Persistence Hunting

The pronghorn. The fastest mammal in North America.. the second fastest animal in the world, capable of running 55mph for extended periods.

In another part of the state of New Mexico, hundreds of miles from where I'm sitting, human beings tried to run a pronghorn down, using only their lung capacity, their legs, and their brainpower.  What the hell are they up to?

"The pronghorn is the second-fastest animal on earth, while the men are merely elite marathon runners who are trying to verify a theory about human evolution. Some scientists believe that our ancestors evolved into endurance athletes in order to hunt quad­rupeds by running them to exhaustion. If the theory holds up, the antelope I'm watching will eventually tire and the men will catch it. Then they'll have to decide whether to kill it for food or let it go."

I'm not sure whether or not I can buy into that theory, but it's really tantalizing to picture it.  Read the whole article to find out how these world class marathoners fared against our New Mexico Pronghorn.

This, of course, is not the only animal that is run down by humans.  There are numerous, incredibly fast and agile football players in college and pro ranks, including the University of Michigan who hale from a poor, rural location in Florida called Pahokee.  They  hone their skills like this..



Cottontails and "muck rabbits" (whatever they are)are one thing. Our blacktail jackrabbits are another thing altogether. Nobody is going to catch one on foot. That's why we use another method that's nearly as old as persistance hunting-

One Win Away!

The Michigan Wolverine men's ice hockey team is one win away from their tenth NCAA Division 1 Championship! (Yes that's a record, as is the fact that this is their 21st consecutive year making the tournament).

Last night, behind the tallest 5'6" goalie in The Universe, they put the clamps on the Fighting Sioux of the University of North Dakota, easily the best team remaining in the tournament. They had a 36 goal scorer! Nobody in college hockey scores 36 goals! Not often, anyway. Last night he was shut out, along with the rest of his teammates, 2-0. And when Michigan scored the empty net goal to ice the victory, it was all too much for this hapless Sioux fan-




You wouldn't think there would be much flexibility in those heavily padded hockey gloves, but Louie Caporusso does a fine job of returning the sentiment!

Michigan plays University of Minnesota-Duluth tomorrow evening for the championship. On ESPN.

UPDATE 4/10/11: Alas...  Good run for a bunch of overachievers, though, especially Little Man Hunwick.

I Can Picture it Now...

Getty Images

...millions of athletically-challenged iPhone owners flinging their iPhones over the back yard fence, and their iPads into the lake..

Horn of Plenty..

and to think there have been times when we've walked for hours and never got a sniff..



H/T Jim Heffelfinger via Dutch Salmon

Darwin Day Is Upon Us..

One of the saddest things to have happened in the last couple of months was the decision by Pat Burns to 95% walk away from his Terrierman's Daily Dose blog. It's been a must read for me since being pointed there several years ago from Steve Bodio's Querencia blog.

Fortunately, Patrick's 5% is generally more useful than my 100% here, so I look forward to his too few and far between posts. Yesterday he posted this very valuable reminder that this coming Saturday, February 12 is Darwin Day! He also included this wonderfully subversive little video:


Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

This helps to raise my spirits some, which had been soundly dampened yesterday, by this deeply disturbing bit of news from NPR.

Chin up fellow secular humanists! All is not lost. Celebrate Darwin Day!
And hurry back, Mr. Burns.

Snipe Hunt?

Taking off later today to meet up with Dutch and head to Arizona. We're taking a couple of dogs and will be on the hunt for the famous, elusive Jackalope! I've never seen one, and Dutch hasn't hunted them in a long, long time. More than 25 years, in fact. Everyone's seen pictures, of course, and.. um..

Oh.. hold on a second..

It seems I've made a mistake.

I'll get back to you on this in a couple of days.

Gonna Choke!

 This must be a joke!

OMG, No!  It's Hoke!

U of M has completed its metamorphosis into Notre Dame.  I'm pretty sure the Oregon Ducks or the TCU Horned Frogs will welcome me, provisionally at least, as a fan, while the Wolverines wander in the wilderness for the next dozen years or so.*

If I don't have a stroke.

OBTW.. you can say goodbye to #16.  Here's the new coach on the spread offense:

"When asked recently about the influence of Oregon’s offense, Hoke subtly revealed his disdain for the tactical shift Michigan experienced under Rodriguez. He is convinced that modern spread option offenses can be counterproductive to the core values of smashmouth football and are, therefore, to be avoided. 

  

“Right, wrong or indifferent, when you’re zone blocking all the time -- when you’re playing basketball on grass -- you practice against that all spring, you practice against it all fall and then you’re going to play a two-back team that wants to knock you off the football,” Hoke said. “I don’t think you’re prepared. 

  

“I think there’s a toughness level (required in college football). I still believe you win with defense. That’s been beaten into my head a long time, but I really believe that. The toughness of your team has to be the offensive front and your defensive front.” 

Whoop-dee-doo! Our own version of the Neanderthal in Madison.










* And, of course, I'll be a fan of wherever Rich Rodriguez ends up. And you can take that to the bank.

Perfectly Executed 180° Turnaround.

We had one of those runs the other day that tend to get more spectacular, the more time separates it from the actual event.

Dutch brought along "the incorrigible Bob Schulz" (Gazehounds & Coursing, pg 142), and Bob came with his truck box full of young, old, black, red, and silver staghounds. I brought the girls, Willow and Ashley. Dutch's gang included Phyllis, and Stretch (his new hotblood). We were at the big, open field that has produced some very photogenic runs already this season.

We had a couple of 30-second sprints that ended with a spectacular, diving grab by Willow that ended with her muzzle on the hare on the ground and her back legs straight up in the air in the first, and Dutch's Phyllis making the most of the second.

Now, Dutch has a bad back, which has curtailed a lot of his walking in the field over the last month or so. He generally walks with us as far from the trucks as he feels comfortable getting, then waits while the rest of us make big loops in the desert, looking for more jacks to chase. He then watches with his binoculars, and kind of acts like a de-facto "judge". It was during this "resting" period that the third jack jumped. Immediately in front of me, as it turned out, and it wasn't the most fortuitous of starts, as there were no less than two hounds right in front of him.. in his path of travel.

Somehow, the hare negotiated that obstacle, with a hard left turn that left the dogs with their jaws snapping at air.  And the race was on.

When you hear the term, "survival of the fittest"... this is the kind of critter they're usually talking about.  For nearly three minutes- more than a mile and a half- the hounds chased, and turned this jack until they ran out of our site into the draw to our south.  Even then we knew the dogs were still turning it, because we could see periodic puffs of dust arise from the horizon.  Finally the dust stopped, and we knew that either the jack had been caught, or it had made its escape into the heavy creosote bush field across the draw.  It was several more minutes before the very knackered pack of hounds made it back to the trucks. Bloodless.

Later, when we were reliving, and embellishing the tale of the third race over steak and enchiladas at The Campos' Cafe, Dutch remarked that there was one time when he saw Phyllis running right next to the hare, and was looking right at it, when it doubled back, and gained some serious separation from its pursuers.  He thought that was pretty spectacular.

When reviewing my images from the day, I was very happy to find the exact sequence that so impressed Dutch.  And so, without further ado-

We can only hope that this hare, having survived the best our hounds could throw at it, survives further attacks from coyotes, and golden eagles, and bobcats, and other predators, to procreate, and pass these amazing survival skills on so we can continue to have  exciting chases for years to come.  Here's looking at you, kid.

Darwin's Mountaineers.

A follow up article in the local paper goes into more detail on the four "hikers" who had to be rescued from the top of the mountains last week, but it fails to make them appear any... brighter.

Take a look at this picture:

The arrow at the bottom of the mountain is the parking lot and picnic area. The arrow at the top is Florida Peak, (partially obscured by clouds in this 2009 image), some 2500' above the lot, with no trails between the two. On a day when the sun sets around 5:30, who in their right mind decides to make a climb (not a hike) at 2 O'Clock? They may be in college, but they're obviously not math majors.

Darwin Award Candidates, Deming NM & Points (Far) East.

Yeah. Looks like a good place to hike when inclement weather is approaching, and you're wearing shorts and T-Shirts. Maybe you'd go up on "Lover's Leap", huh?. Then use your cell phone when you're completely out of your element and experience. Duh.

Winner.. And Still Champion!!

This is a re-post from December 2007, because... well because, unofficially, this is the single most visited posting in the entire history of this blog! Why? Beats the hell out of me, (although I have my suspicions), but since it's once again December here it is for all those sickos out there:

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Georgians. Pick Up Trucks. A Pee Wee Football Team?!?

This will irritate Todd, but I can't help myself. There's just too much raw material. I'm just at a loss for this guy's motive.

All that's missing is "Mama", and "Prison". "D-i-v-o-r-c-e" is probably in his future, if this loser's even married.

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Oddly, it's also the post with visitors from the largest number of foreign countries.. especially nations of a certain, uh, religious bent. Things that make you go "hmmmm".

If you don't believe me, just check the FEEDJIT Live Feed widget on the sidebar.. look for "...December 2007". This has been going on for 3 years.

A Good Coyote.

DUI

The official recreational pastime of the State of New Mexico.

Why?

That's right.  Why be content to get stuck where a mere little Kubota tractor can help you effect your escape from the muddy clutches, when there's a really deep boggy situation just waiting down the road, and woe unto you if you venture a little too right or left of the hard pack.

And that's the situation we found ourselves in last Thursday.  First we tried the tractor again.  Not this time, sport.  The more it pulled the further right the Express wanted to slide until it was tipping precariously in the really soft stuff, and leaning on the chain link!  This also blocked the normal exit we call a "door".  Out the window, take the ladder off the back so Margaret could exit gracefully and head to Hugo to upload the II pictures.

Meanwhile, I called our road service provider, because we were going to need something bigger; much bigger.. than the neighbor's Massey-Ferguson.  We were going to need the big boy, because how do you extract a 20,000 pound behemoth that's heeled over against a fence, a foot and a half in the soggy earth... without damaging the awning, and the coach finish?  Watch and learn, kids... watch and learn:

These ol' boys were really good!

Clothing With a Message

I don't usually promote fashions available from CafePress that don't make us a buck or two, but Patrick has designed some pretty cool gear with a message some who read this blog don't want to hear.  Doesn't mean it ain't so.  Check it out- he's selling with 0 markup, and he's letting you copy the art on the blog to make your own... whatever.  I'm going to make a shirt!

Moron Report.

We needed to go out on some errands today. Simple stuff, like some plumbing supplies for the ongoing toilet project- don't ask- , a trip to the post office, Sam's Club. Travelling West on Michigan Ave in Jackson we came upon gas station after gas station with long lines of idling vehicles.. burning untold numbers of barrels of fuel while waiting to (wait for it)... fuel up. I asked, "what do they know that we don't?".

As we finished up we heard reports of "$5/gal gas" on the "east side". Well, when we got to "the east side", it was still $3.89. Just like it was when we began our errands. Ridiculously long lines, though. Fortunately, we're not going anywhere this weekend, so we just drove by and laughed at the morons. Must be some way to pin this on Republicans.

Help Us Spike!

We left Flagstaff around 11 this morning. The problem with the motorhome fixed, with a $22 part, and 4 hours or research labor. What was the problem, you ask? I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say it involved a part that I mentioned on the very first post on our trip.

Besides.. we have bigger problems now than some old K&N filter with too much oil on it.

We travelled 235 miles today, to roughly 25 miles west of Needles, California. We were into our second climbing stage out of the Colorado River basin when there was a loud noise, and it only took a second to realize that while the engine was still running, we didn't have any power steering. Cataclysmic destruction of the serpentine belt.

So, here we're parked, behind the Colorado River Cheverolet Dealership in Needles, waiting for them to open in the morning, so we can get the damn belt replaced, and not miss more than two deerhound events.. (LGRA, ASFA Lure Coursing).

You know you've heard of Needles if you watch your local weathercasts: "And the hottest place in the nation again was Needles, CA at 107 degrees". Fortunately, we'll be gone before Wednesday, when it will get really hot.

Oh.. and gas here? $4.99/gal. Yeah.. we could live here. It's hot... but it's a dry heat.

*****

Talk about a vertical profile! That trip down Oak Creek Canyon was nothing. In 4 hours today, we went from around 7000', cool-ish temps, at Flagstaff, to the California border at the Colorado River: 326' and 102 degrees. A shock to the system.

*****

And who is this "Spike"? You know. Click on the title.

*****

Decent little Chinese place here.... right up on the corner. Dinner specials packaged like lunch specials, including rice, soup, and soft noodles. Hmmm, noodles in Needles.

Save the Planet, Be Humiliated on the BBC

Apparently, it's a real... car... quadracycle. Don't get caught dead in one.

I Rest My Case..

I use newspaper, kindling, and one match. Mrs. Bubba uses the Darwin Award shortcut. (Identity obscured to protect the stupid.)

Doubly Suspended, at the ASFA II

They say the closer you can run to the ground, the faster you will go. This guy must be really flying! Or crashing.

And here's something only a handful of people saw on Saturday. The lightning and thunder were closing in, the judges on Field B decided to get the hell off the top of the hill, and to get the lure operator off the ladder. The whippets that had been at the line, were on their way down the hill to shelter. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye in the direction of the woods...

...and away he (she?) went, across the coursing field, and over a fence and out of sight. Someone shouted the obvious, "loose the Deerhounds!". Only myself, 2 of the field clerks, and the two judges saw it.

I have no idea if the deer was watching from the edge of the forest, waiting for an opportunity to bolt, or if it was just the beneficiary of extremely lucky timing. Whichever... it showed great form!