This is a great topic to ponder. As I do I think over the different phases I have gone through over the past decades – first I wanted guns of certain grade and condition regardless of fit and chokes. Then the pendulum swung completely the other way and my only concerns being choke, frame size, and fit for “hunt-ability.” Now I have landed somewhere close to the middle. Medium grades and hunt-ability reign supreme in my desires, but also enough condition to be considered a “sweet spot gun” (50% at minimum and hopefully better condition) – my allowances for gun fit have also widened as I have aged.
But my first thought with every gun I lift is still “where will I hunt this gun”?
My modest collection will attest to this. I have just a few guns that I have not yet hunted but all of them could get the call on any given day if the circumstances are right.
I wonder what my gun room will look like a decade from now?
__________________
“I never wrote a poem in my life. But if I ever do, it will be about ducks.”
– Gordon MacQuarrie, The Last Stories of the Old Duck Hunters, 1985
|