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#31
Fishing Photos / Winter Walleyes.
Last post by nastygunz - March 24, 2025, 06:18:36 PM
30° and a hard wind but the Walleye are still biting, real slow though.
#32
The Tailgate / Today in history 3-24
Last post by remrogers - March 24, 2025, 11:57:11 AM
1603
March 24
Queen Elizabeth I dies

After 44 years of rule, Queen Elizabeth I of England dies, and King James VI of Scotland ascends to the throne, uniting England and Scotland under a single British monarch.

The daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in 1558 upon the death of her half-sister Queen Mary. The two half-sisters, both daughters of Henry VIII, had a stormy relationship during Mary's five-year reign. Mary, who was brought up as a Catholic, enacted pro-Catholic legislation and made efforts to restore the pope to supremacy in England. A Protestant rebellion ensued, and Queen Mary imprisoned Elizabeth, a Protestant, in the Tower of London on suspicion of complicity. After Mary's death, Elizabeth survived several Catholic plots against her; although her ascension was greeted with approval by most of England's lords, who were largely Protestant and hoped for greater religious tolerance under a Protestant queen. Under the early guidance of Secretary of State Sir William Cecil, Elizabeth repealed Mary's pro-Catholic legislation, established a permanent Protestant Church of England, and encouraged the Calvinist reformers in Scotland.

In foreign affairs, Elizabeth practiced a policy of strengthening England's Protestant allies and dividing her foes. Elizabeth was opposed by the pope, who refused to recognize her legitimacy, and by Spain, a Catholic nation that was at the height of its power. In 1588, English-Spanish rivalry led to an abortive Spanish invasion of England in which the Spanish Armada, the greatest naval force in the world at the time, was destroyed by storms and a determined English navy.

With increasing English domination at sea, Elizabeth encouraged voyages of discovery, such as Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the world and Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions to the North American coast.

The long reign of Elizabeth, who became known as the "Virgin Queen" for her reluctance to endanger her authority through marriage, coincided with the flowering of the English Renaissance, associated with such renowned authors as William Shakespeare. By her death in 1603, England had become a major world power in every respect, and Queen Elizabeth I passed into history as one of England's greatest monarchs.
#33
Predator Hunting / Re: Psych Warfare!
Last post by nastygunz - March 23, 2025, 12:22:21 PM
Although a fine fly fisherwoman in her own right she is not a practitioner of the art of the rifle. Shes a purist, she only fishes for native brook trout with dry flies. There are a lot of trespassing critters who have left the yard alive because of her :innocentwhistle: . Although last year she was a little hostile at the big fat woodchuck that mowed all her peas down :biggrin:
#34
The Tailgate / Today in history 3-23
Last post by remrogers - March 23, 2025, 12:03:40 PM
1839
March 23
'OK' enters national vernacular

On March 23, 1839, the initials "O.K." are first published in The Boston Morning Post. Meant as an abbreviation for "oll korrect," a popular slang misspelling of "all correct" at the time, OK steadily made its way into the everyday speech of Americans.

During the late 1830s, it was a favorite practice among younger, educated circles to misspell words intentionally, then abbreviate them and use them as slang when talking to one another. Just as teenagers today have their own slang based on distortions of common words, such as "kewl" for "cool" or "DZ" for "these," the "in crowd" of the 1830s had a whole host of slang terms they abbreviated. Popular abbreviations included "KY" for "No use" ("know yuse"), "KG" for "No go" ("Know go"), and "OW" for all right ("oll wright").

Of all the abbreviations used during that time, OK was propelled into the limelight when it was printed in the Boston Morning Post as part of a joke. Its popularity exploded when it was picked up by contemporary politicians. When the incumbent president Martin Van Buren was up for reelection, his Democratic supporters organized a band of thugs to influence voters. This group was formally called the "O.K. Club," which referred both to Van Buren's nickname "Old Kinderhook" (based on his hometown of Kinderhook, New York), and to the term recently made popular in the papers. At the same time, the opposing Whig Party made use of "OK" to denigrate Van Buren's political mentor Andrew Jackson. According to the Whigs, Jackson invented the abbreviation "OK" to cover up his own misspelling of "all correct."

The man responsible for unraveling the mystery behind "OK" was an American linguist named Allen Walker Read. An English professor at Columbia University, Read dispelled a host of erroneous theories on the origins of "OK," ranging from the name of a popular Army biscuit (Orrin Kendall) to the name of a Haitian port famed for its rum (Aux Cayes) to the signature of a Choctaw chief named Old Keokuk. Whatever its origins, "OK" has become one of the most ubiquitous terms in the world, and certainly one of America's greatest lingual exports.
#35
Predator Hunting / Re: Psych Warfare!
Last post by FinsnFur - March 23, 2025, 07:52:31 AM
I feel like maybe Mountain MaMa may have beat you to it. No?
#36
Predator Hunting / Re: Psych Warfare!
Last post by nastygunz - March 23, 2025, 01:12:33 AM
I can guarantee that I'm the first person at my house that did it 😉, cutting edge field research!
#37
Predator Hunting / Re: Psych Warfare!
Last post by FinsnFur - March 22, 2025, 10:37:54 PM
I'd be willing bet a coyote or two snuck around and investigated your sound box howls.  :shrug: Nothing abnormal thats just what they do.
With all the generations of Coyote hunters in the world today, and all the discoveries of behavioral responses and activities, I can almost guarantee you aren't the first person to ever throw an electronic wolf howl at em. :nono:  :nono:
#38
Predator Hunting / Re: Psych Warfare!
Last post by nastygunz - March 22, 2025, 01:28:35 PM
I was out crow hunting in a cornfield that had a railroad track running through the middle of it one time and I had my caller out on the edge of the field when I saw these two spandex clad guys coming down the railroad bed on mountain bikes. I waited until they got a little bit past my foxpro and then I let loose with a mountain lion snarl. They hit the brakes and stopped and we're looking all around and talking to each other so I hit the mountain lion sound again and they jumped on their bikes and hauled ass at top speed out of there :innocentwhistle:  :biggrin:
#39
Predator Hunting / Re: Psych Warfare!
Last post by Okanagan - March 22, 2025, 12:18:37 PM
Very interesting.  You may be onto something, though wolf howling may make cows go dry and chickens quit laying !!!

I had kind of the opposite experience in northern BC, which makes me curious.  We need to do more research! 

One winter a friend who lived in the area and I were driving a snowy logging road when we came across the tracks of a mama wolf with three big young of the year pups.  We stopped and howled with my e-caller from right beside my vehicle, hoping to get a howl in reply that would locate the wolves for us.  The call sound was a recording of a big male Alaska wolf.  After a couple of minutes a wolf howled in return, from near the road about two miles ahead of us.

We waited for a bit, hoping the wolves would come closer but the next howl was farther away. 

Then, from within 150 yards in the timber, a coyote started barking and howling at us.  We wondered if it was a suicidal coyote!

As I think back on it, I wonder if the coyote had sneaked in and identified us as humans and was barking his "you-can't-fool-me" derision, though it didn't really sound like that, which I have heard a good many times.

#40
The Tailgate / Today in history 3-22
Last post by remrogers - March 22, 2025, 10:46:18 AM
1820
March 22
American naval hero killed in duel

U.S. Navy officer Stephen Decatur, hero of the Barbary Wars, is mortally wounded in a duel with disgraced Navy Commodore James Barron at Bladensburg, Maryland. Although once friends, Decatur sat on the court-martial that suspended Barron from the Navy for five years in 1808 and later opposed his reinstatement, leading to a fatal quarrel between the two men.

Born in Maryland in 1779, Stephen Decatur was reared in the traditions of the sea and in 1798 joined the United States Navy as a midshipman aboard the new frigate, United States. That year, he saw action in the so-called quasi-war with France and in 1799 was commissioned a lieutenant. Five years later, during the Tripolitan War, he became the most lauded American naval hero since John Paul Jones.

In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson ordered U.S. Navy vessels to the Mediterranean Sea in protest of continuing raids against U.S. ships by pirates from the Barbary states—Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripolitania. Sustained action began in June 1803, and in October the U.S. frigate Philadelphia ran aground near Tripoli and was captured by Tripolitan gunboats. The Americans feared that the well-constructed warship would be used as a model for building future Tripolitan frigates, and on February 16, 1804, Stephen Decatur led a daring expedition into Tripoli harbor to destroy the captured vessel.

After disguising himself and his men as Maltese sailors, Decatur's force sailed into Tripoli harbor and boarded the Philadelphia, which was guarded by Tripolitans who were quickly overpowered by the Americans. After setting fire to the frigate, Decatur and his men escaped without the loss of a single American. The Philadelphia subsequently exploded when its gunpowder reserve was lit by the spreading fire. Famed British Admiral Horatio Nelson hailed the exploit as the "most bold and daring act of the age," and Decatur was promoted to captain. In August 1804, Decatur returned to Tripoli Harbor as part of a larger American offensive and emerged as a hero again during the Battle of the Gunboats, which saw hand-to-hand combat between the Americans and the Tripolitans.

In 1807, Commodore James Barron, who fought alongside Decatur in the Tripolitan War, aroused considerable controversy when he failed to resist a British attack on his flagship, the Chesapeake. Decatur sat on the court-martial that passed a verdict expelling Barron from the Navy for five years. This began the dispute between Decatur and Barron that would end 13 years later on the dueling grounds in Maryland.

In the War of 1812, Decatur distinguished himself again when, as commander of the USS United States, he captured the British ship of war Macedonian off the Madeira Islands. Barron, meanwhile, was overseas when his Navy expulsion ended in 1813 and did not return to the United States to fight in the ongoing war with England. This led to fresh criticism of Barron from Decatur, who later used his influence to prevent Barron's reinstatement in the Navy.

In June 1815, Decatur returned to the Mediterranean to lead U.S. forces in the Algerian War, the second Barbary conflict. By December, Decatur forced the dey (military ruler) of Algiers to sign a peace treaty that ended American tribute to Algeria. Upon his return to the United States, he was honored at a banquet in which he made a very famous toast: "Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong!"

Appointed to the Navy Board of Commissioners, Decatur arrived in Washington in 1816, where he became a prominent citizen and lived a satisfying life politically, economically, and socially. In 1818, however, dark clouds began to gather when he vocally opposed Barron's reinstatement into the Navy. The already strained relations between the two men deteriorated, and in March 1820 Decatur agreed to Barron's request to meet for a duel. Dueling, though generally frowned on, was still acceptable among Navy men. On March 22, at Bladensburg in Maryland, Decatur and Barron lifted their guns, fired, and each man hit his target. Decatur died several hours later in Washington, and the nation mourned the loss of the great naval hero. Barron recovered from his wounds and was reinstated into the Navy in 1821 with diminished rank.