A Bo Whoop pilgrimage

[charlie cleveland]

thanks a million for these pictures and of us fellows who may never get to see these guns and artifacts....charlie

[Researcher]

In 2010, Jim Julia and Wes Dillon brought Bo Whoop over to the A.H. Fox Collectors Association tables at Las Vegas and left it with us a while.

Dave with BoWhoop and James Julia.jpg

Paul trying for the Nash pose --

Paul trying to look like Nash.jpg

[mobirdhunter]

Wes Dillon is a name I've not heard in a while. I bought guns from Wes when he was at Game Fair, Cabela's, and Julia's. Josh filled me in on his "retirement" -- I'm happy for him.

It must have been a great day at the gun show, Dave. I did notice the Buckingham pose. You need Chubby to make it complete.

Thanks for the photos!

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

In 2010, Jim Julia and Wes Dillon brought Bo Whoop over to the A.H. Fox Collectors Association tables at Las Vegas and left it with us a while.

Attachment 104837

Paul trying for the Nash pose --

Attachment 104838

[Stan Hillis]

Garry, I recognize those big guns from the mini-museum in the "Pyramid Cabela's" at Memphis. I have hunted ducks for over 25 years about 40 minutes across the river from it, on the L 'Anguille, White and Cache rivers in eastern Arkansas. Two years ago I was blessed to get to take two of my grandsons, who hunt ducks, there and we spent an afternoon at that Cabela's, then had supper at The Rendezvous.

I have hunted several times on the Cache in a blind that requires us to go right by an old blind site that Nash hunted from, and wrote about, called Trappers island. This photo is of a very large, and old, blind near Trappers Island that is called The Peabody Blind. It is so named because someone "appropriated" a red velvet covered "rope" from The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, where the scene of the mallards coming down the elevator and walking the red carpet to a pool in the lobby, plays out every morning. The Rendezvous restaurant is right in front of The Peabody, as I recall.

[Researcher]

In 2019 at the Colorado Weapons Collectors Show I ran into Wes. We had a nice chat and he said he was living in Colorado.

[Kevin McCormack]

Garry, I wished I had known that you were going - i've been out of town for a few days - I couldn't tell from the various posts in this thread whether you actually went down to Beaver Dam Club at Tunica while you were in Memphis at the "Pyramid" etc. It's only about a 45 mins. drive south of Memphis to Beaver Dam and the original clubhouse and boat launch.

I've been there twice to shoot ducks and it is a real epiphany to sit in those blinds and watch the bird approach and filter through the timber. Stan Hillis and a precious few others can relate. The DU HQ museum and the "Pyramid" displays are great but the tiny local Tunica museum and diaspora are the "Stonehenge" of seminal American waterfowling. If you ever go again, be sure to see it!

[Stan Hillis]

That blind owned by Mike Boyd, and his son Lamar, is a very special place, indeed. The only thing that would make the hunt there more special for me would be to paddle a bateau from the original old clubhouse landing to the blind, or have a paddler and jump shoot them in the buckbrush. If I'm not mistaken it is the same blind that was hunted when some "privileged" DU guys took Bo Whoop duck hunting for one last time a few years ago. There was a write-up about that hunt in some publication, that I read.

I have a picture somewhere on the computer, though I can't seem to find it at this time, of five of us Fox aficionados who met up for a hunt in that blind on Dec.14, 2009. Two from LA, one from MS, one from CA, and myself from Jawja. We each had a Super Fox gun (HE grade) that day. May have been the only time since the guns were made that there were five of them in the same blind hunting ducks. I'm afraid that pic may have been lost in the Photobucket fiasco.

There are some good pics of the hunt, and the guns, in the article submitted by Jim Cloninger of CA, in the AHFCA newsletter issue of Spring 2020.

My HE Fox .........

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCormack

Garry, I wished I had known that you were going - i've been out of town for a few days - I couldn't tell from the various posts in this thread whether you actually went down to Beaver Dam Club at Tunica while you were in Memphis at the "Pyramid" etc. It's only about a 45 mins. drive south of Memphis to Beaver Dam and the original clubhouse and boat launch.

I've been there twice to shoot ducks and it is a real epiphany to sit in those blinds and watch the bird approach and filter through the timber. Stan Hillis and a precious few others can relate. The DU HQ museum and the "Pyramid" displays are great but the tiny local Tunica museum and diaspora are the "Stonehenge" of seminal American waterfowling. If you ever go again, be sure to see it!

Kevin and Stan, Thanks for this information(!) It's about a 7 hour drive from home to Memphis, and after Elaine has time to get resettled from our recent 9 state tour, I think I just might beg her again for a road trip back to Memphis. I would very much like to see what still is there from Buckingham's time, and I love visiting small, local museums and historical societies. Tunica is now on my agenda.

Thanks to all who responded to my post and added to the pleasure of my trip with additional information. I've read the account of the guys who shot there with their Supers, and now can claim I "know" some of those fortunate gentlemen.

BTW, we also revisited Hampton Plantation in South Carolina on our trip...but that's another story for another time. Needless to say, we had a great road trip.

[Stan Hillis]

When you visit that area around Tunica be sure to make time for a meal at The Blue and White. What a great nostalgic place to eat breakfast, lunch, or supper. At one time there was a closed circuit tv hanging on the wall that showed live footage from a local duck blind. Diners who couldn't hunt any more, or didn't for some other reason, could have breakfast while watching live hunts.

BTW, their potato soup is over the top. Melted cheddar on top, sprinkled with bacon crumbles. I had it one evening for supper and again the next morning for breakfast!

P.S. There's a great museum in Stuttgart, AR, across the big rivvah aways. Interesting historic stuff about the beginnings of it becoming "The Rice Capital of the World", which led to it's beginnings as a duck mecca. Nowadays much of the rice acreage around Stuttgart has been replaced by corn. Ducks don't like corn any better than they do rice.

[mobirdhunter]

Stan, thanks for the recommendations. Duly noted and also now on the agenda. I'm sure when Elaine hears about The Blue and White, the trip will be a "go." One summer we took a trip using the book, Eat Your Way Across America, and our trips often include out of the way and unique restaurants. I can now present the trip as a hunting/gun AND eating pilgrimage. Stay tuned!

Originally Posted by Stan Hillis

When you visit that area around Tunica be sure to make time for a meal at The Blue and White. What a great nostalgic place to eat breakfast, lunch, or supper. At one time there was a closed circuit tv hanging on the wall that showed live footage from a local duck blind. Diners who couldn't hunt any more, or didn't for some other reason, could have breakfast while watching live hunts.

BTW, their potato soup is over the top. Melted cheddar on top, sprinkled with bacon crumbles. I had it one evening for supper and again the next morning for breakfast!

P.S. There's a great museum in Stuttgart, AR, across the big rivvah aways. Interesting historic stuff about the beginnings of it becoming "The Rice Capital of the World", which led to it's beginnings as a duck mecca. Nowadays much of the rice acreage around Stuttgart has been replaced by corn. Ducks don't like corn any better than they do rice.