Dig -
Some of what I post here is included in a manuscript I submitted to DGJ last year. Since it was an unsolicited piece, I may never see it in print. In essence, I recounted my return to guns and hunting after a 38 year hiatus. I gave up both near the age of twenty, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me even now, but seemed imperative enough then. About three years ago I found a double gun that I wanted to own. When it became mine, It seemed obvious I should shoot it. Why else own the gun? It took a friend who was a grouse hunter to persuade me to go walk up edges and aspens -- and persuade is the correct word. However, one hunt turned into a virus I've been unable to shake and has colored all the weeks of my life over the last three years. Part of it, I'm sure, is the rush of memories that flooded my consciousness of the boyhood hunting with my Father and our dog. The subtle things that trigger responses -- the psychic power of carrying a gun; the smells of October woods and brilliant days; the overwhelming beauty of a grouse or cock pheasant; the symmetry of a fine gun; hell, even the color and texture of shotshells. The list is endless.
Your post has brought into sharp focus some of the things I've given a good deal of thought to over the last year. I have more guns now, a couple of fine ones. But I find I'm not a collector. I've been introduced to both trap and skeet -- by a couple of friends on this BBS -- who also introduced me to preserve hunting last year. But I'm not a competitive shooter though I thoroughly enjoy the clays. I'm also not moved in any deeper sense by preserve shooting though it was an enjoyable outing and I may well do it again. As for wild hunting (grouse and woodcock) I remain ambivalent to this extent: There is no catch and release with a shotgun. There is only one degree of dead. George Bird Evans describes this much better than I could hope to do and it essentially comes down to "moment of regret". I find I cannot kill what I would not eat, so I'm grateful that both grouse and woodcock are high on my culinary short list. So where does this ramble leave me? I don't know that I'll ever have a clear and cogent answer. I do know this: I respond in nearly equal measure to double guns, shooting double guns and hunting with double guns.
The best of collecting, shooting and hunting to all the brethren on this board.
Will S.
