Monday, November 5, 2007

Like An Old Friend

Every hunter has a favorite rifle or shotgun. Mine is a bolt action Ruger 7mm mag. that I have carried up and down mountains for thirty years. Last week I sat watching a hillside on the last day of elk season and took notice of the gun on my lap. It has several character nicks and dings in the stock and the bluing is worn off where the scope has rubbed against my coat over the years. An inscription on the barrel says" Made in the 200th year of American liberty. I bought the gun the next year after someone had it only one hunting season. It was two weeks before elk season and I needed a rifle but searched several sporting shops without finding one. A friend told me about a guy that might have some in his shop. He mainly built custom rifles but also did some gun trading. I found two rifles; one was a short barreled 30-06 that looked like a toy gun and the other was the slightly used Ruger. I questioned the shop owner why the person had traded it but he had no answer. I'm left handed but have always shot a right handed bolt and I can deliver fire power with great precision and speed if necessary. I decided to buy it even though I had some doubts. Now I needed a scope. He brought out a used Weaver 3to 9 power scope in the original box and said it was a good one. I took it with some doubts too. I zeroed the gun in for 200 yards and it has performed flawlessly for thirty years. It is like and old friend, reliable and I trust it to do what I ask. I can not remember all the bear, deer ,or elk I have taken with it but do vividly recall the shortest shot and the longest.

The shortest shot happened one morning when I was walking down a deer trail to check for sign when I heard a buck grunting loudly as he walked up the trail directly toward me. Since the buck was just a 3 by 3 and it was early in the season, I decided not to shoot him so lowered the rifle to my waist. The buck closed to thirty feet and stopped, lowered his head and charged me at full speed. Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion but he was coming fast. I brought the rifle up to my waist , pointed it at his chest just ten feet away and pulled the trigger. The impact spun him around and the buck crumpled in the heap . It took me a few minutes to get my composer.

The longest shot was over 500 yards at a nice bull elk in Idaho's Clearwater Unit. Ardella and I were walking an old road early one morning when I spotted this bull in some timber across a timbered swale. I didn't have a range finder so estimated the distance in one hundred yard increments. I put my pack on the ground and placed the rifle across it and put the scope on him but there was too much timber in the path to shoot. While I waited for him to move , I checked the box of Hornaday shells that gave me the drop of bullet at five hundred yards. Soon the bull moved into a small opening ; I put the cross hairs just above his back and slowly squeezed the trigger. He folded up about sixty feet away.

Now this relationship with my rifle is one sided. I appreciate that it is reliable and I have great confidence in the gun's ability, but it doesn't respond back. There is a friend that is always there and ready to help us and seeks a relationship with us. His name is Jesus. He will forgive us of ANY sin and wants to walk with us daily. Proverbs says there is a friend closer than a brother, that friend is the King of the universe . Jesus is ready to listen to you and you know what? HE will talk back to you if you take time to listen.

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