I especially enjoyed Jack's great story- his Dad must have been a real deadly shot on birds with that old VH 12- to shoot that well consistently in a mixed bag day back then- ducks, geese and pheasants- sort of belies the old adage of "Beware the man who shoots one gun"-- My late maternal grandfather shot a bit like Jack's Dad- also my father- both with a glorious mix of both Parker and Model 12's- all 12 gauge-
Labs weren't as big in our areas back then, we had Springer Spaniels, and you had to hustle to keep up with them, but Boy Howdy did they put up the pheasants back then-usually about 3 Hens to each Rooster in ratio, which foretold a good brood for the next year- So Express No. 6 shot loads and tighter chokes than if hunting quail or dove (both protected in the Buckeye State then, as was Sunday hunting)-- hence my preference yet today I suppose.
My first car was a 1951 Chevy coupe with the three-piece rear window, three on the tree stick, and both a pull out choke and throttle lock, still the key but by then a push button on the dash had replaced the foot starter pedal above and to the right of the accelerator- the Pontiac and Jack's first driving experience was a nice added touch- back then GM built their cars like Sherman tanks-with real heavy gauge steel--
