Parker Trojan hits the field again...

[ron belanger]

Monday 10/1 is the NH upland opener and I will be kicking the brush with one of my Parkers...(only want to take one at a time since I have a soft top Jeep and would be worried, leaving one in it while I hunted...):eek:

Haven't decided which 20 ga to take yet, the Trojan or the Repro, but on Monday morning my hand will reach into my safe and pull out one or the other :)

I will be hunting public lands on stocked birds (NH WMA)...never done this before so it may be something of an eye opener if hoards of others are out there as well. I have been rained on by 7 1/2's before and it was kinda scary...so we will be decked out in hunter orange galore!

Anyway, gonna give it a shot (pun intended) and will post on what kind of experience it was.
If anything, it will be a great day outdoors on a beautiful, Fall day in New Hampshire...
My girlfriend will be tagging along as a water bearer, photographer and bush kicker (she doesn't know this yet)
I don't have a dog at the moment so she will have to suffice...
I hope she doesn't mind a collar and bell!

I will post pics whether I'm successful or not just to record the day with digital memories of a Parker Gun's return to the field.
The Trojan was my girlfriend's Father's gun and she has no idea when it was last used for hunting...the Reproduction may well have never been in the field so this may be her hunting debut!
Next year, I hope to have a gun dog along...either a Brittany or a Springer.

I think I'll go out to the safe and fondle my Parkers...maybe one of them will speak to me!

[Paul Plager]

They probably say the same thing mine do, "just shoot already" then "you done already?":rotf:
I have to wait until the 5th for my grade 2 10ga. Debut on pheasant, but I can't get my wife to go along to take pics.

[Dean Romig]

Haven't decided which 20 ga to take yet, the Trojan or the Repro, but on Monday morning my hand will reach into my safe and pull out one or the other :)

You might as well just take the Trojan. It will definitely carry and handle better than the Repro and you can add to its long litany of stories (even if it is keeping mum about the first 60 or 70 years of stories) and it has a karma the Repro doesn't suspect.

My girlfriend will be tagging along as a water bearer, photographer and bush kicker (she doesn't know this yet)
I don't have a dog at the moment so she will have to suffice...
I hope she doesn't mind a collar and bell!

Just remember to turn down the power on the collar. You don't want to ruin a young "brush kicker".

Next year, I hope to have a gun dog along...either a Brittany or a Springer.

That's a good idea. I hope your 'gun dog' is respectful of your Alpha ...er... girlfriend and honors her every point.

I think I'll go out to the safe and fondle my Parkers...maybe one of them will speak to me!

Shot off your computer if you leave it... you don't want your girlfriend reading this thread. :whistle:

[ron belanger]

Shot off your computer if you leave it... you don't want your girlfriend reading this thread. :whistle:

:rotf:

Perfect!

The Trojan rides at dawn!

[ron belanger]

They probably say the same thing mine do, "just shoot already" then "you done already?":rotf:

Hmmm...are you sure it's not your wife who says that?? :rotf:

[Paul Plager]

I have also heard " DON'T TOUCH THAT!!!!!":whistle:
But I couldn't tell who said it

[Pete Lester]

Haven't decided which 20 ga to take yet, the Trojan or the Repro, but on Monday morning my hand will reach into my safe and pull out one or the other :)

Basically a choice between natural and implants. :)

[ron belanger]

Basically a choice between natural and implants. :)

Well...I never thought about the situation that way :p

Nevertheless, whether I take the "old girl" or the "new girl" I'll still have at least one "girl" accompanying me that "fills that bill" (OO) :rotf:

[Paul Plager]

I didn't know your name is Bill.:shock::whistle:

[Stephen Hodges]

Ron, Have fun on Monday but be very careful:shock:. I quit going on opening day for the stocked birds as I could not stand the "mobs" of hunters. By Thursday things will quiet down a bit, and the second stocking will have taken place. From then on, excluding the weekends, the hunting becomes fun again:corn: Good luck, and leave a few for me:whistle:

[Eric Grims]

Shot some stocked birds across the Connecticut river from you in Vermont Thursday and it was an absolute full foliage morning with the sun burning off the fog, the cackle of ring necks, the report of my 16 gauge trojan, and the smell of gun powder in the fall. Hard to believe how lucky I am to be able to do this.
The trojan is a 1932 gun, family gun, in very good shape and is the gun I first shot as a kid and the one I hunted with in Pennsylvania growing up.
Switched over to a 20 gauge VH for the last bit of shooting and next week it is the 28 repro.
Connecticut river ducks on Tuesday and will take out the GH 30" 12 ga. before the week is out. In the boat blind for Vermont ducks on the 13th.
Woo hoo - "cut 'em"

[Rich Anderson]

Michigan used to do what they called put and take Pheasant hunting. They released birds in certain Game Mgt units on different days of the week. The birds were usually poor flyers. This practice was discontinued decades ago.

today I went to the Hunt Club for a Quail hut (released birds) which ran, ducked for cover, flew like Grouse in the woods. Excellent birds and managed 3 Pheasants as well. for a preserve type setting these are the next best thing to truly wild birds.

I took the VHE 28 skeet then switched in the late morning to the H&H 20 and popped her cherry on upland birds:)

[Stephen Hodges]

NH stocks about 12 to 14K birds each fall, depending on the number of Pheasant stamps they sell the previous year. The birds do not winter well and do not (Pete will disagree with me) breed in the spring, so it is a put and take hunt. It is what it is, and can provide some fun shooting a little later in the season, and feeds many hawks and owls. Opening day can be a war zone. I much prefer our native grouse and woodcock.

[Daryl Corona]

Michigan used to do what they called put and take Pheasant hunting. They released birds in certain Game Mgt units on different days of the week. The birds were usually poor flyers. This practice was discontinued decades ago.

today I went to the Hunt Club for a Quail hut (released birds) which ran, ducked for cover, flew like Grouse in the woods. Excellent birds and managed 3 Pheasants as well. for a preserve type setting these are the next best thing to truly wild birds.

I took the VHE 28 skeet then switched in the late morning to the H&H 20 and popped her cherry on upland birds:)

I can hear Mr. Holland turning in his grave... "popped her cherry"?:rotf:

[ron belanger]

Ron, Have fun on Monday but be very careful:shock:. I quit going on opening day for the stocked birds as I could not stand the "mobs" of hunters. By Thursday things will quiet down a bit, and the second stocking will have taken place. From then on, excluding the weekends, the hunting becomes fun again:corn: Good luck, and leave a few for me:whistle:

Thanks!
I haven't yet experienced an opener at a WMA so it will be a study in safety and awareness for me!

[Rich Anderson]

Daryl I took the Holland & Holland out again today as I didn't want her to think she was a one hunt wonder and feel slutty. We bagged a limit of Woodcock. It's to the U.P. next week for 4 days of Grouse and Woodcock with Gunner's Gun:)

[ron belanger]

Well, the opener on Pheasant came and went yesterday without incident nor feathers, in my bag anyway...
All in all a great, although very, wet morning.

The WMA I hunted had a few trucks parked at sunrise, and a few shotgun reports were heard even as we got our gear ready at the back of the Jeep...

In no time, we were in the midst of probably 5 or 6 groups working their dogs in the soggy conditions...Although, spread out over about 400 acres the orange colored hunters were out in force.
I immediately, put up a hen about 20 yards in front of me on a trail towards the big fields...I was on a curve in the trail and having heard dog commands and whistles and bells somewhere ahead, I held off taking the shot and the hen apparently made it across the field unscathed, for the moment anyways...
Plenty of shooting from the dog folks and we witnessed some nice flushes and kills from a distance. On one of the flushes and resulting misses by a fellow about 100 yards away, the rooster flew towards us and into the woods line, treetops 30 yards in front of us...no shot and no bird seen upon entering the woods to try and bag him!
After 5 hours of slogging through beautiful, wet, habitat, we had had enough of being soaked through to the skin and headed in to dry out.
The picture was taken as the sun poked through and we were about to quit...
I did fire the Trojan (to clear the water from the barrels)and it was nice to hear the quick, double, report of my own treasure from the past.
We had thought about the last time she was fired and carried by the long, deceased, Father of my Girlfriend and what kind of game he may have shot with it...
A great day in the Autumn beauty of NH...!

The shooting pose was when I fired the 20 ga into a nearby bush to end the day...

[Pete Lester]

NH stocks about 12 to 14K birds each fall, depending on the number of Pheasant stamps they sell the previous year. The birds do not winter well and do not (Pete will disagree with me) breed in the spring, so it is a put and take hunt. It is what it is, and can provide some fun shooting a little later in the season, and feeds many hawks and owls. Opening day can be a war zone. I much prefer our native grouse and woodcock.

In 1973 Governor Mel Thompson ordered the destruction by burning of the NH Fish & Game Pheasant farm in Brentwood NH due to a EEE outbreak. Prior to this event the NH F&G raised their own birds and stocked in both spring and fall. Those birds were larger than what we have today and in spite of the winters back then many survived and did breed in the wild. Unfortunately I know this because during the summer I would occasionally accidently run over a nest with a hen pheasant standing her ground that I did not see with a sickle bar mower. I would then have to stop the tractor and go ring the birds neck. The NH pheasant stocking program today is a shadow of it's former self.

[Stephen Hodges]

In 1973 Governor Mel Thompson ordered the destruction by burning of the NH Fish & Game Pheasant farm in Brentwood NH due to a EEE outbreak. Prior to this event the NH F&G raised their own birds and stocked in both spring and fall. Those birds were larger than what we have today and in spite of the winters back then many survived and did breed in the wild. Unfortunately I know this because during the summer I would occasionally accidently run over a nest with a hen pheasant standing her ground that I did not see with a sickle bar mower. I would then have to stop the tractor and go ring the birds neck. The NH pheasant stocking program today is a shadow of it's former self.

I told you Pete would not agree with me:eek:

[Dean Romig]

I suppose, like chickens, pheasant hens will lay without having been 'fertilized'.

[Pete Lester]

I suppose, like chickens, pheasant hens will lay without having been 'fertilized'.

So how would you explain the chicks that were with them?

Those were different times, we had a lot of farm land back then. It was by and large put and take hunting but there were birds surviving the winters and breeding in the wild back then.

I also believe the pheasant program is an achilles heel for our state wildlife agency. There is no biological management of a species involved, simply the purchase and stocking of live targets. This gives the anti's real ammo. Additionally as Steve mentioned the stocking sites are small in number and put a lot of hunters in close proximity to each other which has resulted in a number of hunting incidents that reflect badly on hunters via the media.