I'm sending in for my "doubles pin"--

[Old and Reliable]

Waterfowling is a weather guided activity- wing, overcast, approaching storm fronts all bode well. So far, until this morning (Wed 10/28) a few teals and woodies seen (not shot however) and three geese since our zone opener on 10/10/09-- NO mallards, my "bread and butter species"--Took two shotguns to a favorite area farm, this time I didn't stop at Keizer's for the "Boat Anchoring" breakfast as usual, was just putting out the few shells at 8:25AM when I heard the geese coming. The M12 Mag was nearby, they didn't spook, and I dropped one bird stone dead- halfway to the limit, not too shabby- 5 minutes later I had my second bird, if I were a violator I could have taken way more, overcast, slight wind, all good things for the waterfowler.

I went back to the Jeep with the birds in tow, unloaded and cased the M12 and emptied out the camo pockets of steel loads, uncase the GHE project Parker 12, filled up with the Hevi-Shot for Classic Doubles non-toxic No. 4's 1 & 1/8 oz. and went to the pasture pond (lotsa rain lately) threw out two K-mart "foolies" and sat down to wait and see- first mallard was a hen, she got a free ride, a few minutes later three nice orange legged greenheads made a strafing run, I rose up to flare them, Boom, Boom, ker-splash, ker-splash- my first double on mallards with a double gun, and it was with a Parker-

I waited a while longer, my coffee urge kicked in, so I took the two dekes and the two deceased mallards back up, and had coffee with my farmer-host--about 10:30 the barn pigeons were milling around, so I shed the camo, and grabbed some AA reloads and "trimmed them a bit"-- A nice bonus- the bigger of the two geese had a leg band, first one for me in some time. The first four digits happen to be part of my Military Service number (I served prior to the usage of the SS numbers)- but the last 5 struck a chord in my gambler's heart:00717-- 007 (license to kill- and I love to kill game birds) and 17- the stand number in BlackJack, also a magazine, the root leg number on a framing square when you are laying out jack and hip rafters (use 12 for common rafters)and my first "encounter" at that age, "Out In The Corn Where The Woods Got Heavy- In The Back of My '51 Chevy"!! All good.

I don't put the bands on my call lanyards- IMO- sorta like the "Brag Patches" on Trap and Skeet shooters vests- but I can see why guides and call makers like to- tells potential clients that they have shot a lot of birds- All Good.

[Dean Romig]

Francis, Congratulations on your double! I hope your pin arrives safe and sound. I recently received an envelope containing the nice congratulatory letter and a PGCA sticker and I assumed it was sent with a pin too but the entire end of the envelope was mangled and ripped off and my suspicion is that the hard bulk of the pin inside couldn't pass through the postal sorting machine at the US Postal Service Center. I notified Jennifer and suggested she use a 6" X 9" manilla envelope in hopes that the larger size would escape damage because it would not be subject to the sorting machine.

I enjoyed reading about your day and your great success and anybody who quotes Seeger is OK in my book even if he does fracture the lyrics a bit.

I expect we'll hear or read more about your "GHE Project Parker" in the very near future, hmm? Nice job. Dean

[Old and Reliable]

Sort of the MidWestern answer to the equally great Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Harry Chapin and other Eastern Seaboard musical artists--Yes, I have doubled on mallards a few times over the 50 years or more I have been an avid waterfowler-always with a Model 12 however- never on pheasants--

Re: The GHE 12 project Parker that friend Brad Bachelder completed for me- I sent in an article and Brad's research on the Christian Fischer after market ejectors to Austin Hogan at Parker Pages- should he decide to use it in a future issue-- I have a birthday next month- and Grey November Days- or Gray November Days might be under my Birthday placemat-I also recall Havilah Babcock and his "My Health Is Always Better in November"- great read. I will use the GHE on a preserve hunt on my birthday with Brad-a possible double I suppose, but he has a big yellow male Lab named Max and in my experience with pheasants, I might expect two Roosters to flush from a point taken by the gunner, but with a flushing dog, "no holds barred" as to shot opportunities-- I have seen only one true double on Roosters- years ago now I was treated to another birthday Nov. hunt (I used a M12 but no double for me)- my host was a known area dog trainer and had several pieces of private preserve under his lease. We went to a old weathered farm, where three days earlier they had put out 50 pheasants for a corporate hunt.
So we were hunting "left-overs" and he had a Ithaca Japanese 20 side-by with a single trigger like the Model 21- and a big male GSP named Rommel-solid as a rock on point, and when he went it, two Roosters went up, one rolled out right, the other to the left and the little gun barked twice- I assumed (being a 12 gauge gunner) Jim had added an "insurance shot", I never saw the left going bird drop, but it did, and his dog brought back, one at a time, two dead as Caesar's ghost Roosters-so we shall see. It's a personal thing understood only by fellow gunners- sorta like what a ATA Lifer once told me years ago about running 100 straight at 16 yards (a feat he had done countless times) or as he put it, running 25 straight back to back to back-- here's the jist of what he said: "Son, first time you run a 100 straight at 16 yards, you get your patch and put it in your shirt pocket, then go downtown to the best restaurant and order yourself a nice big steak dinner with all the trimmings- then when the waiter brings you the bill, show him that 100 straight patch and see just how much they deduct from the tab for your accomplishment- great lesson in humility 101- Cheers--

[Dean Romig]

Tough lessons, those doubles on roosters. I shot a true pair in the sixties on a pair of rising birds. Both birds towering within ten feet of each other. I neatly folded the first bird, pumped quickly and folded the second in a heap at no greater distance than a skeet station 4 to the stake. I ran to collect my beautiful cock birds but was never able to find either of them. Total and utter humiliation . . . !

[Old and Reliable]

A mature Rooster is a true "die-hard' bird. I've had that happen several times-hard to believe that a colorful "Ditch Parrot" bird related possibly to a peacock can do a Houdini after crashing to Terra Firma. About 15 years ago with my old Lab "Ace" my partner had a bootstrap shot, a big Rooster right out in front, went down in a sea of feathers- and "Ace" would bring you back Irwin Rommel on a platter of sauerbraten- he was that good a retriever-but that bird dug a hole apparently and went back to his native land of China via a hole he pulled in closed behind him-not a trace anywhere- Just a few weeks ago (Sat 17th) at the pick-up shoot up at Marion MI- I went with two gentlemen from Midland and their 3 year old GSP "Maverick" darn fine big dog, solid and sure on point, not quite finished as a retriever, but coming along in that area. He jacked up on a bird in the sorghum patch, Jim flushed it and got off a shot which rocked the bird in the air, it arced over towards my edge and I gave it both barrels from a 12 gauge ejector grade double made in Fulton NY-and at the second shot it dropped like a Lead Dirigible-money in the bank, right? Not so- the only bird the dog worked for us- 20 minutes in the area, back and forth in a "Hard target search that would have pleased Tommy Lee Jones in Fugitive"--and NaDa- no bird-mystery indeed, but I believe you 100% because I do have "been there and done that"- shame too, as whether a native Rooster or a Preserve bird, we are not looking to feed the foxes or coyotes or feral cats in our hunting trips- but, it happens.

[Labowner]

Good job Francis.
Dean had the same thing happen to my double pin.

[Old and Reliable]

When I received my membership certificate with the great poem on Parkers, I also received my pin (now on my shooting bag) and it came through A-OK- sorry to hear that both you and friend Dean had received a doubles pin with some damage- I am sure that Jennifer will do her best to pack them, our friends at the USPS aren't always as careful as we would like them to be- that's why whenever I ship a set of shotgun barrels anywhere, they are cased in heavy wall PVC tubing and sealed like Fort Knox. We might remember that some mail moves via commercial airlines, and their "baggage handlers" belong to the BF&I school of handling--

In a 20-20 hindsight anlysis of the double on greenheads I made this morning, I did a few things that may have helped: (1) I always shoot better when standing- and my years of layout boat shooting for divers are way behind me now, my back won't take that strain- and in rising up from the crouch with the Parker's muzzles pointing skyward, the mallards that had dropped their feet to kiss the pond with "stalled" a bit at that motion of mine (they were maybe 12 yards out in front) so the first one was the above the nose shot, the left sided second bird was getting into that vertical climb mode mallards (and pheasants usually) use for escape- and again, I blotted out his head as I hit the rear trigger and he dropped like a cheap cardboard suitcase in a hailstorm-- But it may well be years before that ever happens again-just as well, if it happened all the time, it wouldn't be so memorable!!::

[Labowner]

I went out this morning in the scull boat ended up with one goose one green head and a black. Thought it was going to be a good day as I dropped the goose first thing at 45 yrds. in poor light, then my shooting headed down hill missed a easy chance on double green heads.

[Old and Reliable]

One advantage of hunting solo (other than your four legged pal) is- no one to see your misses on the 'sucker shots"- but then, no one to verify that sweet double you made either. I am way past "shoting for a limit" on waterfowls- here are two MI Mississsippi Flyway examples: Our early (September 1-15th) goose season was designed to trim local flocks (golf course fertilizers, Foot-Joy spike filler-uppers if you get my drift) but I don't want to shoot the 5/day limit, one or two clean shots suffice- ditto the late Winter bonus season here- Jan to early Feb- usually five birds/day- a lot to lug out of a deep snowy cornfield, plus the decoys (a sled is useful here)-

I would rather, I suppose for personal reasons, kill one goose stone dead with one shot, than "limit out" in the five/day seasons with 25 shells (I've seen that happen)-so the first bird is the "special" after that, the rest are just extra candles on the cake for me.

On ducks we can take 6 per day, but only four can be mallards, and if so, three must be drakes, only one hen (or black- many hunters can't tell the difference- a black of either sex will NOT have the white bar above the purple wing speculum as does the hen mallard)-- so I may take two or three greenheads-then quit and sit and watch the birds, the colors of the leaves left on the trees, the cloud patterns- etc. Part of what the late Idaho based F&S writer Ted Trueblood called "Other Values"--

It is very easy to miss a "sweet shot" after you have dropped a bigger bird like a Canada- their flight speeds, evasion tactics are all different- puddlers will climb like a F-14, divers will move to Mach 2 and outfly your pattern nine times out of ten- all part of the game.

I don't use my retriever on the dairy farms I duck hunt on in the Fall- for several reasons: he's young, I don't want him bothering the farmer's livestock, he hates cats and most of my farmer friends like their barn cats, and also- wet ground and low electrified cattle fences-He gets his "innings" on the rivers we hunt- mainly pass shooting their, although I will set out a few decoys when the flight birds are down.

What non-toxic loads do you use in your Parker(s) and possibly other side-bys in your gunning arsenal? I have had very good results with the Hevi-Shot for Classic Doubles- I just use the std 2.75" 1 & 1/8th ouncers-

If I had a gunning secret to pass along (A Tap's Tip?) it would be-"Let them get as close as you can-when you can see their bootlaces-shoot"> My duck gunning Mentor- Al Woodhurst- a former market hunter who shot a Model 97 sans plug-- once said this to me: "If you want your ducks to drop dead in the drink, shoot 'em where they think, and not where they stink"_ No Longfellow or Whitman of course, but words of gunning wisdom indeed!

[MarketHunter]

My doubles pin envelope showed up the same way. I was a little leary of asking for another as I didn't want Jennifer to think I was trying to scam her. Glad (and sorry) to hear I'm not the only one.

I mentioned to her that I send a lot of small collectibles through the mail and we've found that the small manila padded envelopes are the only way to go when sending stuff like that.

Destry