The Elk I Didn't Shoot
Larry's Short Stories #6
November 11, 1993“Did you shoot that big elk above the fireplace?” No, but I can tell you an interesting story about it!…
Larry's Short Stories
Larry Potterfield - Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA
Be the first to know whenever Larry publishes a new short story!Dad taught me to hunt and fish, back when I was growing up on the farm in northeast Missouri. Things were much simpler in the '50s and I can't imagine what my life would be like today, had I not enjoyed the benefit of all the instruction of those early years. I shot my first duck at age 9 and my first quail at 13 - the same year I got my first gun for Christmas - a hand-me-down Stevens 16 gauge single shot.
Some of my fondest memories are the hunting and fishing stories Dad and my uncles shared with us kids back then - generally around the wood stove, and other times in the field. Unfortunately, it was pure and simple storytelling, so all I have are the memories.
Now, as a father and grandfather and having hunted and fished all my life, I am taking the time to write down some of my own stories – for the enjoyment of my children, grandchildren, friends and Customers.
These are all real stories that I participated in, nothing is made up; and I write them purely for your enjoyment.
Larry Potterfield,
Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA
The Bear that Killed a Bear
Larry's Short Stories #5
October 04, 2009We saw him just at last light, way off to the south, as he lumbered down out of the willows toward the lakeshore - wow, was he big!…
Cape Buffalo with a Lever Action Rifle
Larry's Short Stories #4
December 08, 2008My rifle was what Teddy Roosevelt referred to as "the medicine gun for lions" - a Winchester Model 1895 chambered in 405 Winchester. Teddy hunted Africa in 1909 and wrote up his adventures in African Game Tr…
![Share on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?s=100&p[url]=http://media.midwayusa.com/cms/larrys-stories/2013_5/04_cape-buffalo_final.pdf&p[images][0]=http://media.midwayusa.com/cms/larrys-stories/2013_5/larry-potterfield-cape-buffalo.jpg&p[title]=Cape Buffalo with a Lever Action Rifle&p[summary]=My rifle was what Teddy Roosevelt referred to as "the medicine gun for lions" - a Winchester Model 1895 chambered in 405 Winchester. Teddy hunted Africa in 1909 and wrote up his adventures in African Game Trails. Now, I was in Africa, a century later, hunting cape buffalo with a similar gun.)
Sliding for Sheep
Larry's Short Stories #3
August 21, 2004"Can we get closer?" Those were my words to the guide, as we looked down the mountain at the seven rams – nearly 600 yards away. We had been working these rams for four days, but bad luck…
![Share on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?s=100&p[url]=http://media.midwayusa.com/cms/larrys-stories/2013_4/03_sliding-for-sheep_final.pdf&p[images][0]=http://media.midwayusa.com/cms/larrys-stories/2013_3/sliding-sheep_1.jpg&p[title]=Sliding for Sheep&p[summary]="Can we get closer?" Those were my words to the guide, as we looked down the mountain at the seven rams – nearly 600 yards away.
We had been working these rams for four days, but bad luck with fog, horses and terrain had been our lot. Now we were a mere 600 yards above them, on the same hillside, watching them feed along in a line from left to right. But 600 yards is twice as far as I like to shoot.
From our camp, at the bottom of the valley, the grassy hillside looked pretty smooth; but when you are actually sitting on such a hillside, things are quite different. The ground rises and falls in such a fashion that all seven rams had soon fed out of sight.
"Let's get closer!", I said. With rifles in one hand and backpacks in the other, down the mountain our small group went – with only our bottoms and the heels of our boots making contact with the ground – we were sliding to the sheep.
The grade was like one to one, which meant for every foot we went forward, we descended one foot, and we were going straight down, not side-hilling. In a hundred and fifty yards of 'free-sliding' we never saw the sheep, but stopped to look over a rise – still no sheep. "Let's get closer!", and away we went again.
Certainly they must have heard us, but when we stopped again for a look, still no sheep in sight – "We go again!"
Now, our guide carefully peaks over the rise then turns and says "Brenda, your sheep is in the front and Larry yours is third from the back." Of course when Brenda and I are hunting together, I always insist that she take the first shot. Sliding our backpacks in front of us to the top of the ridge, the sheep we had been looking at from 600 yards were now only 80 yards away.
Brenda shot first and her sheep went down. The rest of the rams started trotting away and I was preparing to take the second ram on the move, but he stopped after about 50 yards, as they almost always do, and I made it 'sheep for two'.
Larry Potterfield - Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA
Wrangell Mountains of AlaskaAugust 2004)
The World's Shortest Grizzly Bear Hunt
Larry's Short Stories #2
August 26, 2004In the time it takes you to read this story, the grizzly bear hunt started and ended – about 60 seconds. I thought about titling this story “From bare to bear in 60 seconds”. Brenda and I were half-awake,…
The Last Ten Seconds of an Elephant Hunt
Larry's Short Stories #1
November 29, 2011It had been a long and impossible track, interrupted by the wind, the rain and a group of females; but we had seen him for a few seconds, just 20 minutes into the track, and knew this was a bull…
, myself, Brenda and finally the game scout. We were walking slowly but deliberately through light brush, on dry grass and leaves -- about two or three steps apart.
Unknown to any of us, the bull had turned sharply off his line a few yards in front of us, walked slightly up hill and was standing in sight and sound of our small group.
We were making way too much noise when the number three tracker spotted him. Now begins the last ten seconds of our elephant hunt.
All three trackers hurriedly collapsed back down the line, as the PH and I moved forward to the front; the second tracker handed off my rifle as he went by – four seconds.
My first responsibility, as the hunter, was to check the scope levers, the scope power and the safety – two seconds; then I looked for the bull, knowing only that he was to our left.
There he was, broadside at 40 yards, slightly uphill through the brush, head up, and very nervous. The PH said “shoot him now!” I took another step forward to clear some brush and brought my gun into position, thinking about bullet placement, the shoulder or the brain – two seconds. But, immediately he charged.
It was pure instinct; shoot for the brain -- cross hairs between the eyes, keep the barrel moving and pull the trigger. At 25 yards, the bull and the Hornady 375 solid met head on – two seconds. His front legs collapsed and he slid the full length of his body – game over.
So that was the last ten seconds of our elephant hunt.
Larry Potterfield - Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA
Mkuyu CampSelous Game ReserveTanzania, AfricaNovember 29, 2011){kind=tracking}
