Writing a book - hunting expertise required
08-31-2018, 04:00 AM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Scotland
Posts: 6
Writing a book - hunting expertise required
Greetings, folks! I'm currently writing up the first draft of a fictional book and i'm in need of your expertise. I've spent several months researching various aspects of the story whereby I have no experience, and with regards to hunting, I'm at some loss. If anyone knowledgeable enough could help answer some of my questions, I'd sure appreciate it.A part of the story is set somewhere in the great outdoors of America, this area is home to Roe, Fallow, Red deer, and bears. The deer are predominantly the chosen diet of the hunters and my questions revolve around them. A good place to start would be:
How many days/weeks could you live off a killed adult male Roe? Assuming you carry out all the required prep of the meat after the fact?
Any tips or links on how to appropriately store your kill? Assuming that you have very little access to modern tools.
Another question I'm indecisive on is what calibre rifle weapon is best for shooting deer and bear? It should be understood that the hunters only have 1 weapon and so being at disadvantage isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as they could hunt deer successfully and defend against a bear maul.
I have an instance where the rifle misfires, though the primer is dented. Can anyone technically explain why that could happen? Excluding the rifle being cleaned properly.
On average, how long might it take, in terms of shots fired, for a person to begin to go deaf if they didn't use any ear protection? I understand that people generally follow strict safety precautions but somewhere in the ball park would be good as an educated guess.
I have more questions but I'll leave these up for now. Again, I appreciate any wisdom this community may have around these questions. Cheers!
How many days/weeks could you live off a killed adult male Roe? Assuming you carry out all the required prep of the meat after the fact?
Any tips or links on how to appropriately store your kill? Assuming that you have very little access to modern tools.
Another question I'm indecisive on is what calibre rifle weapon is best for shooting deer and bear? It should be understood that the hunters only have 1 weapon and so being at disadvantage isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as they could hunt deer successfully and defend against a bear maul.
I have an instance where the rifle misfires, though the primer is dented. Can anyone technically explain why that could happen? Excluding the rifle being cleaned properly.
On average, how long might it take, in terms of shots fired, for a person to begin to go deaf if they didn't use any ear protection? I understand that people generally follow strict safety precautions but somewhere in the ball park would be good as an educated guess.
I have more questions but I'll leave these up for now. Again, I appreciate any wisdom this community may have around these questions. Cheers!
08-31-2018, 05:07 AM
#2
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
" the story is set somewhere in the great outdoors of America, this area is home to Roe, Fallow, Red deer, and bears. The deer are predominantly the chosen diet of the hunters and my questions revolve around them. A good place to start would be":
My suggestion is that you write a book about a subject you know! Your quote above shows you do not have any knowledge about hunting or the wildlife that lives in America. I prefer people who write about hunting be hunters and at least have a modicum of knowledge about game species and hunting. There are enough people out there now who have no business writing about hunting and do a disservice to hunting and hunters and the sport. You cannot asked a few questions and request tips on a message board to gain a lifetime of knowledge, fiction or factual book it will not be good.
My suggestion is that you write a book about a subject you know! Your quote above shows you do not have any knowledge about hunting or the wildlife that lives in America. I prefer people who write about hunting be hunters and at least have a modicum of knowledge about game species and hunting. There are enough people out there now who have no business writing about hunting and do a disservice to hunting and hunters and the sport. You cannot asked a few questions and request tips on a message board to gain a lifetime of knowledge, fiction or factual book it will not be good.
08-31-2018, 06:47 AM
#3
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 866
Greetings, folks! I'm currently writing up the first draft of a fictional book and i'm in need of your expertise. I've spent several months researching various aspects of the story whereby I have no experience, and with regards to hunting, I'm at some loss. If anyone knowledgeable enough could help answer some of my questions, I'd sure appreciate it.A part of the story is set somewhere in the great outdoors of America, this area is home to Roe, Fallow, Red deer, and bears. The deer are predominantly the chosen diet of the hunters and my questions revolve around them. A good place to start would be:
How many days/weeks could you live off a killed adult male Roe? Assuming you carry out all the required prep of the meat after the fact?
Any tips or links on how to appropriately store your kill? Assuming that you have very little access to modern tools.
Another question I'm indecisive on is what calibre rifle weapon is best for shooting deer and bear? It should be understood that the hunters only have 1 weapon and so being at disadvantage isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as they could hunt deer successfully and defend against a bear maul.
I have an instance where the rifle misfires, though the primer is dented. Can anyone technically explain why that could happen? Excluding the rifle being cleaned properly.
On average, how long might it take, in terms of shots fired, for a person to begin to go deaf if they didn't use any ear protection? I understand that people generally follow strict safety precautions but somewhere in the ball park would be good as an educated guess.
I have more questions but I'll leave these up for now. Again, I appreciate any wisdom this community may have around these questions. Cheers!
How many days/weeks could you live off a killed adult male Roe? Assuming you carry out all the required prep of the meat after the fact?
Any tips or links on how to appropriately store your kill? Assuming that you have very little access to modern tools.
Another question I'm indecisive on is what calibre rifle weapon is best for shooting deer and bear? It should be understood that the hunters only have 1 weapon and so being at disadvantage isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as they could hunt deer successfully and defend against a bear maul.
I have an instance where the rifle misfires, though the primer is dented. Can anyone technically explain why that could happen? Excluding the rifle being cleaned properly.
On average, how long might it take, in terms of shots fired, for a person to begin to go deaf if they didn't use any ear protection? I understand that people generally follow strict safety precautions but somewhere in the ball park would be good as an educated guess.
I have more questions but I'll leave these up for now. Again, I appreciate any wisdom this community may have around these questions. Cheers!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_deer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_deer
Only two searches and I can tell you that your character is probably hunting in Europe or a game preserve if he is in north America. If he is in NA tell him to follow the fence until he gets to the house or a road, then he can follow the road to the house.
Last edited by Jack Ryan; 08-31-2018 at 06:51 AM.
08-31-2018, 07:05 AM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 866
May be "live" a month, survive? Longer or until it rots.
You could smoke it if you have skills. You'd need something sharp, and enclosure to hold smoke in from a fire. A tool or skill to build fire. That is going to draw the attention of the people looking for you. As will rifle shots. Normally it is quite difficult to determine the direction of one shot very precisely. Two shots helps a LOT. Three shots in a row and most people could walk right to them unless they pack up and move VERY quickly and cover their exit trail.
Can't go wrong with a 30-06 remington 700 rifle to hunt or kill anything in north america or your European transplants. People hunt white tails, mule deer, elk in the wild of North America.
You are going to run out of ammo and starve or freeze to death long before any one is going "completely deaf", yet some hearing damage can occur with the first shot especially in enclosed spaces. It affects your sensitivity to hear high pitched noises first and most and it normally takes about half a life time for most shooters even back in the day when no one wore much ear protection. First thing you'll notice is kids and women mumble everything. Then the next hunting season it seems you don't see or hear as much game. May be even the season AFTER THAT you notice it isn't that there is less game, you notice a squirrel on the ground in the dry leaves and you don't hear that. "I should have heard that. The woods used to annoy me listening to all the squirrels and thing they are deer. I wonder how many deer I'm not seeing now because I don't hear them in the leaves and look for them..."
You could smoke it if you have skills. You'd need something sharp, and enclosure to hold smoke in from a fire. A tool or skill to build fire. That is going to draw the attention of the people looking for you. As will rifle shots. Normally it is quite difficult to determine the direction of one shot very precisely. Two shots helps a LOT. Three shots in a row and most people could walk right to them unless they pack up and move VERY quickly and cover their exit trail.
Can't go wrong with a 30-06 remington 700 rifle to hunt or kill anything in north america or your European transplants. People hunt white tails, mule deer, elk in the wild of North America.
You are going to run out of ammo and starve or freeze to death long before any one is going "completely deaf", yet some hearing damage can occur with the first shot especially in enclosed spaces. It affects your sensitivity to hear high pitched noises first and most and it normally takes about half a life time for most shooters even back in the day when no one wore much ear protection. First thing you'll notice is kids and women mumble everything. Then the next hunting season it seems you don't see or hear as much game. May be even the season AFTER THAT you notice it isn't that there is less game, you notice a squirrel on the ground in the dry leaves and you don't hear that. "I should have heard that. The woods used to annoy me listening to all the squirrels and thing they are deer. I wonder how many deer I'm not seeing now because I don't hear them in the leaves and look for them..."
Last edited by Jack Ryan; 08-31-2018 at 07:15 AM.
08-31-2018, 07:10 AM
#5
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 866
If he fired, dented the primer, and didn't go off, he is probably shooting reloads. If he is a competent, skilled person, some circumstance lead him to use someone else's reloads. If it is a serious situation, it didn't matter at the time, he racked the bolt and shoved in the next bullet. A Remington 700 holds 4 in the magazine and loads from the top with the bolt open in to a box magazine.
08-31-2018, 07:58 AM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,230
Roe deer, Fallow Deer and Red Deer are not American game animals. They are European. If you toss bears into the mix then you better make your location someplace like Romania or Bulgaria which are the only places I know that you can get all 4 in a free range state. Just sayin you may want to actually be on a continent that has the animals.
08-31-2018, 09:34 AM
#7
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Scotland
Posts: 6
Roe deer, Fallow Deer and Red Deer are not American game animals. They are European. If you toss bears into the mix then you better make your location someplace like Romania or Bulgaria which are the only places I know that you can get all 4 in a free range state. Just sayin you may want to actually be on a continent that has the animals.
08-31-2018, 09:42 AM
#8
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Scotland
Posts: 6
If he fired, dented the primer, and didn't go off, he is probably shooting reloads. If he is a competent, skilled person, some circumstance lead him to use someone else's reloads. If it is a serious situation, it didn't matter at the time, he racked the bolt and shoved in the next bullet. A Remington 700 holds 4 in the magazine and loads from the top with the bolt open in to a box magazine.
08-31-2018, 04:41 PM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 866
Thanks for the heads up. I've only written in a Roe so far, though wanted to explore more animals. It's tricky since the whole story takes place at an undetermined time far in the future, therefore I imagined that migrating patterns will have changed along with climate and many other things.
Thanks, Jack! This is precisely what I’m after. So, other than shooting a reload, are there any circumstances which may trigger a misfire by a competent shooter? Perhaps something which couldn’t be helped or overlooked in the moment? I have it in mind that the rifle is well kept, though quite old. Is it possible that one of the rifles component parts can significantly wear down over time which could lead to a misfire? Thanks again.
Some people will remove a firing pin for safety reasons making the weapon useless for anything but a club until it is "repaired" but then it will NOT dent the primer.
It is NOT completely unheard of to get a dud in modern factory loaded ammunition but that is about one in a thousand or more with reputable manufacture and fresh ammunition, meaning not 80 year old Greek surplus ammunition from the old WWII lend lease program. You could do a little research on that and work it in, making the scenario plausible. Especially even further in to the future.
Surplus ammunition is going to all be full metal copper jacket and some of those will be armor piercing and marked to identify as such.
Normal civilian hunting ammunition is all soft tip, hollow point, or some type of plastic ballistic tip. It is required by current hunting regulations in every state as far as I know.
Could even guarantee yourself probably 10,000 copies sold by working it around an M1 Garand instead of the Remington 700. Collectors and fans are nutz over their Garands and will buy about anything concerning them just so they can yap to each other about it.
If you are a "technical" writer in the vein of Tom Clancy it is a gold mine of jargon and nostalgia but you better get it right or they will roast you over the coals in effigy if they can't track you down for the real thing.
https://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/
I own two of those.
Last edited by Jack Ryan; 08-31-2018 at 04:52 PM.
08-31-2018, 05:02 PM
#10
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 866
I been thinking about that dented primer, but didn't fire scenario. Trying to diagnose it like it is someone with a rifle having that problem.
One possibility would be "light strikes" due to an old, worn, or broken spring on the firing pin. This an cause unreliable ignition. Sometimes it fires, some times it don't. It can be aggravated by mixed brands of ammunition as different manufactures use different primer manufacture and have different criteria for the primers they buy and use. You have several primer variables in all types of just rifle ammunition. Large Rifle primers, small rifle primers, magnum rifle primers of both LR & SR, standard primers and military grade primers and I'm no expert, just a reloader. There are probably more. These have different requirements for the strength of impact by the fireing pin to set them off and rate of burn and even that could fluctuate if you hit a hard primer with a light strike it may fire, not fire, or even hang fire.
I'll go double check my manuals to be sure if there are loads listed for both standard and magnum primers in 30-06.
One possibility would be "light strikes" due to an old, worn, or broken spring on the firing pin. This an cause unreliable ignition. Sometimes it fires, some times it don't. It can be aggravated by mixed brands of ammunition as different manufactures use different primer manufacture and have different criteria for the primers they buy and use. You have several primer variables in all types of just rifle ammunition. Large Rifle primers, small rifle primers, magnum rifle primers of both LR & SR, standard primers and military grade primers and I'm no expert, just a reloader. There are probably more. These have different requirements for the strength of impact by the fireing pin to set them off and rate of burn and even that could fluctuate if you hit a hard primer with a light strike it may fire, not fire, or even hang fire.
I'll go double check my manuals to be sure if there are loads listed for both standard and magnum primers in 30-06.