1878 LIFTER DELIVERS

[J. A. EARLY]

This was a spring through summer project, an 1878 10 gauge #2 frame with an added set of 12 gauge IC & IC barrels. Loaded up some 1 ounce 8s and went after the doves today. It took two boxes but had my fifteen birds and three I could not find. Had a total knee replacement ten days ago and my wife said I was crazy.

But the highlight of the day was what happened later. I had observed the grandson of the landowner (a cousin) firing away with no results. Brandon's dad lost his life about three years ago from a misdiagnosed case of Farmer's Lung. They sent him home from the hospital and he was dead in a few days. Tragic. Brandon's father was the heir to running the family farm, and left a wife and Brandon and his sister. I got on my four wheeler I used to get around and went to him. He had five birds and had shot over seventy-five times. I took him to my spot with the Mojo dove and the barbed-wire fence covered with decoys.

I told Brandon that he was standing up long before the birds were in range, and as my uncle told me, you can't kill them until you can see the bird's eye ( not really true but it means they must be on top of you). I also told him you can't lead too much, because even if you miss they will fly into the trailing shot pattern. He listened better than I could have hoped for.

Brandon had killed seven doves in his life before today. Shooting a Savage 67 pump in 20 gauge and not even knowing what choke he had in there, he killed the final ten out of thirty shells for his first limit ever at thirteen years old! He was busting them better than anyone in the field. With only granddaughters who don't like to hunt, that made me happy I could pass something on to a young hunter.