Cas City Forum Hall & CAS-L
CAS TOPICS => The Darksider's Den => Topic started by: Sir Charles deMouton-Black on June 11, 2006, 04:40:00 PM
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Google "PTERYPLEGIA', hit <I'm feeling Lucky>
A poem by MARKLAND, 1727, subtitled "The Art of Shooting Flying" It is still relevant.
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I was thinking about this. Its worth bringing up again, IMHO :D
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/ptery.html
According to Mr. Google, limited edition copies are available for about USD225! ::) ::) ::)
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He captured the spirit of the sport in that poem.
DD-DLoS
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Its worth another bump;
I was going through my stuff and found a print-out of a 1997 article by B. E. Spencer, called Black Powder Shotgun Basics It refers to, and expands on, the original poem; In fact I believe that this article led me to find Markland's poem.
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/shotgun.html
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Time to bump this!
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The above links don't seem to work for me. Here is a new link;
http://www.cherrytreefamily.com/pteryplegia.htm
Or for a view of the original printing;
http://www.archive.org/stream/pteryplegiaorart00mark#page/32/mode/2up
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Ah, a very nice poem !
but...
PTERYPLEGIA ...
the art of shooting pteryldactyls ?
these words are confounding my little grey cells, they confuse my eyes, and are an anathema to the tongue.
to paraphrase the fictional movie version of Emperor Joseph II:
"too many consonants"
yhs
prof marvel
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Yeah I go along with ya`ll, a good poem, but it really is hard goin!! >:(
Iffn he`d jest used a spellchecker ;)
Paladin (Wot dont know out `bout nowt :D ) UK
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Time to bring this one up again. I shows ta go ya that there isn't much that new about shooting the good stuff!
This poem was composed about the time that shooting "on the wing" was being introduced to England from France.
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As much as I enjoy the English language, that was a bit of a challenge to comprehend ..... ;>) I don't think we'd have much of a conversation with people in that era.
For something a little easier to wrap your mind around, find a copy of "Meditations On Hunting" by Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega Y Gasset. Good reading on a cold winter day. Here it is currently -32C (-24F) before factoring in the wind chill, dropping it to -36-38C.
Exposed skin freezes in minutes, so shooting and x-country skiing won't be happening today.
Sub-titled "Provocative Insights Into Anthropology And Ecology", it explained to me why I hunt, and gave me the back up reasoning to deal with the rabid anti-hunters. The late Jeff Cooper often quoted from the book.
Published in 1972, ISBN 684-12774-1. You'll have to find it on the net unless your local library has a copy.
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PJ; I feel for you and I am very glad that I moved back to Fort Camosun on Vancouver & Quadra's Island.
Even though it is freezing and snowing as we speak!
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Wimp! My wife leaves home at 7 am to drive 65 kms to school even when the school buses are not running, like today. Even if one kid shows up, she has to be there.
It is currently -44C before factoring in the windchill. -40* is where Centigrade and Fahrenheit meet. That's cool, bro! Snow crunches, plastic breaks with a touch and exposed skin freezes within seconds. But up here, after -25C, it's just 'cold'. Beyond that, it's just a number. I did have to kick in a door Sunday night as the latch was frozen.
The upside is that it's too damn cold for flu bugs or pine beetles to survive. Exposed skin freezes within seconds. Reminds me of being stationed at Fort Churchill, Manitoba on the shores of Hudson Bay. I left that place convinced that hell was cold, not hot.
Some of my neighbours are going through hell with frozen pipes and having livestock to feed and water. I'm enjoying forced air heat from a high efficiency propane furnace. We don't even own a wood stove and we live on a wood lot! Coupled with the fact that I don't own a quad or snowmobile, I can barely hold my head up in polite red neck company.
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PJ: I hope it stays "cool " for awhile to kill a buncha pesky pine beetles! I go on the court circuit to Fort Ware every 4 months, and the beetles have run rampant through there, even :(
We have about 8 inches of snow today, and drifting. The wind has died down so I guess I have to do my civic duty and shovel the walk;- Again! There is a good reason I didn't follow up on my teenaged yearnings to become a rancher, aka slave.
I have an original copy of Meditations on Hunting. A great book and every serious outdoorsman should read it at least once, and own a copy if they wish to be taken seriously as a hunting lobbyist
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=&gpcd=freeshipca&x=54&y=9&tn=Meditations+on+Hunting&kn=&isbn=
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What a great poem! But, it sure IS hard to read and some of the phrases are totally foreign to us in this modern era.
Said PJ: "I don't think we'd have much of a conversation with people in that era." Ain't it the truth!
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I'm just glad I don't live where Mr. Hardtack lives. It sounds like he lives in the frozen tundra. As a youngster I lived in the Texas Panhandle, where it would drop to zero and below zero in the winter. I moved to the Dallas/ Fort Worth area in 72, where the winters are much lighter. You folks can keep winter, give me the heat of the summer. We have over 110 days over 100 degrees during the summer.
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Well Lawdog, things have changed ....
After several days of -40+C temperatures, it has now warmed to above '0'C and rain showers are forecast! This is a repeat of an earlier pattern that washed away a lot of snow and left us with a lot of slick, icy roads. Hot on the heels of that is another major front that promises a lot of snow.
There is a saying in the Cariboo - 'If you don't like the weather, wait a minute ...." While this is the norm year round, 'twas a time that we endured up to three weeks of -38C to -45C temps through January/February. Brutal as it sounds, it was a blessing as it killed the Pine Beetle infestations.
A series of mild winters let the little buggers proliferate and our pine forests were devastated, leaving a lot of 'red & dead' trees, rife for major forest fires. This was a natural cycle, nature's way of forest renewal. Now we put out each and every fire, which only prolongs the inevitable.
A few years back, we had a major fire west of us and were put on evacuation alert. It was so large and moved so fast (faster than a man can run) that it was deemed unfightable and allowed to burn itself out. An army of three hundred firefighters, four helicopters and several pieces of heavy equipment sat idle.
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It is time to revive a couple of blasts from the past.
PTREYPLEGIA puts in 18th Century poetic form the basics of loading and using the muzzleloading shotgun. The only thing anachonistic is the language. The information is timeless;
http://www.cherrytreefamily.com/pteryplegia.htm
http://muzzleloadermag.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/71610091/m/1254064738
The other one is MEDITATIONS ON HUNTING. See PJ's post for the reference.
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Here's a nice archival link to an original 1767 print. https://archive.org/stream/pteryplegiaorart00mark#page/n3/mode/2up
Great poem. I would like to say that I was previously familiar but need to credit my knowledgeable friends here with the enlightenment instead.
-Dave
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Another btt bump.
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Never liked real poetry, never read Shakespeare, he's too deep for me. Can't get into abstract art or real jazz (Dixieland jazz is good) even though I went to the Maryland Institute College of Art. However, e.e.cuming's is someone I can quote, and it's a hunting poem.
I shoot the hippopotamus with bullets made of platinum,
Because if I use leaden ones his hide is sure to flatten them.
I can also quote the poetry of Groucho, "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas, how he got in my pajamas I'll never know."
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The article with it is much more pleasant to read. The point, for me at least, is that the basics of BP in shotguns is really old news, and still quite valid.
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How quickly some seem to forget. How often when one presents ones self for a new game license and asks for the Pterodactyl stamp ... whom ever is behind the counter, will look at one as if one had THREE heads. Have they all forgotten that particular creature is migratory and requires a migratory bit stamp just as a Duck would?? Humpff.
It is also recommended one should consider something of about "8" bore. They can be somewhat difficult to bring down. A Retriever somewhat larger than your average Standard Poodle is also suggested. Me Thinks.