Collecting Outdoor Related Stuff

[stevebrandle]

I like to watch for old hunting and fishing gear or art work at yard sales and shops. Some of the treasures I've found include: an old framed print of a duck that hung in a local store's sporting goods dept., mirrored beer signs with wildlife on them, and limited edition wildlife prints.

I also have some old hunting back tags that belonged to my dad from the '50's and my first small game tag I bought in '69. I like the old cardboard shell boxes and my favorite is an old Peter's 16ga shotgun shell box with a drake mallard on it.

Over the years I've bought a few of the signed wildlife prints and the wife has put an end to this because we ran out of space on our walls :D

Does anyone else collect things like this?

[rrbuckmaster]

I dont go out and look but, I do have a old hand thrower for skeet. It is all metal with the spring. It does have a wood handel. I also have some old fishing lures somewhere from my dad and grandfather. I keep them for the sentimental value

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HAPPY AND SAFE HUNTING TO ALL.

[Worm Dunker]

I can relate to this post. I use to collect Dale Earnhardt stuff but now I collect grouse woodcock and English Setter stuff. Found e-bay and they found my master card. And every year Pentwater where I keep my boat the whole town was a yard sale day and have found some nice stuff there. Plus all the years I chartered I got a lot of old tackle given to me by my fisherman

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[mikeylikesit]

Not that I collect alot, but I do keep all my old or unfilled licenses and guides. My wife likes old hunting pics and has gathered some up for me and we're gonna redecorate my office with them.

Here's a funny one: I used to call on an account in Dowagiac MI that was in the bldg.'s that were the orig. Heddon Lure Co. One time while there the owner of the new business was telling me about finding un-opened boxes of lures from the 40's-50's-60's and prototypes that were never mass produced. He tossed some out and gave most away cause he thought they were useless.This was a couple years before the internet & ebay etc...Man I wish I could have gotten a few of those !!!

I am lucky to have a few old lures from my dad, my grandpa, and others. I still use them and they still work !! Somethings don't need to be improved...

mikeylikesit...

[msiebers]

stevebrandle,
It sounds like you collect a lot of the same stuff I do. I have quite a few of those Mirrored Beer signs with wildlife scenes on them as well as a couple of prints put out by various beer companys over the years. One of my favorites is a framed print showing some pheasants in a farm field and the two cocks going at each other. It is called "Northwest Intruder" and was put out in a series by G. Heilman Brewing company under the "Schmidt" label.
I also have several tin signs put out by firearms maufactures and beer companys with wildlife scenes on them.
These nastalgic items are great fun to collect and look great when displayed in a room with your fish and game mounts. :)


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Mike

[This message has been edited by msiebers (edited 01-21-2001).]

[Huntress]

I have collected old bits, spurs, branding irons and such for years. Being involved in the horse/rodeo world it was fun to find the old treasures. While I am still going to collect these items, I will also be collecting old hunting/fishing items. I have to be able to decorate our home with items that show our interests! :)

Best Regards,
Huntress

[muzzleblast]

I as well collect to much of the stuff mostly split bambo fishing rod have several fly rod and one muskie rod with a pheulger packoron muskie reel spooled with wire line. All these thing sure make nice dust collectors.

[woodencanoe]

Bear recurve's made in Grayling MI. Old calls duck, turkey any old call.

[osage2orange]

I happen to work at a company that made all of Heddons old lures. I have a board with about fifty different lures on it. We still have the molds that the lures were made in and sometimes we run them to get a new supply of crazy crawlers or whatever we need. Any old thing that I find not just hunting or fishing stuff is cool because it is history.I have a lemon wood bow of my wifes grandpa have'nt shot a deer with it but it would be quite a experience if I did.

[StrutnSpur]

I collect old turkey calls and limited edition turkey calls...also old locator calls owl,crow..etc

[RealDcoy]

I have a small collection of fish spearing decoys. The design differences that can be followed by region is interesting to me. I have more contemporary decoys than antiques at the present time. (Du to the giant leap in interest in the last few years.)

I really enjoy decoys carved by Carl Christiansen of Newberry, MI.

[stevebrandle]

Here's the other side of this question. How does your spouse feel about displaying these things and mounted fish/animals? It seems to cause problems for some housholds. I'm blessed with a wife that'll let me keep just about anything in the house if it's not too "gross"

I know some guys that have to keep all of their mounts in the garage or basement.

[Huntress]

When Byron and I first started living together, his deer mount gave me the creeps. I would have preferred he kept it someplace else...anywhere, just not in our house! Over the last few years, I have gotten used to having the deer around. Since I have started hunting, I am looking to add my own trophy to the wall! I would even like to have a full body mount. I consider the mounts to be one of the greatest works of art, one made by nature!

Best Regards,
Huntress

[Steve]

Well I used to collect the trout stamps before they did away with them ( I guess you can still get them if you pay an extra 10 bucks though).

[SAK]

stevebrandle, i'm also lucky that my wife doesn't mind antlers too much. she'd better not mind..... half of them are hers! She wasn't too tickled when I hung up skulls with racks that i've found but they were cleaned up good so they are still hanging up. My trout,bass,and pike are also tolerated. She's a good woman.

[This message has been edited by SAK (edited 01-22-2001).]

[msiebers]

Well sonce I finished off the basement in very rustic looking decor, ;) I havent had much problem hanging whatever I want down there.
All my stuff seems to fit in very nicely. :)

[Worm Dunker]

Don't have much for horns small 6pt. but make up for it with fish 35lb. King 25lb. Great Lakes Musky 14lb. Brown 16lb. Steelhead and a 12 Coho but wife makes me keep them in the basement.

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[Mr. 16 gauge]

I dont go out of my way to collect things as such, but I do have a few items that I have picked up over the years that I have found interesting: I have an old, exposed hammer double gun with damascus barrels and a lot of intricate carving on the stock. As an added plus, it had a 1919 hunting license in the stock. I also have a couple of boxes of 16 gauge paper shells that I think were made in the 20's or 30's. I also have a box of Sears shells from the early 60's.
I don't really "collect" them, but every year I buy two federal waterfowl stamps; oneis for hunting and the other goes in the safety deposit box. I figure I get double duty from them....the money I spend today will go to wildlife habitat and maybe sometime down the road they will help cover the cost of a grandchild's college tuition or something as they increase in value.
As for mounts, skulls that I have found, ect, thats what my study is for. I do think, however, if I brought home a "pretty" animal, such as a pronghorn, that I wouldn't have too much trouble getting it on the wall in the family room. The boar head, however, will ALWAYS stay in my study....the topic isn't even up for discussion! ;)

[Jackone]

I don't collect anything but my tackle box sure does. It collects pieces of mono and other bits of string and line. Broken hooks are always on its list. Don't forget bits and pieces of plastic worms and one or two real worms that somehow got in there. (Hard by now of course.) :rolleyes:

[rooster]

Stevebrandle,
I feel sorry for the guys who's spouses don't allow their trophy's to be on display. My wife is great when it comes to displaying my trophy's. I have four deer mounts and silver salmon mounted from our honeymoon in Alaska. And I should be receiving my pheasant mount back anytime now.
I had people say to me that I might offend someone visiting my house with all the mounts.It was simple to answer to that one.. " They don't have to come over".
Everyday I look at my trophy's and relive the experience.
Here is a couple of my mounts proudly on display.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1301437&a=9656895&p=38906557


[This message has been edited by rooster (edited 01-23-2001).]

[rooster]

Sorry about the double post. Still haven't learned how to edit post yet.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1301437&a=9656895&p=38906893

[Huntress]

Rooster, those are some very nice trophys! Congratulations! Your house looks very nice also! :)

Best Regards,
Huntress

[song_dog_slammer]

Nice place, nice buck! Empty gun cabinet?

[rooster]

Song_Dog... the photo was taken during hunting season, so two guns were cased up and ready for action and there is one on the side of the cabinet for varmit control(no kids in the house). There are however a few empty spots when all my guns are in there place. I have more of a battle with my wife on spending the money to fill those voids, then on the mounts.Still trying to figure out away around this one.

[Ron L]

I constantly peruse auction sites like ebay to find interesting outdoor or hunting related items. I've even bought a thing or two. Since I work for a Dupont owned company, their older powder or hunting memorabilia kind of holds a special interest for me right now.

[Steve]

I only get to display my "trophy" in my den. :) My wife would never allow it over the fireplace :( Besides it is probably too hot there anyway (or so I tell myself).

[song_dog_slammer]

Des Roooooster- I always keep an open slot in my cabnit: " But hon, I still have one empty slot."- works like a charm as long as she doesn't open the stack of gun cases that are full of guns that were purchased to fill than "one slot left"

[Pat Eddinger]

I really don't know how it happened,but it did that's for sure.I have never tried to collect anything because I just don't see the point of having clutter that I wont Use.
Then one day I noticed I had antique powder canisters,loading tools,Dies,and Ancient Herters stuff laying around everywhere on the loading bench shelves and on the gunsafe,so I took a bunch of the stuff to the store and put it up for decorations.
Some of the regular old timers saw the stuff and it took 'em back down memory lane,and we would chat about whatever tool or powder it was.Next thing I knew I had old timers bringing me partially filled powder cans of Hi-vel,and old Paper bags with the Hodgdon label for 4350 on them,Herters wasp waisted bullets(Remember those???),Herters and Alcan primers,Lyman Ideal loading tools.....ohmigod!!!
Then in passing I mentioned one day that I had a soft spot for the old steel tube Weaver and Lyman scopes,just cuz' they're cool.One thing led to another and now I have just too many of the things because I didn't want to offend anyone by refusing to give 5 bucks for a mangy old weaver.
So now my shop has moved from the retail store,and I have all my stuff in the new shop and it scares me!Mostly because both collections are incomplete,and I know where this is going.I fear that someday I will find a Lyman Alaskan 2.5x with the dot reticle,and a set of Hollywood dies in .35 whelen and wont be able to stiffle the urge...then what???I'm running out of room as it is!Next problem is that my heads from last springs hunt in South Africa will be in any day now,and my Kudu scored 52.5",but I have 8' ceilings!I also have a Zebra hide,Impala,reedbuck,and Duiker shoulder mounts,and backskins from the Kudu,Impala,duiker,and a full mounted MeerKat to find a place for....My wife is going to kill me.
Yeah,I 'spose I collect.Is it always this painfull??????GRINS!!!
Pat.

[SAK]

Rooster, wanna trade houses?

[Northbound]

I collect a number of outdoor sporting items and I don't want to list them. However, my favorite thing to collect is old outdoors magazines. In the 60's my dad had a buddy who subscribed field-n-stream,outdoorlife and Sports a field. Every couple months my dad would bring home a box of them and I would sit down and read them from cover to cover. I have a small collection of outdoor magazines dating back to the late 20's. My favorites are from the early 40's during the war.

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[stevebrandle]

Pat,

Yup, it's always that bad. I was in a mini-van with two other icefisherman two winters ago in the UP, when we accidentally ran over two huge raccoons with beautiful winter coats. Well, we were all sick about it and I hated to leave them to the ravens as road kill. So, I loaded up the less mangled one and left it in the van overnight to freeze. I hauled it over to a taxidermist buddy, and today the big boar 'coon is in my family room catching crayfish and looking better than ever. :D The wife almost left me over that one. :)

[DodgeDad]

I wouldn't lay claim to collecting much in the way of hunting parphenalia but I would say I saw one of the largest personal collections of mounts ever. My brother's stepdaughter's boyfriend's dad owns his own excavating company and has a a few whitetails penned up on his property that I was invited to go and see once while visiting my brother. Well, the penned deer were obviously well cared for as the bucks had magnificent racks and they all looked picture perfect. What was to follow was a shocker to say the least. I was invited to check out some of his dads trophys in his trophy room. Well, the room was actually a long narrow pole barn that turns out was temperature and humidity controlled just for his trophies. It must have been 12' X 40' and all the walls and the floor next to the walls were full of shoulder, head and full body mounts. There were whitetail, mule deer, turkey, moose, elk, black bear and a number of exotic hooved animals. It was like stepping into a museum.