Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What's some of your most prized possessions?

Ten dollar horse, and forty dollar saddle Sam? I'll bet you have not heard that one for a while?

Secondhand saddle(local maker), secondhand horse.

Rem 760 30-06 I bought the year High Brass was born. He got it from me and now I have it.
The Rem 7600 7mm-08 and S&W M63 High Brass bought me. He gave me the M63 when I retired.

I have to agree with Steelhead here-I just don't view people as "possessions."

I have a pair of Zeiss binoculars that were a battlefield pickup by my father during WWII. He was fighting in the Salerno area and they came up against a fortified pillbox and an intersection of two roads. His unit was tasked with eliminating this stronghold. He lost a bazookaman and two riflemen there. When they finally cleared the pillbox, he took the binoculars off a Kraut Lieutenant who "had no further need for them." They still have blood stains on them. These remind me of all our men who paid the ultimate sacrifice cleaning pillboxes all over Europe, Africa, and places all over the Pacific. Great men, one and all.

I also have an 1851 Navy that came down through the family. I am named after the man who carried it into battle as a member of a cavalry unit from Pennsylvania.

Last but far from least is the special spot up high on the mountain above our deer camp where dad killed so many deer. It's very hard for me to go up there. Hallowed ground, for sure, but that's where I go when I need some "me" time to reconnect with the man I respect so much. Rest In Peace Dad. You are so sorely missed.

my faith in the lord Jesus Christ
my Coates saddle
my Browning A-5 light 20
and ol' Hickory

the A-5 was given to me as a gift from my parents this past Christmas as a thank you for running the horse farm, business, our farm and the households while my mother fought the cancer. I was dumbfounded when they gave it to me and told me why.

ol' hickory.

I agree - "my" wife and "my" children aren't possessions...though strangely in the english language we use the possessive pronoun "my" in reference to our relationships.

While i may not "own" my wife, children or even my friends i certainly do own the memories and joy i experience when thinking of and interacting with them.

Maybe those are the "things" we own.

Interesting thread.

If people don't count, I will have to say my six by six foot tool cabinet and tools.

As far as firearms go, my Colt Python and nickel plated Colt Frontier Scout are probably at the top of the list although my Winchester 71 ranks high also.

Well said....I have lots of "stuff" that I'm proud of but I'd trade all of it for family or close friends.

As far as stuff goes, I guess it would be the Merkel 20ga SXS my boss gave me when I retired. It ain't a gold watch but who needs to know what time it is when your retired.

The kids are actually God's children, but I sure love being their Daddy.

I love my four stooges (dogs).

A quilt that my Grandma made for me when I was born ranks pretty high.

My Grandpa's old Marlin .30-30. I usually take a deer with it every year.

Great Grandparent's old Hoosier Cabnet.

Silly art work that my kids made for me when they were little. Usually given to me on Father's Day or my birthday. I have kept them all.

Wife and friends . . .

All the rest as much as I may like it, is just stuff!

The redhead proved there is a God and He wanted me to be happy.

Best friend found the bighorn, the year before he found a bigger head I'd rode within 20 yds of, covered in a snowdrift. 4 days after I missed it he spotted it after the wind blew the ridge clean. He packed the second one (35#) 4 miles to give it to me.

The love of "The Warden".
Great-grand dad's 1905 Winchester (2 digit SN)
"The Warden"s grandfather's Bisley 32-20.
(I knew that old man before I met her - and came to think VERY highly of him.)

As far as gear. In order.

1. There is a knife that I carried with me on all 4 of my deployments in combat zones. Also, my white Bible that accompanied me on the same trips.

2. Win 94, Rem 1100, Smith 36. Grandpa and Dad's guns.

3. Lots of items that people gave me. It is all special.

Oh heck, why not resurrect this. I'm pretty proud of some of my family history and connections, but I'm careful about who I tell it to, especially at work. I don't want to be judged by my history(to include relatives who've sidled up with the wrong side of history-aka Hitler nor do I want people to make assumptions about my work ethic), but some of my relatives were pretty accomplished. Sure, they must have had some serious advantages, but many of their businesses stood the test of several generations and several are still in existence in various forms.

Two of my relatives are really a wealth of interesting history, including my great uncle who, though a teenager in WWII, knew Hitler pretty well, as his father dined with him at their castle several times. Some of his stories from after World War II are really amazing. His mother was a princess and he was the first born male, but disowned by the family and survived by running a black market shoe business. I've not got the whole story on his wife, but something similar happened to her as well.

My grandmother has done a great job of documenting various aspects of our family history and her perspectives on WWII are very interesting.
With regards to physical possessions, most of the stuff I really value may not look like much to show off. There are some truly valuable things at my grandmother's place which is practically a museum, but they are just possessions that have been handed down after they were purchased. Also, the brother of my great grandfather started a glass business, which still exists under different ownership today and we have lots of unique, family crest branded pieces made by their factory.

Probably the most historically significant piece is not actually in our possession, but on display in Prague. My relative was knighted for defending Prague in 1648 from the Swedes (which is generally what I consider much of my heritage), not Bohemian or Austrian. He was a patron of our Lady Before Tyn Cathedral and has an altar right next to Tycho Brahe.





While some signet rings are pretty special to me and kinda cool to look at, they aren't something I'll ever wear or even show off. Our family history in shipping though is really cool and colorful but sad(partly because I'm a working stiff and not living in castles, the large estates, islands, etc that my grandparents grew up with ). And the most unique symbol of that is this silver ship on marble that was made for my great grandfather.




The passenger shipping line that my great grandfather was a part of was merged with another in 1980 and it's remnant is still in existence, but the company is now back as a cargo shipping business with over a billion euros in ships. We have no involvement there, oh well...

They really took a hit after World War II (where have we heard this before...) in two different ways. One on great grandfather's side in the form of reparations to Russia, where they lost several ships and my great grandfather's home city. Also, in the early 50s, two different incidents took my grandparents down a couple notches. My grandfather bought a ship (despite lots of advice to the contrary) to show off to wife's side of the family. Unfortunately as many former vessels that had been used in the military were being returned to service as well as newly manufactured ships coming on line strictly for private shipping, his business didn't do very well. He primarily shipped lumber from Finland to England and his ship caught fire on the North Sea. Everyone survived but that ended the business.





Then, in 1956, my grandfather had to defend his paint and wallpaper factory during a Socialist run general strike, which was his last straw before leaving the country to start a series of other businesses here in the US. While successful enough, and knighted by the Finnish president for promoting Finnish products, he and my grandmother never really rose to the stature that they grew up in and around.

Anyway, I like to be able tell some these stories from a certain level of anonymity and have named my son in honor of my great grandfather (tough [bleep] kid, you'll hate it until you understand).

I bought an M1 Garand back in 1986 from the DCM and used it to win a first place in a rifle match.
Probably the one and only time I took first place at anything.
whelennut

I have a picture of my grandfather as a dough boy in WWI, posing with his company in a town in France (?) they'd just liberated.

That to me is priceless.