ELBA, Minn. — A hunter recovered a rusty pump shotgun off a back-trail downstream on the Whitewater River from Elba. The hunter, from New Prague, found the gun about 1 p.m. off Highway 30 through the Whitewater Wildlife Management Area. A deputy forced the encrusted chamber open and found a spent cartridge inside. The gun was identified as a Remington 870. No record of it showed in a national registry of lost and stolen firearms. Nobody has any idea how long the gun had been in the weeds. The 870 has been a bestseller for Remington, which introduced it in the 1950s. Today there are versions that retail about $600.
