I can’t believe it’s July already! June was steamy hot on the East Coast and July looks to be as bad. The bright side of being smack in the middle of all this summer heat is that we are getting that much closer to the fall, my favorite time of year for several reasons.
The boyfriend and I just got back from one of those hunting trips of a lifetime: We spent 11 days in New Zealand on an exchange program hunting lovely paradise shelducks, a beautiful shrieking rail called a pukeko, and alarmingly large black swans.
The thrill of bird hunting in South Africa struck on our first morning out when, driving on rutted roads to the fields, we spotted zebras, wildebeest, reedbucks, eland and jackals. And as it would play out a jackal had grabbed an Egyptian goose I had downed even before our German Wiredhaired could retrieve it.
In recounting his visit with F.lli Bertuzzi, (the Bertuzzi brothers), Michael Sabbeth provides a window into the rarified world of bespoke shotguns as exalted art.
Let’s face it, side-by-side shotguns are becoming the purview of us old guys. Just visit the best American side-by-side events such as the Southern Side-by-Side, World Vintage Skeet Championships or the Vintagers Order of Edwardian Gunners and you’ll see fellows of a golden epoch savoring the je ne sais quoi of a lissome double gun.
Dave Miller, CZ-USA’s shotgun product manager and sporting clays master class shooter from Grain Valley, Missouri, set out to do what no man has done before − to shoot 3,000 sporting clay targets broken in one hour.
Happy June everyone! I am not sure where the time goes, but it sure flies by. My May was so full of travel, weddings and celebrations that I am not 100 percent certain what day it is right now. My middle child graduated from high school, my daughter had her junior prom and one of my best friend’s daughters got married. There have been a birthday celebration (ugh), athletic banquets and baccalaureate services. This is a long way of saying there has been less shooting time than we would have liked around here. But alas, we must have our priorities.
Last duck season was my best ever: I was a pretty good shot most days, and I got to hunt in some great locations on some great days, so I killed 120 ducks and geese.
Scooby stands at the highest point of Crubenmore (a 3,000-acre beat on Drumochter estates, which is part of the Cairngorms National Park). He breathes in this mysterious landscape – with its light grey sky, patches of bare rock face and carpet of short muted heather – hoping to catch the scent of grouse.
This past October we visited my wife’s sister and brother-in-law in central Nebraska. I was a willing participant. I love my extended family, I love visiting that part of my country and I had a selfish motive: shooting at the Oak Creek Sporting Club in Brainard, Nebraska with a pristine thumb lever Purdey built in 1869 loaned to me by a friend. Shooting a classic British shotgun in the heart of the New World intrigued me.
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