I’m amazed the rifle was so free, still movable; I’ve seen where a rifle was left beside a tree and the tree grew completely around it. Granted this pine may not grow as fast as a Minnesota deciduous, but how small must it have been a century ago?
I wondered about that too. You’d think the Y in the tree would grow around the gun. I have several 50+ year old oak trees along my property border that have old barbed wire running almost thru the center of them.