JEFFERY GODFREY OF CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA, was deer-hunting Wednesday when that moment-of-a-lifetime arrived.  He had already seen several deer that morning, but was waiting for “something special” at Fort Pickett.

And sure enough, his special target came out of the brush towards him….a nearly all-white deer.  It was not an albino, which is a genetic freak that is all white with pink eyes, but it was what is known as a “piebald.”  That is an animal that is mostly white with some patches of its natural coloring on it.

But in this case, the only area with color is a small patch on the top of its head.  And to add to the trophy, it was a 10-point buck.  That’s one for the books.

Godfrey brought it down with one shot and he will definitely have the head mounted.

The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot has the full STORY.

FOR MANY YEARS THE NORWEGIAN RAILWAYS CARRIED RIFLES in the locomotive cabs.  Not to fend off Butch Cassidy, but to euthanize wild animals that had been struck by the train.  The locomotive drivers’ union has been protesting the removal of the rifles and now the railway has relented partly.

Aftenposten (Oslo) is reporting:

Norwegian State Railways (NSB) and the Norwegian National Rail Administration (JBV) said that a range of other measures are also underway to reduce the number of accidents involving trains and wild animals, newspaper Nationen reports.

Several hundred animals have been left suffering along railway lines after engine drivers lost the right to have access to a weapon to shorten their agony.

Now the weapons are being replaced on two of the routes most exposed to this problem, but the rifles have had their bolts removed, which has not pleased drivers.

“Those drivers who want it can get the gun bolt before the journey begins,” said NSB information chief Åge-Christoffer Lundeby.

“This is the first step towards getting the old arrangement back. We want usable weapons, safely secured, on all trains,” said Øystein Aslaksen, head of the Norwegian Locomotive Workers Union.

HAS THE “ANIMAL FARM” REVOLUTION BEGUN?  Some people are wondering after a hunting dog shot it’s owner on the opening day of pheasant season in Iowa Saturday.

James Harris was hunting with a group when one of them downed a pheasant.  It fell on the other side of a fence and Harris went to retrieve it.  Before climbing the fence he laid the gun on the ground, neglecting to engage the safety. 

However the dogs followed him too closely, stepping on the gun’s trigger before he managed to get over the fence.  About 100 to 120 pellets of birdshot hit him square in the left calf at a distance of just three feet.

He’s reported to be in satisfactory condition in the hospital, but he will be very uncomfortable for a long time.  The dog was not injured.

The AP has a brief story HERE.

“ROAD RAGE” HAS JUST TAKEN ANOTHER STEP UP.  Dillon Aero of Arizona has just introduced a security car built from a GMC Yukon.  Popular Mechanics checked it out and tells us:

From the street, the GMC Yukons customized by Dillon Aero look like standard-issue SUVs. But behind the tinted windows lurks a fire-spitting dragon: a Dillon Aero M134D Gatling minigun. Designed for VIP escort, the Yukons are outfitted with a roll cage, steel-plate armor and puncture-proof fuel cells and tires. And though weighing around 9000 pounds, the vehicles can exceed speeds of 100 mph (forthcoming supercharged models should be able to go even faster).

At the first sign of trouble, the gunner can pop through roof panels mounted on spring-loaded gas shocks, swivel up to 360 degrees, and unleash a withering, 3000-rounds-per-minute barrage. That’s 50 different 7.62-mm bullets every second.

The two half-moon roof panels act as a shield, and the gun operates off its own 28-volt electrical system, which feeds the ammo from 3400-round linked belts. “The vehicle lays down so much firepower so fast,” says a Dillon Aero spokesman (who asked to remain anonymous), “if you’re a bad guy, all you’re going to want to do is keep your head down.”

Dillon is secretive about who their customers are, but they do admit that some governments friendly to the U.S. have purchased some. 

ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS POLICE HAVE BEEN permitted by a Superior Court judge to seize the stock of a gun shop.  The store in question has had a long-standing problem with security and dozens have been stolen.  They have been turning up on the person of several street criminals.

The neighbors are happy about it:   “It gives the tattoo parlor next door and all the other businesses in the area a bad image. It’s been a dump forever.”

Full story here.

THERE ARE GUN AUCTIONS EVERY WEEK in one place or another.  But there is one tomorrow, June 5, in Orange, California at Little John’s Auction Service that is of special interest.  More than 400 guns from the Stembridge/Petersen collection will be going on the block.  Stembridge Gun Rental is the leading armorer for the major Hollywood movie and television studios and these guns were all used by some legendary actors in their most famous roles.

Included will be the guns used by John Wayne in True Grit, his Winchester from Stagecoach, Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven, Tom Selleck’s Colt auto from Magnum PI, and the guns used by the “Cartwrights” on Bonanza.

The entire auction catalogue is online here in PDF.  Go to page 2 for the index-by-movie.  Some of my favorites are lot #’s 31, 96, 100, 118 and 127.  Pick out your favorites at tell us what they are in the Comments section.

More about Stembridge Gun Rental in the article below.

SHORTLY AFTER THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, James Stembridge left his East Coast home and went to Los Angeles to seek his fortune.  Somewhere around 1913 he met up with Cecil B. DeMille and landed a job helping him make a war movie.  Mr. DeMille wanted James to coach the actors on how to act like soldiers and emulate their habits.  This led to some steady work and sometime between 1916 and 1920 they recognized the need to accumulate a stock of firearms that could be used as movie props.  Thus was the beginning of the Stembridge gun arsenal.

Over the years, James continued looking for and purchasing guns of all make and style and he became the leading armorer for the movie industry.  Even though they rented firearms to all the studios, Stembridge Gun Rental was housed in a secure warehouse on the Paramount lot until 1979.  The backbone of the business was its manager Fritz Dickie, who reigned from 1927 until 1974.

On Dec. 7, 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor underway, there was an immediate shoring up of the coastal defenses.  On that same day the commander of Ft. MacArthur in Los Angeles called Stembridge and told him that he didn’t think there were enough firearms at the fort.  Stembridge immediately sent over several hundred rifles and more than 50 Thompson sub-machine guns.

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LAST YEAR MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG got up on his nanny-state horse and dispatched undercover operatives to several Southern states to set up “sting” operations.  Forgetting that is was New Yorkers who were doing the killing up there, he tried to put legal gun dealers in other states out of business.

His antics were conceivably illegal and the Federal BATFE is investigating his actions.  Earlier this month Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell informed Bloomberg that a Virginia law that takes effect on July 1 will make his shopping trips illegal unless he coordinates them with the Virginia State Police. 

The squeals from NY City Hall were barely starting to die back down when last night a citizen group, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, held a public meeting dubbed “The Bloomberg Gun Giveaway.”  They gave away, by lot, two high-dollar guns, a pistol and a rifle each valued at about $1,000.  The squeals have returned.  D.C. channel 9 has a video report on the drawing last night.