Bjørneskytter's rifle? Coulod easily be

[jon_norstog]

Our family came from the high country of Telemark between Oslo and Bergen and for a while in the last half of the 19th century had a concession to operate a stage stop at Haukeliseter on what was then the only road between the two cities. We didn't have surnames at that time ... it was later when the family kind of broke up, some moved to Edlund and became Edlunds, some went down to Haukeli and became Haukelider, our branch moved to Norstog and became Norstogs.

When I was a kid the old folks in North Dakota would talk about the old days. I remember one of the stories was about a man they called Bjørneskytter - the bear shooter - who was paid by the government to kill problem bears. Uncle Olaf had a picture of him in a family group - he was holding a long-barreled rolling block rifle. Surprised me to see, because I had the impression that he was active a couple hundred years earlier.

Anyway, last year I stopped at Haukeliseter and camped there a few days. It was cheap camping and they gave you access to the sauna, the canoes, showers and all the coffee you could drink. In the dining area there were some old guns up on the wall, including a long-barreled rolling block, looked like a "sporterized" version of an infantry rifle. I asked the desk if anyone knew the story about it. "It's been here as long as anyone can remember" was the reply. I'm thinking this was Bjørneskytter's rifle.


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jn

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