Fall Southern Side by Side Classic
 

Just a reminder that the Fall Southern Side by Side Classic is coming up. It will be October 21st, 22nd, and 23rd at Backwoods Quail Club.
I know a number of you here are going to bird hunting at that time. Just another reminder, you can also combine a bird hunt and attend the Fall Southern. Backwoods offers quail hunts and Pheasant tower shoots. I know most are going to their traditional bird hunting haunts. This is just an idea thrown out there if someone wants to have a different memorable outing and also enjoy some very enjoyable clay shooting.
One thing I forgot to add. The Spring Southern is a joint effort of two fine gentlemen, Ed Strickland and Rick Hemmingway. Some of you on the forum might know Rick Hemmingway, the owner of Backwoods Quail Club. It seems the PGCA is all about the Spring Southern and does not care to be involved any way with the Fall Southern. I just cannot understand this.

The Fall Southern is a great event, because it is small and the shooting is great. You get to actually visit with people due to the small size and no lines for the shooting.

We're a maybe at this point due to other stuff going on, but I encourage anyone who can make it to go

We'll be there in 2023!! Been away from the Fall SxS for too long!

I’d talked myself outta going this year but an enabler friend was talking to me on the phone tonight and now I’m on the fence !

Tom if I decide to come this year you wanna meet me on Wednesday for a practice round like last year ?

Clay birds are a heck of a lot easier to clean than grouse but they sure don’t taste as good :rotf::rotf::rotf:

I'm 100% in accordance with you Craig! Plus there's no bag limit.

Practice
 

All you have to do is let me know when and I'll be there.

If I don’t talk myself out of going I’ll plan on being down there around lunch time so I can get some fried chicken at the place at the entrance to Backwoods on Wednesday . So we can fatten up , shoot and hopefully I can get checked in where ever I make reservations and be down on the waterfront for dinner by 19:30 :whistle: I’ve said it before and will continue to say “The shooting is nice but it’s all about the FOOD” :rotf::rotf::rotf:

Mingo's

Tom I don’t remmember anyone putting out a display at Backwoods last year ? I assume you could do it in the clubhouse room where folks eat ?

Craig, I plan to be there. We had a good time last year. Try to make it. Carvel

Sorry to say I’ll not make it this year maybe next year . Pheasants Partidge and Pigeons are calling me in WVA that weekend !

Other plans were made for me that weekend as well. . . . .

Mills, bring your “planner” with you to Backwoods…:whistle:





.

If I can slip off from peanut harvest here I'll come for a couple days. It's always very tough for me to do, though I have been able to attend several times in past years. Always enjoy Backwoods.

Display
 

Craig, about four years ago David Dwyer and I wanted to have a Parker Display at the Fall Southern. David made some calls and received no interest. Then David asked for a banner for the table. No Interest until a fine Virginia gentleman, said he had a banner we could use. I did some foot work with Rick Hemmingway who was more than supportive. Then I received a call from david Dwyer and he said the display was not going to happen. He did not elaborate.
The PGCA held their annual meeting at the Fall Southern almost ten years ago. David Dwyer arranged it and from what I was told it was a very nice affair except for a number of members complaining that it was TOO far away.
The same thing happened with the Youth Shoot. David Dwyer and I had everything in place. We had a couple of other members on board also and then the board of directors at that time squashed it. So IMHO there is something about the Fall Southern is why the PGCA is not interested. I know the first thing many will throw out for a reason is it is bird hunting season. That is NOT the reason. The same two men bust their buts and put on both venues but the Fall Southern falls by the way side.

If I’d been able to attend I had table coverings and racks already offered to me . And I had six or seven I was bringing to shoot I woulda displayed .

Seems to be the problem with all this shotgun stuff ! The more you get to know people etc etc the more there are things happening the same weekends many miles apart .

The Fall Southern is not a "Display your Guns", "Sell your Guns", "Buy Some Guns" kind of event. It is a great shooting event, not a gun show. Anyone who loves to shoot a double gun will enjoy this event.

The Fall Southern used to be a combination event, much more like the Spring Southern, where many vendors/dealers would come. As the years went on Rick told me he was having more and more trouble convincing them to come for the weekend. The smaller attendance, as compared with the Spring Southern, along with the associated lower number of sales, dissuaded them until it ceased to be. One of the earlier years was when I was able to trade for Susie, my 32" barreled 16 ga. LCS. I will always remember that weekend.

Bill is absolutely right that it is a fine venue for shooting your double guns at great targets. Rick is a master at putting on a shoot and having everything run smoothly. Trap problems are almost nil. He is adamant about having his equipment in top notch condition, and...... making fine eating available.

Sure hope I can get back over there this year. I want to test my mettle against "Doc John" again.

I will be there, and I'm looking forward to it as I haven't been able to shoot much lately. ---Matt

Fall Southern
 

Stan you are absolutely correct. When I started working the event 11 years ago it was just like the Spring Southern. Many of the vendors and competitors though complained that it was during bird hunting season. At that time Bill Kempfer and Rick Hemmingway decided to move the event to the third week of September. Everyone thought that was a great idea. Many complained about the heat in September as compared to October. Then the event was moved back to October. After that move many of the vendors did not return and never came back since no matter how hard Bill Kempfer and Rick Hemmingway tried. Like I said before Backwoods offers quail hunts and pheasant tower shoots and will do their best to accommodate the coustomer the best they can.

Tom,
What's the status of Backwoods after IAN?

Status
 

Buddy, I haven't touched base yet. I will do that tomorrow. I believe there was higher wind in the Georgetown area, but being farther inland I believe they faired pretty well. I will post any info when I receive it. Take care young man.

Status
 

I just talked to Allison at Backwoods and she said that there was some wind and a few tree limbs down. They were open yesterday and everything is in normal operation. From what I am seeing on the local news is that on the coast there was damage from the wind and much more damage from the storm surge. I am only 12 miles from Myrtle Beach and the highest gust reported in my area was 51 mph along with 5.5 inches of rain. Like I said previously along the coast the damage was much worse. Three of the piers were damage also.

Looking forward to seeing the Fall Southern for the first time, it will be a pretty quick trip. Hoping to arrive Friday am and will be there thru Saturday pm. Since this will be the first time, I'm really interested in finding out about the Parker/Smith events.
Looking forward to meeting more great people from this site,
Stan

Fall Southern
 

Stan,
Give me a call when you get into town. Maybe we could get together and I could give you the "50 cent" tour or even get some practice in early.
Tom Pellegrini
717-877-7772

Google the resteraunts in Georgetown !!!!

Thanks Tom,

Well, with the fair weather forecast for my area it looks like i will be running a peanut combine again this weekend, instead of being able to be there. I hate it, but somebody's got to get these fields harvested so the migratory doves will have some high protein food when they arrive! :D

Hope y'all have a big weekend. Shoot well!!

Fall Southern
 

We’re back from South Carolina
and we enjoyed our time immensely down there! I must say the Fall Southern put on by Mr. Hemmingway and his crew is superb, the club is one of the best if not the best that I’ve ever been to.
The course was great, all trappers were very gracious, and the Southern hospitality is, well, second to none!
It is an event that I would like to attend every year, it’s just unfortunate that the timing is not better, meaning it coincides with bird season.

One of the highlights was meeting our member Ed Blake. He was shooting is 32” 20 gauge Hammer Gun very well. He was gracious enough to allow me to take a few pictures of our 2 20 gauge Hammer Guns together

Stan did anything new follow us home ?

Fall Southern
 

We came home with an extra gun for sure, it isn’t new but new to me:)

From left to right

NID Grade 5E
NID Grade 7E
NID Grade 3E (consecutive serial # with 7E
All 30” guns

Stan I was hoping you could get the deal done on that 7E. Congrats, that's an awesome pair.

Thanks Randy,
I was excited to put these two guns together, the 7E was originally sent to E C Crossman, Walt had a copy from the Ithaca work/shipping book, it stated the price but they basically gave him the gun. I also received more paperwork on E C Crossman.

It was a great weekend with Walt Snyder, and thanks to a few volunteers, we were able to field an Ithaca Team. We didn’t give Smith or Parker competition, but we had fun.
On the line was a 3E, 4E 20 gauge, 5E, and 2 7E’s:)

Stan I'm glad you got that gun, I know that it meant a lot to you. Now for this volunteer Ithaca team that was unable to put up a fierce competition by your definition? What happened to a team of Stan, Shane, Daniel, Caleb, and Philip? That sounds like an Olympic team to me :) You didn't leave them fellas at home did ya :shock:

Yeah,
Unfortunately because it was a short trip with not much time spent at the shoot, we elected to leave the boys at home.
Of course they were all archery hunting, so they didn’t complain real loudly.

I’m thinking we won’t get away with not taking them along to Sanford, we shall see.

First picture from left to right- Buddy Marson, NID Grade 5E, Nid Grade 7E, NID Grade 3E.

Nice Guns!

You're looking good Buddy. Great looking guns Stan.