As I get older my memory of dates becomes a bit cloudy but I am pretty sure that it was sometime in or around October or November of 1961 when I was 12 about to turn 13 in February that my dad replaced the Remington 37 in 20 gauge that belonged to my uncle that I had hunted several seasons with. He presented me with a Stevens 311 in 12 gauge. I was in heaven. I had wanted a Browning "humpback" but he first bought a less expensive Remington Sportsman. I kept that until my mother discovered that he had paid $100 for it. He took it back and came home with the Stevens for a mere $74. I used that little double for several years putting everything from bird shot to buckshot through it, bringing in doves, quail, rabbits, squirrels and deer. Then for many years I went to pumps and autos. Until, that is, I read an article in either DGJ or Shooting Sportsman in about 1993 about a guy who had hunted ducks with an old double gun of some sort. That caused me to pull out the little Stevens I still have and use it on doves that year. The rest, as they say, is history!! I still shoot an occasional auto or pump, but I always come back to my doubles, either SxS or O/U. But I now find as I get older I am going to the smaller gauges and much lighter weight guns!! Sorry to ramble on so long, but hey, Joe, you asked!!
