Widgon Duck Club

[Setter Man]

Love the gun porn but I'd really like to read more about the clubs, themselves.

Thanks,

JDG

[Pay Dirt]

Originally Posted by Jay Gardner

Love the gun porn but I'd really like to read more about the clubs, themselves.
Thanks,
JDG

California Fact

Acre for acre, the Central Valley of California supports more wintering waterfowl than anywhere else in North America. At peak times, this region hosts 5 to 7 million wintering waterfowl—more than 60 percent of the Pacific Flyway’s ducks and geese. As you would expect, the high ratio of birds to habitat results in some superb waterfowl hunting. This is especially true on private duck clubs in places such as Butte Sink, Suisun Marsh, and the Grasslands. Good public hunting is also available on several intensively managed national wildlife refuges and state wildlife areas in the region, which also support large numbers of wintering waterfowl.

Abundant species: pintails, mallards, wigeon, green-winged teal, Aleutian cackling geese,
white-fronted geese, light geese


Club Fact.

The Tulare Duck Club (original home of my gun) and the Wigeon Duck Club
share almost identical longitude and latitude.

The Tulare guns predate the Wigeon guns by over 1 year.

After receiving and using their 20 gauge DHE's, the members contemplated
ordering long barreled .410's. It seems due to the abundance of game,
it just wasn't enough of a challenge bagging birds with a 20 gauge.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Bobby Cash

California Fact

After receiving and using their 20 gauge DHE's, the members contemplated
ordering long barreled .410's. It seems due to the abundance of game,
it just wasn't enough of a challenge bagging birds with a 20 gauge.

Three or four years ago I was talking with a noted gun historian and authority (who's name I am not at liberty to divulge) who told me of knowledge that had recently come to him regarding a pair of Grade 7 or 8 Parker .410's with 32" barrels that went to California to either a pair of brothers or best friends. The other half of this information was that at least one, if not both, would soon come to market.... that was three or four years ago and, though I don't travel in such circles that are in the know or have the ability to make such a purchase, no news of the availability of such fabled guns has reached my ears.

[John Davis]

Well, it's not California but:

December 13, 1902, The Sportsmen’s Review, “Capt. A. W. DuBray (‘Gaucho’), whose entertaining sketch descriptive of trap shooting, field and duck shooting in the Canadian Northwest, appears in this week’s issue, adds this comment: ‘It may interest some of my readers to know that barring part of one day only while duck shooting in Canada, and simply because I had no ammunition for it at hand, I used my old full choke 20-gauge 30-inch barrel Parker gun and Winchester factory loaded Leader shells. The most skeptical regarding the use of so narrow a gauge were instantly converted, and many have resolved on giving both gun and ammunition a thorough trial next season, when I am sure, if they follow my lead, they will never regret making the change, it being apparent to all that both are unsurpassed of their kind.”

[MarketHunter]

Murphy you've got a much information on this sort of thing as anybody. Why don't you publish?

Destry

[Bill Murphy]

Destry, I really don't have anything on Hedderly except one article that pictures him with the famous 16 gauge. I can't remember whether it was a DHE or an A-1 Special. When we copied the records in 1998, we discovered the Hedderly orders, one of the most interesting set of orders in 30,000 pages. Another great duck gun discovery was the Seward Webb trio of big graded hammer guns. I wish I had enough information on Hedderly to publish, but I think McCormack and Noreen would be better choices.