Maryland: Honking and Quacking Bragging Rights
Think you got what I takes to be top quaker? Go to the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Baltimore on Saturday, June 16 for the Maryland State Goose and Duck calling competitions. The State Goose and State Duck Calling Championships are open only to Maryland residents.
Pennsylvania: Lackawanna County Buys 5,000 Acres
The land, which is spread out in parcels, will be protected from any kind of development. Unless you call “development” building of hiking and biking trails and managed for hunting. The land deal is a win-win for turkey and grouse.
If you are a Parker-phile you know the legend of the Czar’s Parker. The "Czar Parker gun," as it is known, was commissioned by Czar Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia. As the story goes, an officer in the Czar’s army ordered the Parker. Whether it was a gift for the Czar or special ordered at the request of the Czar no one knows for sure. And since the Communists’ cancelled the Czar’s and his family’s subscription, that bit of information is lost to history. The dimensions of the gun were clearly designed to fit a man of the Czar’s short stature. The Parker was on its way to Russia, on the dock of New York harbor, when Germany declared war on Russia and World War I rumbled to life. The gun was returned to Meriden, Connecticut—Mecca for all Parker-philes—and Parker Brothers ended up selling the shotgun to Henry Sanford, a New York banker. It remained in Sanford’s family until March 13, when it was auctioned for $250,000 in Fairfield, Maine. The auction set a world record for a Parker shotgun at auction. Similar condition Parkers typically sell in the $50,000 to $75,000 range.
Sanford had the shotgun refitted with a stock made to his dimensions. If he had left the gun as is, it would have probably fetched another $100,000. If the Czar had actually touched the Parker, add another $100,000. I think Sanford did what most Parker-holics would do, use the shotgun as Parker Brothers intended. Of course he should have kept the original stock.
The buyer, Jack Puglisi, of the 
American workers make great products, too bad not enough of those products are being sold. That may be a simplistic analysis of a complex situation but with Toyota about to speed past GM as the world’s largest automobile manufacturer and Remington being bought out by 
You all know you’d rather dab or spritz No. 9 than No. 5. The scent is intoxicating. You’ve got the picture: Wind blown hair, heart beating staccato, flushed. The flush of birds, of course. 
Have you shared hunting, fishing, and shooting with someone who has never had the experience? Well now is the time to take a friend or a family member to STEP OUTSIDE and tell 
STEP OUTSIDE is a mentoring program offered through the NSSF that helps greenhorns spent some time with old timers out in the field or on the water. I’d say it’s a great way to spend quality time and enjoy lasting memories with family and friends, but that would be sappy if not true.
Got to the 
Ah, bipartisan support for America's wildlife. Sigh. Teddy Roosevelt is shedding a tear of happiness as 162 Representatives and 60 Senators sang Kumbaya and signed a letter urging an increase in funding for the federal State Wildlife Grants, which is the core program for preventing wildlife from becoming endangered in every state. The letter supports funding of $85 million for the State Wildlife Grants Program in Fiscal Year 2008. What to know who in your state signed the letter? Go to the 
Reading through George Bird Evans' book, The Upland Shooting Life, during vacation a few weeks ago I was struck at how Evans masterfully describes at how we bird hunters feel…
