Just Fudding Around

On some YouTube channels, folks refer to others as “Fudds”–after, of course, everybody’s favorite hunter of rabbits, Elmer Fudd.

On Sunday, I took one of my flintlocks–a Traditions-brand “Pennsylvania” rifle in .50 caliber–and went out hunting for those wily wabbits. I was vewwy, vewwy quiet.

I realized that I was kinda cosplaying Elmer Fudd.

I don’t care. I had a great time. I didn’t even see a rabbit–which made me less lucky than Fudd. I didn’t see a squirrel. I flushed a grouse–but I have no interest in hunting for grouse, and I was carrying a rifle loaded with a patched round ball. There was no way on this godless green earth that I could hit a bird on the wing unless it was moving slowly and was the size of your average oil tanker.

Oh, I also saw some LBJs–that is, little brown jobs, or birds. I have no idea what they were.

I also saw, very briefly, one other hunter. I saw him after he rose from a cornfield and let off a couple of rounds from his shotgun, aiming at what appeared to me to be more of those LBJs. If they were grouse, they were tiny little grouse.

But I had a fabulous time. I walked quite a ways, packing my flintlock. I forgot to take a photo of myself, but I looked something like this.

That’s another Traditions flintlock–in this case, a Traditions “Kentucky” rifle, also in .50 caliber. I put that one together out of a kit. They’re kinda pretty similar. The Pennsylvania rifle is much prettier–mainly because I put together this rifle from a kit, and I’m not all that great at anything.

Neither of these rifles is considered at all traditional by hardcore flintlockers. But those folks are very knowledgeable, and they can tell you about all of the features of rifles from different valleys in Pennsylvania and that sort of thing. Those folks ain’t big on these Traditions rifles. That’s okay. Maybe someday I’ll get a corksniffer rifle.

Until then, I’ll be using these Traditions.

Oh, I have another–a beautiful flintlock in what they call the “poor boy” style. It’s in .36 caliber. But it has a Pedersolli barrel and lock, so it’s not all that corksnifferesque.

Wait! I found a photo of myself from Sunday! Yes, I didn’t notice the other weed between my legs.

Here is where I was hunting.

The sky was lovely. The wind was lovely. The temperature was lovely. I was Fudding around. I was happy.