Hunting With Pop

[Reggie B]

First shotgun was a Stevens Arms single shot 20 gauge. I still have it. It will hardly break open and its beat up, but I still have it. Actually my 88 year old father has it at his house. He used it last to kill skunks that dug in his yard at night. This 20 gauge began my long-time favor of that gauge.

[Randy Roberts]

Mine was a Winchester 37A in 20 gauge until my senior year of high school at which time I bought with my own money a Rem. 541S Sporter that I still have. Used to get 75-100 squirrels a year when I lived at home. The bolt handle went silver on this one 30 years ago. I loved hunting squirrels (squirls for Charlie ) and Mom could make em tender. That was my first experience spending real money on a gun and boy was that ever real money to me then. If memory serves it was $168.50, I do believe times have changed.

[Joe from MO]

Originally Posted by Garry L Gordon

Okay—so what is your childhood squirrel gun…and do you or a family member still have it?

Savage model 24 20ga/22LR. Christmas gift when I was in about the 4th or 5th grade.

I no longer have it, my dad was notorius for selling guns. It was left with him when I went to college, I had not used it in years, so he traded it on some other gun he wanted......

I've debated several times buying one, but the prices on them are high for the quality of gun they are IMHO, and to be honest, I'd never use it anyway.

[Joe from MO]

Dad & I circa 1966 I think....

That should be a JC Higgins 12ga Autoloader in his hand... Polychoke on end..

My first dog, Dutch in the foreground. German Shepard mix.

[Brush Buster]

My first Squirrel gun was a Model 37 , Red Letter Winchester which belonged to my Grand Father who passed away a few months before I turned 12 and old enough to officially hunt ! But I did end up with Paps 37 and shot my first squirrel , grouse and rabbit with it and it is resting in the old Wooden and glass fronted gun cabinet ! That old gun kicked the daylights out of me then and still does !
I also have Paps old Deer Rifle ,a Model 99 300, Savage Take down Model !

[Jeff Christie]

Please post a picture of the 99. My favorite non bolt action ever made. Especially take downs pure cool class!

[Brush Buster]

I will take one tomorrow and post it , the wood is really nice but Pap or someone drilled holes for a scope that aren't correct but it is a real shooter with the thin blade open sights ! Pap died at 86 years old in 1967 ,my Pap always claimed he had the first rifle in our little town , must have been a special day when he bought it ,Pumpkin Balls were the thing before that !

[Bob Brown]

Mine was a Winchester pump model 1890 in 22 LR. We still have it. Dad was firm on the head shots only. I don't recall ever squirrel hunting with anyone shooting a shotgun when I was a kid. Sling shots occasionally, but not shotguns.

[Mike Poindexter]

JC Higgins bolt action single shot .410. Got it for Christmas when I was 10. I found it extremely effective with no. 6's. Never shot a bird with it, just rabbits and squirrels. Remember cleaning my first squirrel with a double edged razor blade.

[Bill Murphy]

No squirrel hunting in our family in Hazleton, PA in the early 1900s. Granddad shot grouse and live pigeons until pheasants came to town in the real early 1900s. Dad was a dedicated pheasant hunter until I started shooting Southern Pennsylvania quail in the sixties. Dad wouldn't waste a shell on a quail, even though they were numerous and lightly hunted. Southern Pennsylvania hunters were "pheasants only".