With the cold and snow outside, staying inside to plan future hunting trips

This winter has been a little squirrelly to say the least! This past weekend, we saw the coldest temperatures of the winter, so far, at 30 degrees below zero at my house. On Monday morning, the temperature was 10 degrees above zero with snow beginning to fall. Wow! And to top it all off when the snow finally stopped, we had about 16 inches of soft, fluffy white stuff on the ground. Never a dull moment weather wise!

In a previous column, I mentioned looking for indoor stuff to do because of the weather. You can see why now. I also mentioned going through my firearms and doing some spot cleaning and checking on their condition. That project continues with some not so good findings.

I’ve also previously mentioned that I plan to go on a sandhill crane hunt up around Delta Junction this coming fall. As a result, I’ve been checking the shotguns I plan to take to use for both cranes and geese, and on the off days, hopefully a little grouse hunting. Here’s what I found out.

The 10-gauge semi-auto shotgun is good to go. I also made sure I had the correct choke tubes and shotshells recommended for hunting the big cranes and geese. I’m considering taking along a 10-gauge side-by-side double barrel shotgun as a backup if something were to happen to the semi-auto, and as a possible “loaner” for my hunting partner if something were to happen to his 12-gauge gun. The side-by-side is also good to go with all the correct choke tubes and ammo.

For grouse hunting, I have an over-and-under 12-gauge shotgun I’ll probably take along with the appropriate shotshells. I spent a little time checking to make sure I had the correct open choke tubes, and the light loads I would use for shooting grouse. I also have a double barrel 12-gauge which I haven’t used for years and decided to check it out for grouse hunting too.

This gun has an interesting history. I found it in the used gun rack at an Anchorage gun shop maybe forty years ago. It is a quality gun which some person had purchased new. He took the gun to the shop gunsmith and asked to get the barrels cut off short. He wanted to use it as a bear gun. The gun shop folks tried to talk him out of having that work done and, instead, buy a cheaper gun for alteration. He wouldn’t hear of it and had the barrels cut off.

Long story short, the gun didn’t work out the way the guy had hoped and he traded it in. Because the cut off barrels essentially ruined the gun, he lost a pile of money, and the gun was priced well below its original value on the used gun rack. I bought it as a novelty.

After a while, I saw an ad in a gun magazine for a gun shop that specialized in shotgun work by a couple of English gunsmiths. I contacted them about replacing the barrels, and with a reasonable quote on pricing, sent the gun off for the repairs. I was very pleased with the quality of work done and used the gun for a few years for short range hunting. I had the replacement barrels choked cylinder/improved cylinder specifically for close shots at grouse and such.

I dug this shotgun out of the safe for a check up since I hadn’t used it for several years. When I went to open the action, the forearm fell off, literally. The lug mounted on the underside of the barrels to hold the forearm in place was gone! I have no idea how that happened. I’m guessing the 2018 earthquake may be related since some of my guns did suffer damage from the shaking the house underwent.

I called the manufacturer, but they no longer work on this model gun. It hasn’t been manufactured in nearly 40 years. They recommended some shops that could work on it, and I’m in the process of contacting them to inquire about repairs. I’d hate to see this gun permanently “retired,” but that’s a real possibility.

I also pulled my dad’s old double barrel out to look it over. It’s a Remington model 1900, 12-gauge, which has been well used but not abused. It’s choked open and open for the “partridge” hunting he used it for in Michigan. I’m going to get it checked out, since it’s over 100 years old – let’s hope it’s still good to go!