BrentD
Well-known member
I thought I would take and share some pictures of some licenses that I found in the stock after I was gifted the gun by my maternal grandfather in the 1980s. Those of you from Montana might be especially interested some of these. Any guess what a hunting license cost and was good for a century ago? Well, now you can find out.
The gun had been bought new by my grandpa and his two brothers when they were teenagers in Iowa in the early 1900s. I don't know the exact date that they bought it, but I do know they hunted prairie chickens and shot pigeons in and around the family farm in Jewell, Iowa. Prairie chickens and now extinct in that region of Iowa, and have been for many decades.
Later, the gun went to Montana with my Grand Uncle Carl, who, I think, made a living building houses in central Montana. There, it acquired it's first license in 1917. That license is pretty small, about the size of a playing card and has little information on it. However, in 1918, the state made the license much bigger and included all the rules that pertained to it on the back - oh for the days of such simple game laws.... And only $1.50! The last license I found was from 1921, again in Montana. With a whopping 33% price increase to $2.00! Even back then, Montana was pretty inflationary with their game tags, but read closely and see what it was good for (and not good for).
Later, the gun came back to my grandfather in Iowa and eventually to me, while I was in grad school in Kansas. I used it to hunt quail, pheasants, and ducks, though I usually used my own rem 870 or my grandfather's second shotgun a Remington M11.
I took it with me to Georgia in 1988, but I do not recall hunting with it there. Then on to Arizona in 1990 for another post doc, where I hunted Gamble's quail with it. And finally, to Iowa in late 1991, where I have lived for the last 26 yr, 6 months, and a handful of days (not that I am counting). I use it now exclusively for turkeys. I have added some photos of just the few licences I have added to the stock, though I do not do it annually because there isn't enough room. Because the files are big and I don't want to bother to make low res copies, you can thumb through the more modern ones if you are interested here http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessie/PPB/Winchester 1897/ Note, that in 1991, one's SSN was required on the license (strategically blocked with a couple of bullets in the photo).
Anyway, these are the only things I've ever found in a gunstock, but I check every one of them now.
Anyone else have any interesting treasure?
The gun had been bought new by my grandpa and his two brothers when they were teenagers in Iowa in the early 1900s. I don't know the exact date that they bought it, but I do know they hunted prairie chickens and shot pigeons in and around the family farm in Jewell, Iowa. Prairie chickens and now extinct in that region of Iowa, and have been for many decades.
Later, the gun went to Montana with my Grand Uncle Carl, who, I think, made a living building houses in central Montana. There, it acquired it's first license in 1917. That license is pretty small, about the size of a playing card and has little information on it. However, in 1918, the state made the license much bigger and included all the rules that pertained to it on the back - oh for the days of such simple game laws.... And only $1.50! The last license I found was from 1921, again in Montana. With a whopping 33% price increase to $2.00! Even back then, Montana was pretty inflationary with their game tags, but read closely and see what it was good for (and not good for).
Later, the gun came back to my grandfather in Iowa and eventually to me, while I was in grad school in Kansas. I used it to hunt quail, pheasants, and ducks, though I usually used my own rem 870 or my grandfather's second shotgun a Remington M11.
I took it with me to Georgia in 1988, but I do not recall hunting with it there. Then on to Arizona in 1990 for another post doc, where I hunted Gamble's quail with it. And finally, to Iowa in late 1991, where I have lived for the last 26 yr, 6 months, and a handful of days (not that I am counting). I use it now exclusively for turkeys. I have added some photos of just the few licences I have added to the stock, though I do not do it annually because there isn't enough room. Because the files are big and I don't want to bother to make low res copies, you can thumb through the more modern ones if you are interested here http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessie/PPB/Winchester 1897/ Note, that in 1991, one's SSN was required on the license (strategically blocked with a couple of bullets in the photo).
Anyway, these are the only things I've ever found in a gunstock, but I check every one of them now.
Anyone else have any interesting treasure?
