He began hunting in 1943 when he was 13 years old and has been at it ever since. He built his first custom rifle in 1956 and very quickly became one of the premier American gunmakers. There are a few men who can equal Jerry Fisher's work, but no one can do better. Today, at 71, he is still a hunter and a gunsmith, and it's doubtful if there is anyone who knows more about fine rifles-and their use in the field.

He works out of a large, sunlit shop in Big Timber, Montana, with a fine view of the Swan Mountains. The shop would easily pass a military inspection. The tools are all racked, the machines are clean, and there is not a speck of sawdust or a metal filing to be seen.

Fisher is a big man, 6 feet 3 inches tall, packing 225 pounds on his rangy frame. His huge hands belie the delicacy of what he does for a living. He likes old music, hunting in the mountains, dead wolves, fine axes and knives, and good horses. He has no intention of retiring.

Since 1964 Fisher has hunted with only one rifle, a 7mm Remington Magnum that he built on a Winchester Model 70 action. It still wears the same Leupold Pioneer 4X scope (discontinued in 1959) that he mounted on the rifle when it was new. Today the rifle's checkering is worn smooth, its bluing is gone in places, and the stock looks as if it has been dragged down 5 miles of gravel road. Fisher has lost count of the game he has taken with it but knows that it's accounted for whitetails, blacktail deer, a "whole herd of mule deer," sheep, elk, and black bears.

His favorite hunting is mountain mule deer. "Out in the sagebrush it's not too hard to get one, but in the mountains, a big mule deer is real good at keeping his hide on. They don't get to be big by being dumb." His best mule deer is a monstrous 34-incher. A grizzly got the meat, but Fisher kept the antlers.