Introduction
When an unsolicited email crossed our desk, we felt compelled to publish it (of course with permission from the author). The email, originally sent to NSCA Level II instructor, Elizabeth Lanier, captures the spirit of a unique all-woman upland hunt – basically giving the rest of us a rare glimpse into the camaraderie and exhilaration that women can enjoy when they decide to leave the guys behind and head out into the fields with guns and dogs.
Over dogs and overhead, pheasants took to the sky as Primland hosted a weekend of both European driven shoots and walk-up hunts in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
British best-gun maker Holland & Holland had invited a handful of clients to experience the jubilation of traditional guns-on-pegs hunting as strong-flying pheasants were driven from the fields above by a line of beaters. Meanwhile, I spent a full day with a guide and his dogs flushing pheasants in a mountain-top clearing cultivated for habitat.
Until the Piotti Monaco, I never thought of bespoke shotguns as “cool.”
We often praise custom-made over/unders more in the vernacular of classical beauty than hip transcendence.
In Part I of the series “Dove Hunting in Argentina Beretta Style” we talked about our mission: To determine if a 12-gauge is overkill, compared with sub-gauge shotguns, for high-volume dove shooting in Argentina. Now in Part II, we reach our first hunting destination, the Sierra Brava Lodge.
It’s Las Vegas, January 17- 20, and the sprawling Shot Show once again served as a venue for new shotgun introductions in our universe of wing and clays shooting. While Benelli’s Franchi and Stoeger units took the cake for the most number of new model roll outs at the Sands Convention Center, all eyes were on FABARM’s forthcoming semi-auto as it pointed the way for what we can expect from the company’s merger last year with Caesar Guerini of Cambridge, Maryland.
An important point you should understand about high-volume dove hunting in the Cordoba region of Argentina is that it ain’t for crybabies. Set out to shoot 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 doves per day or more and you will inevitably experience the pain. Cheeks swell, shoulders bruise, palms blister and related bumps and aches arise as a matter of course.
The Baserri Chronicles Part V: New shotgun companies are a rarity these days, and so when one comes along we’re eager to track its progress. That’s the idea behind our series, the Baserri Chronicles. In this fifth installment, we write about the advent of Baserri’s new dealer program called Premier Shooting & Retail Centers, where you can try before you buy.
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