Got a really, really rich brother-in-law. He never hunted till he "joined" the family but he caught it bad and now he's a devout pheasant chaser.
Of course, being rich, nothing would do except that he dress, equip and shoot "like an English Gentleman". Green wellies, side-by-side and of course... a Range Rover.
Actually, two of them. He had the full-size one and the Defender 90 which is the bare-bones kind of military style.
(He got the Labrador Retriever too... but at least that's one English "imported" export that actually lives up to its billing and can do its job.)
Well, in the Midwest you aren't walking in a bog all the time, so the wellies just make your feet sweat; they don't breathe like a Gore-Tex boot. Since it gets truly cold on the Great Plains in winter, your feet are soon frigid. He dumped the wellies for a good Cabela's Gore-Tex boot.
Side-by-side? Nice gun. Didn't fit him, never could hit anything with it, but, hey, it looked cool. Finally got tired of the ribbing he was taking and put it in the closet. He shoots a Remington 11-87 REAL WELL though.. it fits him.
Range Rover? Well, we do family hunts. Four to six gunners and 3-4 Labs. I had an old Chevy Suburban 4x4 and he had his Range Rover.... well, he had it when it wasn't in the shop for engine, transimission, electrical or heater/AC repairs.
He drove the Defender one hunting season. Barely held two people, one dog. Was so loud at speed that you couldn't carry on a conversation or hear a radio. Rode like a cement wagon. He dumped that off in a trade for his wife's BMW at the end of the season.
Anyway, all of us (people, dogs, guns and lunch) could load into the Suburban and go hunting.
Or, he could take himself and ONE other gunner and ONE lab (because putting a kennel in a RR requires folding down the back seat and sticking it in sideways). Only one kennel would fit and that one wiped out the back seat.
He always took the RR anyway, I guess to impress the farmers we asked for permission to hunt.
I think a lot of our turndowns were because of that RR. In short, in all kinds of weather, he never went anywhere the old Suburban couldn't follow... or lead.
He finally got that crap out of his system. I think it was after the last $1000 repair to the RR air conditioner that still blew spit-warm air at you after it was fixed. Not a good deal when you're driving to your big meeting in your $1000 suit and it's 110 degrees in Nebraska during the summer.
Anyway, his last two vehicles have been full-house 4x4 Suburbans. They work. Well. Room for all the hunters, dogs and guns. They're half the price of the RR's.
To his credit, proud as he is, he admits both the RR's were piss-poor vehicles.
But hey... RR's impress
some people.
