doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dez closes his gun

I've been watching "Dash in the Uplands" lately and is is always fun to hear Dez and his guest close their SxS guns with a normal, adult, respectful clunk, not holding the lever over and sneaking it like one might do at a gunshow. Not really trying to re-start the old silly argument about this. Oh, really? The latest one, from the Ruby Crest Ranch shows Dez's $2.95 polyester rug, at its most obvious, in the last bedroom scene. Men, in their 60's don't have a hailine that extends below their eyebrows. All kidding aside, he has a wonderfully well-trained dog and promotes gun safety possibly better than any other hook and bullet show on the TV. Now, if he would just stop "singing" and leave off the annoying guitar riffs all through the program. Still, one of the quality hunting shows on the tube, IMO.

I've noticed that too, Jim. That one time that I pointed out was about the only time that I saw him hold the lever over when he closed it. I have also noticed that ever since Larry Potterfield showed the "proper" way to close a gun ("This isn't your granddaddy's shotgun") he really slams them shut ever since. (Watch him sometime) Most, like Dez, just close them up slowly I guess. But I really like Dez's show. I have almost all of them on tape, now, including all of the "Hunting With Hank" shows. At 60, I try not to notice people's vainess anymore. I guess I have been as vain as the rest of them over the years. Oh well. Good luck.

Dez shoots a Merkel. If you have ever owned a Merkel SxS you would understand why he firmly closes the gun. The Greener cross bolt won't fully seat if you don't snap the action

I thought I remember Dez with a BSS in 20 ga...was that in the older shows?

Jeff

Yes. It still shows in the opening pictures. I'd love to have that plain but very nice condition Perkins ML that shows first.

Guys, you shouldn't do this to us 3rd Worlders.

I used to be able to tape/watch ESPN Outdoors some years back, but they don't
show them programs anymore, so no hunting on the tube for us.
I tend to get envious when you comment on stuff I cannot see.

JC

Did you survive the earthquake OK?

I've tried the "hold the lever over" method and it doesn't work on a Parker Repro (DT). The triggers do not "set" and the gun will not fire, even tough the lever is in the correct position.

I've resorted to the "English method" i.e. grasp the forearm with the off-hand, and holding it firmly in place, raise the stock with the shooting hand and gently snap the action closed.

In some episodes, Dez carries his SxS open, and only closes it as the bird rises off his dog's point. I suppose that is an extra safety measure.

I've never seen anyone hunt in that manner before.

Haven't seen that. I was sure he walked up at Port Arms with gun closed? I thought that was the external hammergun method. Then again, they're all hammer guns aren't they! I thought we'd determined at the previous Jim&Jimmy volleyball tournament that slamming does more damage to the hinge pin and rule joint than it does to the bolt? Why don't we all just close our guns anyway we like? I vote early and often for the gentle snap.

jack

JayCee, pardon my ignorance but where is SA? I can't finger that one out........ Yes, I really like Dez's shows. I believe Merkel became one of his sponsors last year, so if I'm not mistaken this is the second year with it. I believe he did use one on one of the years on the HWH shows....... When I retired 1 1/2 years ago I had to have something to do while I laid around the house, so a satelite dish was the answer. (Two coffee tables on each side of my recliner filled with snacks- watching Dash and Dez. Now that's heaven). The summer is pretty boring without ol' Dez. I would like to see him hunt with Tom Knapp. Now that would be the elite hunting show. At least for me since they are my two favorites........ I had always noticed that Perkins in the beginning but I have never seen one, Jim. Are they pretty rare? I just figured it was just a clunker.

Jimmy, clue. You and I live in NA.

jack

OK. Thanks. I thought about that when Salty Arabia, South Arkansas, and South Akron went through my mind.

Jimmy, sorry about the "cryptic" description of my whereabouts. I am actually in Santiago de Chile, SA, :-)

Jack, thanks for your concern, but the earthquake was way up north. Hardly felt around here.

Who is Dez?

JC

Sorry, I just found this very informative source:

http://www.hwhproductions.com/hwhfaq.html

JC

So, there's an "English" way of "properly" closing a gun? No surprise. Of course, there's a "trapshooters" way of "properly" closing a gun too... lightly cradle the forend, with the butt under the armpit, lean 100% of the body weight on the forward foot, rock back to the back foot swiftly while raising the gun to the shoulder smartly, thus allowing the weight of the barrels to snap the gun shut like your girlfriend closing your 71 Pinto door after you told her you were going hunting on her birthday.

Dez Young is the owner of Hank, a English Setter out the Llewellin bloodlines. Dash is the offspring of Hank. As I understand it, Dez Young was involved in media productions during his career. He produced a hunting show, "Hunting with Hank", 1997-2002. It was truly a unique show. It usually consisted of Dez with Hank and maybe a friend, hunting at various spots around the USA. He never talked about equipment, though he used a Browning BSS exclusively for several seasons. He never talked about dog products. He simply hunted with dog and friends.

He had no problem showing episodes where he never hit a bird. The show evolved a bit. He mated Hank and produced Dash to be the replacement.

http://www.hwhproductions.com/index2.html
http://www.nalba.org/llewellin_setters.htm

I had stopped doing much upland hunting. Then I saw his show and it re-ignited by interest. He was selling VHS tapes of old episodes from his website. If you ever get a chance to see one of the shows, especially the old Hunting with Hank episodes, go for it. These are filled with classic upland hunting scenes. If I had a copy, I would send it to you...

Pete

You gotta be careful how you close your trap gun in these modern times. Best close it when the previous guy shoots, to avoid the stupid VOX system throwing an early target. Ah, the days of pretty trap girls... long gone...

JC:

Dez Young probably has a CD of his vocal "stylings" if you need to get in the mood.

"Upland days are on my mind both by choice and by design." My wife and I had arguments over about whether "choice" and
"design" are a distinction without difference. Can't do all the lyrics here; Jim may be listening and he's right: "Hunting With Hank" was pretty dreadful.

jack

Yeah, the whole music theme and narration bordered on icky-sweet, but it still had the best upland cinematography of any show I've seen. All in all, a very good show. Put on some Marty Robbins and turn the volume off the show and have a quail dinner while watching.

Pete, thank you for the info and your intention.

JC

Do people really watch those shows.

Who the heck is Dez ?

Dez was the keynote speaker at our Quail Forever banquet this year. He did it for the asking, a room and gas money for himself and father. Showed some out takes, and of course, brought Dash. Although I have never seen the show, Dez is very nice, the dog is gorgeous, and is also the best mannered gun dog I've ever seen around a bunch of people.

I'm glad to see everyone went kind of easy on him, as it's easy to poke fun of the piece, but the joke's on us since he gets paid to do what we can only manage in our spare time.

Bruce

Bruce,

Isn't that the truth. Once when I bear hunting in Manitoba, I shared a flight with a "field tester" for LL Bean. Geez, what a job. Traveling from one paid hunt to another. Bear and Wolf today, Goose and Pheasant next week...

I wish I could have been there to hear Dez.

Pete

I have to hold the button in on my Ljutic when I close it while I shoot trap. Slamming them shut without doing so will definitely damage the gun. On the newer ones, dry firing them will guarantee a broken firing pin.

Amazing that after all these years, you insist on talking about "slamming" a gun closed, while nobody else is.
"Hard-headed" doesn't even come close, does it?
I read in Dez's bio that he started out as a singer. Wonder why he changed career paths?
In spite of the annoying, endless guitar riffs, ending with the awful "singing"??, it's still one of the shows I enjoy most, in every other way.

You know, there must be lots of resentment out there when it comes to Dez. The guy is a true gentleman who has contributed markedly to our sport and given unselfishly of himself to terminally ill children. Yet every time he or his show is brought up some prick with a single digit IQ pops off with some stupid remark about his hair or his singing or spews some crap about planted birds or the state of training of his dog. Its in poor taste and shows a lack of class. It is not funny and it disrespects a guy who is nothing but good. Shame on you. What would your mother say?

Dez did begin with a Browning SxS. He progressed to a Merkel when they became a sponsor.
Incidentally, I have several Ithaca Classic Doubles and you shoulc never close them the "polite" way. They have a rotary bolt and won't seat properly if babied. I assume this is true with other locking mechanisms and, although I don't slam guns shut, I do make sure they close firmly.
Dez is a very nice fellow, by the way. You can e-mail him about anything and he will respond. I suggest you not bring up his "rug", however.

Dez is first an entertainer and when he steps onto his video stage he's open to criticism by anybody in the audience, even his mother. Doing otherwise, Mr. Blair, makes us look like those N. Koreans who wildly applaud anything put before them. And a cheap toupee is fair game.

Anyone who wears a $2.95 polyester rug in public is asking to be teased about it. Many of us do get bald as we grow older but only a few are so vain as to try so obviously to hide it. The cure for such awful singing is to not do it, in public. As I've said many times, I like everything else about his show and I have no doubt he is a good guy.
As to your calling people names, I may very well be a p..ck, but I'll match IQs against yours, any day of the week. My mother and father are both dead. But they WERE married.
Happy Thanksgiving,

Thank you for the Thanksgiving wishes......right back at you!

I think it says alot about a man when he is able to admit that he is wrong in insulting a man he doesn't know and if he's not able to. Did you think I meant you when I was writing about stupid remarks, poor taste, lack of class, low IQ's, crap and pricks?

The reason I used the term "slam" when talking about a Ljutic, Jim, is because you can't just close them up like a lever action SXS. There is a button in front of the trigger guard on the Ljutic that has to be pressed in and you can't shut them by just closing them. To close the gun up, you would really have to force them shut by slamming them if you didn't depress the button. A buddy of mine did this recently and it jammed the button to the point where he couldn't get the gun open. If you ever handle one you will see what I mean. If you tried to close them up easily without using the button, they wouldn't close. You would have to slam them shut. That is why I used that term......... And on one of his shows a few years ago, Jim, Dez talked about starting out in the business. He started on TV with a local kids show. This is when he started singing........... And Joe, you are right about making noise while shooting trap these days with the speaker system. This is why people have so much trouble when shooting a Model 12. About the time they put a shell in the gun and tip it forward to let the shell side into the gun, they close the gun just before someone calls for a target and it screws things up. If they don't time their loading just right, they can really make a mess of things. Good luck.

I feel pretty much like Jim Legg when it comes to Dez's shows. He illustrates gun safety very well. I recall an older Hunting With Hank show with some teen aged young men whom Dez apparently knew fairly well, I don't remember if they were relatives or not. He was pretty firm about safety issues, and that's good to see. I also wish he would refrain from singing as much as he does. If he started out in his adult live as a singer, as someone above suggested, it's easy to see why he changed careers. The rug is comical, he would be better served to leave it off and act his age like the rest of us Olde Fartes.

Dash is indeed a good dog. I don't know if Dez if the only trainer, or if he has someone else do the bulk of the training. If he is the only trainer, he does a good job of that as well. Hank had the better nose, I believe, and was a better all-around dog, I understand he died a couple years ago. Hank may be the best bird dog I have ever seen. Dash is good, but not that good.

Most of my guns are of European make, and have either Greener or Kersten bolting. Brian above is right on, you don't close them by gently easing them shut. If you do, you won't have another shot until you open it again and close it properly, not slamming, but closing it with authority.

Not everyone uses hairpieces for vanity, some are disfigured (as a member of my family is) and wear one to keep the "gawkers" from making them feel like s--t.
I do agree about the music..but its his show (and I do enjoy it) so I can live with that.

I watched a show a couple weeks ago. Hunter flushed a pheasant, he shot it with his full choked auto about five yards right in the body. Laughter followed and hard music with the camera zooming in and out. He was dressed in full camo with his hat on backwards. After blowing away several more birds with the same results I changed the channel.
I would rather watch a show like Dez has with the music than any of the others.

Poor taste? Lack of class? Low IQ, full of crap and a prick?? I'll tell you one thing, Bob, I wish you would leave my sister out of this conversation!!