doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com When the collection gets bigger-not good.

My Dad lost his struggle with lung cancer on Easter Sunday. In the middle of that day, while I was present, he asked his doctor to discontinue any and all treatment after he had seen all of us. I was blessed to have him in my life for so long, and to have the memories I do. I'll miss him. He would have been 80, next month.
My brother and I divided his modest gun collection. Many years ago, he suggested I take the hunting equipment, and my brother the fishing stuff, but, we liked the idea of splitting it better. The 700 and 742 Remingtons my brother can use for deer, the 241 Speedmaster that my Dad bought new will look good here. Brother took the A5 that Dad bought when he made Sergeant, (1951?) and a 3 1/2 inch chamber pump. I also took the Ruger 44 magnum carbine that dad took his last deer with, a little used SBE, and the Beretta Silver Snipe 12 that was the first gun I hunted with. This one is a bit odd, 26" barrels with modified/improved modified chokes. It's marked S-55, like every Silver Snipe I've handled. I'm not a fan of the single trigger, but, I shoot it well.
All dads guns were used, refinished, and/or modified over the years, they aren't collector's items. I hope my son is right-handed, and will get some use out of some of them. My Dad was one of just a few hunting partners I have these days.

The same week, a long time friend was charged with domestic assault-not convicted, just charged. All his guns had to move into my safe, too. Let me be clear on one thing-there was no assault. He is not a scumbag, and never will be. But, he can't be in possession of his guns until this is sorted out, and that might be a long while.
His girlfriend had his pride and joy, a 16 gauge NID, and that may be gone forever at this point. He has a new shorthair pup, and the prospect of missing this hunting season weighs heavily on his mind. He, also, is one of my few hunting partners.
I never imagined being in possession of so many guns could put me in such blue spirits. The safe is beyond full, and my shooting season is looking a bit lonely with these two gentlemen no longer in the field.
A full safe, is not a good thing, in this case.
Best,
Ted

The Fisherman by William Butler Yeats

Although I can see him still.
The freckled man who goes
To a grey place on a hill
In grey Connemara clothes
At dawn to cast his flies,
It's long since I began
To call up to the eyes
This wise and simple man.
All day I'd looked in the face
What I had hoped 'twould be
To write for my own race
And the reality;
The living men that I hate,
The dead man that I loved,
The craven man in his seat,
The insolent unreproved,
And no knave brought to book
Who has won a drunken cheer,
The witty man and his joke
Aimed at the commonest ear,
The clever man who cries
The catch-cries of the clown,
The beating down of the wise
And great Art beaten down.

Maybe a twelvemonth since
Suddenly I began,
In scorn of this audience,
Imagining a man,
And his sun-freckled face,
And grey Connemara cloth,
Climbing up to a place
Where stone is dark under froth,
And the down-turn of his wrist
When the flies drop in the stream;
A man who does not exist,
A man who is but a dream;
And cried, 'Before I am old
I shall have written him one
poem maybe as cold
And passionate as the dawn.'

Pete

Ted, My sympathy for your loss and difficulty. It is a mystery why we all suffer these things, other than it is life. Hopefully someday we will know the answers. I lost my older brother 2 years ago and will never be able to ask his wife about the things he left and she will never volunteer. At eleven years of age he sold greeting cards and bought a Marlin single shot 22lr, all on his own- that was my older brother. This was, of course, back when a boy could do those things. That little rifle is the only thing that I can think of, of his, I would like to have, but I remember him and his story and that will be enough. Best to you and yours, Kurt

Ted, I too am very sorry on the loss of your father. I lost mine 13 years ago and think of him everyday. We all know that he is in a better world. I'm sure that he's up there now doing some hunting and looking down on you with a smile for all the wonderful times you had together.

I do hope that your friend will be able to get things worked out so that he can go out with you. It is lonely without a good partner. I'm lucky that I have two young sons who love the sport, so for me I'll always have a good partner.

Again, sorry for all your bumps in the road of life. Things will get better. Just trust the good Lord to help you out.

All the best you.

Greg

Thanks for the poem, Pete. My Dad had a rough 2009, and when I got to the hospital at 12:30 on Monday morning, I was relieved to hear his pain was over. No more doctoring was what he had asked for, and received.

I consider death no more unnatural than birth, and hope that when my time comes, I can follow my Dad's example, with the same dignity, and bravely.


Thanks again, fellows.
Best,
Ted

My father passed on a numbr of years ago, I remember the day and everything that happened that day very well. He taught me to shoot and hunt and gave me my first guns, a Mossburg .22 semi auto rifle and a J C Higgins single barrel 16 gauge)for 2 different birthdays), then later an A5 Sweet 16. You will always remember the good times with your father, which is a good thing. You are fortunate to have had him for a good while, mine was only 55 when he passed on. May I also offer my sympathies on your loss.

I solved my problem of not enough space in my safe (unrelated to the above story completely) by buying a Browning vault door and building a reinforced concrete vault room in my basement. You can make one as big or as small as you want, the same door works just as well on either. Mine ended up about 7' x 6' inside dimensions, plus an offset of 3' x 3' which I shelved to hold my ammo. I use a dehumidifier made by RCA Whirpool, bought it at Sears, the discharge line is connected to the house plumbing system in my crawl space area, and it works great. I lined the rough concrete walls with a commercial carpet with a rubber backing on it, that prevents an occasional bump of a barrel from doing any harm, and looks great. I carpeted the floor with a RealTree pattern commercial carpet, and installed celotex ceiling tiles on the underside of the reinforced concrete ceiling. Everything together cost me only about 2 grand or so, (several years ago now) using my labor with help from one of my sons. It would take a jack hammer and a good bit of time ( and a lot of noise) to get into it. As much as you fool with guns you might want to consider something similar.

Ted, I can understand what you went through. I lost my Dad 10 years ago, and my Mother 11 months later, at 81, and 80 years of age. Neither wanted any heroics, nor did they wish to be in a condition to require a nursing home. I had no problems helping Mother make the decision about Dad and later about Mom. I work in a hospital and have seen so many that must try to keep their parents and loved ones alive at all costs, and really make them suffer , and wonder why. Death is a natural thing and will claim us all. Like you I just hope when my time comes I am allowed to receive it with dignity, and let it be not only a loss but a releif for my survivors.

Sorry to hear about your dad Ted.

Ted:
My mother-in-law who was 88 and a WW II Vet died here about 3 weeks ago. My wife had relocated her here about 5 weeks ago as she could no longer care for herself and the rest of the family was located here.
She did ok for a few weeks and spent the last few days in a hospice surrounded by us,her grandaughter and 4 great grand children with a "do not resusitate" order and died peacefully in her sleep.
I suspect it's the way she wanted to go as well as it was your fathers choice.
Jim

Ted,

Profound sympathy and deepest condolences at the death of your father.

Also regret to hear of your friend's difficulties. His is a serious situation, and he must have a lawyer advise on his course of action, including possible slander charges etc.

Regards, Tim

My dad went into the hospital this past Sunday, he's 81 and he's had a variety of medical conditions wear him down over the last few years not to mention he's been a dialysis patient for the last 13 years. He's done well for a long time but now he's exhausted and they have found a mass on his right lung.

Yesterday he told me that I'm his designated health care proxy and that he wants me to make sure nothing heroic is done to keep him around any longer, just make him comfortable. He says he's tired of tubes and bored with doctors.

I'm not looking forward to explaining this to the rest of the family if it goes in that direction, we'll know next week.

Ted, your post hit home and gave me a little strength for what may be coming, thank you, and my best wishes to your family.

RB, I nursed my mother and father alone for a year until my father died, and his wishes were the same as your father's, as were my mother's. They were the best of times and the worst of times, always living on the edge. I had no trouble with family; I just gave it to them straight. By making you his proxy, your father knew you as a dutiful and loving son.

Ted,

My thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to you and your entire family. Memories are our greatest treasure of those we have known and lost. The best tribute is to honor them and I am sure that you will do your father proud.

Your fiends problems will work our in the end. Tell him to just keep his act normal and listen to his friends and lawyers who can see the whole picture far better than he can. Buy him a hunting license and taker him hunting if possible. Good hunting partners are hard to find.

I am sorry for your loss. You were lucky to have your father for so long and it is nice to have the great memories to remember him by. I hope you have the same memories with your son, too. God Bless.

Ted,

You've written often of your great love and respect for your father. My condolences on your profound loss.

Jay

Thanks for the kind words everybody. "My loss" actually began quite some time ago, and the slope got steeper and more slippery the farther Dad and I went. He hadn't hunted in a few seasons-the photo of he and I in the DGJ was the second to last time he made it out. That is the Silver Snipe I inherited in that photo, a gun he never warmed up to, and one he should have used more.
He knew how I felt about his autoloaders.
Recoil Rob, you have my absolute best wishes and condolences. My Mom and my little brother were pretty much puddles of tears on the floor when decision time came, and were of little help during the aftermath. Not bragging, please understand, but, that is where the chips fell. I couldn't have changed it if I wanted to, and I didn't. I wrote and read the eulogy for Dad.
Thanks again. Bird season is going to be different this year.
Best,
Ted

Ted, sorry for your loss. Best wishes to you and your family.

Ted, I am sorry to hear of your loss. Father and Son are always the greatest of hunting companions. Although we don't always see eye-to-eye with each other, just getting out in Mother Nature's classroom embues us with fond and lasting memories. This is a poem that I have always enjoyed:

Home is the sailor, home from the sea:
Her far-borne canvas furled
The ship pours shining on the quay
The plunder of the world.

Home is the hunter, home from the hill:
Fast in the boundless snare
All flesh lies taken at his will
And every fowl of air

'Tis evening on the moorland free,
The starlit wave is still:
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill

A.E. Housman

Sorry to hear about your dad.

With regard to the friend's guns, not only can't he posess guns, he can't posession ammo either.

Ted, I'm sorry for your loss. I lost my Mom to cancer several months ago and surely miss her. I have often said that the most valuable gun in my collection is the Winchester mod. 67A .22 single shot that my parents (Santa Claus) left under the tree for me at age 10. Absolutely irreplaceable, just like our parents.

Yea, I hear you, Keith-I have an "Unreplaceable" Italian single shot hammerless, folding 12 gauge that my Dad told my Mom to get for me. Worth about $100 used, and priceless in my gunsafe, to me.

The friend's ammo is at my house, too. When he was locked up, I filled a cooler at his house with the stuff, and brought it here, thinking if he gets told no guns, no ammunition, he would get some money if I sold the stuff.

Now, I have just one friend to hunt with this fall. Not sure how this is going to work. Wife and Mom frown on my being out on my own for too long.

Best,
Ted

Though I know I shouldn't, I probably hunt alone as often as I do with friends. Most of my hunting buddies aren't into muzzleloading season as I am. I try to leave an itinerary, but have been known to change my plans on the way, and hunt somewhere miles from where I said I'd be. The cell phone helps, but if I break a leg down in some creek bottom where there is no signal, it could get sticky. But I really do sometimes love the solitude of spending pre-dawn to post-dusk in the cold and snow without seeing another hunter. Your friends' situation is bad on so many levels. He is essentially guilty until he proves himself innocent... this by enriching his attorney and the courts. All it takes to find yourself in this situation is someones else's accusation, whether true or not. And if he was a golfer, he would not be denied the use or possession of his clubs. Even drunk drivers are permitted to keep their vehicles although there is no constitutional right to own golf clubs or cars. I'm surprised no one has attempted to overturn these laws on constitutional grounds.

I hunt alone the great majority of the time. But, now that Dad is actually gone, I won't be able to call and invite him-the past several seasons, I knew the answer would be "no", when I asked, but, I called anyway. I would tell my Dad where I was (he knew the haunts as well as I did) and let my wife know if I wasn't home by such and such a time, to call Dad.
Dad always called in the evening to see how I did.
Best,
Ted