Saturday, I carried my Dad's 1913 vintage Winchester 1911 SL 12ga for the dove opener. My Dad was neither a big hunter, nor a "gun guy". Before I came along, he did a fair amount of quail hunting with his former employer, who was like a second father to him. This was back in the days when there were actually huntable populations of wild Bobwhite around. This shotgun was given to him by that former boss man.
By the time I came along, the quail numbers were all but depleted. Dad carried this shotgun on a few dove hunts when I was a kid and he killed his first deer with it with a load of 0 buck on a dog drive when I was a teenager and became obsessed with hunting. After we got out of that dog hunting club in the late '80s, the Winchester basically gathered dust. Dad went to Heaven in 2004 and naturally the Winchester came to me. I have treasured it but have shot it very little. I busted a few clays with it, killed a couple of squirrels with it and carried it on a crow hunt or two. Other than that, it has lived in the back of the safe. Last week, while looking for something else, I dug out the 1911's original wooden magazine plug. The wheels began to turn as I was trying to decide which shotgun to carry for the dove opener. Part of the reason I haven't hunted with it much was the fact that the barrel is cylinder bore, perfect for the quail Dad used to hunt but lacking for unpredictable shots at rocketing doves. Or so I thought...
I finally relented and decided to carry the Winchester onto the field and leave one of my more familiar guns in the truck, just in case. I never went back to the truck for that 2nd gun. I passed a lot of shots that I'd normally have taken with a modified choke and while I didn't pull off any "Hail Mary" shots with that open choke, I hit a few that I'd have thought hopeless. I had no trouble bringing down my 15 bird limit and had a ball doing it. I decided not to inflict any undue strain on the 99 year old "Widowmaker" (as the 1911 was often called), so I shot a light target load of 1oz 2 3/4 dram #9 and the gun made a pretty good account for itself.
This was probably the most satisfying limit of doves I have ever shot. Partly because I used a shotgun that is just under the 100 year old mark, but mostly I guess because it was my Dad's gun. I'm sure he looked down and smiled. Lord willing, it will definetly get more use in the future than it has received in the last few decades.
