Finding "Grouse Feathers"

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Pete - very fitting. And what a sweet little Parker it is. I only wish I had brought enough money to The Cobb's that morning - it might have been mine.

I certainly don't want to change the tone of this thread but Bill Tapply was a very good writer of sporting stories, both hunting and fishing as well as his acclaimed Brady Coyne mystery novels (of which I only ever read "Bitch Creek" and enjoyed it) but I prefer his sporting books and stories. For those who may not know, his wife, Vicki Steifel Tapply saw to it that we have one more William G. Tapply book of his sporting stories in the latest and likely last one, "Every Day Was Special", Skyhorse Publishing, 2010, foreward by Nick Lyons and the introduction by "Chicadee Farm" Hancock, New Hampshire which, of course, is where Bill and Vicki live(ed). It is a book of fishing essays but good writing nonetheless.

[Mike McKinney]

Is that the same Parker we know about today? What caused it to be sold?
Thanks,
Mike

[Dean Romig]

Bill Tapply, the boy to whom Burton Spiller bequeathed that little Parker, was diagnosed with leukemia about four years ago and he decided his "things" needed to go. Bill and I (and probably a number of his friends as well as his wife Vicki) discussed the best way to find a new home for "Burt's Gun". Finally he and Vicki decided to put it up for auction with The Cobb's Auctions not far from where they lived and Bill notified me of that decision. I promised Bill that I would help by notifying people here on the PGCA forum and on the doublegun forum of the upcoming auction and Art Wheaton got the word out through a notice he placed in Shooting Sportsman. It was a promise I made to Bill that I would help but I also told him I had wanted that gun (and he knew it but he said to me "How can I possibly make that decision when some other friends have also asked me to sell it to them?") and it would be one of the hardest promises I have ever had to keep. In any case, I was at the auction as was Austin Hogan, Jim Stearns and a few other lovers of Parkers and Spiller's and Tapply's writing and I had a pocketful of money.... just not enough. "Burt's Gun" finally sold at about $10,500 which was about $2,000 more than I brought. Today Morris Baker of RST Shells is its custodian but, who knows.... maybe I'll have another chance someday but I don't believe Morris will ever part with it. He loves it as much as I do.

[Old and Reliable]

The fine GSP and the fotos of Mr. Spiller's final resting place--Thanks John and to others. In tribute also to the ruffed grouse, and all them men and dogs that appreciate their evasive flights and the beautiful coverts in October where they are found-- "praise me highly as a fitting trophy for the day, and take me home in the great pocket in your coat"- so many fine writers and sportsmen hold Sir Ruff as King of the Uplands-

I'm not a true grouse hunter, more of a die-hard waterfowler by nature, but I will give Sir Ruff this- the ONLY upland game bird that cannot be domesticated or pen raised, as the case with pheasants, quails and chukar partridge- Long may he Reign--