Born 1946 – real father had been a Master Sergeant with the 101st and was badly messed up mentally and emotionally – was therefore raised by my PA Dutch grandparents. In the PA Dutch culture, kids are seen as small adults, so I was expected to pull my share. Guns and hunting are just part of life on a PA Dutch farm, though it’s more year ‘round food gathering and pest elimination than sport. One of my jobs was guarding the garden with my old blackpowder 10 gauge hammergun. If I shot, I best have something to show for the cartridge – two critters were better than one. Sort of a 19th Century childhood in the 20th Century.

As a child I was taken under the wing of another WWII ex- Master Sergeant (but a kindly one this time) – Mr. Ibach. He was an early gun crank and the state pistol champion in the late 1940’s. Mr. Ibach taught me to shoot properly, to reload and about guns generally. When I was 12, my grandfather said he’d buy me the gun I wanted so bad I could taste it – a 16 gauge Model 12 - if I got all A’s in school. I did and he did out of his very meager money. I learned I could be a good student if I applied myself – not just be the typical goof-off rural kid, and eventually went on to a post-doctrate degree.

The rest is history. Other than my own three unhappy years overseas as sergeant in the Army in the late 1960’s, I’ve hunted every year since I turned 12.

After obtaining some financial security, I did a ton of competitive shooting, too. Followed that trail hard for 25+ years.

These days, I still shoot a lot, but no more serious competition - just for fun; and I’m a one-trick pony as far as hunting - I only hunt upland birds and only over my beloved pointy dogs, but the dogs and I do get to travel thousands of miles each year in a Class A motorhome chasing various species of birds around the high plains.

I still have the old 10 gauge and the Model 12.



Also still have the old Colt MT that Mr. Ibach used to win the state pistol championship:


Last edited by Greg Hartman; 06/17/08 03:37 PM.