Eating Crow

Caption: This is the end result of only two hours of shooting at roost-bound crows. A total of 124 of them were taken with only two shotguns operating over one caller.


The Art of Crow Hunting

"Even if you don't care much for the crow, you have to give him his due. I've always had a deep, almost reverent awe for the raucous old rascal -- the sort of feeling I usually reserve for space scientists and extremely angry women... Men bomb him, poison him, and gun him down, but he still flourishes and apparently there's not much we can do about it. There's a reason for this -- the crow is just about the end point of avian evolution. He's gone about as far as a bird can go, and is splendidly equipped for survival under an immense range of diet and living conditions. Hardfeathered and sleek, he has a voice like a woodrasp and a mind like a diamond."

I've quoted the above from a chapter on crows my good friend John Madon included in his delightful book, Stories from under the Sky. To a remarkable degree John smote the literary nail on the head. Although I've aided in the demise of some 90,000 of the rascals I still encounter some situations where some crows somehow get the better of me. Perhaps one day John can be persuaded to join me for a top-drawer shoot, preferably during the spring and autumn migrating seasons, when we can further explore his comparison of crows to space flyboys and short-fused dames...

I have gunned crows for over a half century. Yet, while duck hunting recently, with my Ithaca plugged to the waterfowling three-shot limit, I called in a lone crow to within a mere forty overhead yards. I cut at him once, but he flipped into a simple sideslip that carried his feet outside of my shot pattern, then resumed his cruise. I tried him again, and he sideslipped in the opposite direction. So I spent my third shot, at which he sharply eased up on the throttle and slammed on the brakes, so that my shot charge whizzed feet ahead in the direction his black beak indicated.

I suspect that damn crow had somewhere picked up some surplus radar gear, or that he owned superspeed telepathy. He foiled me so completely that I knelt in my blind and swore feelingly, yet admiringly, at that departing bird. I tried to tell myself that he'd slipped through holes in the shot patterns of those Number 6s. But with the Poly Choke on that Ithaca screwed down to full choke, that argument didn't wash. He'd just flimflammed we with three exquisitely timed and precisely executed dodges.

Source: Popowski, Bert (1964), Hunting Secrets of the Experts

Footnote of Interest: Turns out, some people really do eat crow (http://www.crowbusters.com/recipes.htm) and Popowski, the author of this article, is mentioned on the home page of this site along with other elites from "The Golden Era" of crow hunting in the U.S.

Pun Safety

Caption: Many people do not understand that putting a gun on safety usually means simply that the trigger can't be pulled, that rapping the butt of the gun sharply on the ground may set it off even if it's on safety. A fall or any sharp jar can set off a cartridge in a gun. Leaving a loaded gun on safety may not prevent an accident. Treat all loaded guns with respect, whether they're on safety or not. (Old Chinese Proverb: Man who fools with loaded gun may wind up saying, "That's me all over.")

Source: Nelson, Ray (1953), The Rod & Gun Club of the Air Scrap Book

Footnote of Interest: No Old Chinese Proverbists were consulted in the manufacturing of this tasteless pun.

Good Ol' Gulo luscus

Wolverine (Gulo luscus)

This beast has earned the reputation of being the meanest animal of the woodlands. Fortunately for the rest of the wildlife, he is found only in the far north woods and thus can work out his savageness among such as wolves and coyotes.

He kills every creature he comes near whether he is hungry or not. He will sometimes bury meat in the snow, but such meat will be tainted by a secretion so that no other animal, including man, can eat it.

The wolverine is also a great camp robber, stealing everything from food to shining objects and clothing. Trappers hate him because he can rob the trap lines of the bait and even hide or destroy the traps...

Weighing from twenty to thirty pounds and ranging well over three feet long, this chunky mink-like animal is a fast traveller in the woods, feeding on all kinds of game. Two or more babies are born and quickly learn the ways of their parents.

Since the pelt has never brought much money, the wolverine has never been trapped or hunted to any degree. The species will survive because of this.

Source: Ovington, Ray (1965), The Compact Book of Small Game and Varmints

Footnote of Interest: In March of 1932, a particularly mean wolverine of savageness wrought unprecedented destruction upon Milbridge, a tiny coastal city in Maine, when it attacked and destroyed a shining object in the middle of the night: Milbridge's only lighthouse.

Shameless Product Placement For Ace Bandage

Caption: Thirteen-year-old King Scherer displays a 28-inch Nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) which ripped his arm when he tried to grab its tail while he was skin-diving off Delray Beach, Florida. Despite the wound, he towed the shark to shore. Nurse sharks have long been classified as "harmless," despite the fact that they have often viciously, though not fatally, attacked swimmers.          

Source: McCormick, Harold W., Allen, Tom, Young, Captain William (1953), Shadows in the Sea, the Sharks, Skates and Rays

Footnote of Interest: It was just this kind of can-do-it-ness-despite-my-rightfully-ravaged-arm that made America great under the just rule and steely gaze of King Scherer (352 A.D. - 385 A.D.).

What Lurks?

Consider a boy with a fishing rod and a can of worms as he heads for a nearby pond or river, afoot or on a bicycle. Imbued by the spirit of research and an eagerness for adventure, he is about to engage in an activity that is nearly as old as Man: "What lurks in the deep pool at the bend of the river, and how can I catch it?"

... Someone once said that all children are born with the spirit of research, but that it is spanked out of most by the age of seven. While this conclusion may be an overstatement, we must admit that the spirit of research does suffer a bit during the early years from such things as parental fears, methods of teaching, and demands for conformity. But the spirit often becomes only latent, and like Sleeping Beauty in the fable, is ready to be awakened by the right kiss of circumstance. The sounds of the surf and the crying gulls, the quiet surface of a lake, the scent of pine needles and wet autumn leaves, or the smell of smoke and the glow of a crackling fire – all these mysteries are of the music of Nature that can awaken and keep us among the truly living.

During the years, our own researches into the phenomena of why fish bite, and why they don't, have been met with mixed reactions... We have no desire to enter into controversy over the possible merits or demerits of our researches. We simply believe that the spirit of the boy with his fishing rod and can of worms, far from requiring any apologia, is something that should be understood, shared, and encouraged by all of us.

The child is still the father and the leader of the man.

Source: Westman, James (1961), Why Fish Bite and Why They Don't

Footnote of Interest: The Spirit of Christmas Research was removed from an early draft of Dicken's A Christmas Carol at the insistence of his editor, an avid spanker.

Driving On Ice

Caption: Partially submerged auto. Most cars sink nose first, like this one. (Courtesy Michigan Department of Conservation)

Source: Chiappetta, Jerry, (1966) Modern ABC's of Ice Fishing, Chapter 3, "Safety on the Ice"

Escaping From Submerging Cars
If you must drive out on ice, then you must break one of the safety rules of the open highway -- the rule of always wearing safety belts. Don't wear them on the ice. Be prepared to bail out – pronto!
Our studies on this subject and our experience have resulted in these suggestions: drive with all the windows rolled down and the doors ajar. Remember the resonance tables and drive slower than the critical speed. Keep a screwdriver or some other sharp object handy. If you start to break through, kick the transmission into neutral and bail out immediately.

Now, let's elaborate a little... Certainly some air will be trapped in if the windows are all up and the doors are closed, but your aim is to get out, not to keep the air in. The little air in the car will not mean much regarding flotation of a vehicle en route to the lake bottom... If you are driving a convertible, the best advice is to put the top down...

In examining state police records of cars going through the ice, we found most do not plunge like a rock... Troopers reported there was almost always a moment or two when alert ice fishermen could dive out across the ice, away from the break...

Police reported that the fatalities usually come, not in the initial sinking, but in the panic which follows. Fishermen get out, but they don't know how to get back onto the ice... They should... have some sharp instrument like a screwdriver, keys, or even a belt buckle to dig into the edge of the ice and hold on.

Footnote of Interest: Pronto's origins are early 20th century, from Spanish, from the Latin promptus.

Big Guy With A Baby Whale

Caption: Not all denizens of the deep are caught on hook and line. This baby Whale was captured by a bather in the Gulf of Mexico off Pass-a-Grille. Actually it was not a capture. The Whale was looking for its mother, and the portly gentleman, seen through the weak eyes of the 500-pound infant, was the nearest thing to happiness the "little" fellow could find. 

Source: Lewis, Gordon (1957) The Book of Florida Fishing Fresh & Salt Water 

Footnote of Interest: The 'portly gentleman' is actually Herman Melville, and this is was the real inspiration for Moby Dick.