Let’s get ready

[Jeff S]

It’s that time of the year folks! Hunting seasons are opening up all over the country and this is what Fox owners live for…. going afield with a vintage gun. Take a lot of pictures to share, and jot down a few notes for Smitty’s newsletter.

[Silvers]

Good seasonal prep Jeff and a nice pic with your signature baloney sandwich, however I respectfully disagree that hunting is what most Fox owners live for. IMO the Fox hunters are in the great minority and many are content just taking and posting pics and showing off a Fox in the gun room, wiping dust off one for fear of dinging or scratching it while hunting, and even breaking it while shooting practice clays in a safer environment. Kind of like pseudo museum curators. To each their own. frank

[Kimber06]

Great conversation starter guys. Jeff, thanks for the starter post. Frank, looks like you are intent on stirring up the membership. OK, I'll bite. I am not a Fox collector, but an admirer of the Fox gun. I do own several and they all get shot, both at clays and game. My 16 ga Fox A & BE, both 28 inch mod/full, have taken their share of pheasant over the years. This year I will be replacing my present go to grouse/woodcock gun, a 16 ga Parker DH, with a 16 ga Fox AE. The Fox had some issues when I bought it that took about a year to get squared away. Now I am hoping to make it my go to early season upland gun. It has 26 inch barrels, cut from the original 28 inch (before i purchased it), with basically cylinder and skeet chokes. Weighs right around 6 pounds, perfect for me to carry around with one hand all day, which is a requirement were i do my early season hunting to leave my other hand free for moving aside the brush and tree branches which are very thick in the coverts we hunt.
The one cool thing about the gun is that it has a skeleton butt plate, and letters that way. Not very common on A grades.
Anyway, my grouse/woodcock hunting won't start until the RGS hunt in upstate NY at the end of October. Maybe, if get lucky, I will be able to post a couple of hero shots.

[fox-admin]

In the last two days the BWT have started showing in our marsh in big numbers, the clear nighttime conditions and a north west wind must have pushed the teal south. Most years the BWT are gone by our first opener. It appears another banner year for Wood Duck recruitment, the males are coloring up nicely. Off to the St. Lawrence Valley in two weeks to hunt woodies and teal, I will be shooting my 12ga Sterlingworth loaded with #6 Bismuth. Then up to the Tug Hill for some early grouse hunting with son Doug. I will be carrying my CSMC XE 20ga 26". The duck opener in our zone opens 10/21, I haven't decided on a gun either my Sterlingworth or M-21 Winchester. As the season progresses gun choice will depend on weather and the type of birds in the area. Just before Thanksgiving it's South Dakota for three days of pheasants, will take the M-21 since it is cold and a single trigger is nice to shoot with gloves. Once the second season opens after Thanksgiving it will be one of three Super Foxes or a #3 frame Parker DH 12ga. In December we hunt divers on the large bays or on the big lake Ontario, that is Super Fox or 10ga time with #3 TM 1 1/4". February is off to Texas for wild Bobs, I will take a 20ga Fox 26". Interspersed is state release pheasants on High Tor or Howland Island and more days grouse and woodcock with my son. For released pheasants I use my M-11F 20ga Remington semi-auto.
I do own guns that will never see the marsh or uplands but I shoot them all at sporting clays. At the Vintage Cup I shot six different gun, a Parker DH 8ga,Lefever 8ga EE, Fox XE, Smith Crown, Lefever DE and a Parker BHE 32".
Everyone be safe and I second what Jeff said, take some pictures and submit them to Mike Smith for the Newsletter. My lab Nellie is in top condition, I have been roading her with the ATV.

[Jeff S]

Wow! Craig, you’re going to be busy!

[vaturkey]

Leave for Michigan in two weeks. The upgraded Fox 20 gauge Sterly will be there and I'll also bring the 16 gauge SKUGG as well. I'm hearing mixed things in regards to birds, but we got almost zero in Va so north I will go.

PS. Will of course have Sophie as well as the new pup Annie.

Double PS. If you look close you will see the war wound on Sophies rear leg and the upgraded Fox 20 Sterly ejector. Hunting Woodcock in Va is a bloody event for both the 2 and the 4 legged.

[fox-admin]

Wow! Craig, you’re going to be busy!

Jeff: I've slowed down, 20+ years ago I was also into big game hunting, AKC hunt testing Labs as well as bird hunting. That was exhausting. Now I hunt deer opening day and that's about it. I have a pro handle my dog.
Here is where I will be 10/21, drone shot of the east side our duck club.

[Jeff S]

Craig, thanks for posting that great picture. I’ve often thought that it would be nice if the members shared a pictorial of their hunting camp, wether in the forum or the newsletter.

As always, Sept 30 I’ll be in the U.P. for the duck opener. I’ll be using my Fox B/C. Weighing just over 7 lbs. and 28” barrels it swings nicely for passing redheads and ring necks. Both barrels are choked .030”.

Oct 14, I’ll be enjoying opening day in the Southern Zone with my family on “Mud Lake”. I’ll probably use my 12 ga. “A” choked .017 and .039.

The picture at the beginning of this thread was taken at “the pond”, a couple hundred yards east of the lake. It’s pretty small and grown over, but I go there every year for sentimental reasons. That’s were my love affair with duck
hunting began a long time ago.

[Maggiemollie]

Headed to NE VT first week of October for grouse. Went last year. Early season was tough. Lots of full trees, birds held until stepped on, and immediately flushed up into into trees. Shot and downed and bunch of leaves , several nice sized branches, and one lone grouse.

Bringing several different guns and hoping to get one with each. Nothing highly collectible. Most likely candidates:

Fox 12g SW 26" barrels IC/LM
Fox 12g SW 30" barrels M/F
Parker 20g Trojan 28" barrels M/F
Parker 12g VH 28" barrels M/F
Lefever 12g Grade I 28" barrels C/C
Model 12 20g M

Also bringing my boat. Want to get out on Great Averill Lake for lake trout and Lake Wallace an international border lake. Want the dogs to swim in Quebec so they can tell other dogs they once swam from the U.S to Canada and back.

[67galaxie]

I love a good blindwich!

[Foxnut]

Leave for Michigan in two weeks. The upgraded Fox 20 gauge Sterly will be there and I'll also bring the 16 gauge SKUGG as well. I'm hearing mixed things in regards to birds, but we got almost zero in Va so north I will go.

PS. Will of course have Sophie as well as the new pup Annie.

Double PS. If you look close you will see the war wound on Sophies rear leg and the upgraded Fox 20 Sterly ejector. Hunting Woodcock in Va is a bloody event for both the 2 and the 4 legged.

Tom,
Bird numbers are terrible in MI…. I think you should just stay home!!!!. In all seriousness it looks to be a decent year for the Lower Northern for grouse and woodcock. I’ve hunted twice including today and have moved good numbers of both. As is to be expected it is still very thick with leaves as we’ve not had a frost yet. Out of five pointed grouse and four wild flushes today I got a glimpse at two of them. The rest were heard but never seen. Three woodcock points and never got a peek at any of them today.

[MC1952]

I’ll be in Michigan the 2nd week of October in my old stomping grounds. My son and Tut will be along also. I’ll bring my reworked 20 ga AE and a 20 ga Sterlingworth for backup.
Gunner will be along as well.

[Jeff S]

I love a good blindwich!

LOL! It took me a minute to get that, but as you know, I’m a little slow.