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Snapshots

The twisting tale of the modern era of Ithaca Gun Co. may be entering its final chapter-and it looks to be one in which investors seek the protection of bankruptcy court.

In late June news began trickling out among shotgunners on the Internet and through local New York media that Ithaca's phones and Website were down and its parking lot empty. At first company officials told The Citizen, in Auburn, New York, that financial troubles had led them to an "operational hiatus," but within a week The Ithaca Journal quoted Andrew Sciarabba, one of seven investors who had brought the company out of bankruptcy in the mid-1990s, as saying, "We're just tapped out; we can't do it any longer."

Established in 1880, Ithaca Gun ended current production with just one product: the venerable Model 37 pump-action shotgun, which it offered in a variety of configurations. More than a year ago Ithaca had announced that it would renew production of the New Ithaca Double, which had been produced in recent years by Stephen Lamboy's now-defunct Ithaca Classic Doubles.

Now Sciarabba told The Ithaca Journal that investors "hope someone will buy the company's well-known name and resume production."

Among the first to sound the alarm were customers who either had sent in a gun for repair or put money down on a new Model 37. Winthrop Thurlow, the Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge at the New York AG's regional office in Syracuse, says his office will be "reaching out" to Ithaca Gun's investors to try to develop a plan for returning guns to their rightful owners. For new-gun orders, Thurlow said, "Certainly the wise thing for consumers to do at this point is to take their best first steps to protect their investments." He said this might include putting banks and credit card companies on notice to withhold payment for any gun or service that has not been delivered.

Thurlow also encouraged affected consumers to contact his office with details of their unfinished business with Ithaca Gun. For more information, contact Attorney General, 615 Erie Blvd. W., Suite 102, Syracuse, NY 13204; 315-448-4848; www.oag.state.ny.us.


If there is one "bible" for gun collectors and traders, it's the Blue Book of Gun Values. Author and publisher S.P. Fjestad makes each annual tome a valuable and even entertaining reference. The 26th edition, for example, is now out and contains a variety of new features.

There's more to the 2,000-page book than the fact that it contains updated prices on 275,000 firearms and that it's an exhaustive resource for everything from obscure store-brand-model IDs to glossaries of terms and an index of trademarks. What seems above and beyond are the reference articles analyzing gun values and market trends and the extensive Photo Percentage Grading System section, offering color-photo interpretations of such guns as a "98 percent condition, Boxed L.C. Smith Field Grade SxS Long Range Waterfowl" and the subtleties of value in a "20 percent or less condition, Parker GH Grade Hammerless Damascus SxS."

The book is $39.95 postpaid and can be ordered by contacting 800-877-4867; www.bluebook inc.com. The entire volume also is available on CD-ROM or by online subscription.


Safari Club International was joined by Ducks Unlimited as successful interveners in an effort by the Fund for Animals/ Humane Society of the United States to block Maryland's plans to reduce mute swan numbers by, in part, allowing hunting.

After several years of Maryland DNR efforts to improve the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem by reducing the non-native swans' impact on sub-aquatic vegetation, it appeared late last year that every federal hurdle had been cleared. But the Fund for Animals (now part of HSUS) won a preliminary injunction and further court hearings. In early June a federal district court judge rejected the Fund's position, clearing the way for implementation of the DNR management plan.

A consensus on the habitat threat posed by the swans seems clear, although it infuriates The Fund's Michael Markarian, who writes on the HSUS Website that environmental and conservation groups that supported the DNR plan, including the American Bird Conservancy, National Audubon Society, Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund, "should have rallied to the birds' defense." Instead these groups sided with pro-sportsmen's groups and intelligent management.


Beginning this season, the use of Robo Ducks, Mojo Mallards and other mechanical decoys will not be allowed in the Central Flyway's hallowed waterfowling Mecca of Arkansas. That state has joined Oregon and Washington in instituting complete bans on mechanical decoys. Several other states regulate their use as well.

Although such decoys have been shown to increase hunter success, there is no evidence that they have had an impact on the waterfowl population.

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