Archibald Rutledge’s Parker

[Tracy Pellett]

I was at Litchfield Beach SC over Easter and having just read one of his books ,I drove over to the Hampton Plantation . Talking to the Ranger on duty I mentioned his shotgun and the Ranger pulled out some pictures of the gun they had recently received from a family member . The amount of notches is very impressive . I am to computer illiterate to post them but if someone would like to post them I would be glad to send them to you . Had not been there for 15 years . It’s well worth a trip. Thanks Tracy

[Garry L Gordon]

I was at Litchfield Beach SC over Easter and having just read one of his books ,I drove over to the Hampton Plantation . Talking to the Ranger on duty I mentioned his shotgun and the Ranger pulled out some pictures of the gun they had recently received from a family member . The amount of notches is very impressive . I am to computer illiterate to post them but if someone would like to post them I would be glad to send them to you . Had not been there for 15 years . It’s well worth a trip. Thanks Tracy

Tracy, I’ll be happy to post them. PM me and I’ll give you my contact information.

[Garry L Gordon]

Here they are:

[Chris Robenalt]

Very cool Tracy.

[CraigThompson]

I wonder if that’s the one he supposedly shot loose ? By that I mean shot it so much until it was loose ?

[Aaron Beck]

What gauge?

[Harold Lee Pickens]

What did the notches represent?

[Garry L Gordon]

12 gauge. I assume the notches were for bucks taken. The gun was a gift to him as he left his teaching position in PA and was headed back to Hampton.

[Charles Matthews]

I had the fortune of arranging a meeting with Arch’s grandson many years ago at the Summer Place in McClellanville, SC and he let me view and handle the Parker. It’s a VH 12 ga. with 30 inch barrels. The notches were indeed for buck deer taken. Ill check my notes when I get home as to the number of notches. The gun was loose but not bad. I cannot tell you the feeling of awe I got shouldering that Parker. A true piece of American history.

[Dean Romig]

I may be mistaken, but didn’t Dr. John Frierson write a Parker Pages article on two of Rutledge’s Parkers a number of years ago?





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[Charles Matthews]

Dean, I may be mistaken but I think that article was re: Dr. Havilah Babcock’s Parkers.

[Dean Romig]

You’re right, it was.





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[Tracy Pellett]

A Parker is in many of his stories that predate his retirement so I doubt this is the gun giving to him when he retired . He also hunted turkey with his Parker and used a #2 shot in the left barrel so some of the notches could be turkeys . But I don’t know this for sure .

[CraigThompson]

I had thoughts of trying to kill a deer down in the Georgetown are namely at the Backwoods Quail Club and Mr. Hemingway informed me he could put me somewhere the odds would be in my favor to smoke one with buckshot , but it wouldn’t be quite the same as Rutledges experiences . I asked what he meant and he said now it’s not politically correct to use black folks as drivers . That was meant tongue in cheek of course .

[Craig Budgeon]

There is a Parker that should be left as is forever.

[Daniel Carter]

Count roughly 126 notches, Chuck could do a better job with his records reading. I am not sure but will try to find out from his books how many he killed but that is only a fraction i believe. At least 250 in that he writes of that hunt but i believe there were many more.

[Bill Murphy]

In which Parker Pages issue was the article about Babcock's Parkers? I would like to reread it. Thanks.

[Randy G Roberts]

In which Parker Pages issue was the article about Babcock's Parkers? I would like to reread it. Thanks.

Bill it was the Spring 2017 issue.

[Devan Brown]

Many splendid authors of this ear - Rutledge is number one for me.

[Drew Hause]

https://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1123

https://sportingclassicsdaily.com/old-flintlock/

https://photos.smugmug.com/Shooters/Historic-Shooters/i-d7LgrDQ/0/4d3befa3/S/Archibald%20Rutledge%201929-S.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Shooters/Historic-Shooters/i-d7LgrDQ/A)

[Tom Pellegrini]

I was at Litchfield Beach SC over Easter and having just read one of his books ,I drove over to the Hampton Plantation . Talking to the Ranger on duty I mentioned his shotgun and the Ranger pulled out some pictures of the gun they had recently received from a family member . The amount of notches is very impressive . I am to computer illiterate to post them but if someone would like to post them I would be glad to send them to you . Had not been there for 15 years . It’s well worth a trip. Thanks Tracy

Tracy,
There are three framed photos of Mr. Rutledge on the wall at Backwoods Quail Club. One of the pictures has Mr. Rutledge posing with a deer he harvested. One gentleman at the club told me that all the years Mr. Rutledge hunted he never could harvest a buck. He said that the horns in the picture were probably screwed on. Don't know if that is true or not. One of the other pictures has him on a bird hunt and looks to be a "P" grade Parker he is holding.

[Mills Morrison]

I can’t believe Archibald Rutledge never harvested a buck. I could believe he never shot a doe as that was the accepted ethics of his day

[Daniel Carter]

His writing was published during his lifetime and it would seem likely that he would have been called out as a fraud by neighbors and guests he hunted with. He was also invited to hunt clubs and killed deer there in front of and with people who would later read those stories.
Cause someone said it does not make it true.

[CraigThompson]

For me Rutledge’s carved up Parker ranks right up there with Jack O’Connors Winchester Model 70 Biesen custom 270’s .

[Tracy Pellett]

Tom, I believe Mr Rutledge shot many bucks but did not kill a really trophy till he was middle age . In An American Hunter published in 1937 he has a story “ Hunting with Half a Gun “ his firing pen breaks and he kills a buck with the second barrel and the second day he kills another buck with his one barrel gun . He is about to kill his 101st buck with his old fusee when the firing pin broke but he got it with the second barrel . “Yet I had no reason to complain, for that pin had never failed me in thirty years of pretty constant shooting.”

[CraigThompson]

This picture is the epitome of Archibald Rutledge for me !

[Mike Franzen]

He kind of resembles Charlie Herzog although Charlie is much more handsome.

[Dean Romig]

He's wearing the tallest available LL Bean Maine Hunting Shoe, so called.





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[Russell E. Cleary]

The old 18-inch model? The maximum height today appears to be 16-inch.