Youngs & Sons (Misterton, Crewkerne, Somerset)

[hoggysreels]

Picked up a catalogue today from a relations house "he died a few days ago" .. 1962 edition of Youngs & Sons (Misterton, Crewkerne, Somerset) ... "Sporting Appliances and Sundries (traps/nets/guns/feeders/cartridges/etc) ...

 

The price listings are interesting regarding shotgun/air rifles etc ... some lethal looking traps were offered for sale .. nice piece of nostalgia

Edited January 11, 2015 by hoggysreels

[Magnum 3]

Used to go there many years ago. Bought an old Belgium 12 bore for next to nothing as in those days that's all I could afford. In fact that's about all I can afford now!

[bumpy22]

Just found this thread while looking for something else. What a fantastic place this was used to visit as a boy buying nets ferrets traps etc. Shame there are no more places like it

[browning123]

I used to buy ferrets from there in the early sixties, they used to send them to me on the train, and I would collect from the station........and they also once sent me a lurcher pup Bedlington x whippet.

[mossy835]

went there years ago, if you wanted ferrets that was the place to go. nice chap.

[bumpy22]

bizzarely was only talking about them today and tried googling when they closed and this thread appeared. my dad still has quite a few of there catalogues. i was very young when my dad took me first took me there but never forget it better than toys r us lol. they would always take me round showing me traps guns and ferrets while my dad would sit and chat forever. they really were a fountain of knowledge. they were a really big outfit shipping stuff all over gb from the early 30s i believe. i know the premises were turned into a motorbike shop. but there was rumours in the nineties my dad said that there reception/admin lady was keen to restart the buisness but never did

[McSpredder]

I have a Youngs catalogue (incomplete) dating from the 1930s.  

Equipment on sale included Pole traps;  Lark and plover nets;  Badger purse nets;  Walking stick .410 guns;  Extra heavy large vermin or wild animal traps (“for foxes, badgers, wild dogs, jackals, otters, wolves, leopards, herons, eagles, etc”) etc.   Presumably they were supplying goods to the Empire, as there would not have been much requirement for leopard traps in Somerset.

Double-barrelled guns cost from £3-5-0 (hammer) or £4-19-6 (hammerless).   It doesn’t say where the cheap ones were made, but BSA hammerless guns were listed at 13gns (non-ejector) or 16gns (ejector).

Some items might have been useful for poachers, for example Young’s patent catapult and walking stick guns  (“It is the only absolutely silent gun, and is a boon to all who require to do a little shooting without alarming their neighbours or disturbing game”).

That must have been a fascinating shop to visit in its heyday.  

[bumpy22]

22 hours ago, McSpredder said:

I have a Youngs catalogue (incomplete) dating from the 1930s.  

Equipment on sale included Pole traps;  Lark and plover nets;  Badger purse nets;  Walking stick .410 guns;  Extra heavy large vermin or wild animal traps (“for foxes, badgers, wild dogs, jackals, otters, wolves, leopards, herons, eagles, etc”) etc.   Presumably they were supplying goods to the Empire, as there would not have been much requirement for leopard traps in Somerset.

Double-barrelled guns cost from £3-5-0 (hammer) or £4-19-6 (hammerless).   It doesn’t say where the cheap ones were made, but BSA hammerless guns were listed at 13gns (non-ejector) or 16gns (ejector).

Some items might have been useful for poachers, for example Young’s patent catapult and walking stick guns  (“It is the only absolutely silent gun, and is a boon to all who require to do a little shooting without alarming their neighbours or disturbing game”).

That must have been a fascinating shop to visit in its heyday.  

it certainly was i was only a very young boy but i would never forget it. to be fair i have always been fascinated in fieldsports since a really young age but this place was something else.

[Two Blue Diamonds]

I remember accompanying my farmer Dad to Youngs of Misterton in 1970s when I was about 10. It was a deep, dark den of treasures.  I was shown gloriously Heath Robinson like copper wire & wood tunnel traps for mice, rats, coypu, capybara etc.  They increased in size and strength needed to set the springs.  We had a mouse infestation, up our farm’s wattle & daub walls. We bought three triple hole traps and were instructed to bait with porridge oats, not cheese or bread.  We caught 57 mice that autumn, often 3 at a time.  Best traps ever.  You would hear the hobnail boots of the mice over head, the clunk as they pushed noses past the trigger to the oats and the crack of the spine as the sprung loaded copper loop flicked up and broke their backs.  My job was to empty the stiff little corpses next morning & reload. They had elephant traps, hippo scarers, nets to keep giraffe from eating your best trees. I remember the leopard traps too.  While we were there the postie came to collect parcels for almost every country in Africa. They gave me some foreign stamps for my collection off their mail. I didn’t like the smell of the ferrets but loved the smell of cordite, when Dad got his shotgun cartridges refilled.  It led to a career in the WRNS as a missile analyst for over 20 years and I still love the smell of fireworks, explosives etc.  Could do with their traps now! Crumbleholms in South Petherton was another Aladdin’s Cave of ironmongery, but not as exciting as Youngs.

[Wylye]

Isn't this the home of 'Youngs 303" gun oil? I still have an old bottle, I don't use it apart from taking off the lid and having a sniff, takes me back years and years.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

[wymberley]

2 hours ago, Two Blue Diamonds said:

I remember accompanying my farmer Dad to Youngs of Misterton in 1970s when I was about 10. It was a deep, dark den of treasures.  I was shown gloriously Heath Robinson like copper wire & wood tunnel traps for mice, rats, coypu, capybara etc.  They increased in size and strength needed to set the springs.  We had a mouse infestation, up our farm’s wattle & daub walls. We bought three triple hole traps and were instructed to bait with porridge oats, not cheese or bread.  We caught 57 mice that autumn, often 3 at a time.  Best traps ever.  You would hear the hobnail boots of the mice over head, the clunk as they pushed noses past the trigger to the oats and the crack of the spine as the sprung loaded copper loop flicked up and broke their backs.  My job was to empty the stiff little corpses next morning & reload. They had elephant traps, hippo scarers, nets to keep giraffe from eating your best trees. I remember the leopard traps too.  While we were there the postie came to collect parcels for almost every country in Africa. They gave me some foreign stamps for my collection off their mail. I didn’t like the smell of the ferrets but loved the smell of cordite, when Dad got his shotgun cartridges refilled.  It led to a career in the WRNS as a missile analyst for over 20 years and I still love the smell of fireworks, explosives etc.  Could do with their traps now! Crumbleholms in South Petherton was another Aladdin’s Cave of ironmongery, but not as exciting as Youngs.

That is a cracking first post. Welcome to Pigeon Watch.