[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Phil Yearout

I had one gun that I hadn't hunted in years but was may more special than any I have...so special in fact that I recently gave it away.

Late 1940's, the war was over and my dad wanted a new shotgun. Guns were still pretty hard to come by but my dad knew a guy who said he had a line on a 12ga auto. What arrived was not one gun but two, and not 12ga's but 16's. Dad took them both; my oldest brother got the other. When I was 12 or so my father was shot in a hunting accident which cost him most of the vision in his left eye eye; he never hunted after that, and from then on his gun (a Savage 775a) was pretty much mine, despite there never being any "official" transfer. For years it was the only shotgun I owned. Then I got interested in doubles and after that the Savage languished in the back corner of my gun cabinet.

My brother eventually gave his to one of his sons and hinted that, if I wasn't shooting dad's anymore, he'd sure like to have it for his other son. He even offered to buy it a couple times but even though I wasn't shooting it I just wasn't ready to let go of it. I don't have a male heir, and my daughter just isn't interested.

Two years ago, before our yearly hunting trip to South Dakota, I put the gun in the old canvas sleeve that was the only gun case dad ever had and took it along, and while there I gave it to my nephew Tim. It was time. I still have dad's vest and a few boxes of his shells which I'll never shoot. My only regret is that my brother passed away a few years ago and I wish I had done it while he was still around to see it. He would have liked that.

I'll bet your brother knows. That is most definitely a very special gun, Phil.