Fantastic Pheasant Hunt to celebrate a Birthday
 

We were invited to join in on a pheasant hunt this past Friday. We were actually given a choice on the date and I picked December 30 since it would be my son Shane’s 17th birthday.
The hunt took place at Triple Creek Farm in Canton, Ohio, a great place to chase pheasants.
We traveled out to Canton Ohio Thursday afternoon and then met our host at the great Benders Tavern. We were advised to try the turtle soup as an appetizer and we were not disappointed, it was unique but very good! The main course was halibut, walleye, and center cut strip steak. If you’re ever in Canton, definitely look up Benders, their food is great!
After a well rested night, we met at Triple Creek at 8am.
There was 4 hunters and it was to be a special day, we were all prepared to shoot Parker hammer guns. 3 16 gauges, a lone 20 gauge, also 12, 10, & 8 gauges. There was also a Parker 28 gauge VHE on hand if the owner decided to rest his hammer gun.
The weather was a little overcast with a few raindrops a time or two, but when the hunt ended the sun was shining. The dog work was great even though it was rather warm. The pheasants flew great and a great time was had by all. There was some good natured ribbing going around when a pheasant escaped the Parker hammer guns, but that rarely happened.
My host had earlier on suggested that I should bring the few lifters that I enjoy and take a bird with each. This was accomplished. I failed to take a group picture or of the grounds we were hunting on, but I did include a few gun/bird pictures.

#1 Shane on his 17th birthday
#2 Gun rack full of Parkers
#3 Parker Lifter family with birds
#4 Shane and myself
#5 & 6 consecutively serial #’d 16 gauges from 1880 (see latest Parker Pages Article)

Congratulations Shane , great looking battery Stan ! In the first picture that one pheasant is rather dark , is it a different species or cross or something ?

Stan are you going to bring the young man with you in early February ?

I'm not familiar with the darker pheasant, the fellow who we hunted with just referred to them as black pheasants, I don't know more about them unfortunately.

I very much doubt you will see Shane in February, he's much too busy with friends and sports:cool:

Shooting, yes, attending an auction, not so much,
Stan

Great hunt Stan. I'll have to check that place out, Canton is a little less than 2 hrs away.

What a great birthday "party." I'm sure one that both of you will remember. Gosh, those lifters are beautiful, and obviously in great working condition. Thanks for sharing your hunt with us.

That's a dandy birthday present and one that he will surely remember. Good job Dad !

Melanistic is the word I heard one called when we were in Kansas. Mr. Swanson was the one who came up with that term.

Per Google:
This melanistic mutant is a pure breed. These large, beautiful pheasants feature an iridescent, greenish-black plumage. A favorite variety for release, they display a remarkable ability to survive and reproduce in the wild. Prime habitat consists of 55-70 % crop fields such as corn, soybean, or small grains. The remainder of the habitat should include some wetlands, grassland, and woodland or brushy thickets.

Appears that "melanistic" would be the correct term.

So, are round knobs just that much more common on lifters, or is that a focus of your collecting? In any event, I really like that grip on a Parker.

I shot a melanistic pheasant on a driven pheasant shoot in England in the late 1980's---- I remembered the term.

Allan

Here's my Daisy with a melanistic which she retrieved at a tower shoot we work at. She's had several hundred retrieves there. My prior dog, Tar had over a thousand

Wow! Beautiful pictures Stan. I love the wood on those old Parkers.

Randy,
Thanks for the explanation on the melanistic pheasant, very interesting.

Gary,
I'm not certain I'm qualified to say this but I do believe the round knob grip is more common on the early guns, meaning lifters. Those checkered round knobs are definitely my favorite with any type of pistol grip being acceptable.
Those guns with boat oars for a buttstock are just not pretty to my eye, but I will make an exception if the gun has enough of other favorable options going for it.
It probably is a good thing that I don't prefer straight grip, that way I'm not competing with everyone else when they come up for sale.:cool:

Stan

What a great hunt! Shane is a handsome young man and I remember my grandsons at that age. Their plate was full with sports, both school and otherwise (Wink). Your Lifter collection is something to behold. I have two from 1881. Each has Twist barrels. The 10 gauge has the round knob and the 12 is straight stocked. At Sandringham there are 17 hammered Purdey's behind glass. I had once aspired to have as many hammered Parkers or better, but I'm winding down. It warms my heart to see a young man or woman shooting a hammer gun. Keep after it!