I consider shooting more than a few snakes per year as a waste of ammunition, unless you are after them for sport. Shovels are easier to hit with, not noisy, and serve many other purposes for weight carried. There is also a much better chance of getting a decent hide to use that doesn't have a bunch of little holes in it.
Handgun Carry in the Old West
- Thread starter Tequila jake
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SabbathWolf
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saaman
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My grandfather was a cattle trader and my Daddy told about a buying trip they made to a large ranch in Texas in the 1920s. The rancher let them stay in the bunkhouse, and cowboys piled their gunbelts on a table when returning from a day's work. My Daddy remembered one old cowboy had a sawed off shotgun in his holster instead of a pistol.
BBQLS1,
I got to know ol Bill quite well when I attended college in Laramie. He had a motel and restaurant/tourist trap store at the edge of town. He had highway signs touting the "Last Train Robber" angle on them on either side of Laramie.
He sat at the cash register wearing a black 10 gallon hat and an Elmer Keith glare all day every day. He kept a Colt's Thunderer on the shelf below the cash register.
He gave me the gun when he closed the place and moved back east to live with his family.
Very cool.
Irrelevant, immaterial and inadmissible.
Well since Ol Fuff caught me, I'll post this one again.
A six gun ain't a gonna git it here.
I'm with you Podner, My Momma raised some dummies, but they was my sister.
No, that one looks like it'll need a 5 gallon can of gasoline.
sixgunner455
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I believe I'd just as soon stay out of that hole. Sheesh!
Only snake I ever killed on purpose was with a flat-ended shovel.
Only snake I ever killed on purpose was with a flat-ended shovel.
My uncle worked as a cowhand in New Mexico back in the 1920s. When I was a kid, he showed me some snapshots, and I pointed out that the fellows in the pictures could not have been real cowboys because they were not wearing guns. Everyone laughed.
Later, he farmed. He was like Cars81fan's great grandfather in that he "had but one firearm, a hardware store single-shot shotgun".
My maternal grandfather was also a farmer, and he was a hunter. He did have a Smith and Wesson .32 revolver, but he didn't carry it around on the farm.
My experience on a farm is consistent with what Readyrod says: "I've worked on farms and I can't imagine carrying while fencing, digging, doing chores, etc.".
The farm hands I knew in the mid 1950s were like the cowboys that bubba in ca refers to: they "usually couldn`t afford revolvers and if they did they couldn`t afford the ammo. Those that had then kept them in a secure location in an oiled cloth".
The cowboys in my uncle's photos wore clothing that was nowhere near as stylish as those worn by Gene, Hoppy, and Roy (and later, Little Joe). On the other hand, they were a lot more fit than most of the guys you see in cowboy action shooting on television these days!
Later, he farmed. He was like Cars81fan's great grandfather in that he "had but one firearm, a hardware store single-shot shotgun".
My maternal grandfather was also a farmer, and he was a hunter. He did have a Smith and Wesson .32 revolver, but he didn't carry it around on the farm.
My experience on a farm is consistent with what Readyrod says: "I've worked on farms and I can't imagine carrying while fencing, digging, doing chores, etc.".
The farm hands I knew in the mid 1950s were like the cowboys that bubba in ca refers to: they "usually couldn`t afford revolvers and if they did they couldn`t afford the ammo. Those that had then kept them in a secure location in an oiled cloth".
The cowboys in my uncle's photos wore clothing that was nowhere near as stylish as those worn by Gene, Hoppy, and Roy (and later, Little Joe). On the other hand, they were a lot more fit than most of the guys you see in cowboy action shooting on television these days!
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
I don't use a shovel to fix fences, nor do I carry one with me. Nor do I use one when feeding cows, collecting blackberries, hauling hay, anything done on the tractor, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. Yet I can easily carry a sixgun on my hip while doing such things. And that sixgun can be used for myriad things other than just snakes. Like take care of small game, possums, coons, foxes, skunks, coyotes, or even in-season targets of opportunity, etc., etc., etc.. Hard to get those with a shovel.
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It's all a matter of perspective.
It would take all day to git across this place with a tractor. It's 16 miles from one end to the other, and that's as a crow flies, not as he walks and pushes a flat tire.
45,000 acres and 60 miles of fence to fix inside that yellow line. You'd kill a horse trying to check it in a week.
One of the pastures is 16 sections, another is 20.
You leave in the morning in a pickup and you take everything you might need to fix whatever you come across including your lunch. It's a 50 mile round trip to check water holes and put out mineral. There was a S&W model 28 hangin' off the rifle rack and an M-1 in the rack for long shootin' for over 20 years. Sold the 28 last winter.
Back in the old days with a team and a wagon, the fencin' crew figured on bein' out for a week at a time. Use to take crew of 15 men to run the place, now there's just one.
USGS surveyed the place with a team and a wagon. They did their measuring with a counter on the wagon wheel and a chain and rod. They used big rocks as corner markers. Turns out most of the markers are fossil dinosaur bones.
Here is my rifle range, the back stop is 12 miles away.
Here's a better look at my back stop.
It would take all day to git across this place with a tractor. It's 16 miles from one end to the other, and that's as a crow flies, not as he walks and pushes a flat tire.
45,000 acres and 60 miles of fence to fix inside that yellow line. You'd kill a horse trying to check it in a week.
One of the pastures is 16 sections, another is 20.
You leave in the morning in a pickup and you take everything you might need to fix whatever you come across including your lunch. It's a 50 mile round trip to check water holes and put out mineral. There was a S&W model 28 hangin' off the rifle rack and an M-1 in the rack for long shootin' for over 20 years. Sold the 28 last winter.
Back in the old days with a team and a wagon, the fencin' crew figured on bein' out for a week at a time. Use to take crew of 15 men to run the place, now there's just one.
USGS surveyed the place with a team and a wagon. They did their measuring with a counter on the wagon wheel and a chain and rod. They used big rocks as corner markers. Turns out most of the markers are fossil dinosaur bones.
Here is my rifle range, the back stop is 12 miles away.
Here's a better look at my back stop.
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Here is a piece with late western provenance. H&R Automatic Ejecting second model?
Rear of photos state, "Tolerburg, Colo. Drain where we went to hide." "Tolerburg, Colo. Store across from hotel." The owner of the hotel, was my great grandfather, who owned the piece. My grand father was born there May 25, 1911. They left to purchase 100 acres on the shores of Lake Erie in 1920, entering the, "import business." And the research continues...
Rear of photos state, "Tolerburg, Colo. Drain where we went to hide." "Tolerburg, Colo. Store across from hotel." The owner of the hotel, was my great grandfather, who owned the piece. My grand father was born there May 25, 1911. They left to purchase 100 acres on the shores of Lake Erie in 1920, entering the, "import business." And the research continues...
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I'm getting a little closer, reading the labor reports, and congressional reports of the 1914 strike. I'm going to the folks place tomorrow to dig through the papers my grand father had in his lock box at the bank. FWIW, it looks like hotel was a nice way of saying saloon.
towboat_er
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Me too!!!
RhinoDefense
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Shooting them improves your marksmanship.
RhinoDefense
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45,000 acres at my local price of $800 per acre equates to $36 million in value. Land in WY appears to be worth more per acre than here.
There are less than 100 US citizens (out of 300+ million) that are worth over $30 million.
If his land is a large as what he claims and at the quantity he claims, he's within the top 50 wealthiest Americans.
You can't get $100 an acre for the kind of land that is on that ranch.
In fact the corporation bought 160 acres that was an old homestead within the ranch boundaries for $80 an acre last year.
I'm a shareholder in the corporation.
So, no I ain't one of the richest fellers around, not by a long shot.
In fact the corporation bought 160 acres that was an old homestead within the ranch boundaries for $80 an acre last year.
I'm a shareholder in the corporation.
So, no I ain't one of the richest fellers around, not by a long shot.
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What is the source of that? I'm thinking there are well over 100 athletes alone that are worth over $30 million, let alone entertainers, investors, corporate moguls, etc. $30 million ain't what it used to be.
I'm sorry I just posted this comment and detracted from a stellar thread.
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Readyrod
Member
Aw Iggy that's such a nice looking place. Lucky lucky.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
I agree, $30m is not as much as it used to be, relatively speaking. There are several people tied at #96 with a net worth of 3.4billion. There are still billionaires at the bottom of the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/list/
If it were around here, not that it would even be in the realm of possibility, 45,000acres would be worth $45-113million!!! Depending on timber content and that's two hours from Nashville or Memphis.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/list/
If it were around here, not that it would even be in the realm of possibility, 45,000acres would be worth $45-113million!!! Depending on timber content and that's two hours from Nashville or Memphis.
I want to thank the poster of this link to the Erwin E Smith Collection of pictures:
http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/collection.php?mcat=1
Very interesting pictures from 1906 period of Cowboys.
I have not gone through all of them, I have seen a few handguns and rifles, but mostly, it looks as though the pictured cowboys are not packing firearms.
I expected sheath knives, don't see those sticking out. Maybe they carried folding knives.
I can see herding cattle without a firearm, I cannot see functioning without a knife.
http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/collection.php?mcat=1
Very interesting pictures from 1906 period of Cowboys.
I have not gone through all of them, I have seen a few handguns and rifles, but mostly, it looks as though the pictured cowboys are not packing firearms.
I expected sheath knives, don't see those sticking out. Maybe they carried folding knives.
I can see herding cattle without a firearm, I cannot see functioning without a knife.
Vern Humphrey
Member
Look at Image 2 of 112 in the above site.
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