New Member From Upstate NY

[Dean Romig]

Yes, I see it now. The terminology we use is that it was "sleeved."

Thanks Ted.




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[Hixie]

Thanks Dean for setting me straight on the terminology. You asked about the case coloring for the project gun...I think you mentioned that you thought you had a Trojan 16 that was done by the Ohio Color Case Co.? I don't want to drag this thread out, but I am interested how the colors compare.

[Autumn Daze]

Ted, I have couple Parkers here done by The Ohio Case Color Co. and they are very very close to your gun. Hope this helps.

[Dean Romig]

Here's the one I was referring to and Dave's two guns are almost identical.

The colors look more like Marlin or Winchester colors than original Parker colors.



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[Hixie]

Thanks for the info and comments on the case coloring. I am no expert at all, but the coloring on my gun seemed to be more "vivid" than what I've seen for original-condition parkers, which seemed to me to be more muted. No matter, I really like it and I am sure through use it will fade. And I intend to use it a lot!

[Whitefish]

Really enjoy your posts about birding and Parkers. As an avid birder for over fifty years your work with raptors really hits home. I have been going to Whitefish Point here in the UP for many years and like you have always lean towards Raptors and Waterfowl. As I'm sure you know WFP has fantastic Raptor viewing in the spring. There are a number of Federal banders who have worked this area for years, as well as the Owl banders. Back to Parkers, I have a small collection of Parkers and other American made doubles, but nothing like some of our members. If you ever find your way to the UP for birding let me know as I am always at WFP in the spring for about a week.

[Hixie]

Whitefish - thanks. I do know Whitefish Point and have an interesting story about it. I started banding saw whet owls in my yard about 10 years ago. Birders in my area said I was crazy because there are no saw whet owls in our area. I banded over 80 that first year much to their astonishment.

One of the first ones I caught was already banded! It was my first foreign recapture in my then-short banding career and it turned out to be banded a year earlier at Whitefish Point. The following spring I attended the annual meeting of the Eastern Bird Banding Association and at the Friday night mixer, I happen to be talking with a guy totally at random in a room full of people that I did not know, but his name was somehow familiar. It turned out to be the guy who banded that bird at Whitefish Point.

I am looking to expand my parker "collection" although I really am interested in them for hunting purposes and not so much collecting. The value to me is in spending time afield with them.

[Whitefish]

In the last few years there have been very large numbers of Saw wet Owls banded at WFP. The increased numbers really jumped when they started using an electronic call at night, They check the Mist nets about every 45 minutes, and some nights get 20+ Saw wets. Two winters ago my wife found a Great Gray here on the Garden Peninsula which was very rare for this area. We have often seen them in the Soo area in January and in the spring at WFP, but never in the southern UP. I was looking for Snowies this past weekend south of the Soo, but no luck. Also not many Rough-legged this winter. The owl banders at WFP for the last 10+ years have been Chris Neri and his wife Nova

[Dean Romig]

Kathy and I went to Salisbury Beach State Park yesterday in Salisbury, MA - just on the North side of the Merrimack River in Newbury, Ma from the Plum Island National Wildlife Preserve. On the marsh side of the State Park, which encompasses a couple of thousand acres of tidal marsh, among the ice cakes tossed up on the bare marsh flats, I saw what I thought was a Snowy Owl. We get several here each winter but not large numbers of them. It seems like they simply take up winter residence here lately.
I walked back to the car and got my new Zeiss 10X42 binocs (nice!) and sneaked back to get a bit closer and have the sun behind me.... Sure enough, it was a big snowy - probably a female - and when she had had enough of this interloper she took wing, flying low (about 5 or 6 feet) over the marsh, with a black duck in its talons and landed about 400 yards away to continue plucking it.





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[Hixie]

Snowy Owls are fearsome predators...we should be glad there aren't 100 pounders out there. We'd all need 8 gauge parkers to protect our children.

I like to eat black ducks too. I checked out Zeiss binocs when I was in the market for a good binocular back in '94. They are indeed nice! I ended up with Leica BA 10 x 42s which have served me well. I am not sure why I chose them over Swaro and Zeiss; they are all excellent.