Having our new member from Scotland, a woodcock aficionado, jogged my memory this morning. Some will recall a post I made some months ago regarding a friend I had in the old Soviet Union many years ago who was a devoted shotgunner, dog man and upland bird hunter. I have kept all my old correspondence with him and here is the inside of a Christmas card I received from him in late 1983–please double-click the photos to better read the script:

“Slava”, or formally, Dr. V. M. Shostakovsky, was an organic chemist in the Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry in Moscow. His father was a well-known chemist and had won prizes in chemistry. They were, shall we say, privileged, because they were allowed to own non-Russian guns. At the time this was Verboten! He also visited the U. S. in the early 1980’s and was a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth Campus.

So you see, I have more than a passing interest in Scolopax! The two feathers are among my treasured possessions and I wondered if our Scottish friend saves these feathers too?

As an interesting aside, note his comments re: the Parker Shotgun that was built for the Czar. Apparently, it has resurfaced after many years. Please check this link http://tinyurl.com/csx5n6 for information on the auction sale last year to Jack Puglisi of Duluth, Minnesota. Interesting tangential connection between the gun, my note from “Slava” of 26 years ago and Duluth! Random, I am sure. Or fate? Who knows?

Just the ramblings of an old-timer.