Christmas time grouse

[Silvers]

It's kind of a nostalgia kickback for me to hunt with a 410 around Christmas time. That's when my school friend Joe would share his 410 with me while on Christmas break and while hunting with his dad. We were both 12 and then 13, and I'd hitchhike about 4 miles to their home that was "in the farms" as the expression went in our small town. I'll never forget those days, cold as could be in makeshift hunting clothes and old Army combat boots, and the long colored 3-inch paper shells that added a touch of color to the drab woods.

Here's a nice grouse with a Fox model B in 410, along with a green Remington and a blue Peters on standby, both 3-inch paper full 3/4-ounce loads and crackly as the day they were made. Our 2019 PA grouse season ended yesterday and I didn't get a NY license this year so this is it for grouse.

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and New Year. frank

[Jim Cloninger]

That's a beauty, Frank. Your .410 brings back memories for me too. I shot my first Ruffed Groude with a Stevens .410 side by side. I don't remember the model, but it had the normal S x S rib, not the ventelated rib.
Jim

[Jeff S]

Nice picture Frank. I shot my first grouse with my dad’s 1937 410 Lefever nitro special. I wish I had a picture. Merry Christmas.

[grouse_fan]

That's awesome! I can't imagine killing grouse with a 410, I have a hard enough time with a 20 gauge.

[Jim Cloninger]

Now that I think about it, my Dad's .410 was a "Savage". This was around 1952!
Jim

[Rbishop]

Frank you win prettiest bird photos of this season! Congrats on another beauty!

[Stan Hillis]

Thanks for the memories, Frank. Though they were not of grouse, for me, I began hunting with a J C Higgins .410 double at age 8, and used it until age 12, when I got a Rem. M11 20 ga. Some of my best hunting memories are of wandering the fields and woods and taking game with that .410. With it I took my first quail, dove, rabbit, squirrel and owl (Oops! ). My first hunting coat was an old Army surplus olive drab field coat. The two big front pockets on it were soaked and hardened with the blood of game and game birds. Actually, being raised on a farm we regularly killed hawks and owls to protect the chickens, and quail. But, as Dylan sings, "things have changed".

Absolutely gorgeous picture you posted.

Best, SRH

[jolly bill]

Oh yes, an Ithaca Lefever .410 was my go to gun for cottontail rabbits and grouse.

On one particular hunt for grouse while walking thru some nice cover of alders and Norway spruce, something was coming down from the trees and dropping around me. Including on me and the stock of my .410. It was grouse poop. The darned thing pooped on my gun.

It flushed. A hasty shot to get even was for naught.

Thanks for the reminder Frank and you guys. And hope you had a great Christmas and hope you have a Fantastic, Prosperous and Safe New Year.

Jolly

[Silvers]

Thanks all. Nostalgia can be so powerful if even to recall and relive a very small piece of exciting days long past. The 410 in late season and with paper shells is one of my time travel kickbacks.

Stan, a similar memory on the clothing ….. my Dad didn't hunt but I had some hand me downs from my maternal Grandmother. One was my then late Grandpa's "small game coat". It was warm enough in the regular season but usually not so after Christmas even with sweaters underneath. Then thanks again to my Grandma I got my Uncle Andy's Navy deck jacket and for safety my Mom dyed it with RIT fabric dye, turning it kind of a weak red, best she could do. The deck jacket was plenty warm for cold weather but those leather combat boots with straps and buckles across the top were the coldest feeling boots I ever wore even with double woolen socks. Nevertheless they were exciting days for a young man who loved to hunt, trap and fish during those far simpler times. frank

[eightbore]

RIT? Do they still make RIT? I remember that mom used to dye stuff in the washing machine with RIT. The chances of The Lovely Linda letting dye into her washing machine are about one in ten million. Frank, thanks for the trip into the dark and distant past. I had long forgotten that my first trip into the woods with a gun was with a Stevens Tenite stocked .410 double borrowed from a neighbor and poker playing buddy of my father's. The hunt was during squirrel season, very near where I have lived for 40 plus years, and was absolutely unproductive. We returned the gun to my dad's friend and when we went hunting next, it was later the same year, with my own gun, in prime pheasant country in Adams County, Pennsylvania

[Stan Hillis]

Mine was Tenite stocked too, Bill. Feather crotch.

SRH