NEW PARKER PAGES

[TARNATION !!!]

Originally Posted by Francis Morin

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"--

Thanks Francis. My father was amazing with the Parker and an Eddystone 30.06. He wrote up a bit of history for the guns that eventually all came my way. For the Parker, after a short dissertation on provenance, he succinctly wrote "This was the best shotgun I ever owned". Some might say a kid's memory may embellish his Dad's prowess but I don't think so. When I finally got a hunting licence, I became aware of how good he really was. Wing shooting was a real challenge for me and he made it look so easy. I can only recall one time he "missed", which was with a newly acquired 20ga single shot. By then I was in my later teens. The pheasant wobbled and dropped a leg but flew on for a long way after. He never used that gun again. I used that 20ga a few years back and only took one shot. The rooster dropped like a rock. I have since given it to a young farmer with three sons coming into hunting age. During one of my infrequent visits "home" about a decade ago, Dad and I reminisced about wing shooting and he explained to me how he had worked the Parker. "Just lay the bird between the barrels and it's yours". I tried doing that and missed most everything, so I don't know what he saw but I didn't manage to duplicate it. When I shoot "instinctively", they drop dead so I carry on that way and have never been able to explain "how to" to anyone else. Your observation on his deadly shooting got me onto a search for a picture. It was published in the Calgary Herald back in the '60's. Dad, me and a "mixed bag" from a day's work that included migratory and upland birds, and a deer. If I ever find that one, I'll post it. I'm chuckling now on what the Calgary Herald would do today. Back then, my Dad drove over to the building and their photog came out and took several pictures and one was published. Somehow, I don't believe a couple of guys game harvest for a day would get published anymore in a "big city" paper. Maybe, but I kinda' doubt it.
Cheers,
Jack

[Labowner]

Just wanted to thank all contributors, it was my favorite issue.

Jack, thanks for the additional details about your late father. It had to be a real heartbreak to have the left barrel open up on the VH 12 he left you (and a ton of great memories to boot). Sometimes I think, as we get along in years, those memories are what we treasure, even more so today with both the "anti-hunting/guns" folks, and the city raised who are more or less "neutral" about hunting.

IMO, there is no way to explain this, anymore than your Dad telling you how, for his vision and reflexes, his method of dropping birds with the VH may not have worked in the same manner for you. I could not tell you or anyone what I see (other than the bird in flight) as to barrel, front bead, lead, when I shoot any of my smoothbores- if my life depended upon it. I just shoot, perhaps a bit of what the late, great Nash Buckingham wrote: "The last time I saw a bird in flight like this one, I shot about 'yonder'"--

Both my late grandfather and father were fine wingshots, especially my grandfather- he loved the live bird shoots- and both of them got me hooked on barn pigeons for practice instead of clays. Probably why today I consider myself a better shot on real birds than on clays, and would not spend $2500 plus for a SC competition 12 bore, but would gladly spend that for a well balanced quality side-by-side bird gun(if it fit me and my style of gun mounting)--

We all have our good days, on occasion a few very good days when all seems to break our way, and then we have other days when the Gremlins take over and we don't do quite as well as we wanted to, whether in the duck blind or in a dove field. It doesn't sound to me like your Dad would have ever traded away the 12 VH- he was wise enough to know he most likely wouldn't shoot any other shotgun any better than that Parker you now have. More than even the Parker, he left you some priceless memories and we all thank you for sharing them with us in the PGCA. I hope you will write more about your boyhood with him in future issues of PP.