stoped and bought me a box of reo 12 ga 1 1/4 ounce of no 5 s this evening..was not bad on the price either 10.50....a fella got to shoot thru a lot of leaves at this time of year so i like to shoot a load that can penetrate the leaves and still get the squirl...a fellow once said leave the small bores at home while the leaves are on. i tend to agree with him...charlie

shot two of these shells in the parker 3 frame 12 ga at the usal dr pepper can at 70 paces it only put 1 shot each time i shot..this is pretty good useing no 5 lead shot..i m certain at 50 yards it will drop a squirl every shot..only got2 more days it will open this wednesday..looking forward to toteing this old parker that morning...charlie

only one more day then me and the old parkers can hit the woods....charlie

when i wake up it will be time to uncase the old parker.. ive got my truck gassed up and ready i just hope i m doing the right thing hunting in the hills..its been dry here for a spell the squirls may have moved closer to the water...well any way i ll be hunting...gona get up at 4.30 and cook me some bacon gona be a long walk in the morning....charlie

Will be thinking of you Charlie. I'm sitting in the dark looking at rain. It's opening day for pheasants. I will be breaking in a 1 frame 16ga Damascus GH that followed me home despite a replacement butt stock with palm swell wrist and a strange butt plate. Some 2 1/2" RST 6 shot will be used if we can flush a few birds. Good luck on your hunt my friend. Cheers Jack

good to see you posting jack...hope you and the 16 teen do well today.them 16 s carry good like a 20 and shoot like a 12..guess its cooling down in your neck of the woods. here it was cool this morning but about 88 at 2.00 pm..let us know how you did on the phez and how well the 16 done....charlie

well i was up at 4.30 sharp had been awake since 2.30 i m still like i was in my youth dont get much sleep on opening day of squirl or deer...i put 2 big biscuits in the oven fried 3 big strips of bacon and put the coffee on..in 15 minutes i was ready to eathad a guilty complex and put 1 of the biscuits and 1 and 1/2 pieces of the bacon under a lid for the wife..been trying to cut down on eating with not much luck...well got the gun shells and flashlight and loaded them in the truck and off to the woods i went..got out of the truckand said to myself its gona be 30 minutes till daylight..i enjoyed the peacefullness of the dawn soon it was light i got the 3 frame out of the truck and loaded her up with them no 5 s...as i started slipping along i thought i should have wore a light jacket this morning but after seeing the first squirl all thoughts of being cool was gone...this squirl was really barking at something i knew it was not me...some crows flew in to check the squirl out it was tempting to try the gun on the crow..finally i saw the squirl move i was about to get a bead on him when from nowhere a small airplane comes tree top level.well thet squirl was outa there and high tailing it ..never saw this squirl again..... i walked on and finally seen a limb shaking took a few steps to see better and there he was cutting some acoirns i raised the old parker up and down came the old guns first squirl of the morning...as i picked up the squirl i saw another squirl i shot but missed but the left barrel got the secound squirl..i walked and slipped for about 30 minutes again before i came up on another squirl this old fellow was really shaking a limb when i dropped him out....this squirl had a bug in him we call a wolf so i let him lay were he had fell...at about 9.30 i saw the last and final squirl of the morning it was at least a 60 yard shot i took the shot and i said to myself missed that one well i reloade the gun and was watching to see if maybe i would see him again about that time that squirl fell outa that tree i was really surprized...well it was a mile walk back to the truck but it was still cool so it was a good walk i thought i mite run across another squirl but i did not so for the total it was 4 squirls 2 good ones and 2 bad ones with wolves in them..after arriving home i went and sharpened my knife and was gona skin them to squirls them things were so old and tough i let my dogs have them...did not go back this evening hunting it was just to hot it was 88 abou 2.00 pm..even thou the old parker weighs in at 10 lbs it handled very well and never wore me out...charlie

Congrats on the old 10s first blood. Supposed to cool off this weekend. May try for squirrel my self. Haven't hunted this year yet.

Congrats on a successful hunt Charlie. I was up at 4 even though the plan was to leave at 8. Old hunters - we're all the same I guess. It was wet, cold and miserable but fun of course. The 16 handled well but my eye was not on. One missed long shot can be forgiven but two in close missed was too much to bear, so I hung up the 16 and carried a 12 pump I bought as a kid. I got one more opportunity and put that one in the bag. My buddy fared no better than me. Opening day jitters, a year away from shooting but the birds will need to be even more cautious once we get back into the swing of it. I prepared the one bird and he is very nice with only a couple pellets in meat. Will make a nice meal in a few days. Will be trying the 16 again in a couple days. I think I will replace that strange butt stock with a proper Parker look and feel. I might not shoot it any better but I will feel better carrying a proper looking gun. Cheers, Jack

going again in the morning...i will meet up with fellow hunters at about 11.00 am and we will skin and cook what ever we have shot...its good to be back on the hunt...i too have those off days shooting..but it sounds like you had a great day afield with the parker...charlie