Some things can never be bettered?

Whining gears and a roaring diesel of a heavy loaded truck coming out of the woods.
 
I still have my grandfathers red and black wool coat hanging in my closet. Too big for me but I’ll never get rid of it.
I wear my grandfathers wool rich coat and matching wool pants every year deer hunting. Might even be buried in it. I like the Filson tin cloth coat and chaps for brush busting bunny hunts, and a buck 110 folding knife.
 
Th
A battered old Stanley Thermos full of steaming hot coffee...slightly burnt toast with butter and eggs...that smell of first light when the surroundings come alive.
e feel of a hundred year old gun in your hands while sitting in the grey light before the sun comes up and the birds sing and you watch the woods come alive. The smell and feel of a fresh falling snow. The smell of a wet tired hunting dog with his head lying in your lap. The feel of warm blood on cold hands. The elation and accompanying sadness after the kill.
 
Going into dense bush in a spruit after a wounded buff, so on alert that your eyes hurt from the strain. Inch by inch, rolling the Courteneys in the dry leaves, the cicadas screaming so loud you cant even hear bird song. Then it suddenly goes dead quiet, you can hear your heart thump and the rising hair pushes your collar off your neck..... and you know you have never been so alive.
 
Th

e feel of a hundred year old gun in your hands while sitting in the grey light before the sun comes up and the birds sing and you watch the woods come alive. The smell and feel of a fresh falling snow. The smell of a wet tired hunting dog with his head lying in your lap. The feel of warm blood on cold hands. The elation and accompanying sadness after the kill.

Nicely said. Nicely said. Shall we add the trickle blue of morning smoke, a flame coaxed to life out of it's slumbering coals...the squirrel swiftly dodging the shadows and lighting tree to tree, fixated on the crumbs that fell from the lap...faded paper shotgun hulls collecting red and gray lint, still in the pockets of a Woolworths from years past and the grouse purring, or is the dog snoring again?
 
IMO neither the Mauser 98's extractor design nor the M1911's triple-safetied design can be "bettered", but that's just me.

A good beaver-felt fedora with an asymmetrical wide brim and off-center crown can't be beat for hat style points, either.
I know a gentleman who can build you a beaver felt fedora. I own 4 of his Beaver felt hats, including one in blaze orange.
 
And of course, a Series 1 Landrover or A WW2 Willy's Jeep with game in the back.

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Nice vehicles BUT Willys is simply an alternate spelling of Willis. If, with all due respect you doubt me, simply go to YouTube for old Willys Overland and Willys Jeep promotional films and commercials.
 
@spike.t You have not mentioned Grey Goose Orange Vodka! I remember being part of a global internet support network, trying to console you a while back, when you drank your last bottle and could not restock. :D :A Stirring: :D Beers: :D Beers:

I personally rate the Swanni, any Coleman petrol stove that goes in a pack, the full size Mercator knife (the mini versions do not lock) and the full size Svord Peasant knife as items that are hard to improve upon.
 
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P38 can opener German edition...as always, a bit overengineered, but also works fine ;)

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P38 German opener, Lockheed edition... Allison engines and various other components built by Cadillac:

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I've had a few Caddys, a '73 Eldorado which was wonderfully awful, a 1970 DeVille that was awfully wonderful, and a 1962 Calais that was extremely reliable along with being quite purrty (and fast!).
 

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Nice vehicles BUT Willys is simply an alternate spelling of Willis. If, with all due respect you doubt me, simply go to YouTube for old Willys Overland and Willys Jeep promotional films and commercials.


Willys is not the "alternative spelling" of anything. It was the surname of John North Willys, founder of Willys Overland which later became Kaiser Jeep before being consumed by American Motors Corporation which was later purchased by Chrysler... . Willys Overland was once second only to Ford in automobile production and sales.

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The correct pronunciation of Willys is to rhyme with Phyllis or bacillus, not sillys or lillies. There is no 'long E' sound in Willys.

https://www.automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/john-n-willys/

http://usautoindustryworldwartwo.com/willys-overland.htm

My 'daily driver' is a Willys:
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Willys did not design the original 'Jeep', by the way. It was a group of engineers at American Bantam that produced the initial prototype. Bantam, Willys, and Ford all submitted prototypes to the Ordnance Department of what, after revisions, would become the Truck, 1/4 ton, 4X4, G503 that were produced in the hundreds of thousands by Willys and Ford. Ford alone produced over 280,000 of them by war's end. The 'iconic' slotted grille was designed and originally implemented by Ford. Bantam, after a few small 'Jeep' contracts (BRC60, BRC40), was awarded contracts to build trailers (T3 and variants), which were also built by Willys (MB-T and variants). I have an early MB-T.

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Karl Probst of American Bantam at the wheel of 'Old No. 1' before driving it to Fort Holibaird for testing in October, 1940.
 

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Tent made with canvas and a rope crossed from one tree to another and the fuel lantern ... wood fire of the place and lighting a good cigar to spend the night inside the jungle ... Something priceless that I do not change for the best hotel of the world.
 
Going into dense bush in a spruit after a wounded buff, so on alert that your eyes hurt from the strain. Inch by inch, rolling the Courteneys in the dry leaves, the cicadas screaming so loud you cant even hear bird song. Then it suddenly goes dead quiet, you can hear your heart thump and the rising hair pushes your collar off your neck..... and you know you have never been so alive.
It is where the hunter feels more alive than ever. There is no money in the world that can pay for those moments.
 
The Model 98 Mauser.
Game meat grilling over a camp fire.
Blunt shaped bullets with plenty of lead showing at the tip, especially bonded ones.
Shotguns with two triggers.
The rush of wings as a covey rises and/or when ducks arrive at your decoys.
Teaching your sons to speak the truth, to shoot well and to be kind to horses.
Tool steel knives.
The long, low howl of a wolf in the distance.
Smith & Wesson revolvers made between about 1910 and 1970.
Yew wood long bows and cedar arrows.
Simple 4x rifle scopes.
Vintage Lyman peep sights.
The sound of a good-hearted woman’s voice.
Rifle cartridges introduced between about 1893 to about 1940, especially the .375 H&H.
The staccato of a Thompson sub-machinegun.
Tonkin cane fly rods.
Bottles with cork stoppers.
Jaegersausage.
Canvas tents, clothing and hats, (including waxed canvas in wet weather).
Cotton shirts and wool sweaters.
Riffe brand spearguns.
The violin.
The boom of a large bore rifle.
The smell of thorn bush and nitro powder smoke.
A trout rising to your grasshopper pattern.

No doubt there are many more.
 
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Stalking red deer stags in the Highlands of Scotland and ending the day with a dram of malt whisky in a hot bath. It makes you realise that you are just the latest in a very long line of hunters who have enjoyed this unique experience.
 

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