It's too cold to do much else up here, so I thought I might reminisce a little bit here about the rockpile on my uncles farm we dismantled last fall. It's on a farm that's been in the family since around 1930, and was settled by white men in 1862, then redeeded in 1865 as the original settlers disappeared in the Sioux uprizing of 1862. It's located at the junction of 3 overgrown fencerows and a small gully in the back pasture... a natural deer stand and was full of rifle brass.
The top layers held a lot of 16 ga plastic slug shells, almost certainly my uncles who has shot several deer here including the one he "Rambo'd" with his knife after it hung up in the barbed wire and he emptied his shotgun, this area has been shotgun only for about 50 years. Below that were a few rims of 12ga paper shells and that's where the rifle brass started. On the top were a few 300 sav. cases, most likely from my Grandfather who got to hunt there after my dad married into the family. I inherited that rifle. Also present were a few military '06 cases, probably my uncle who was too cheap to buy new ammo for his springfield, choosing to file down military FMJ. There were also a few 6.5 Jap cases from another great uncle, my cousin inherited that rifle. Below that was a smattering of different cases, the most prevalent being 44-40. Also present were .303 Brit, 30 Rem, an unknown rimmed bottleneck aprox. .35 calibre, and the obligatory .30-30 cases. The most interesting were at the bottom though. Under all of the rock, probably dating to the first owner who according to the deed was granted the land for service in the Grand Army of the Republic, was a neat handful of rimmed, rimfire rounds in a large calibre. They are almost certainly for a Henry or Spencer rifle, but were in too bad of shape to identify. As a fitting end, while grading for the new field road that will cross the ravine at that point, my uncle turned up a perfect arrowhead. I collected the brass, put them all out on an old piece of barn tin, took a few pictures and then tossed them to the new location of the fence intersection where a new rock pile is already growing.
It's truly humbling to think of the generations of hunters and the stories of deer taken from this point as can only be imagined from holding those old cartridge cases. I've got my own little pile starting on a wooded hilltop in Northern MN now!
I can just picture some hunter 50 years from now "what the heck is a 280 remington?!!"
The top layers held a lot of 16 ga plastic slug shells, almost certainly my uncles who has shot several deer here including the one he "Rambo'd" with his knife after it hung up in the barbed wire and he emptied his shotgun, this area has been shotgun only for about 50 years. Below that were a few rims of 12ga paper shells and that's where the rifle brass started. On the top were a few 300 sav. cases, most likely from my Grandfather who got to hunt there after my dad married into the family. I inherited that rifle. Also present were a few military '06 cases, probably my uncle who was too cheap to buy new ammo for his springfield, choosing to file down military FMJ. There were also a few 6.5 Jap cases from another great uncle, my cousin inherited that rifle. Below that was a smattering of different cases, the most prevalent being 44-40. Also present were .303 Brit, 30 Rem, an unknown rimmed bottleneck aprox. .35 calibre, and the obligatory .30-30 cases. The most interesting were at the bottom though. Under all of the rock, probably dating to the first owner who according to the deed was granted the land for service in the Grand Army of the Republic, was a neat handful of rimmed, rimfire rounds in a large calibre. They are almost certainly for a Henry or Spencer rifle, but were in too bad of shape to identify. As a fitting end, while grading for the new field road that will cross the ravine at that point, my uncle turned up a perfect arrowhead. I collected the brass, put them all out on an old piece of barn tin, took a few pictures and then tossed them to the new location of the fence intersection where a new rock pile is already growing.
It's truly humbling to think of the generations of hunters and the stories of deer taken from this point as can only be imagined from holding those old cartridge cases. I've got my own little pile starting on a wooded hilltop in Northern MN now!
I can just picture some hunter 50 years from now "what the heck is a 280 remington?!!"
