or...just maybe...what we experienced actually went something like this:

While we enjoyed the coffee and tea Rod took notice of a large squirrel in a cottonwood tree about 20 yards away. "I bet it's the same one you guys missed last year," quipped Dave E. That was all the prodding we needed and we headed to the tree with the exception of me, who had managed to not have loaded my rifle. What a fool I was. By the time I got to the tree Rod and fired once, Dave E. once, Tod twice and as I approached Dave F. had pulled out his pocket pistol and was taking aim as well. As I found my place in the circle of men around the tree Rod fired again, landing a shot. The squirrel barked and scurried to the other side. Each time as I was about to fire it would weave to the other side of the limb. After the third time or so of this happening Tod fired and the squirrel dropped to the ground. Tod quickly snatched the squirrel and finished him off.

I had posted a video about a month back about a quick way to skin a squirrel by make a couple incisions on the hind legs and then cutting between bones at the base of the trail, making it possible to strip the skin from the rest of the squirrel in two batches. Tod did this and we were amazed at how well it worked. As a testament as to how tough the hide was on this particular squirrel, which was fairly large for a squirrel, Tod removed the flattened .58 cal ball from the animal from when Rod had first shot it. Tod finished field dressing the animal and got to work gathering some dog wood to make an improvised spit and skewered the animal.

While Tod continued to tend to his squirrel the rest of us meandered into the woods to hopefully find rabbits or more squirrel. While my feet were cold from my mocs being soaked through, the rest of me was warm. Thank goodness my winter gear has improved since last year.

I made my haversack in January of 2015 during our Winter Camp as a result of the 2014 FUMLA Bunny Hunt. I put it into use while stalking in the woods. I gathered some kindling including some tinder fungus, punk wood, and rose hips. I was very surprised at the number of rose hips I found that were not all shriveled.

I found the bones of a cow that had apparently died a few years back and the coyotes had stripped clean. I also found a number of squirrel nests up in the trees. I kept hoping I'd see movement, but I never did. I did kick up an owl. I found several good spots to make camp if I needed too. Lots of pretty scenery. The sun came out later on while I continued walking, pausing, listening and enjoying this time in the woods.

I finally began to make a loop back toward Tod's fire. About five minute later or so I saw Dave E. and Rod and I made my way towards them. I linked up with Rod and said, "All I saw was an owl." Rod replied with,"Yeah, I kicked up a white tail. I think Tod got the only game there was." We made our way back to the fire where the roasted squirrel was ready.

Tod had lightly seasoned it with a little salt and a little pepper. I found, to me, it tasted similar to rabbit, or at least what I ate did at any rate. I pulled out the small skillet and venison sausage and fried it up for us. We talked for a bit. Tod, Rod and Dave E enjoyed some fine tobacco. I had regrettably left my pipe behind this morning.

The time came to head out. The light was beginning to fade and fog was setting in. We doused the fired and made our way back to the vehicles. We were only out several hours, but it was a good time of camaraderie, and, this time, we could actually say we'd successfully gotten an animal on our yearly Bunny Hunt.

-- Leifer

2014 December FUMLA Bunny Hunt

The following is transcribed from my field journal. There are typos, misspellings and editings as there would be for transcriptions of other period journals. This entry is from FUMLA Bunny Hunt in December of 2014

2014 FUMLA Bunny Hunt, Dore, ND
Sunday, December 28, 2014

     I was unsure if I was going to be able to attend the bunny shoot today. Just in case I put my 1790s contract rifle, bag and horn in the truck.  By the conclusion of church it looked like things were going to work out. Out the door and down the road I went. I unfortunately didn’t have my usual period garb with me. I was instead dressed in my usual well oiled work boots, jeans, undershirt, long sleeve buttoned shirt, light jacket, hooded black EMS jacket with reflective letters on top of that and a black wool winter cap. It wasn’t the way I wanted it to be, however, the important thing, the main thing, was being in the woods for even just a few hours.
     It was the first time I have been able to make this shoot. I had foolproof directions, that I managed to somehow still foul up. The muzzleloader area was at my right and there was a pickup parked there. That should have been my clue…instead I ended up following the edge of a sugar beet field, taking my two wheel drive pickup through drifts that I had no business going through. I managed to make the loop around the field, back onto the gravel county road and then back to where I suspected I should have stopped. By the time I got there I found several more trucks parked there. It was the guys.
     Tod Fossetta had arrived several hours before and had gotten a fire started where the party had assembled last year. He was in the woods right now. That truck I had first seen was his.
     I hopped out of my truck and greeted Dave Finders, Dave Evansen and Rod Lassey. Dave F. had brought a gray sled that had been made by former muzzleloader and scoutmaster Ron Tewalt (now on the other side.) On it he had loaded a wooden box of supplies to help keep the spirits up. After we crossed into the wooded area Rod took charge of the sled and led the way to the area where we would all meet up. As we got closer I could start to smell the smoke from Tod’s fire.
     The weather was starting to get cooler and the skies were starting to get cloudy. The warm fire was a nice welcome. Dave F opened up the box and pulled out a coffee pot and got some coffee going on the boil. Tod shared some parched corn he’d made. I thought he’d done a decent job at it.
     We heard a shot a little ways off followed by a second shot. We were apparently not alone. I kept scanning the area where the shots had come from and after awhile I saw someone making their way through the woods toward us. As the figure got closer to us we were able to recognize the person. It was Kelly Buxbaum. I haven’t seen him since Rendezvous at Fort Union this summer. Keely had with him a double barreled blackpowder shotgun. He explained that he’d taken a few shots to make sure everything was working properly. Kelly greeted the party with some wild game sausage. With the coffee, parched corn and sausage we were all feeling pretty good.
     After enjoying some of the coffee a grub we headed out deeper into the woods, our eyes peeled for sign of rabbit and squirrel.
     I paired off with Tod. To grew up hunting rabbits and squirrel in the woods. He’s eaten a lot of both. We found some sign of rabbit, but not much, and not all that recent. We stopped a few times as we came across juniper with some dead branches and collect some for tinder for later fires. At this point I was wishing I had an additional bag to put the tinder into. Instead I stuff it into the front of my jacket and zipped it back up.
     We began to hear the bark of a squirrel every so often. Then we came upon the edge of a dug canal. We followed the edge and then saw something come toward us. It took me a second to realize it was Rod, who was in brain tanned buck skin and a wolf eared cap.

     The three of us continued through the woods and Rod showed us a beaver dam that had been dynamited. It was a decent size dam for the area. Tod collected some cattails that were nearby. We also got to see the lodge itself. There were at least a dozen points of entry. We found sign that it was still in use, however, not by beaver. Tod told me I should just reach my hand in and grab whatever cat was in there. I declined, being of the persuasion that it was not your average size farm cat that had was now using the lodge.
     We continued to move toward the sound

of the squirrel that was barking occasionally and we ended up back at the camp site.  Tod lent me the use of his small lidded kettle to use as a cup for some coffee. It was then that Rod spotted the squirrel in a large cottonwood 30 some odd yards away. A second one was spotted. We quickly grabbed our flint locks and headed toward the tree, spreading out and surrounding it. The large tree had some hollow branches and into a hole the squirrel went. We waited for awhile and then went back to the fire. The rest of the party arrived as well and we enjoyed some more coffee, parched corn and sausage.

     The squirrel appeared again and back to the tree I went. I waited and waited until it showed itself again. I fired. I shot above the squirrel who was high up in the tree. Back into his hiding place he went. I loaded my rifle again, this time with #4 shot. I waited until it was almost dark and headed back to the party.  Oh well. I’ll get you next time Messr. Squirrel.
     After awhile we doused the fired, loaded the sled and hiked back to the vehicles. We started our trucks to let them warm up. It had been lightly snowing for a few hours now and had gotten significantly colder.
     We huddled and talked for a bit and loaded up Dave F. wooden box into the back of the

truck he came in. When I went to load the sled in the back Dave F said, “Leif, I won’t be pulling this sled anymore. As you knew Ron Tewalt when you were in Scouts, I think it’s fitting that his sled goes to you.” What an honor! Ron was one of the assistant scoutmasters for my troop when I was in high school. Each winter he would spend a lot of time working with us scouts on winter skills. I will see that the sled gets put to good use.
   After the trucks were sufficiently warmed we said our goodbyes and headed home. I’m glad it worked out to be able to be on this short afternoon hunt. It was good to be in the woods again with a great group of guys.

-- Leifer

Dynamited Beaver Dam

Tod and Rod