35 Miles Down the Road...

...there ain't no Booby, NM.

Image of the Day

The view from Nick's Dome Cache. Had to do some climbing to find this one. If you look on the righthand side, on the "road", you'll see the Escape, where Margaret and Rally were waiting. They served a valuable service waiting by the car, however. When we arrived, the GPSr was connected to the car- when I disconnected it, it went blank. The batteries were dead! Here I was, within a 10th of a mile from the cache, and in the middle of freakin' nowhere, with no tool to get to the goodies! Why I crashed out of the Boy Scouts. I decided to go looking anyway.

While I was scouting around a rockpile that looked promising, Margaret waited by the car. About a half hour later, a guy came up the hill in a jeep. He was looking for a way around the mountain. Not here, dude. So when he turned around, Margaret blocked his path and forced him to sell us two used AA batteries, which he took out of his flashlight. She gave him 2 bucks.

Freshly armed, I climbed the mountain, and found that sucker! This was a big one.

I decided to be greedy, and take one of the Border Patrol luggage tags. There were lots of fun things in there, including a Fuji single use camera with a couple of shots left. So I took a self portrait. This is a lot of fun, and today- a lot of work!

Geocaching

I mentioned my new handheld GPS receiver in the post about Dutch's hunts, where it helped guide the hunters on a methodical, efficient path. It worked very well. A popular activity for people with these devices is called Geocaching , (pronounced Geo-cashing). All over the world people have placed little boxes and packets of trinkets, and log books and other ephemera, in out of the way places. They then put the coordinates on geocaching websites.. which look something like this, along with hints, and a little description of the location. Once armed with this knowledge, you grab your GPSr, (ours looks like this), hop in your car, (or 4WD vehicle as the case may be), and head out for the cache location.

The Greenleaf Mine Rd Cache we were looking for yesterday looked to be an easy drive, about 8 miles outside of Deming, until-

It took a couple of minutes to make the herd move out of the way, and then we were on our way again.. our target was somewhere near that first low hill on the left side of the image, above.

We parked as close as we could, and began walking toward the coordinates... (geocachers apparently are easy to spot, as they're usually in the middle of nowhere, walking in little circles, and looking at their hands.. something like this)-

If you see them about to step off a cliff, or into the path of a speeding packmule train, give them a shout. We found the cache within about 5 minute of parking; there were fun goodies inside the little tin (about the size of a bandaid box). Having nothing to trade, we just signed the log, and returned the cache to its hiding place.

This was our 2nd find, and it's a lot of fun. You can see our log entry at the website referenced earlier. In the Deming zipcode alone, there are currently 472 caches, some of them accessible only by Jeep, and serious hiking boots. Others are right at the side of a busy highway. See what's hiding in your neighborhood.

Dutch's Hunts.

People are whining.. actually only one person is whining (LOL), about not seeing any results from the Pack Hunt and Desert Hare Classic. Having just finished my article for Performance Sighthound Journal, and hitting "send", I really don't want to cut myself off at the paycheck, so you won't see any details here. But I will say they were fun, we had plenty to eat and imbibe, and we used our GPS receiver for the first time to plot an organized, methodical trek. It seemed to work well. The above is the track, and waypoints ("HAR-" is jackrabbits jumped and coursed, "NC-" is, of course, "no course") for the Desert Hare Classic. We found the "glory hole" and we worked it!

The weekend's big winners were Dutch, and Chris M. For how they did it, you have to buy the magazine!

Copy Cats?

That's the subject of this interesting slide show at Slate.Com entitled,
Can Photographers Be Plagiarists? (warning: brief nudity.... that ought to increase the click-count).

I've seen enough lure coursing photos by other photographers.. (both full time photographers, and part time photog... oh wait.. with one exception, I'm the only full time photographer shooting sighthound performance portraits. Freakin' scabs!)... to know that they can sometimes look alike, and very occasionally, I have trouble knowing if a shot is mine or one of the wannabes out there. (But only very occasionally..LOL; Y'know, sighthounds- and other canines- can only be in just so many poses or environments.)

When we were at the Gila National Wilderness a couple of weeks ago, walking the Whitewater Creek Gorge, I walked past an elderly gentleman who had set up his tripod, with Nikon D200 aboard. I didn't look at what he was shooting, because I was going for a more (hopefully) unique shot from the bottom of the gorge, at creek-level. When I got back up to the trail, I glanced across to see what he had been shooting. I liked it. Here is the shot:

Is it plagiarism? Judging from the amount of trampled earth, and lack vegetation between the trail and the subject, I'd say no. It's just appreciation of a nice image by probably hundreds- if not thousands- of photographers- amateurs, professionals, semi-professionals, and just plain tourists.

Margaret Plays With Photoshop.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Today's image returns us to my favorite 15 mile long mountain range. The Floridas. With a twist: Tumbleweeds blown against a fence, with the mountains in the background. Visual evidence why photographers call this time of day "the Golden Hour".

Coming Soon!

We're working on the Spring Shot On Site schedule. We should have something up here in a day or two.

Briefly, we'll be staying in New Mexico for two more weeks, then we'll be spending March in Texas. More details to come.

And I can't forget to put up a report for the recently completed Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt and Desert Hare Classic.

Stay tuned.

A Fish(y) Story.

Who doesn't love Grouper?

I thought I loved Grouper. But maybe it's farm raised Asian Catfish that I love. Or something called Painted Sweetlips. (I can't make this stuff up!).

NOAA investigators in Florida found faux Grouper being sold in 17 out of 24 restaurants that they targeted! But it's not just a Florida problem; they say this is happening all over America. Read the whole Washington Post story here. (You may need to register. It's free.)

NPR also covered this story today. Listen to it here.

Y'know, Asian catfish doesn't sound all that bad when you compare it to the two fish entrees whose DNA the investigators couldn't identify. That's scary.

Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances.

Going On Offense. Breeders Take it to the Antis!

Got this (rather long) post in one of the lists we subscribe to. This sounds so good I feel I should pass it on. Feel free to do likewise.

Monday, February 12, 2007 10:28 AM
Subject: REPOST OF LEGISLATIVE ALERT - OPERATION: DOOLITTLE'SRAID

PERMISSION TO CROSS POST WIDELY

Joint Initiative Between The Doberman Pinscher Club of America and The American Rottweiler Club

Operation: Doolittle's Raid

The Legislative Committees of the Doberman Pinscher Club of America(DPCA) and The American Rottweiler Club (ARC) have recognized whatevery member of the purebred dog fancy has noticed over the pastseveral years. With increasing frequency, legislative bodies in our cities, counties, and states throughout this country have seemingly become hostile to the interests of purebred dog lovers in the UnitedStates. Indeed, the passage of the egregious anti-dog legislation in Louisville, Kentucky within the past several weeks has raised the stakes substantially for us. Anti-breeder legislation is picking up steam. It is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It has been introduced in the state of Indiana. It is metastasizing throughout the country. We cannot merely fight a defensive struggle and expect that our interests will be preserved. All too often, our members have been faced with struggles on another front. Liability and homeowners insurance companies increasingly refuse to insure, or even cancel, those of us who own purebred dogs despite the responsibility that we take in raising and housing our loving members of our families, and regardless of the fact that our dogs have never had an incident resulting in any claim being filed with our insurance carriers. DPCA and ARC know this. The American Kennel Club knows this. The AKC Legislative Department does an outstanding job in working with all of us in very difficult circumstances. The problem of fighting against anti-dog legislation in every state and every city cannot be solvedat the national level. AKC can only do so much. It is up to each of us to step forward at this time. People ask: "what can I do"? They see anti-dog legislation everywhere they turn. They hear stories of insurance companies canceling policies, forcing their friends and family to make choices. Do I giveup my dogs? Do I move somewhere where I may be left alone?These are choices none of us should have to make. Now is the time for us to go on offense. Now is the time for us to take the lead. Now is the time to advance our cause rather than to wait for the next anti-dog bill to threaten us. DPCA and ARC have launched Operation: Doolittle's Raid. In Washington state, HB 1105 has again been introduced in the Washington House ofRepresentatives. This bill, the "Deeds Not the Breeds Bill", twice passed the House of Representatives. In 2005, the bill made it through the House and received a hearing in the Senate FinancialInstitutions, Insurance and Consumer Protection Committee. We ran out of time in that session. Now, the "Deeds Not the Breeds Bill" is moving again. On Thursday, February 1, 2007, HB 1105 passed out of the House Insurance Committee. The prime sponsor of HB 1105 is Representative Tom Campbell who is the Chair of the House Committee on Environmental Health. HB 1105 is very simple. It is one paragraph long. It simply prevents insurance carriers from refusing to insure or canceling the insurance of any homeowner based upon the breed of dog he or she owns. Its simplicity is transferable to other states. The DPCA and ARC have committed in Operation Doolittle's Raid to persuade legislators in 20 states to introduce HB 1105 during the month of February. We will strike in 20 states simultaneously. For once, we will be on offense. For once, we will make insurance carriers have to defend themselves on multiple fronts. For once, we will control the agenda instead of the agenda controlling us. Now is the time. For those who have asked what you can do, we have an answer. Call your state legislator. Meet with him or her at his orher office. Invite him or her to your local shows as a "Distinguished Awards Presenter" to present the Group or Best in Show trophies. Provide him or her with a copy of the "Deeds Not the Breeds Bill", which is the purpose of our initiative which we have titled Operation: Doolittle's Raid. Ask him or her to introduce the bill immediately. Here is a link to the bill: http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1105.pdf Lastly, once the bill is introduced in your state legislature, we need to know so that we can assist you to publicize that the bill has been introduced in your state. We are now in the process of populating the DPCA LobbyNow Tool with Talking Points to use in the battle that is to come. Our Doolittle's Raid, like the original, is designed to be a daring move intended to shock our adversaries. TheDPCA and the ARC need the help of committed purebred dog fanciers throughout the United States, in many different breeds, to launch this initiative successfully.

Cordially,
Jeffrey P. Helsdon
Legislative DirectorDoberman Pinscher Club Of America
jurisdobes@aol.com

Jan Cooper
Legislative DirectorAmerican Rottweiler Club
jan4rott@rott-n-chatter.com

PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST WIDELY
Dale Maddox Geddis Associate Legislative Director

Catwalk.

Yesterday was a "tourist" day. We decided to revisit the Whitewater Creek Catwalk, in the Gila National Wilderness. We went last year in the midst of the 5 year drought. Not a lot of water in the creek at that time. We thought... wrongly as it turned out... that with all the recent rain and snow in the area, that there would be a whole lot more water this time. While the level was up slightly, it didn't quite thrill like a roaring torrent would. The record water level in the canyon is about 6 feet above the catwalk floor level, and about 20 feet above what you see here. Judging by the washout areas on the access road, we were a few weeks late.

The canyon is characterized by high, steep rock walls, and massive boulders in the streambed.

A little closeup detail of one of the many falls in the canyon.


We know that lady in red, I think.

Yet Another Fine Day In the Field.

Another Day In the Desert

Up early yesterday morning. Meet with Dutch, and Susan, who's visiting from way up in Ontario, Canada, with her two deerhounds. The weather is ideal, the mud we trudged through 10 days ago is only a memory.

Unusual day for the hounds in that they caught every hare they chased. The sequence in this online album is from the second hare. Rally was in the lead until she collided with Angie a millisecond after this cover image was taken. She's very sore today, but is moving around- much better now than when we got home yesterday. She could barely stand at that point. If she continues to improve at this rate we won't have to pull our pack from this weekend's Pack Hunt.

Enjoy.. and remember, all images Copyright 2007, Shot On Site Photography. Leave 'em online.

Coming soon: Album from today's trip to the Gila National Wilderness Catwalk.

Men At Work.

Deming, New Mexico.

In Addition to the Human Toll...

...The Florida tornados also had
this devastating effect on a well known wildlife project. There's just a glimmer of good news in this report.

Those who know us know cranes are a large part of our wildlife and nature images.

HT to Frank V. in New Mexico.

Image courtesy Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership

I Like a Nice '07 Zapp's Cajun Crawtater...

Potato-Chip Connoisseur Detects Notes Of Sour Cream, Onion

ST. CHARLES, MO—"A fine chip can be worth years of waiting," said Nathan Sterkin, whose refined palate allows him to appreciate flavors like "flamin' hot" and salt.

Yankees Can Be Morons, Too.

Several times in these pages I've cast aspersions on Texans, (among other Southern denizens).
Recent events in the Northeast prove that there's enough stupidity to go around.

Pretty bizarre.

They Must Have Been Chows...

Apparently, size does matter.

Over There.

Put on your wooden shoes, pop your favorite tobacco in your clay pipe, put down the Zondervan bible, (you know how it ends), and click here , and here to see lure coursing like they do it in Holland. No windmills were damaged in the making of this video. If you read Dutch, (the language, not the author of Gazehounds & Coursing who I've written about often), the source website is: http://www.coursing.nl:80/alg_info.htm

HT to Richard Hawkins.

Hunting With Dutch: The Album.

Just click on the image.

From Hunting with ...

All images Copyright Shot On Site Photography, 2007.

The Picture You Get...

...is not always the picture you thought you were taking! Here's an excellent case in point. When we were out with Fanny and Rally earlier last week, I spotted a hawk coasting just above the ground at a little bit of distance; the typical behavior of the Harrier. So I snapped a series of images to see if that's what it was.

It was. But what I couldn't see through the viewfinder were the smaller birds... fleeing for their lives! When I got home and cropped in to the subject I realized this hawk was hunting.

You can't always plan the great shot. Luck has a lot to do with it.

Hunting With Dutch, Take II

It's a big desert out there.
Dutch and his pack can get far away in a hurry when you stop to pee.

Rally (Blue blanket) in the early lead, followed by Phyllis and Mona. Check out the clods of mud flying! All life forms present had a hard time moving with the mud on feet and boots.

Mona, "running cunning". Dutch says she does this a lot... sometimes it works in her favor, sometimes not. This chase went all the way into the brush at the base of the mountains at the 3 minute mark, so we don't know if it worked this time or not.

It was a beautiful day.. the best we've had since we got into New Mexico (the mud notwithstanding!)

More coursing images in album form will follow soon.

PETA Piper Picked A Peck Of Dead Kittens

If you're regular readers here, this is just more "preaching to the choir", but occasionally strangers drop in, so this is for them.

There is no doubt that the nazis at PETA are just bad, bad people. And this news item from the United States Sportsmen's Alliance does nothing to dispell that notion.

Two PETA employees went on trial last week for taking dogs and cats from shelters, promising that they would have no problems finding great homes for them. That home would seem to be in heaven.

"The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) has issued reports from the trial this week. The reports detail how Ms. Tonya Northcott, an employee at the Ahoskie Animal Hospital, on June 15 sent a mother cat and her two kittens with the defendants who claimed that they would have no problem finding homes for the cats. Northcott explained that the cats had been socialized, played with, and had their shots.

Those cats ended up in a trash dumpster less than an hour later."

Nice folks.

Steve Bodio has had a number of recent posts about this and other AR nonsense. Very good reading... will raise your blood pressure.

A note about the US Sportsmen Association. If you do serious work with your dog, it would be in your best interest to support their efforts by joining. These are the folks who played a major role in the defeat of AB2110 in California. Check them out.

Illustration courtesy: http://www.xoverboard.com/deadkittensurvey/

Mountain Album

From Mountains of ...

Here's a few more shots from my adventure the other day, including a slightly different view of the hawk in front of the mountain.. Full Disclosure Notice: I actually took the mountain hawk picture out the passenger window, one-handed, while driving 45 miles per hour. Light traffic on the highway, fortunately.

I may add more as I take more.

Remember that all these images are protected by copyright, so try and leave them on the website. We are working on a new website for nature and landscape and other art images. They will be available for sale, mounted, framed, matted, etc. and in a variety of sizes. Watch this space for updates

Geezer Dog? Not So Fast My Friend!

Yes. That's Randir. As in ten-and-a-half-year-old Scottish Deerhound, Randir. And yes, that's a blacktailed jackrabbit, who is in no peril whatsoever. But who cares?

I was hoping for a shot like this. Now I'll have to do what I stupidly shot off my mouth to too many people and promised... the unthinkable: I will take him into a show ring in April at the Deerhound National Specialty. I'd say his chances are good in the Veteran classes.

Aesthetics?

A concept utterly foreign to Buffy.

John Crean, 1925 - 2007

Surprisingly, I actually knew who John Crean was before I saw the news on the Fleetwood website this morning. He was probably the most important, influential person in the history of the recreational vehicle industry. Because we love our Bounder home, I thought I'd post the link to the eulogy by Eldon Smith, the current President and CEO of Fleetwood Industries.

Here's an excerpt:

As an inventor and innovator John was unparalleled: a Venetian blind mechanism in the 1940s, an innovative manufactured home in the 1970s and the Bounder motor home in the 1980s.
The Bounder motor home revolutionized the design of motor homes throughout the industry. Put very simply, what John did was raise the floor of the motor home. This provided bus-like storage below the floor, and allowed for more functional floor plans and operational features. John developed this motor home with the help of a drafter, and one of our prototype assemblers, in his workshop at home. Within a few years the Bounder motor home was the best selling motor home in the country . . . 90% of the motor homes sold in the country today contain most of the unique features John put in that first Bounder unit.

I feel like I should put a black stripe around the Express. RTWT

And That's Why They Call Them Long Billed Curlews.

Today's image is a roundabout way of saying the hunt pictures were pretty unremarkable. Fanny and Rally did, however, get a decent workout on the single jack we flushed. They were out of position from the get-go, and it was a tail chase all the way. Got a good 60 second run in, though.

When we pulled up to the field I saw this flock of Long Billed Curlews. Biggest flock I've ever seen- probably 25-30 or more. Suckers can get at the good stuff down deep. Strange place for so-called "shorebirds", but it's not the first time I've seen them on this ranch.

Pretty much all the snow is off the mountains, so it was a good thing I made the effort to get out there yesterday. Tomorrow they'll look like they did all last year when we were here.

Told You...

...to be ready for more mountain images. When the sun came out yesterday afternoon, I threw the camera in the car and took a short drive to be closer to the Floridas. Got a bonus with this beautiful Harlan's Red Tailed Hawk. (A melanistic hawk that doesn't have a red tail... go figure.) The large rock in the background is called "Capital Dome".

Going hunting today, and maybe tomorrow, so get ready for some different subject matter!

Cold, Blustery Morning.

Here we go again. Woke up to blowing snow, as our record-breaking Winter continues. The dogs loved it.

This will put more snow on the mountains, so watch for more dramatic images.

Took Randir and Buffy out to the field yesterday... took the camera too, but I forgot to take a card for it. Sometimes it's hard to believe I'm a professional. Missed out on a good shot of a small herd of pronghorn. We'll be here for a month, so there will be more opportunities. We did jump a couple of jacks very quickly. Randir's good for about a hundred yards, and Buffy, her best years apparently behind her, was good for about a hundred more. In a couple of days, when the weather clears, we'll get the good dogs out. More then.

A New Album

Dreamcatcher

Some images from our first 24 hours at Escapee's Dreamcatcher RV Park in Deming. From the rain when we arrived last night, accompanied by a huge flock of Yellow Headed Blackbirds, to the brooding presence of the cloud shrouded Florida Mountains. And the old car next door.

The previously broken image links have been repaired. Check it out.

Image Of The Day.

Proof that we made it to Deming, NM without any further delays. The Florida Mountains (Flor-EE-dah). Looking like we never saw them last Winter- snow covered. Florida Peak dominates, at nearly 7500 feet. The Floridas are typical of the desert mountains of the Southwest.. rising out of the desert, unattached to any major mountain ranges, and made more dramatic by their isolation.

I'm not sure what's going on with the previous images. They were there when the page was published, then mysteriously disappeared. If they're not back tomorrow, I'll take the posts down and re-edit. You all have to see the RV picture!

Absolutely Last Ice Image. We Promise.

Lest you all think I exaggerate how thickly Mother Nature laid it on. This from the picnic table outside the Express when we were in Bourne.

Pictures From the Righthand Seat.

Margaret caught this latest feature in recreational vehicles: The Slide-In. I don't see it as a big selling point.

We did mention that the roads in Texas were hazardous, didn't we? Yeah, we did.

Today's Image.

Who says they all have to be my photos? Bet you can guess which end of the black line we're on.

Interesting tidbit: I-10 is 880 miles across Texas. (It's like crossing Nebraska twice; only more interesting.) That's a pretty big chunk that's closed.