Let's go down Memory Lane - Who inspired us to treasure double guns, shooting sports

[BRDHNTR]

Gents, this thread thread is about 'who' inspired us, not what gun inspired us.

[Mike Franzen]

I was inspired by my uncle who just turned 75. He started taking me quail hunting with him when i was about 10 or 11 years old. He was a true "dog man" in every sense of the word. He raised and trained English Pointers that were the envy of everyone who ever saw them hunt. Birds were everywhere and just about anyone would let you hunt. He shot an old Remington 870 Wingmaster 20 gauge with the last 2 inches of the barrel blown off. He let me use my Grandad's Remington model 11-48 28 gauge. I grew up believing those days would last forever.
My first encounter with a SxS was when I was 15. When I would come home from school the bus would pass a county land fill. I noticed crows flocking there in the mornings in great abundance. I told my uncle I wanted to hunt crows and could I use the 28. He said I needed more gun and suggested I find a 12 gauge. We never used or owned anything bigger than a 20 because he said it wasn't sporting to hunt with. I asked a buddy if he had a 12 gauge I could borrow and he brought me an old Stevens model 235 "rabbit ear" gun in 12 gauge. He also let me borrow his crow call and stuffed owl decoy. That summer I would be out on the road with the gun, uncased, the owl and a box of hulls hitch hiking to the dump. I shot a lot of crows and fell in love with the old gun. At the end of the summer I had to give it back but I was hooked. Old rabbit ear guns are still my fav

[TARNATION !!!]

My Dad got me started. Once I was able to walk, I was following along. I'm talking pre-school age. Hunting became as natural for me as breathing. Until I left home (21) we chased everything together. All the big game and game birds that Alberta had to offer. Did annual crow and mapie hunts with the F&G Ass'n. Dad had a VH and I spent a lot of kid time examining the DHBP wondering about a gun that had my dog Snippy's head on it. I would read the inscription on the rib and was certainly the only kid on the block that ever heard of Meriden Conn. Dad gave me that gun when I was in my 30s. Here is one pic of Dad with 145522 (back when it still had 32" barrels) Birds are sage grouse. He was instrumental in having the province offer a season for these birds. No longer offered these days. Dad passed in 2004. I'm still hunting but sold off most the rifles now and concentrate on upland birds only.

[BRDHNTR]

Jack, I hope you have that photo framed and on your wall at home.

[charlie cleveland]

great picture of your dad jack... boy at the memories our dad s gave us... charlie

[10 bore]

YUP. my dad too, he got me into duck hunting early. when i was to young to go i would sit by the front window to wait for my dad and older brother to come home from duck hunting so I could bring the ducks in the house for them. Than at 12 years old i got to go hunting with him.I didn't shoot any ducks but i was hooked. I got to use his NID Ithaca 12 ga, 26 in gun . Than on a oct day in 1973 at 13 years old it happed, at a beaver pond behind where i live now i shot my 1st duck ,a hen woody! You could not have pull that duck out of my hand if you wanted to.I carried that duck for the full mile walk out of the woods and couldn't wait to show my mother what i had shot.It just so happened that she was looking out the same window i use to look out and to see me this time getting out of the car with my duck, thanks DAD, scottI

[C.O.B.]

I believe I was born into this life of guns and hunting from my maternal Grandfather who I never had the privledge to meet as he died early in the year I was born. Grandpa shot trap with a Parker and hunted birds over a pair of English Setters. I MUST give credit to both of my parents as they recognized my passion and introduced me to their friends who showed me the ropes. Mr. Wid McCready got me started shooting skeet with a M12 28ga and Mr. Vic Calderone took me on my first deer hunt. I also read everything I could that pertained to guns and hunting. It has been a wonderfull journey so far and I hope it continues.

[Jim DiSpagno]

Great stuff guys. For me, it was my Dad. He hunted long before I came along and started with the neighborhood guys as a teen. His passion for the outdoors was complete. Upland and waterfowl,big game and freshwater, saltwater and deep sea fishing were all part of his relaxation along with horses, both racing, breeding and pleasure. My first experience with hunting came about the age of six when we all went duck hunting in Staten Island,NY. For those who are not familiar, It is in NYC and in 1958, you could hunt in Richmond Cty.[Staten Island] but if you discharged a firearm, it was a $5 fine. The old man and friends thought it was five dollars well spent if you got caught. After that, providing my marks in school were up to dad's standard, Grouse in the Catskill mtns, pheasants in Dutchess Cty. and rabbits in southern NJ and Staten Island.
First gun was a Marlin model 100 in 22rf gotten from a friend by dad for me I was 7. Then came a Sears 410 ss bolt at 8 At 10 was an Ithaca 66 in 20ga. and at 12 came a Savage Fox modelB in 20. ga. After that, I bought my own with permission of course and always liked the classic guns, SxSs and single shot rem EB Win leverguns and highwalls. As a southpaw, bolt guns were uncomfortable to me and learned to shoot with either hand. Dad did so too as to not pass up a shot. I have his Parker GHE he bought at an estate sale in 1951 and never fired because he didn't want it to lose value. We hunted together every year until 2001 and he passed in 2003 at 89. He took all the kid who were interested in either hunting or horses and gave them the same opportunities as he die me. All guns were passed down to friends as needed and still enjoy use today. My first gun, the Marlin 22 went to the great nephew of the man who gave it to Dad for me. Than was 12 years ago on Tommys 8th birthday. It still looks new and is cherished as he told me that it will go to his first child. Just imagime the ruckous it would cause today, to see a 10 year old riding a horse down a main street with a SxS and hounds following him. I miss those days and the Old man. And the GHE was shot for the first time since in at least 53 years at pheasants in 2004. I'd like to think Dad enjoyed seeing that.

[Mills]

My father in law gave me his father's PHE 12 gauge, an LC Smith 16 gauge, an English/Belgian 10 gauge hammer gun that belonged to my Great Uncle and other guns too numerous to list. A great guy.

[MarketHunter]

It was my father and grandfather that got me started. They'd been big quail hunters and raised dogs all through the 50's and 60's but by the time I got old enough to come along the wild quail had already started to disappear. I cut my teeth on doves and squirrels with Dad, then rabbit hunting with Grandpa and the cousins. My cousin Mark Hoffard was a teacher at my school and took me on my first real rabbit hunt with his pack of beagles.

I was content with all this till I started reading about duck and goose hunting. Dad had always kept a goose pit rented near the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge but by the time I was old enough the price of rental had gotten so high he'd given it up. My best friends father, Kenny Clements, took me under his wing and got me started waterfowling. He had permission on a private little goose paradise the whole time we were in high school and I was always welcome. His son Wade and I also started making our own trips to the various public duck hunting areas around Southern Illinois trying to learn the ropes. We lost the little spot about the time I turned 18 but by then I was hooked and badly.

I met my good friend Dave French our first day of college and we both saw something in one another that neither of us had. A waterfowling partner that was serious about it and willing to work hard to get shooting. We hunted together steady till he moved to Canada in our mid 20's. By that time we were both goose hunting guides and had settled into a passion we knew would last all our lives.

Once Dave left the area and I was out a steady partner, Dad got interested in waterfowling again and we started hunting together. He came to enjoy it more than he had before and it became his passion as well. He and I have been lucky to have a good friend who has a private farm he allows us to gun on whenever we're able.

I've traveled to a lot of places to shoot ducks and geese but those early goose hunts with the Clements family, traveling to central Illinois to gun the opening days there with Dave French, and in later years duck shooting with my father are my fondest memories of all.


DLH