The Great Outdoors

[Deleted User 89]

In the early 20th century in Britain, a strange string of ‘robberies’ were recorded. People would wake up to find their milk bottles kept on the doorsteps with foil tops pried open and the topmost layer of milk cream compromised. The first recorded instances of these baffling acts of ‘crime’ observed in 1921 were traced back to Swaythling, Southampton. Small birds of the tit family, it was found, were the milk thieves! The story only gets more interesting. As years went by, this trend was observed widely in the UK and across Europe and were no longer just isolated incidents. Researchers James Fisher and R.A. Hinde studied and mapped the progressive spread of this habit among the birds across the UK between 1921 and 1947. And voila, the readings showed that the tits involved; namely the Great Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit and Coal Tit, were actually learning from and imitating each other. There clearly was a cultural transmission of learned behaviour among these birds...

[ousdahl]

Floated the river today! Busiest I’ve ever seen it in October. I caught 3, if you count one “rodeo fish” (if you keep him on the line for 8 seconds then he counts…what? It’s catch and release either way)

I saw one other boat catch one. Other than that, lots of reports of getting skunked, including the two others on our boat.

The homie with the boat says, hey there’s a taillight out on the trailer plus my tags are expired…you mind following me down there? Yeah sure.

He then proceeds to HAUL ASS 15+ over the speed limit the whole way to the river like bro don’t you think you’re already giving cops enough reasons to pull you over now you gotta bring me into it too? Luckily, nbd cuz I live my life a quarter mile at a time.

Then we get down there and get the boat into the water. Homie asks, you brought a PFD right?

What?

What?

Bro if you invite someone on your boat it’s sort of implied you have all the equipment to legally carry all your invitees for real WTF?

The silver lining of most of Denver plus half the population of Fort Worth hanging on the river is, there’s others around. An older bearded fellow who looks like a friendly river rat walks by. Excuse me Mr. Wook bro sir, any chance you have an extra PFD you could loan me for a few bucks?

Without hesitation, ol’ Chewbacca offers one up. I thank him and offer a 20. He refuses it. “The river karma is more than worth it.”

Shoulda put that part in the positive thread.

[ousdahl]

Oh!

And on the way back thinking that’s maybe the first time we went to the upper C without seeing any sweet wildlife. Then get to the Fraser flats and there’s a yuge herd of elk just chillin.

As far as I could tell, giant solid mass of cows plus an enormous antlered up bull a few steps away, brazenly grazing like gimme a minute bitches I need a snack. Quite the harem.

As far as I can tell, they spend the summers right at treeline along the divide at the high elevations, then winter down lower along the river bottoms. And for like 2 days a year, just chillin on the Fraser flats in between. Ok, more like Netflix and chillin.

Might try to go photograph them in the morning. Or just view them through this badass telescope.

[sdoyel]

Telescope?

[TDub]

how else is he gonna shoot a tick off its back at 500 yards?

[ousdahl]

mind bullets?

[PhDhawk]

That's telekinesis, Kyle, not telescopes.

[Deleted User 89]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... 443328002/

A fish story that goes back millions of years: Kansas fisherman lands huge alligator gar

This is a real big fish tale: A fisherman in Kansas tossed a line in the water and caught a prehistoric predator fish that dates back nearly 100 million years.

Danny "Butch" Smith II of Oswego, Kansas, who landed the fish, a 4-foot, 6-inch alligator gar, weighing 39.5 pounds, knew he had caught something unusual. His fishing buddy identified the fish and said, "They ain't supposed to be here (in Kansas)," Smith said.

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks officials confirmed the identification and are investigating how the fish, called a "living fossil," got into the Neosho River in southeast Kansas, east of the city of Parsons...



..."But it fought and fought, pretty soon it come plumb out of the water. The shape of its head really threw me off."...

[Deleted User 89]

Cenozoic: the age of snakes?

https://one.npr.org/?sharedMediaId=1046 ... 1046140257

[pdub]

Imagine catching that fish monster here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3401701 ... 312!8i6656

[sdoyel]

https://twitter.com/ap_oddities/status/ ... 64000?s=21

[zsn]

Cenozoic: the age of snakes?

https://one.npr.org/?sharedMediaId=1046 ... 1046140257

I was thinking of you when I heard this story!!

[Deleted User 89]

couldn’t decide where to put this, but it’s related to the great outdoors so...

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-envir ... hief-since

Senate appears posed to advance first Native American to lead National Parks Service

[ousdahl]

Pop quiz!

What do you do if your cousin’s wedding gets crashed by a bear?!

a. Wave your arms and yell and try to scare the bear off
b. Run and hide
c. Be completely unphased by a fuckin bear walking past the table and remain focused on smashing down appetizers as you sit there in the Dallas Cowboys windbreaker yall wore to the wedding

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CVX5NWwJ ... =copy_link

[Overlander]

Those Swedish meatballs WERE fucking amazing!

[sdoyel]

https://twitter.com/nypost/status/14526 ... 34725?s=21

[jhawks99]

Those car warranty people are everywhere.

[sdoyel]

Those car warranty people are everywhere.

POTD

[ousdahl]

5 questions of the day:

1. If he was ignoring calls we can assume he had at least some cell reception, right?
2. Did search and rescue leave any voicemails?
3. Did the guy ever try to contact anybody?
4. Why not just look up where you are on Google maps?
5. Why didn’t he live blog this in the great outdoors thread?

[Cascadia]

Yeah, there is a lot of that story that doesn't add up.