By Will Primos

The following excerpt is taken from page 85 of “Undaunted Courage – Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” by Stephen E. Ambrose.

At Harpers Ferry, he got fifteen muzzle-loading, flintlock, long-barreled rifles, sometimes called “Kentucky” but more properly “Pennsylvania rifles.” They were the sine qua non of the expedition. On them depended the food supply and self-defense.

They were absolutely dependable – the U.S. Model 1803, the first rifle specifically designed for the U.S. Army, .54-caliber, with a thirty-three-inch barrel. Lewis referred to these weapons as short rifles, for they were considerably shorter than the civilian Pennsylvania rifle.

The Model 1803 delivered a lead slug on target with sufficient velocity to kill a deer at a range of about a hundred yards. An expert could get off two aimed shots in one minute. Lewis also selected pipe tomahawks and ordered the artisans at Harpers Ferry to make three dozen. He picked up fish gigs, knives, and so on.

After reading those words, I knew I would hunt with a U.S. Model 1803, .54 caliber, 33-inch Harper’s Ferry flintlock. I didn’t know if one existed, but I immediately set off to try and find a replica of this gun. After some 30 days of phone calls and checking out every lead, I finally found this exact gun down to the last detail.

When I received it, it was like every Christmas I had ever had all rolled into one. I opened the package, looked down on it and for the first time, saw the same thing that Lewis and Clark’s men saw when they set off to the Pacific with it in 1803.

I was about eight when I first remember being drawn to solitude. I spent my summers on the gulf coast of Mississippi in a small town across Back Bay from Biloxi, Mississippi, called D’Iberville. I built my forts there and dreamed the adventures that all young boys dream. One day we took a trip to what’s known as Deer Island right out the mouth of Back Bay. I saw “the hermit” as he was called who lived on Deer Island. I told my mother and father that day that my goal in life was to be a hermit. So I’m not surprised that I was drawn to the stories of mountain men, their solitary lives, and the role they played in settling the west.

I was 15 when I saw my first elk and mule deer. My mother, my Aunt Jonelle, my cousins and I went to Estes Park, Colorado, for a couple of weeks of fishing, hiking, and vacationing. My time was spent with a break down fly rod slipped down my leg; hiking to lakes where no one was supposed to fish, but that was an adventure in itself. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I knew that I would return one day to experience more of what felt like the biggest adventure ever – hunting in those tall and beautiful mountains.

When I saw Sidney Pollock’s “Jeremiah Johnson” in which Robert Redford played the leading role, I thought the movie had the most beautiful cinematography possible. The thought of experiencing that type of solitude and that type of wildness just appeals to me. And so it was in celebration of the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition westward that I took my Harper’s Ferry flintlock in search of a Rocky Mountain bull elk.

In September 2002, I missed one bull, but connected on another beautiful bull. I felt some of the same emotions, saw some of the same things, thought some of the same thoughts, and smelled the same smells that those men in the Lewis and Clark expedition did while they made their way west depending upon their Harper’s Ferry .54 caliber flintlock for protection and food.

Those that know me will tell you that I like to think deeply and probably put more into some things than I should, but that comes with my perfectionist nature. I will only tell you that to experience life and to experience it in all its glory you have to try and try hard. It’s those things that are won hard that are appreciated the most. I will only close by saying, keep your eyes on the skyline and your nose into the wind.

~Will Primos

NOTE: This hunt can be seen on The TRUTH® 6 BIG Bulls™. Look for it and the latest elk DVD from Primos’ The TRUTH® Video Series at Mark’s Outdoors - The TRUTH® 9 BIG Bull™.