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from Cclliforni,1 to lfowaii ) and a desire for
adventure which led him into the Army as
soon as he had finished his first year at
Beloit College, in Wisconsin. He had tried
originally to g t into the Navy, but had
been rejected because of his stature.
Arness took basic at Camp Wheeler,
Georgia, in Baker Company, Seventh Regi-
ment, Third Division, which went first to
Africa and then to Anzio Beach. As his
outfit's LCI was drawing into shore, his
company commander ordered him first into
the water, to guacre the depth. It was al-
most inevitable that a target of Amess' size
would get hit eventually. It happened four
nights later. He was assigned to a recon-
naissance patrol sent out to locate a
machine-gun emplacement. They found it,
but the enemy spotted them an,d opened
fire. Jim got it in the legs and went down,
convinced he was done for. Some medics
found him and dragged him back, cursing
and muttering over his height and weight.
He spent a year in GI hospitals in Africa
Hunting and Fishing and sent home.
and the States and finally was discharged
The wound do not bother him today. In
an indirect way, they are·responsible for the
WITH GIL FAUST
individuality of Dennis W eaver's portrayal
of Chester Goode on "Gunsmoke." W eaver
SHOOTING FORK: Missed a long-range hot at standing game because you had been searching for something distinc-
couldn't hold steady and your rifle sights skittered around too much? Next time tive to give the character but had not been
carry a homemade wooden shooting fork about a yard long, Y-shaped on one end able to think of anything suitable until one
and pointed on the other. When shooting, jab the point in the ground, sit behind day when he and Arness were sitting
it; rest the rifle's fore-end in the Y fork. around talking about their backgrounds.
Ames · mentioned his leg wounds casually,
whereupon W eaver jumped up and cried,
DEER AUTOPSY: When you find a deer carcass that carries no wound, you can
determine the cause of death by cracking a leg bone. If marrow is white, it was "That's it!" He began to walk about with
disease or poison. If pink or red, the deer starved. a stiff-legged limp. "He's been injured in a
gunfight!" he cried. The executives were
dubious of having a cripple on the show,
REEL PRESERVER: Fo't storing fishing reels for the winter, also for carrying
but Arness and W eaver talked them into it.
them in your tackle ho, without marring them when the fishing season rolls around , Today vast segments of the audience refuse
again, slip each into a discarded woolen hunting sock.
to believe that W eaver is not actually
handicapped. He gets long letters of praise
NON-SLIP SCOPE: Sometimes heavy high-powered scopes on high-po·wered rifles for his courage in overcoming the obstacle.
tend to slip in their ring mounts, from recoil; also target scopes on .22s. The
simplest remedy is to dust powdered resin under the rings.
ii fter Arness was discharged, early in
FOR SWEET-TOOTHED FISH: When all other ice-fishing baits fail, try minia- .L-\.. 1945, he went home to Minneapolis.
ture marshmallows, available at most candy stores. Sink a small hook in one and He decided to enroll at the University of
jig it up and down a few feet from the bottom. Come spring, it will take bass and Michigan, and to kill time and earn a little
big trout, too. Just heavy enough for a spin-cast. money he took a job as a radio announcer.
Then he ran into a pal he had known · at
ANGLER'S RECONNAISSANCE: While gunning the winter woods, keep an eye Beloit College, Dick Brennicker, who had
on the trout streams. Low water will uncover the choicest fishing holes and boulder been stationed in Southern California while
hideouts you couldn't see last spring. Remember them! in the a val Air Corps. "Let's go out
there," Brennicker ·aid. Arness' wanderlust
surfaced and he agreed on the spot.
ANTI-FREEZE JACKET: Want to make your winter hunting or ice-fishing jacket
"The main reason I wanted to go to Cali-
so warm you'll have to open it to cool off no matter how far down the temperature
fornia was the climate," Arness says. "I was
skids? Have it interlined with a layer of deerskin.
tired of those Minnesota winters. I never
had any notion of getting into pictures.
ROLL-ON FOR A GLERS: A roll-on bottle can roll on other things besides de- Radio, maybe, but not films." He was still
odorants. When empty, wash off its label, pry off the ball gimmick and fill with convinced that his height was a handicap.
dry-fly lotion, liquid line dressing, in ect repellant or cod-liver oil to scent lures. "Th y couldn't make a screen [ _' nough
Ball holder snaps back on easily. to fit me in," he said.
Br nnicker wanted to be an actor, and
COCKLEBURRED DOG: Should your pooch come back from a hunt with hi soon after arriving in Los Angeles he got a
coat matted with cockleburs, don't try to pluck them out by h and and don't reach part in a play at the Bliss Hayden Theater.
for the scissors. A table fork is the solution, says D. Davenport of Stafford, Virginia. Arness used to go along to rehearsals and
Insert tines under bur and lift with a wriggling motion. hang around, watching with mild interest.
One day the director sugge ted that there
NUMB FEET: The antidote for cold feet while hunting in sub-freezing weather i was a part he could fill, and asked him to
A to break the ice covering a stream and stand in the water if your footgear is water- try it. Brennicker also urged him to read,
R proof, says John Freeland of Osseo, Wisconsin. The water will warm them up to and he landed the role. An agent named
G thirty-two degrees. Flexing your toes vigorously will do the rest. Leo Lance happened to see him and was
0 waiting one night.
s "Have you ever thought of trying out for
y A RGOSY will pay $5 for every hunting or fishing tip printed in this pictures?" he asked.
column. A ll submissions become the property of the magazine. Address: " ot seriously," Jim said.
72 Hunting and Fishing, ARGOSY, 205 East 42nd St., ew York 17, N. Y. "Sign here," Lance said.