Thing that puzzles me is how some of you fellas mangle nice guns in the field, while a fair number don’t. I do own a S/S rifle that is a foul weather gun but hunt a shoot with a bunch of nice wood and blue guns w/o tearing them up. Back before S/S was invented nice guns got wet. I dried them out and cleaned them.
Not long ago I posted a pic of a Mod 94 Trapper that I’ve hunted with a lot and someone suggested it was unused. Ain’t no p’up that could haul the meat that gun has killed. It’s how I roll.
Probably depends on where and how one hunts. As has been mentioned, wet, rocky, thorny, and similar environments can be hard on equipment- and users. Of course, for some of us, those environments are often the best place to find the game. Here, blackberries and multiflora rose are everywhere, steep rocky ridges abound, and one finds themselves crawling around in and pushing their way through brush quite often.
I love hunting in the rain, and have been known to hunt before work. Rarely take time to dry out and oil a weapon when doing that. If I was a fair weather hunter, and hunted open areas or from a stand, I could see using a pretty rifle. Maybe when I get older and content myself with hunting the edge of a farm field on nice sunny days.
