Thanksgiving Goose Hunt

[charlie cleveland]

first ithaca 3 1/2 inch mag. with 34 inch barrels ive heard of...thanks for the info.... charlie

[Bill Zachow]

Charlie, if my memory serves, Ithaca made about 1000 of them in the 30s using the NID style frame. You could probably find one without looking too hard. In hunting condition, probably cost between $1000 and $3000. Just guessing as I am not an Ithaca collector.

[charlie cleveland]

thanks bill for the info...ive looked at a few of these ithaca mag...and they have been out of my reach but every time i read or hear of one of these old guns i get fired up again just like i do about parkers lc smith and the big foxes... i read a storey about how the big ithaca s came aboiut being made..since you could not hunt legally with a 8 ga or bigger them fellows wanted a 10 ga that would shoot like a lite8 ga...well the ithaca filled that job and did it well... charlie

[Kevin McCormack]

In the mid-1970s we had a great gunning farm on the peninsula formed by the confluence of Skipton Creek and the Wye East River near Wye Island, MD. We had 2 cornfield pits in a huge riverfront field along with 3 water blinds up around the Skipton Creek shoreline. One was no good; the middle blind was medium good, and the first blind stuck out on a needle-like point into the creek about 200 yards. This one was fabulous for geese and very good for ducks when they were using in the areas, usually about one year in three in those days.

My old gunning partner Capt. Al Leyendecker shot a very early (late 1950s-early 1960s) Spanish AYA 10 ga. 3 1/2" mag with 32" barrels choked 'Death' and "Death Warmed Over'. This gun was one of the early good ones with steel properly heat treated and nice hand finishing, before they cheapened them up for volume sales in the 1970s. Al would make some amazing shots on geese at ranges I wouldn't even attempt with my Rem 870 3" Mag, he usually used BBs and #2's out of the pit on decoyed geese. Of course we were still legal using lead in those days and really hammered them.

Every so often we would wind up in the point blind with ducks really flying well, and Al would break out his stash of 2 7/8" 10 ga. #4s and #5s. They were old Winchester Western paper cases that he found in the cleanout of a local sport shop. The owner had two of the old 20-box paper WW heavy cardboard cases of them, one #4 and one #5 and wanted to get rid of them in the worst way, since everyone seemed to want only the 3 1/2" mags. I think he paid $45 a 500-rnd case each for them.

Al used the big 10 exclusively for both ducks and geese from about 1970 until the non-toxic shot laws came in, which for us meant switching to steel. When that happened he retired the big gun and went to a Remington 1100 3-inch Magnum which he still shoots today. He loved the big gun and to this day remains the only person other than my brother who really knows how to shoot one to the max on waterfowl. Nash and Ho'ace would be proud!

[charlie cleveland]

boy that was a great storey....my dad mail orderes a spanish ten ga magnum in 1963 he to shot the loads of bb and 2 s of lead...that gun would kill cleanly at distances some one would call me a liar if told the distance...my dad also was a great shot with this gun he handled it like it was a common 12 ga..it was a sure enough turkey gun...but lord did that thing kick i shot it some but i never was a good shot with it with birds on the wing..even bought my slf one of these guns when i was about 30 year old but sold it and got me one of them ithaca auto matic 10 ga magnum..well this cut the recoil away down and ive still got my dads old ithaca mag 10 he bought and gave me...but lordy istill would like to have one of those big ithaca 10 ga doubles one of these days... charlie

[Labowner]

I bought a Beretta Silver Pigeon 3 1/2" 32" Ten this summer that came with about a case of 3 1/2" Bismuth 1 5/8 oz. of 2s and 4s. Well I had a first with that gun. While walking the dogs across the yard to kennel them I heard geese headed my way, I built my house 20 years ago so have had them fly over house at 50-60 yards many times, I ran in walk in basement where gun and shells where at the ready and made it to see them out front of me threw the trees headed right over me, when they flew over driveway I lead the front bird by 20 to 25 feet as they where really moving, the first shot hit him hard but he was trying to regroup so I hit him with the second barrel. That bird made it over several trees my office and landed a good 80 yards away with a sound thud. It made my work day morning a lot more interesting. Heading out with dog and gun now.

This was not my first experience with the ten as I have owned a high condition 1889 NH 2 7/8 32" ten for a number of years, just hate to have to use it in every water fowling situation.

[OH Osthaus]

Can't count the number of times I have had geese come over the yard when I had the dogs out and thought "I could make that shot"


Enjoy the roast goose

[Labowner]

Managed to down one for the 8 month old pup, he did great with the slush ice. Headed out after the retrieve as he still has his puppy coat and I forgot his vest.

[charlie cleveland]

id shore beproud of that pup... charlie