Silent Snow, Secret Snow

"He was thinking about the Arctic and Antarctic regions, which of course, on the globe, were white."
Conrad Aiken
Silent Snow, Secret Snow

First snow last night. A magical, spiritual time for me. I love Winter and anticipate its arrival each year. While I've developed an appreciation for Summer, especially as I've gotten a little older, Winter is a special season.



A perfect Winter day on the Pere Marquette river.

A season of Holidays with family. Of skiing a beautiful line on a perfect day. Of those cold water steelhead who hit with stealth and then barrel roll to attempt escape. Of the anticipation of a circling ball of ducks considering whether those decoys are their pals, or just hollow plastic approximations. Of Christmas lights. Of a pine forest, trees heavy with fresh snow, and the unmistakable silence of a mantle of snow. Of roaring fires, and hearty comfort food. Of spending a day on the river with good company and not seeing another soul.

Winter is the perfect antidote of the late Fall in Michigan. For me, there is precious little so unpleasant as 35 degrees, grey, and a pissing drizzle. In some parts of the country, they call that winter. Notice that I didn't even validate the season by capitalizing it. Late Fall means an end to Summer activities, but not yet being able to dive into the Winter Wonderland.

It's finally here. Even Lilly, my black lab mix, could smell it on our walk last night. It put some extra pep in her ramblings, and even elicited my favorite -- the doggie snowplow maneuver.

Most forecasts are calling for a cold, snowy Winter here in Michigan. I welcome it. We've had a few weak ones - with plenty of brown and grey depression - which makes you appreciate and enjoy the good ones.

Here's hoping you can find the joy in Winter. It's there, if you seek it.

-Sean-

Remington Customer Service Props

As noted previously, there's one facet of my Remington Versa Max shotgun that I'm not all that happy with. The forend is loose and "floats". I had always assumed it was a part of the design of the gun. By floating it, there's room for expansion when the gun heats up. But it's annoying and weird. Especially when I pick up my buddy's nice, tight Beretta Xtrema.

On Saturday, my companion in the duck blind notices this and says, "Hey, is your forend loose?" I tell him it's been like that since day one and I think it was designed that way. My other buddy alos offers, "Wow, that's weird." Crap. And I had just made peace with this feature as somehow "normal" even though it bugs the shit out of me and always has.

Earlier this week I find myself at Cabelas, so I lay my hands on three different Versa's (one new, two in the used rack). Hmmmmm. All nice and tight. Like they should be. This simultaneously validates and frustrates me. But it gives me hope that maybe I can get this gun, which I basically like, to perfection.

After digging out my paperwork (damn, I'm just out of warranty), I call Remington's customer service. Rep on the line is very knowledgeable and confirms that yes, they have redesigned that part. And even though I'm out of warranty, they'll send me a new one at no charge. He puts me on hold to do some paperwork. In the meantime, I decide to ask if there are any other significant updated parts and can I please get those, too?

When the rep returns to the line, he confirms my order, as well as a few other parts that have been upgraded and he will also be sending me.

This is a key element of brand loyalty - standing behind your products without question. Even in the most elite precision manufactured products (got any friends who own high-end European sports cars?), mistakes happen. Engineering changes are made to solve problems discovered in real-world use. Remington would have been fully within their rights to say, "You're out of warranty, so we'll have to charge you." But, they didn't. Pretty damn cool. Kudos to Remington.

-Sean-

Lessons Learned

Had the opportunity last weekend to duck hunt with a friend who's a member at the Walpole Island Rod & Gun Club. I've hunted the marshes on Walpole before and found it a fun, unique experience. But it's definitely a challenge.

We hunted Friday evening and then Saturday morning. Much better results on Friday evening with 16 ducks among three hunters. I folded a duck on a tricky passing shot, so I felt good about that. Saturday was tougher - rainy, cold, and not many opportunities, but blind partner Andy was up for the challenge and bagged three.

But the real purpose of this post is to share two key things I learned. Well, OK, maybe I didn't LEARN them, I just forgot to do them in advance.

Practice Makes Perfect
Shoot clays. Shoot clays. Shoot clays. I didn't shoot any over the Summer or Fall this year. Just too many other things going on. Boy was that a mistake. My mount ranged from bad to inconsistent. My follow-through was poor. My lead's were way off and I wasn't swinging through the shot. And, finally, I was getting behind and then rushing shots. Shooting is a muscle memory skill. You have to do it to do it well. Lesson One learned.

Check Your Gear
My Remington Versa Max is a great waterfowl gun. I've written plenty on this subject. It ran perfectly on this trip, even in a flurry of shooting at dusk on Friday. But I couldn't hit sh*t. Yes, some clays shooting would have made a huge difference. But something else didn't seem right. On Saturday, I tore the gun down for a thorough cleaning after sitting in the rain for 4 hours. When I removed the choke tube to clean it, I noticed something key - I had the Full choke installed. That's swell if you're going to shoot turkeys. Or, maybe on the second barrel of a double gun. But for the hunt we were doing, I might have just as well brought my .22 rifle. Oops. I'll be getting a choke tube case and carrying them in the blind bag now.

Valuable reminders that would have upped my success. Or, in the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "Duh-OH!!!!".

-Sean-

Remington Versa Max Follow-Up

After a day chasing ducks (and a lot of rounds fired), I feel compelled to write a little follow-up on this fine firearm.

Things I really like:

• The "heft" of the gun. Sure, I would NOT carry this one for a day in the field, but for waterfowling a bit more bulk helps the mount, the swing, and in absorbing recoil.
• The recoil, or lack thereof. Even 3" Remington Hypersonic ammo had very little recoil. 
• Being able to shoot high-speed ammo like Hypersonic. I found that this round is really ideal for me on waterfowl. I shot several flavors of ammo on this hunt and the Hypersonic was far and away the most effective. I'm told that Beretta advises against it as it can damage the receiver. The Versa Max was built for this type of abuse.
• I love that this thing digest whatever ammo you throw at it. Put in a 2-3/4" a 3" and a 3-1/2" and it just  blows right through.
• I've never had a misfeed or misfire. Ever. Cheap ammo, expensive ammo -- doesn't seem to matter.
• The TruGlo fiber optic bead is pretty sweet. Enables me to keep my eyes on the target, but easily track where the barrel is (without looking at the barrel).
•  This gun fits me. I have relatively long arms, but it shoulders perfectly every time. Somehow it just seems to find my shoulder pocket.
• The safety falls naturally to-hand.  It's so easy simply to disengage during the mount. I really never had to think about it. And I haven't had a single "safety whiff" yet. 
• It's sleek and good-looking without the spacegun looks of some of the new guns out there on the market.
• It shoots where I point it. When I use good technique, the results are very solid.

Issues are very few:

• Given that it's mostly a waterfowl gun, I probably should have bought it in camo. My bad.
• The "float" of the forearm and to a lesser extent the barrel are a bit off-putting. I'm sure it's all part of the engineering, but it does feel weird.
• It's just a touch long overall, which made finding a floating case a bit challenging.

All-in-all I would give this fine shotgun very solid marks. At a very competitive price point, it really delivers.

-Sean-