Kansas Snow, Cold and Birds ( Dunkle Approved)

[Bruce Day]

50-100 pheasants were seen exiting one field, so we left plenty for an end of season hunt in Jan. I'll be quail hunting a couple more times until then. The quail being held by John Dunkle is typical northern bobwhite size....a bit bigger than what you see down south. One of the fellows shot a pheasant with a 31 bar tail and is having it mounted...we get some big, long spurred 2nd and 3rd year birds.

Last year we closed the season hunting in shirt sleeves because it was so warm. Right now its cold and cloudy but the weather quickly changes out here. I believe the fellows had a good time.

Fun time with the young setters and CH and I are pleased with the work of 9 month setters. I'd always heard that they are slower developing than pointers and take about 2 years before they are hunting well for you. We haven't found that to be true at all. This Llewellin setter has developed at the same rate as my now old Elhew pointer. The setter can sometimes fill with burs and thistles but the pointer gets rubbed raw by them on his legs whereas the setter does not.

Dean, the CHE 12ga two barrel set was interesting because I had not seen a rifle bored Parker barrel before. I have seen rifled barrels that were Belgium made and fitted to Parkers but this is clearly a correct Parker barrel. What is not known is whether Parker cut the rifling and the documentation is silent on that. Anyway, its a high end high condition gun with nice C grade rondelle engraving. You know, some of these guys get on here and they say "get a letter" like the letter would be the final and definitive word on everything about the gun. Well its not and is often only a starting point and a person falls back on looking at little details noticed through long experience with Parkers and through talking with the handful of people who really know their Parkers.

[Tim Sheldon]

Originally Posted by Bruce Day

50-100 pheasants were seen exiting one field, so we left plenty for an end of season hunt in Jan. I'll be quail hunting a couple more times until then. The quail being held by John Dunkle is typical northern bobwhite size....a bit bigger than what you see down south. One of the fellows shot a pheasant with a 31 bar tail and is having it mounted...we get some big, long spurred 2nd and 3rd year birds.

Last year we closed the season hunting in shirt sleeves because it was so warm. Right now its cold and cloudy but the weather quickly changes out here. I believe the fellows had a good time.

Fun time with the young setters and CH and I are pleased with the work of 9 month setters. I'd always heard that they are slower developing than pointers and take about 2 years before they are hunting well for you. We haven't found that to be true at all. This Llewellin setter has developed at the same rate as my now old Elhew pointer. The setter can sometimes fill with burs and thistles but the pointer gets rubbed raw by them on his legs whereas the setter does not.

Dean, the CHE 12ga two barrel set was interesting because I had not seen a rifle bored Parker barrel before. I have seen rifled barrels that were Belgium made and fitted to Parkers but this is clearly a correct Parker barrel. What is not known is whether Parker cut the rifling and the documentation is silent on that. Anyway, its a high end high condition gun with nice C grade rondelle engraving. You know, some of these guys get on here and they say "get a letter" like the letter would be the final and definitive word on everything about the gun. Well its not and is often only a starting point and a person falls back on looking at little details noticed through long experience with Parkers and through talking with the handful of people who really know their Parkers.

Bruce,
I agree 100% on the letter issue. If you feel good about your gun that is really all that matters. But when you hear guys say get a letter, I think where they are going is if you have a letter and it matches, if you go to sell it, it will sell more easily to collectors whom are less confident at a higher dollar. I think confidence being the key word. FWIW.
Tim