I was 12 years old. Santa brought me a LC Smith field grade 20ga, 26 inch tubes and a Brittney pup. I was a big time bird hunter. I'm 37 now, I still got the LC Smith and I sure miss that dog.

Mine was a Mossberg 410 bolt. What a poor choice. I've since come a long way!

Bob257

Savage Stevens Model 311C, 20 gauge side-by-side.

Dad got it for me when I was about 11 or 12. My older brother got one that looked almost exactly like it, except his was a Model 311A or B, can't recall.

In college, a buddy of mine stripped the old, peeling varnish and refinished the stock with Danish rubbing oil. It's beautiful.

I opened the chokes from Modified-Full to IC-Modified.

It still gets taken out and used occasionally.

I'll never sell it.

Tim

Mossberg M500 pump 12 gauge with 30 inch barrel and full choke. The next year I had the barrel cut down to 27" and a polychoke put on......best move I ever made with that gun.

My first bird gun was my Dad's old Win Model 12. My father had bought a new Rem 1100 for himself and my brother and I had a Mossberg 500 we were supposed to share (only my big brother wasn't big on sharing) so I got the old hand me down Model 12. I always complained and made out like I was getting the smelly end of the stick, all the while I wouldn't have traded with any of them.

My first bird with that gun was a crow. We were hiding in a hedge row when a crow came over and my father and uncle both missed it as it was incoming, I turned around in the hedge and shot it going away at about 50 yards. Ever since then they couldn't have pried it away from me. Dad eventually gave me that Model 12 and it now sits in my gun closet.

[ 03-28-2003, 17:14: Message edited by: B B ]

Rem 1100 in 20ga.

A Daisy BB gun. Fuzz

A 410 single barrel bolt action Webley & Scott. The first thing that I shot with it was a rabbit in the evening in a nearby wood. At one time I had a silencer for it. Traded up to a single 12 then up to a

quote:

---

---

12 s/s. That cleaned my piggy bank right out.

Mine too was a Mossberg 410 bolt gun and I agree -- What a terrible thing to do to a young shooter.

However, what wonderful memories are attached to that old gun. I recently gave it to my son for his 25th birthday. He of course is familiar with the gun's history so you would have thought he had just received a new K-80. He has rabbit hounds and will use it for that. Hopefully, he will give it to his son one day with all the stories still intact. (That is, after the boy has learned to shoot with a proper shotgun!)

I was about 12-13 years old when I started shooting them out back in the 40 acre field with a Daisy pellet gun. Shot 2 beautiful roosters about 10 minutes apart one day. All head shots. Had a small flock that used to come into the garden in the fall and eat leftovers. I hid in the weeds and waited until they came in. Not your conventional way of bird hunting but it worked as a kid.

First one used to take a pheseant was grand dad's Winchester model 97 trap grade,kick like hell but droped birds like no tomorrow

H&R Topper, .410. Still have it.

32" barreled 12 gauge Iver Johnson sxs that was my grandpa's and he gave it to dad, I used it my first couple of seasons, I still shoot it once in a while, but it's mostly a wall hanger because the lock has gotten so worn on it. Anything over 1 oz. loads will break the action open upon firing, not so good.
Yardbird

.177 spring piston air rifle of undetermined origin. I stalked and shot a cowbird (lays eggs in other birds nests, about the size of a blackbird) with it, with my younger brothers in tow!

The first gun I ever bought was a New Haven (Mossberg) .20 gauge 183 bolt gun. The stock was broken, the trigger guard was broken, and the safety didn't work. After I fixed it up, it actually shot pretty well, but the bolt action was rather cranky, so the magazine was mainly a convenient plact to carry a couple of spare rounds. I think I would have reloaded as fast or faster with a break open single! I shot some ducks with it, and some ruffed grouse and woodcock, I think a few crows. It only cost me $10 when I was 15, no paperwork, none required. I never did sell it, but gave it to a nephew a couple of years ago to help nudge him in the right direction.

My first bird was a sparrow(maggot non native bird) shot with my daisy when I was nine.

First game bird was a ruffie with my new 12g Berreta silver pigeon. I still have that shotgun and she's taken alot of everything.

CIL single shot 16 gauge. I bought it when I was 14 and still have it today. I had it out trap shooting 2 weeks ago.

I was 12 and got an BB-gun. Shot a little innocent non-eatable bird. Still feeling bad about that 18 years later... Thats weird...

JLHeard,

It sounds like they are right popular....

My father gave it to me on my 14th birthday, September, '76. I didn't get to go on the "men's" dove hunt opening weekend, but Dad took me to Sikeston, MO the second weekend. We hunted in a watermelon field, and we got a bunch. If you needed a snack, you just broke open a melon! Did a LOT more hunting with it after that....

It came with the Modified barrel, and later I added a used barrel with the "poly-choke" system installed. Sure wish I still had it....

Best regards, Bill

Bob257 and Mike M. I can't believe how ignorant you were.

That makes three of us. My Mossberg was a bolt action 12-Ga. with a huge variable choke dial-in on the muzzle. Mossberg must be embarrassed to this day.

I got lucky. In high school my girl friend's brother fell in love with my shotgun. I sold it to him for $50.00. He called back in a week and wanted his money back. Seemed he'd spun the variable choke until it had disengaged from the threads. The next shot put it in orbit out over a ranch tank, and it disappeared in the muddy water.

If I'd have been him I'd have thrown the rest of the gun in after it.

Daisy in .177 caliber. Proudly showed my first dead songbird to my mother.

I can't remember the pain of nearly cutting off my thumb one time, or grabbing a soldering iron at the wrong end. But I can clearly remember the pain of that willow switch and the feeling of sitting on my warmed butt in my room in the fading light of that August day.

H. C.

Beautifully put H.C. I too violated the prohibition against shooting song birds but was fortunate enough never to have gotten caught. I think there is a part of every young boy that just has to go through that---honing your hunting skills on song birds. Its just a part of our nature, though we eventually mature out of or something.

Jordan

20 gauge Parker Trojan Model, 26 in bbls. Given to me by my father, who inherited it from his uncle. Still have it, of course. I could show you, within 50 yards, where I shot my first bobwhite, some 42 years ago. I took it directly to my granny, who showed me how to clean it, and cooked it for me. She did the same thing with my first fish. My gosh, those are some good memories.

I bagged my first grouse with a slavia .177 pellet gun. After I did that I was allowed to use my father's 20 guage.

I did shoot a bluejay before the grouse, my mother made me eat it, never did that again.

Model 12 20 ga with a full choke that shoots 95 plus percent made it hard to hit them up close. i have shot lots of everything with it. Ran five ducks in a row one day 3 shots then a fast reload all in about 30 seconds. Now I mostly shoot sideXsides. Still have the model 12 my son gets it shortly.

If we are counting BB guns. It was a Daisy Red Ryder with a plastic scope. I specialized in robbins and mockingbirds for a brief while until shown the error of my ways.

Then I specialized in sparrows, robbins and an occasional dove, until being re-indoctrinated.

I noticed if I stuck to lizards, sparrows, toads, and starling, that I got a whole lot less "training".

My father gave me a Winchester Model 37 20ga. (boys model), for my 8th birthday. It is still in my gun safe . I used it until I big enough to use my dad's Winchester Model 12 16 ga.

Steve

Mine was a Ranger 20ga with a poly choke. I can't recall what happened to that gun. Probably swapped off for something else maybe my Browning sweet 16 which cost me a princely sum of $150. That gun I still have.

I went on my first dove hunt when I was 11. My dad gave me his old Lefever 12 ga. Nitro Special, about as tall as I was. A friend of his, seeing this scrawny kid armed with this cannon (he hates anything larger than a 20 ga.) took pity on me and let me use one of his guns for the shoot. It was a Parker D grade 28 ga! Parkers didn't mean much to me at the time but I fell in love with that gun. I tried to get my dad to buy it for me (I had no idea what they were worth even in those old days). Man do I wish I had that gun today.
C.G.B.

My first shotgun was a Winchester 101, 20 gauge - it was my grandmother's gun, of course I still have it. I was allowed to "borrow" it until I proved that I was safe with a gun, at the end of my first season, I was allowed to take it home with me. The next season I was allowed to load both barrels. Limited out on ducks on my first hunt with it - the first time I had shot a bird in the air - plenty of blackbirds before then with a pellet gun. Of course, it is a day I'll never forget.

My first bird gun was a borrowed Italian SxS 20 gauge. First bird was robert white. Latest bird guns are a 16 gauge LC Smith and a 12 gauge BSS.

The first bird gun I used was my grand fathers W&R hand detachable S/S 12 ga. My first gun of my "own" but kept by my uncle was a Webly Scott 702 S/S. A reat treat for partridge and ring necks.

My first bird gun that was owned by me on the license was an AYA no:1 sidelock S/S in 20ga. I took it out on partridge shooting over a friends pointers I regrett that I sold the gun, stupid

/ JOHAN

A Daisy Red Ryder, a Benjamin pump, then a 20 gauge Stevens single barrel that opened on each shot, finally an LC Smith 12 gauge when I reached 12. Quite a few others since then.

Mine was a H&R Topper in 12 guage. Man, did that thing kick!

Remington model 11 12ga best shotgun I have ever shot. The gun I learned to shoot on though was a Stevens sxs 410.

A Stevens 311 410 SxS at the age of 9. Got several quail and doves with it and a bunch of squirrels. That was 37 years ago. Still have it and shoot at skeet with it from time to time.

I am amazed at how many of you guys relate stories of feeling SAD about your first kills. I thought I was the only one who felt that way.

When I got my first BB gun, I wanted to hunt from dawn till dusk. Whenever I killed anything, I would feel so bad about it I would cry for the next couple of hours........and then get the BB gun and go back out to hunt some more.

Hunting was an instinct I couldn't squelch. I've been hunting every since. Sometimes I still feel bad about it. But I don't guess it hurts to respect and care about the critters you hunt. In fact, many things I used to hunt, I won't any more. I've grown to care too much about them.

Example: I've got an unusual color photograph I took one day out behind the house. I spotted a dove crouched low in her nest trying to hide from me, but she wouldn't fly. So I went and got my camera and a step ladder. Climbed up on the ladder and discovered she was trying to cover two little chicks in the nest with her wings. I took my picture and quietly left. Dove have been completely safe around me ever since.

[ 08-09-2003, 10:01: Message edited by: Pecos45 ]

Remington 37A in 20ga, worthless ugly hard kicking beast, after I shot it, I knew why my father gave it to me, it was his first duck gun, my first duck gun, and someday I hope it to be my sons first duck gun. on the other hand I may destroy it before then...

Grandad's old plain barrel Winchester Model 12 in 16gauge. It's since been reblued, restocked, had a vent rib added, and thin-wall chokes. Had to start loading my own shells since there really isn't a lot of choice on the market. Have since picked up a Browning Citori and the new Remington Wingmaster in that gauge, too. RKBA!

[ 08-19-2003, 11:03: Message edited by: JOE MACK ]