About 33 years ago, when we were just beginning to get really involved with the mountain man scene.  Since there were only four of us who were really playing with the whole deal at the time.  We were reading and studying about the mountain man era and getting quite informed about the 1800’s and rendezvous etc.  We also had built our first ever mountain man leathers out of deer skins from the deer we had shot with out muzzleloaders.  Life was as good then as it is now.

Anyway, Wapiti Dung and I were both working in the big city of Salt Lake and he got a call from one of his “people” who asked if he would come to his church and talk about the mountain man era and what have you.  Of course you don’t turn down one of your “people” when they request such as that.

Wapiti accepted and then called me.  “Butt, would you like to join me in a presentation about mountain men and the era of the mountain men”?  And so it was, I too accepted the challenge for one of Wapiti’s “people”.  It will be a fun thing to do, and then we can drive home together and have friendly conversation and drink.

When the evening of the presentation came.  I drove to Wapiti’s work place and the two of us got into his vehicle and drove to the church.  It doesn’t really matter the denomination of the church, but they had prepared for us to be on stage in a large auditorium with very big windows on our left.  Windows with huge amounts of different colored glass and lead lines holding it all together.  It was a beautiful setting for our first ever “Mountain Man Demonstration”.

Both of us love to get up in front of crowds and show off our talents and we were both very proud to have been asked to do this demonstration.  We had discussed what each of us would present and we covered a brief of the mountain man era in the United States.  Rendezvous.  Clothing.  Guns and gun safety.  It was a marvel and it set the stage for the numerous mountain man demonstrations we continue to present when asked to this day.

Before us was a huge crowd of perhaps 100 people.  Ages ranged from about 6 to 70.  Toward the end of our demonstration there was standing room only in the very back and along the sides of the auditorium.  As the crowd grew so did our chests.  We were a big hit and we knew it.

We had began our discussion with a comment that at any time during the presentation, the audience could ask us questions.  And so it began with a young man right down in front of us.  He was perhaps 13 years old and very impressed with what he was hearing from us.  He had a million and one questions and kept raising his hands and stopping us from going on.  He was a chubby little guy, who’s feet just did touch the ground when he sat in the chair.  After about a half hour of his questions we started to ignore his hand and went on with our show.

We had decided that to end our presentation we would both load up parade loads and fire them off at the same time and that would be a good thing to do.  Mostly to show the folks that these guns make a lot of noise, and blow a lot of smoke and the smoke smells very good.

As we got to this portion of the presentation, Wapiti was the speaker and I just followed his lead on what he was saying.  It went something like this:

Now folks, in order to get a muzzleloader to fire and take down the game animal you are shooting at, you first have to load it with powder.  Now, it is only safe to load the powder by using a devise called a powder measure.  You pour your powder from your powder flask, like this one, and pour the black powder out of it and into your powder measure.  Make sure you put your powder flask plug back into the powder flask, before you pour the measured powder down the barrel of the muzzleloader.  (a short pause while the plug is inserted and the powder is poured down the barrel).  Next, we use a cloth patch.  These patches are made of 100 percent pure cotton.  Do not use any synthetic material as it will mess up your barrel when you fire it.  We place the patch over the barrel like this.  (another short pause).  Then you place a round ball of proper caliber for your rifle on top of the patch.  My rifle is a 50 caliber Hawken, Bears Butt’s rifle is a 54 caliber.  We will then use a short starter like this one in my hand to force the ball and patch down the barrel a short distance to get it started.  We will not be loading real round balls down our barrels at this time.  Instead we will be putting toilet paper wads down on top of the powder to simulate the round ball.  We don’t want to be making holes in the ceiling of this beautiful church. (And so we did in fact push large pieces of toilet paper down our barrels and on top of the powder).  Now to continue.  In Utah, a muzzleloader is not considered a loaded weapon until a cap or prime has been put in place on the nipple or in the pan.  One can carry this loaded rifle in their vehicle and not be ticketed for a loaded gun.  We are now going to place a cap on the nipple of our rifles like this. (pause again as the caps are placed on the nipples.  Wapiti whispers to me that on 3 we will both fire our guns into the air.  The crowd does not hear him).  These rifles are now considered loaded and can be fired to take the game you are persuing…1…2….3!  BOOOOMMMMM! An almost deafening boom I might add.  What with two rifles loaded with parade loads going off in a room the size of a large classroom and nothing there to absorb the sound at all.  In fact walls made of lacquered wood and wood floors and only the large glass panes on our left.

And the crowd went wild!  I mean “THE CROWD WENT WILD”!  Chairs were tipping over, smoke filled the entire room, filtering toilet paper floated down into the unbelieving crowd.  Mouths were agape!  Old ladies were being helped up off their backs, people were removing their hands from over their ears and the smell of blackpowder was wonderfully everywhere!  What a site!  The little fat boy in the front was also on his back and as he rolled to the side to be able to stand, you could see a very wet crotch where it was dry moments before.

I looked at Wapiti and he looked at me and I said “Let’s not do that inside a church anymore”.

We were never asked to come back to that church for any presentations again, and only Wapiti can say if that man was ever one of his “people” after that.

The culmination of that first presentation was a learning experience we both have cherished for all of these years.  The best was the little fat boy in the front row.  It would be interesting to know what he is doing right now and how those shots effected him.  Does he remember the day the mountain men came to the church to show how mountain men lived back in 1800?  Or has he a mental block of the entire ordeal?  Perhaps he is in a lead position in a mental institute OR is he a resident of same?  We will never know.  BUT, for all of you who do give demonstrations like these, take it from the two who have been there…don’t fire your muzzleloaders inside a building.

Bears Butt

Sept. 2011