Hunting: Jackets, Pipes and a Watch

[admin]

For October, the Gentleman Smoker explores Hunting Jackets, Pipes and a really cool hunting watch. Steve has included old traditional jackets along with the most modern styles, and everything in between. It's quite an interesting read.
Check it out -

Hunting: Jackets, Pipes and a Watch

 

[macabra11]

This article brings up an interesting topic – smoking while hunting.
I would never smoke while hunting big game. To me, it just doesn't make sense. I was in the woods once and could smell cigarette smoke from a LONG ways away. It didn't take me long to spot the two hunters that were both having a smoke, talking up a storm and, in general, being as clumsy and loud as one could possibly be. I was in camo, still and watching from a mountain side across a long valley to the side of another mountain. The one way these guys were going to get a deer is if they hit one with their truck on the way out. Walked RIGHT past me and never knew I was there. I could smell the cigarette smoke for LONG after they were gone. If I could smell it, I KNOW deer could too. Not surprisingly, I didn't get a deer that day.
Now my real passion is pheasant hunting with my Brittany. This will be the first bird season that I have smoked a pipe, so I am unsure as to whether I will try it or not. Those stupid birds (pheasants) would probably not be affected by some fine pipe tobacco. My concern is that I have enough things to concern myself with whilst bird hunting, that I don't think I could give enough attention to the pipe. Or I would get to excited and chew up a stem something fierce or possibly drop/loose my pipe while trying (keyword "trying") to knock down a rooster.
The romantic idea of the whole thing does intrigue me though. I'd love to hear thoughts from other bird hunters that smoke (or don't smoke) while on the hunt.

 

[huntertrw]

Kevin:
While Mr. Morrisette's selections are sartorially splendid, in the fields where I hunt upland birds they would not be particularly practical. I'll stick with my well-worn (now entering its eighth season) Barbour Beaufort waxed cotton jacket. It's essentially thorn- and rain-proof, but is stylish enough that it can be worn in conjunction with a neck tie. Further, it has a built in game-pocket.
As for the watch, gee-whiz technology is great, but I prefer my hunter-cased 1907 Elgin pocket-watch (no batteries required!). I can carry it where it is protected from both shock and the elements, and still always be "timely."
Macabra11:
I don't believe that pheasants would be put off by your pipe-smoke; however, attempting to mount your shotgun to your face while holding a pipe in your mouth could be a sure ticket to the dentist's office. I save my pipe-smoking for before and after the hunt, when I can leisurely enjoy it with a hot cup of coffee from my Thermos.
Incidentally, my hunting partner has a Brittany: a tireless hunter in the field, and as fine a house-dog as you could imagine. You are, indeed, fortunate.
Good Luck, and Good Hunting!

 

[warren]

I've shot birds year round with a camera. Birds are very tolerant when migrating as their over-riding interest is energy - locating food. Never found smoking to be a problem when working with birds. On the nest they are focused on the eggs, chicks, feeding and protection. I don't believe the smell of smoke is anything other than something to be ignored or investigated.
I suspect the lack of deer on your trip was due more to how the other hunters moved in the country. Clumsy movement, talking, etc. will probably keep the deer away more than smoke. Heck, those guys probably had no idea which way the wind was blowing. I doubt they were really hunting. More likely that they were enjoying time away from the "little woman." The guns were probably an afterthought.
Deer depend more on their ears than their nose and weak eyes for safety. That's why, if they see vague, blurry movement with their bad eyesight, they often freeze and listen before turning tail and running directly away from perceived threat. I do not give deer high marks for intelligence, but those big ears work well for them. Couple their hearing with great timidity and they can often be hard to find.

 

[johnnyreb]

That corduroy barn coat brought back memories of a hired hand I hadn't thought about in years. He would show up in the spring and work the planting season with my grandpa, leave during the summer only to return in the fall to help get the crops in and help with some of the butchering before leaving again. While he was there he would live in a small living quarters built into our barn. There he would leave his corduroy barn coat hanging and a few other personal things in some cans & jars that sat upon a beam in his room. One spring he just didn't show up and we figured he died over the winter. He was from somewhere north and his name was Stan, and that's all I really know about him.

 

[macabra11]

huntertrw: You make a good point about mounting the gun with a pipe in my mouth. Even though I clench on my left side and mount on my right, I believe my left arm would get in the way. Keeping my pipe case and some "Great Outdoors" back at the truck leaves me with something to do while checking the dog and picking briars out of his feathers. Always a fun task. :roll: You're 100% correct about Brittanys being tireless. My dog "Whiskey" can go, and go, and go, and go...
warren: No doubt that those guys were major factors in being unsuccessful deer hunting. They were totally clueless. And in regards to the intelligence of deer, I have found that it varies greatly. Back east in Ohio/Western NY/PA where I learned to hunt, the whitetail were all fed from farmers fields and apple orchards. They were fat and lazy. There were a couple occasions where I had to "shoe away" other deer after I had shot one! Not bright. On the other hand, now that I live out west, I can say that mountain muleys are much more aware of their surroundings and seem to have better senses.

 

[mso489]

johnnyreb, the story about the corduroy coat man makes a good short-short story. He must have

kept his own counsel completely, since no one knew where to look for him or who to ask. Haunting.

 

[johnnyreb]

Stan's life was over with before I was 10 yrs old. My grandpa might have known how to get word to Stan so he would know when to show up; I just don't know. He was not local. It was a different world then. Stan was just a migrant worker. He would throw a baseball with me a little bit but he pretty much kept to himself in the evenings. He ate what we ate but always took his meals in his own living quarters. He would sometimes leave for the day on Sunday's but I have no idea where he would go. His coat & other things were left hanging in there for a couple of yrs in case he turned back up, but he never did. I wonder now what was stored in those cans he left there.

 

[natenice1]

Reminds me of the lyrics of the late 50's Jimmy Dean song "Big John", " Nobody ever knew where John called home, just drifted into to town and stayed all alone."

 

[warren]

Mule deers got BIG ears!
Okay, nobody else has asked and we are 12 hours in. "What's the season on jackets? And, do you need a tag? Minimum span? Or is it chest size?"
That's it. I'm done!

 

[condorlover1]

Reminds me of a story my Father would tell. Apparently before WW1 a friend of his who obviously was considerably old than my Father said he was staying with a friend at a country estate in Durham that sadly no longer exists. Apparently staying there at the same time was an absolutely charming Russian Count who was incredibly wealthy due to his enormous land holdings. Anyway my Fathers friend bumped into him one day on his way to join the shooting party and he enquired as how the Count was getting on. The Count replied that he had just shot two peasants. My Father's friend smiled at the foreigner and said something like don't you mean that you have shot two pheasants? The Russian Count fellow said something to the effect that they were peasants and he shot them because they were rude to him!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Have you guys noticed how these younger guys all wear their jackets too tight, like it just fit and then they ate a big dinner or washed it in hot water and now the buttons are stressed by the load? When I look through catalogs and online venues for jackets it's all the same, way too tight. First off, to see a jacket buttoned when not walking against the sleet and rain just looks ridiculous to me, like they don't usually wear nice clothes and their mothers made them dress like that. The first thing I do when coming in out of the weather is to unbutton the jacket. And, a jacket should have some hang to it, not tight. You should also be able to lift your arms over your head without ripping the seams. In a real men's store this should be the first thing that the clerk asks you to do when trying on a jacket. Unless of course the store is for... umm, nevermind. Hipster! yeh, hipster, that's the term I was look for.
If you are buying online, I've found that I take the measurement across the broadest part of my chest with my arms out straight to the sides, like a T, 44" and add 2" to get a decent hang to the jacket. If your gut is larger than your chest size, just use the gut size. Ha! I know, I know, we shouldn't laugh because it's true.
It doesn't get ridiculously cold during the hunting seasons here, so I just wear a vest. That leaves my arms free to move so that my shot is never hindered. Plus, dragging a buck out with one of those "cute" coats would be a nightmare for the struggle and the dry cleaners, ha ha. I'm sure that back when the hunters wore these jackets, they paid someone to do the dragging for them. The pipes look interesting. Has anyone ever tried smoking one of those? I see them on ebay going dirt cheap occasionally. I figured that they were for display. But, if they were smoke-able, they would be interesting to try to smoke in the car.

 

[newbroom]

The stories about men I've known who are either migrant laborers or idiosyncratic farm helpers are brought to mind in reading this thread. One farm guy named Elmer, who lived in a shack at the farm and worked the chickens along with the cows, and another named Woody, who traveled the seasons like a robin assured of a job in season wherever he went as a cool headed and productive grill man.

Each totally different yet each sharing that aloofness of a single older man.

Elmer always said he had a steel plate in his head from some Armed Services related accident aboard a ship, I think. He was sort of lame too, and seemed to walk with a painful limp.

Woody chain smoked Salems and drank vodka on the job. Nobody cared. He could makes 4 bus loads of hungry travelers disappear in an hour and a half....by getting their orders out the service window quickly and correctly, somehow.(?)

I used to really love fall in New Hampshire. Loved to wear my wool buffalo plaid shirt with a sweater underneath and head out onto some old logging road with the leaves turned and falling, the air crisp and cool. I had an old Stevens 12 ga. double barrel which was really too much gun for pheasant or partridges, and I never did shoot one with that gun, but I enjoyed those days. I was only 16. That was 50yrs ago.

 

[krizzose]

I would never smoke while deer hunting, and I agree that upland bird hunting with a pipe would be difficult for exactly the reasons stated.
I have smoked while duck hunting however, and generally you have plenty of time to put your pipe down while birds are decoying. That being said, you might have to be careful about potentially flamable blind materials or being in the vicinity of gasoline if you're a boat blind.

 

[johnnyreb]

You bring up a good point newbroom. I'm wondering if Stan could have been an early sufferer of PTSD or something. He could have been a WWI vet. I don't believe he was an alcoholic. I have tow aunts still living. My curiosity is up and I have to call them to see if they know more about him.

 

[saint007]

Hard to beat the 3 in 1 Browning system when it comes to Hunting jackets. The system allows for all weather conditions from sub-zero to mild. Plus, it is water proof. In regards to watches, what's better than a stainless Rolex? For pipes, I'll tote the same ones I fish with :wink:

 

[jpberg]

Nice fashion show.
Bird jacket:

 

[woodsroad]

macabra11, thanks for the post. What a wonderful description of being in the woods, hyper-aware of all that is around you. If you live within 75 miles of a metropolis, you are bombarded by noise, smells and light everywhere you go. Out in the woods, you can gather your thoughts, re-tune the filters and focus on what is important.
Thanks for the interlude.....

 

[longbowman]

Well, this is my first post here so thought I'd just jump right in. If you thought mounting a scattergun would be hard with a pipe, try shooting a longbow. String will just snatch it right out of your mouth. All joking aside, when hunting deer, smoking is a good way to come home empty-handed. They know there's only two reasons you smell smoke in the woods: The forest is burning or humans are present. But, anyway, it's a different gig in traditional bowhunting. No smoking, no noise, no sudden movement. But rabbits and jackrabbits, nothing like a good smoke after the skinning and gutting is out of the way and they're all bagged and in the cooler.

 

[warren]

Maybe it's different when you're packing a rifle. On a recent trip in Illinois I had no problem getting deer pics while smoking, pipe or cigarette. Might be more skittish when it's the season and woods are packed with hunters. Anyway, I never found it to be a problem in Illinois, on Kodiak Island and a few other places.
Oh, and staying downwind.