A Bear Track Tale
One of the more interesting engraving jobs I’ve created, in a way, is rather simple. It consists of a set of Vibram boot tracks along the top of a rifle barrel. Superimposed over the top and going the same way are tracks to scale of a ten foot brown bear. As far as I know, the idea was originally my own.
I should explain here the definition of a ten foot bear. This is the proper way. A freshly skinned bear hide with all fat removed (called fleshing) is laid out upon a flat surface. Obviously, this is usually the ground, but could be concrete, floor, etc. It is stretched to its extreme width and length and not held but allowed to relax to a natural position. Now the measured length from tip of nose to tip of tail is added to the width from one front paw to the other. The width between front paws is usually larger than the length. This number is then divided by two to get the ‘square’ of the bear. If that number is ten feet you have a huge bear, a ‘ten-footer’ being a bit of the Holy Grail for bear hunters. Kodiak Island probably has the greatest amount of these big fellows per square mile.
If you stretch the hide and measure the length, then stretch the hide and measure the width, the resulting measurement becomes much larger and is false. Plenty of unscrupulous guides and hunters do it this way to generate bigger numbers. The correct way is rather self-correcting. Stretching it one way will lessen the other measurement when allowed to relax to a natural state.
What I call the bear track engraving job tells a story. Here we have the tracks of a man walking along. Cutting in from the side and now following him is a very large bear. Is the bear’s intent nefarious, or is he simply curious? Is the man the hunter or is he the hunted? This little dramatic story might not mean much while one is sitting safely at home or in a lodge, but how about while hunting alone in bear country?!
What appears to be a simple job actually takes quite a bit of time to deeply sculpt the bear tracks, which creates the realism I wanted. Still, I think the result worth the effort. I’ve done man tracks with deer and hog, those don’t quite have the impact of the bear, telling a different story. However, there have been cases documented of wild boar in India that have sought out and killed people. Rare, but it has happened.
I’ve done quite a few of these for Wild West Guns on their Marlin lever actions, and several for myself. One of the interesting engravings I enjoy sharing with customers.
