I was inspired by my uncle who just turned 75. He started taking me quail hunting with him when i was about 10 or 11 years old. He was a true "dog man" in every sense of the word. He raised and trained English Pointers that were the envy of everyone who ever saw them hunt. Birds were everywhere and just about anyone would let you hunt. He shot an old Remington 870 Wingmaster 20 gauge with the last 2 inches of the barrel blown off. He let me use my Grandad's Remington model 11-48 28 gauge. I grew up believing those days would last forever.
My first encounter with a SxS was when I was 15. When I would come home from school the bus would pass a county land fill. I noticed crows flocking there in the mornings in great abundance. I told my uncle I wanted to hunt crows and could I use the 28. He said I needed more gun and suggested I find a 12 gauge. We never used or owned anything bigger than a 20 because he said it wasn't sporting to hunt with. I asked a buddy if he had a 12 gauge I could borrow and he brought me an old Stevens model 235 "rabbit ear" gun in 12 gauge. He also let me borrow his crow call and stuffed owl decoy. That summer I would be out on the road with the gun, uncased, the owl and a box of hulls hitch hiking to the dump. I shot a lot of crows and fell in love with the old gun. At the end of the summer I had to give it back but I was hooked. Old rabbit ear guns are still my fav