My Dad saw to it that I got out as much as I could with him, as a kid. My little brother didnt have the same drive for bird hunting I did, and my Dad saw to it that he got plenty of fishing in. For reasons I still dont get, this pissed my Mom off, but, my Dad seemed to have a good read on us kids, and we both got into something we loved, it was just different for each of us. I was, and am, a bit of a dud at fishing. Dad let me use his Beretta Silver Snipe 12 for a few years, when I was 12-13.
I had a single shot Italian folding gun in 12 gauge for the bird season I was 14 years old, complements of my Mom, who just bought what my Dad told her to buy. It is a good gun, but a poor choice for a kid, something my Dad figured out about 30 seconds after it went off the first time. It weights about 4 1/2 lbs, and I boxed at 112. Painful math equation. The following year, I bought his deer hunting partners Remington model 17, which, I used until I was about 22. I added a Remington 1100 in 12 gauge, but, never clicked with that gun.
I researched Darne shotguns from old articles by Roger Amber, and Roger Barlow, and bought an R15 20 gauge, unfired, from a preacher in Indiana, who had a kid locked up in the joint, and needed money. A friend bought the preachers V19 20 gauge.
I sold that gun, a mistake I rue to this day. But, there have been many others, and while I have all different kinds of guns, I grab some form of double almost all of the time, save horrible weather conditions. Some were expensive, some were not, all are a blast.
I miss my Dad. I owe much of this and who I am to him. Were it not for him, and his Setters, I might not be the guy in the woods that I am.
I have guns that arent doubles, and if a law was passed that I couldnt hunt with doubles, Id still hunt and shoot. But, if they took away Setters I would likely sell all my guns.
Best,
Ted
