Harley Parlin, Boot Hill Gun Cases

Harley owned Boot Hill Case Company. He was a kind, generous man, a meticulous craftsman and all around great guy.

I wish I had known him well. We met several years ago when one of my cases needed work and friends suggested him. Instead of shipping the case, I drove it up to his house. I’m glad I did.

Harley and his wife Kit lived in a farmhouse in western Maine. It was winter and especially cold when I arrived. Handshakes were reserved for once I was inside and the door shut. Harley looked like a page out of an old L.L Bean catalog, dressed in khaki pants and a faded green chamois shirt. Trim and enthusiastic, I would have guessed he was 52 or 53. Actually, he was around 60.

His shop was in the basement. There were big machines on the floor–a table saw, a sander, a drill press. Rolls of leather were stacked on shelves in a corner. Punches, awls and dozens of wooden-handled tools filled racks around a table. The shop looked ready for inspection and  I had a feeling it always looked this way.

Harley spent years in Maine’s shoe-making industry and used this knowledge of leather craft to start Boot Hill. What he didn’t know about vintage cases he figured out through ingenuity, intelligence and perseverance.

Thanks to his superb work, he thrived. My case was typical. A oak gun case made in Britain around 1866, it was lined with red wool baize and the original maker’s label was glued in the lid. All it needed was a little fixing up and some stabilizing. A lot of people could have done the work. Harley was going to do it because he would do it right.

Harley was proud of his work and as we talked, he showed me pictures of his other projects. The motor-style case he made from scratch for this Purdey 3-barrel set was impressive. The skill and craftsmanship that went into making it were as stunning as the gun.

I headed up to Harley’s shop a few more times over the next few years. Harley always took the time to show me what went into his trade – from how an oak-and-leather gun case is made to the basics of stitching and tooling. I appreciated it a great deal.

One evening we went fly-fishing on a boulder clogged river near his home. I forgot my glasses back in my truck and I remember squinting hard to spot rises near my bobbing fly. I fumbled, tangled a bunch of casts, missed some strikes. Harley caught some brook trout, mostly small ones, none longer than a revolver. We had a good time.

I saw Harley one more time. I don’t remember why I headed back to his shop. Whatever the reason, it was really just an excuse to spend some time with Harley and his craft.

Goodbye my friend. You’re missed a great deal.

Puck, March 2010

The middle of March is early for woodcock in Maine. But with the warm weather, I thought we might see some. I was right. We moved one. Puck handled the bird like a champ. She pointed it, but the bird ran off by the time I moved in for the flush. I released Puck and she relocated it. This time the bird held. It was nice to see him fly off, twittering at me the whole time.

Good bye winter. Hunting season is less than 7 months away.

I also some signs of success from years past. How cool are those purple 16 gauge shells?

Puck Pointing Woodcock, March 2010

Hen Pheasant Feathers, 16 gauge shell

Sage Grouse

From the Los Angeles Times:

“The Interior Department declared Friday that an iconic Western bird deserves federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, but declined to offer that protection immediately — a split decision that will allow oil and gas drilling to continue across large swaths of the mountainous West…”

Read entire article now.

In the Shadow, 2010 National Championship, Ames Plantation

GRAND JUNCTION, Tenn. — The competitors arrived at the historic Ames Plantation in pickup trucks with built-in dog kennels, pulling gooseneck trailers hauling saddle horses. After a year of crisscrossing the country, the holy grail of their sport was at last in reach for the owners of 39 of the best bird-hunting dogs in North America.

The National Championship for Field Trialing Bird Dogs, first held here in western Tennessee in 1896, determines the continent’s most elite canine athlete. On Tuesday, In the Shadow, an English pointer owned by Carl Bowman of Louisville, Ky., and handled by Robin Gates, was named the 111th champion after an event lasting two weeks in which he competed on the third day….

Read the whole article now in the New York Times.

The winner of the 2010 National Champioship is In the Shadow, an English Pointer male. You can read more about In the Shadow’s and his winning run here.

BTW: my dog is fine. We had a little scare. It turned out to be nothing, just a lot of blood.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

This short article in the January 8, 2010 issue of The Field is a crash course in  everything you need to know:

Tipping the gamekeeper when shooting

Red Grouse

Try out this online game from Barbour and The Field magazine.

I think the high scorers win a Barbour jacket.

Enjoy!

Gregg

gregg@dogsanddoubles.com

Unfortunately, it is: hunting is on the decline in New England.

Check out this article from the Economist.com to read more about the falling number of hunting licenses being issued in states like Vermont and New Hampshire.

When you’re through, listen to this discussion about the need for more hunters. It’s from the  radio show On Point. Very interesting and worth a listen.

GunDogDoc, a board regular, posted these beautiful photos of Prairie Chickens in South Dakota.

Prairie Chickens are beautiful birds. Check them out. Here’s a sample of what you’ll see:

It’s easy to understand why. The number of birds you see can see in South Dakota in a day is astonishing — 250+ is pretty easy.

Here’s a pic from opening day in SD a few years ago. This was after about an hour of hunting.

Unfortunately, days like these may not exist in the future.

This article from the 4/8 New York Times talks about why: As Prices Rise, Farmers Spurn Conservation Program.

As commodity prices have rocketed up, farmers are putting more land into production — as much as the Rhode Island and Delaware combined — and making more money. Good for them.

Unfortunately, their success is bad for us hunters. A lot of land they’re putting into production used to be set aside for the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). And the less land we have in the CRP, the less birds we’ll see come fall.

The USDA’s Farm Service Agency started the CRP in 1985 with the Food Security Act. This program makes annual payments on 10-15 year contracts to people who establish grass, shrub, and tree cover on environmentally sensitive land. The program was reauthorized in the 1996 and 2002 Farm Bills and it is up for reauthorization right now.

To make sure the CRP continues and is well funded, please contact your congress person. Let them know how important this programs is to you and how our hunting dollars impact states like South Dakota.

I also suggest joining groups that support conservation in general. Here are a few I like:

Pheasants Forever

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Ruffed Grouse Society

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Trout Unlimited

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Ducks Unlimited

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The Izaak Walton League ::

The Nature Conservancy

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More about the CRP program:

From the United States Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency

From Wikipedia::

More about how the Farm Bills affect on America’s Farms:

Farm Policy Facts