Three Hunts With One Mossberg Patriot

Three Off-the-Grid Adventures, on Two Different Continents … With One Never-Die Mossberg Patriot.

A handful of years ago, I was working the bench during bantam tryouts for our local hockey association. If you’ve had kids in sports, you know how this goes: You write a check for a stupid amount of money, and as long as you “volunteer” within the organization for a pre-determined amount of hours, they rip up the check.

It’s pretty much forced labor, but it’s less painful than having them cash that check. So, I was working the bantam (think eighth and ninth graders) boys hockey tryouts.

More often than not, those boys are pretty focused, silent and too tired to give anyone much lip, but they’ll generally hit me with a fist bump and thank me for my service (they think it’s funny because they know I’m there against my will).

I had been working with these guys all week, and on the final night of tryouts, the boys were handing me their pinnies and heading toward the locker room … when one of them turned around and came back.

“Thanks for the help, man. And we really need to get you a new hat.” Then, he winked at me.

As he walked away, I pulled off my lid to confirm that I was indeed wearing the hat that I thought I was wearing.

Mossberg.

Being too proud to be bested by a little hockey punk, I yelled down the hallway just as the locker room door closed behind him.

“I’ve already killed more sh*t with a Mossberg than you’ll lie about in 10 lifetimes.”

For the next couple days, I remember stewing about that spontaneous little interaction. Partly because I wasn’t sure that little brat heard my verbal twist of the knife before the door closed behind him, but I was mostly perturbed because this kid’s thoughts on Mossberg are not isolated. I wanted him to know how wrong he was and why he was so wrong.

So, I headed to the basement and started counting coup. Turns out, I’ve got a handful of Mossbergs in my working guns collection.

There’s a FLEX shotgun (remember those?) I used in Alaska to tag a pair of Sitka blacktails and my first harlequin. There’s also a little .410 bantam shotty my daughter has used to kill her first two Eastern turkeys … and it’s the gun my son used to miss his first turkey the first time we hunted together (yes, he cried like a newborn). And, although it hasn’t been fired in a while, I’ve still got the Mossberg 4X4 I used to give my fire muley a ride in the truck.

And then there’s the .300 Winchester Magnum Patriot, complete with the Marine Coat finish Mossberg once used before anyone in the gun industry had ever heard of Cerakote. Together, that rifle and I are more lethal than a redhead on a bad hair day.

There isn’t a one of those guns that will fetch a pile of money, but each of them has been at my side while creating some of my favorite memories afield … and that’s what makes a gun truly invaluable.

So, here’s the scrapbook of that .300 Win. Mag. (same barreled action, wearing two different stocks) and I on three different unique vacations, when we left my wife at home and made some pretty intimate memories together.

And, “hockey kid,” if you somehow stumble across this little nod to my Mossberg hat … I’ll sell it to ya for a thousand dollars.

Making Friends with Frank

• Location: Frank Church Wilderness, Idaho
• Species: Rocky Mountain Elk
• Ammunition: Nosler AccuBond Trophy Grade, 180-grain
• Optics: Bushnell

Notes: Despite being a true wilderness (meaning the tree huggers will lock you up and throw away the key for even thinking about internal combustion while within its boundaries), the Frank Church Wilderness still wears and maintains a series of airstrips from the 1920s originally used for fire management.

That means a rifleman can catch a ride deep in into the backcountry and hunt elk in the middle of September … and in case that subtle bit of hunting trivia went over your head, rare is the opportunity to hunt elk with a rife during the bugle.

And, more importantly, it means that it’s possible for a hunter to catch a plane ride to a pack of mules and not have to be chaffed and exhausted well before ever reaching camp. In the words of a very wise Canadian friend of mine: “Strong like bull, smart like tractor.”

Hunting Below the Belt

• Location: Northern Cape of South Africa, near Kimberley
• Species: Warthog, gemsbok and kudu
• Ammunition: SIG Sauer Elite Hunting HT, 165-grain
• Optics: SIG Electro-Optics

Notes: When it comes to Africa, there seems to be two distinct camps of hunters with very little middle ground to share: those who have been there and cannot wait to go back … and those who don’t understand the appeal because they haven’t been there yet.

Hunting on the other side of the Earth’s hemisphere belt is indeed an experience that cannot be compared to any type of hunting available in the United States. From meeting the people to chasing the critters, it’s an unexpectedly addicting venture.

And, if that’s not enough to get you on a plane, it’s also worth noting that the American dollar goes so far in South Africa that it’s possible to feel incredibly wealthy while spending a very responsible amount on the trip of a lifetime.

A Moon-Walk in Texas

• Location: Far West Texas, near Alpine
• Species: Scimitar-Horned Oryx
• Ammunition: Remington Premier Long Range, 190-grain
• Optics: Riton

Notes: No need to hit up Elon Musk on X to beg for a ride to the moon when you can visit the borderlands of West Texas. Heck, you might even get a rare glimpse of illegal aliens going for a quick swim in a river.

And if that doesn’t entice ya, what about the opportunity to hunt an extinct animal? Yes, you read that correctly.

Because there are no longer sustainable populations in their historical home ranges within Nepal and Chad, the scimitar-horned oryx is technically considered extinct … despite there being a healthy and huntable free-ranging population thriving under the watchful eye of local ranchers and outfitters. (Texas does not regulate the hunting or trade of exotics.)

And, in case you’re wondering, extinct animal meat has a rather heavy grain structure but is surprisingly tender. Almost sweet.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Carnivore Magazine Issue 10.

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More Off-Grid Adventures

• Warthog Hunting In South Africa
• Hunting In Africa: Following In Hemingway’s Footsteps
• Field Testing The Taurus Raging Hunter In The Wilds Of Africa
• Going On Safari With Hunters Care