Old Guns,Old Man, fixin’ to get a gobbler!

[armenius]

The dogwood is in bloom,also the wild azalea and crabapple, and the call to get one the swamp and woods is overpowering. After having just celebrating my 85 birthday and having a few health problems I feel compelled to attend Old Mr Gobbler’s Sunrise Service. I wanted this to be special so I put my SBE Benneli aside and prepared an old friend for a hunt. It is a 67 year old Browning Auto 5 I bought at age 18
for $119. No paper involved except the bills I held in my sweaty palms.I had them install the Cutts Compensator all for a total of $134.For years it collected scores of doves,quail and ducks galore.
Recently someone asked “what is a Cutts Compensator?”.It was the real deal,reduced recoil,no blown patterns and a choke for every purpose.I patterned it with a Long Range 3 tube and using 2 3/4 in 12 Ga shells and it produced denser patterns than my Beneli SBE With aftermarket Turkey Choke and 3 1/2 in 12 Ga!
Also pictured is a 1954 S&W pre 27 357 Magnum I bought in 1971 for $80.It is 90-95% even today.It will be handy for poachers,snakes and such.
I may not get one but I will be blessed to be there

 

[HughD1]

Hope you get you one. They have cut so much timber around home that they have to roost on a skidder! Good looking old guns. My father had the compensated on his old Remington bird gun. Good luck!

 

[crsides]

Just got back from Turkey hunting the low country south of Florence. My Batavia Leader 12g double was with me Friday and Sat. Sunday a changed over to the Fox CE. The chokes on the old doubles can shoot some tight patterns. I reload low pressure loads from Tom Roster's book. We saw birds, heard birds, but never got a clean shot.
Good luck on your hunt, let us know how it goes.

The Batavia Leader, and gobbler from 2017

 

[Jtown]

Good Luck on your hunt.
Walt

 

[kscharlie]

First, thank you for your service. I wish you well in your quest for "Boss Gobbler". I still have 3 weeks until the season opens here in Kansas. Already have my tags and my best buddy is coming in for opening day. I will be 70 this year, and one of my joys is turkey hunting. You do well to honor that faithful old Browning. I never cared for the looks of the Cutts, but one cannot argue with the results of one. I have an old Winchester Model 12 with a Poly Choke on it. Don't much care for the looks of them either. But they work. I have taken a few thunder chickens with it, and it kills them just as dead as any of my turkey guns. In fact, it has taken more birds of all kinds than all my other shotguns put together. This one is the only gun I have ever given a name to. I very fondly call her "Butt Ugly", and I do so with reverence. I know well, and understand completely, the feelings and memories you have of your Browning.

May your aim be true and your gun shoot straight.

 

[jdlii]

Good hunting sir!

 

[Valmet]

Love seeing pics of old guns in the field- my late grandfathers A-5 makes it out with me to the dove fields of Southern VA every September.

 

[nachogrande]

I HOPE I'LL BE AROUND AT YOUR AGE.

62 Years young & I too have a Benelli SBE 12 ga & those 3 1/2" turkey loads are no joke. I'm already thinking of going 20 ga, wimp that I am. Good hunting SIR.

 

[white cloud]

I got mine last Friday.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I'll be out there Saturday, Lord willing. Think I'll take the old Ithaca 37 instead of the Mossberg 935.

 

[Old Corp]

Our season in NC opens later on into April. Seeing lots of birds in the area as you cruise roads bordering farm fields.

My deer-hunt club lease is about 25 miles North (Weyerhauser land). A place where you won't always see deer on a hunt, but almost always turkey(s). We only have a Spring season. They walk those sandy roads like they own the place.

I'll try it there this year and see how it goes.
Good luck to all.

 

[les.b]

I haven't hunted one for years, but I have to stop in my driveway every day, to let them cross. When I was a kid, we never spotted turkeys, now they are here by the dozens. I watch gobblers every day. They haven't started their showiest waltzes yet, but they are practicing religiously!!

Not a very good picture, but snapped it out of the living room window this afternoon with the iPhone:

Thanks for sharing those fine old firearms!!

Good luck to you, sir!!

Best Regards, Les

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the old Cutts compensator We used to fight over who got to use an old Remington 11-48 12 gauge with a cutts on it. Gun was a DUCK SLAYER. Good memories indeed!!!
Last Turkey I got was about 30 years ago one fall in Mississippi. We ran over it in the old FJ40 and jumped out and shot it while it was still stumbling around trying to figure out what just happened

 

[white cloud]

I'll be out there Saturday, Lord willing. Think I'll take the old Ithaca 37 instead of the Mossberg 935.

Weird, I usually take my Ithaca 37 but took the Mossberg this time.

 

[nachogrande]

A GREAT TIME TO BE IN THE WOODS

I may not have always got a bird, but I always came home with a good story. STUFF always seems to happen during spring turkey, namely snakes & coyotes. The stories last longer. EDIT: My Mossberg 500 was a good luck charm. When I got the Benelli SBE "expensive turkey killing machine" I went into a slump for awhile.

 

[crsides]

I picked up an ithaca 37 (my first) 20g full choke last month, just because of the condition. AFTER I get that first bird of the year, I am going to try it out.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

A good ear could always tell when a Cutts(my Dad's friend with the mdl 11) or my Dad's long barrel mdl 12 wad fired on a dove field. They each had a distinctive sound.

 

[jdlii]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the old Cutts compensator We used to fight over who got to use an old Remington 11-48 12 gauge with a cutts on it. Gun was a DUCK SLAYER. Good memories indeed!!!
Last Turkey I got was about 30 years ago one fall in Mississippi. We ran over it in the old FJ40 and jumped out and shot it while it was still stumbling around trying to figure out what just happened

Now that is hunt'in Cajun style!!

 

[targetchief]

Good luck in the turkey woods. I hope you get a big one.

 

[Toter]

I have had 20-25 Turkeys in my back yard for the past 2 months, usually daily. The day before the season opened here in Georgia, there were 4 gobblers strutting out back. Once the season opened, the text must have gone out because they are nowhere to be found. You have to admire how smart they are.

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