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< 16ga. General Discussion ~ Second season woodcock in Southern NJ |
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Posted:
Mon Dec 18, 2023 7:58 pm
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Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 483
Location: South Eastern PA
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The second season in NJ's south zone opened last Thursday and I skipped my company Christmas party and made the drive to meet up with a couple of buddies. We hit some coverts that we had left alone in the early season that were along the Delaware bay that we thought should produce as the weather got colder. We were lucky and the birds were there in good numbers resting and eating before they crossed the bay on their way through Delaware, Maryland and Virginia on their way south.
It was a great day. There was a steady stream of activity for over 5 hours and there were more than 20 flushes before we took our 9 bird limit. There were great shots, embarrassing misses and flushes that were impossible to get a bead on for a shot. The dogs were happy to get back at it after a couple of weeks off during the main deer season. My pedometer registered just over 10,000 steps on fairly flat ground that is a mass of Russian olive, multi-flora rose, sapling stands so thick that they were hard to walk through, and a bit of slash from old logging.
I was the only one using a 16 gauge fox loaded with paper 8 RST's and paper 9's from my stash of vintage Winchester Skeet ammo. The aroma from those shells was intoxicating to say the least. The others were slumming it with a couple of 20 gauge Browning's that had the barrels stacked all wrong!
We finished the day with a toast to Hubertus, the patron saint of hunter's as usual. All in all a great day.
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Posted:
Mon Dec 18, 2023 8:14 pm
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Member
Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9472
Location: Amarillo, Texas
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Will you adopt me? |
_________________
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USAF RET 1971-95 |
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Posted:
Mon Dec 18, 2023 8:25 pm
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Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2812
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa
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ROMAC,
Outstanding day with a beautiful Fox 16 double gun.
all the best,
Pie Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man |
_________________ "L.C. Smith America's Best" - John Houchins
Pine Creek Grouse Dog Trainers |
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Posted:
Mon Dec 18, 2023 8:36 pm
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Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 452
Location: WI
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I don't know what powder RST used in those paper shells, but they do smell great. I was so thrilled to find almost a full case out in the barn last fall. The "brass" is a little rusty in spots, but they still go bang! |
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Posted:
Tue Dec 19, 2023 4:13 am
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Joined: 17 Oct 2019
Posts: 456
Location: New Jersey
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Beautiful Fox, who engraved it? We moved to Ocean County in June 2021 and I absolutely love it. Grew up in Warren county on a dairy farm. It’s amazing down here, like a different state. I’m a saltwater fishing nut (preferably fluke) which was one of the big motivators. I even left my job of 12 years and found something down here. Glad to see you got into them. I spent a week in Maine this year and the lack of them was amazing, grouse as well. 😂 |
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Posted:
Tue Dec 19, 2023 5:50 am
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Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 483
Location: South Eastern PA
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Swampy16 wrote: |
Beautiful Fox, who engraved it? We moved to Ocean County in June 2021 and I absolutely love it. Grew up in Warren county on a dairy farm. It’s amazing down here, like a different state. I’m a saltwater fishing nut (preferably fluke) which was one of the big motivators. I even left my job of 12 years and found something down here. Glad to see you got into them. I spent a week in Maine this year and the lack of them was amazing, grouse as well. 😂
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Thanks for the compliments!
Swampy, Geoffroy Gournet did the engraving. He lives up in Bethlehem, PA along the Delaware River. If you don't know of him, he emigrated from Europe to be the in-house engraver for all the A-1 Special Parker Reproductions during their production. He did a fantastic job. I had it custom stocked as well so it shoots as good or better than it looks if I do my part. I'm left handed with a 15 1/8th LOP so off the rack guns don't really fit me well. It was worth it. I'm shooting with a lot of confidence with this gun.
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Last edited by ROMAC on Tue Dec 19, 2023 12:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Posted:
Tue Dec 19, 2023 6:51 am
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Joined: 17 Oct 2019
Posts: 456
Location: New Jersey
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Yes he’s incredible. I’ve spoken with him and watched him engrave a cigar cutter. Truly talented individual. |
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Posted:
Tue Dec 19, 2023 12:42 pm
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Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2812
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa
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ROMAC,
GG is definitely a Master Engraver and you were very lucky to have him Engrave your Fox gun. One of the truly modern Master Engravers and GG is right here in Pa! With Churchill gone now, IMO GG is tops in his field.
all the best,
Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man |
_________________ "L.C. Smith America's Best" - John Houchins
Pine Creek Grouse Dog Trainers |
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Posted:
Tue Dec 19, 2023 3:37 pm
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Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 483
Location: South Eastern PA
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PC/D,
You are right! For my money, Gournet is the best!
You may recall that I had him put some finishing flourishes on a 16 gauge LC Smith that I found in the white about 10 years ago. I had him make me faux Crown Grade upgrade on a tight budget, he outperformed my expectations.
This is how I found it:
What he gave me:
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Posted:
Tue Dec 19, 2023 5:56 pm
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Joined: 22 May 2020
Posts: 272
Location: Ky
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Thanks for sharing! Put a big smile on my face. Beautiful gun and birds. Need a dog pic to go with those. |
_________________ “Never use an ugly gun to kill a beautiful bird” |
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Posted:
Tue Dec 19, 2023 7:14 pm
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Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2812
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa
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ROMAC,
Beautiful job on the top of the Breech work, did you ever go back an have any of the side lock upgraded also? Not many engravers capable of emulating Kraus & Spanglers work.
all the best,
Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man |
_________________ "L.C. Smith America's Best" - John Houchins
Pine Creek Grouse Dog Trainers |
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Posted:
Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:09 pm
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Member
Joined: 18 Aug 2010
Posts: 399
Location: Ballymoney Northern Ireland
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Romac, great report , wish I could have been there , especially for the tipples at the end of the hunt , they were well deserved.
Thanks for letting us in on your day, WJ. |
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Posted:
Thu Dec 21, 2023 6:23 pm
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Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 483
Location: South Eastern PA
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Pine Creek/Dave wrote: |
ROMAC,
Beautiful job on the top of the Breech work, did you ever go back an have any of the side lock upgraded also? Not many engravers capable of emulating Kraus & Spanglers work.
all the best,
Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man
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Dave, the sides had the birds in the circles when I bought it. Gournet did the rest. Stamped on the bottom was C. Dixon when I got it. I tracked him down, he is a custom muzzleloader builder. He was not interested in finishing the project. He said he did the initial work that was done to it over 20 years ago for somebody.
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Posted:
Thu Dec 21, 2023 6:28 pm
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Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2812
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa
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ROMAC,
Nice gun with some custom engraving!
all the best,
Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man |
_________________ "L.C. Smith America's Best" - John Houchins
Pine Creek Grouse Dog Trainers |
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Posted:
Sun Dec 24, 2023 9:24 am
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Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 483
Location: South Eastern PA
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Dave,
The gang and I got out for another woodcock hunt before the Christmas Holidays mess things up for us what with family obligations, gift giving, keeping up traditions, and gourmet meals and other such nonsense during hunting season.
It was a good time. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Faith had a lot of heart today and really worked the briars.
Emma was also super and staunch on point.
There was a lot of sign everywhere with chalk splash letting us know where they have been.
We all used 16's today, I had Reynard, my Gournet engraved custom Fox, one Buddy used a Sterlingworth and the other a minty Jaeger imported Masquelier from the 60's.
My first timberdoodle of the day lost quite a few feathers, some of which landed in a deep puddle. The winter sky and a barren tree made a nice reflection.
We toasted Hubertus before the drive home, wishing each other a merry Christmas and planned the next hunt before the season closes in early January.
Merry Christmas everybody! |
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