YANTIS — Since I started hunting I have liked double-barreled shotguns. Like most people you have an affinity for the first gun you hunt with and for me that was a 16-gauge double.
The gun belonged to my Uncle Bob and most days it sat in the bedroom closet in the old frame farmhouse south of Mansfield. It was a lot more gun than I could really handle at the time, but back then a bruised shoulder was a badge of honor indicating I went hunting and you didn’t. Also, since no one else hunted with it it seemed like mine and I was proud and willing to take the beating.
As I started getting older I stepped away from side-by-sides for pumps, semi-autos and eventually over/unders, but I never lost my love of a double and the memories that came with it. Guns, just like the people you are with, the location and the adventure of the hunt, are what makes hunting special.
A couple of years ago I scratched that itch and bought another, a CZ Bobwhite. I liked the way it shot from the beginning.The weight almost forced you to swing through the shot, but there is a learning curve that comes with those two barrels.
I added to the inventory last summer when I was offered a cast-off 12-gauge double-barrel. The owners knew nothing about the history, nor if the gun could even be shot.
It was far from perfect, but from the scars you could tell it had been enjoyed and created memories over the years. I looked at it for a minute and knew there was no way I could say no.
I took the gun home and immediately started breaking it down for clues. It was a Remington, that I knew. The barrel, the stock, everything had matching numbers telling me it was a model 1900, and based on some online research of the serial numbers I learned it was made sometime in 1910 and had modified barrels without ejectors. I also learned it was steel and took 2 ½-inch shells. Because the action was tight, I was pretty sure I could shoot it if I could find appropriate light loads.
The old gun is not a thing of beauty. It does not have fancy checkering, the wood is plain and the bluing has seen better days. Still, the fact it is a survivor makes it special.
Unfortunately, I could not find the ammo in the U.S. which is probably why it got relegated to a closet sometime in the past. However, that resulted in a decision. I would have to have Dexter Jordan bore the barrel cones out to take a 2 ¾-inch shell. It hurt a little, but it made the gun huntable.It got its first field test just after Thanksgiving when my sons, Tristan and Thomas, along with grandsons, Connor and Hayden, made our annual quail hunt at Hidden Lakes Hunting Resort.
I have been hunting Hidden Lakes since it opened near Lake Fork in 2008. My sons have been hunting there with me almost as long. Our hunts there have become memorable. Last year we hunted in what for Texas was blizzard-like conditions with temperatures in the 20s and a windchill in the single digits. I figured this year the excitement would be the old Remington, it was either going to work like it did 113 years ago or have all sorts of glitches and blow up in my face.
Once in the field, guide Daniel Cerretani dropped two pointers, Annie and Star, and the hunt was on. They are older dogs and ones we have hunted behind numerous times over the years. Like the rest of us they have slowed with time, but while their legs may not have been as loose as they once were, their noses were still dialed in.
Lugging the old gun with its 28-inch barrels I thought about its past. At 7-plus-pounds it is better suited to waterfowl hunting, but I am going to guess in its first 40 or so years it had been used for quail hunting when the birds were numerous around the small farms and big timber stands that dotted East Texas.
It was not long and the dogs went on point and a small covey busted, crisscrossing each other in flight and heading in three different directions.
I pulled one trigger and a bird fell just feet away. As Tristan and Thomas picked out a target I swung on a second bird, hit the other trigger and watched it fall. We had four of the five down.
We continued around the field and ended the hunt with 36 birds. Just as much as I enjoyed the hunt with the boys and the little ones, I was especially happy having hunted with the old gun.
I was surprised by the lack of kick from the gun, which only had a steel butt plate for protection. Sure, my shoulder was a little bruised the next day, but nothing like those from the old 16 years ago.
To book a hunt a Hidden Lakes call Cord Burnett at 903-335-2200 or 903-383-7100. For more information go online to https://www.hiddenlakeshr.com. There are still opens through the Christmas holidays.
