airedale

JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his officials and loyal subjects, Greeting. KNOW THAT BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul and those of our ancestors and heirs, to the honour of God, the exaltation of the holy Church, and the better ordering of our kingdom, at the advice of our reverend fathers Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William bishop of London, Peter bishop of Winchester, Jocelin bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh bishop of Lincoln, Walter bishop of Worcester, William bishop of Coventry, Benedict bishop of Rochester, Master Pandulf subdeacon and member of the papal household, Brother Aymeric master of the knighthood of the Temple in England, William Marshal earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl of Warren, William earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway constable of Scotland, Warin fitz Gerald, Peter fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh seneschal of Poitou, Hugh de Neville, Matthew fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip Daubeny, Robert de Roppeley, John Marshal, John fitz Hugh, and other loyal subjects: + (1) FIRST, THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter the freedom of the Church's elections - a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to it - and caused this to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III. This freedom we shall observe ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs in perpetuity. TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs: (2) If any earl, baron, or other person that holds lands directly of the Crown, for military service, shall die, and at his death his heir shall be of full age and owe a 'relief', the heir shall have his inheritance on payment of the ancient scale of 'relief'. That is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl shall pay £100 for the entire earl's barony, the heir or heirs of a knight 100s. at most for the entire knight's 'fee', and any man that owes less shall pay less, in accordance with the ancient usage of 'fees'. (3) But if the heir of such a person is under age and a ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without 'relief' or fine. (4) The guardian of the land of an heir who is under age shall take from it only reasonable revenues, customary dues, and feudal services. He shall do this without destruction or damage to men or property. If we have given the guardianship of the land to a sheriff, or to any person answerable to us for the revenues, and he commits destruction or damage, we will exact compensation from him, and the land shall be entrusted to two worthy and prudent men of the same 'fee', who shall be answerable to us for the revenues, or to the person to whom we have assigned them. If we have given or sold to anyone the guardianship of such land, and he causes destruction or damage, he shall lose the guardianship of it, and it shall be handed over to two worthy and prudent men of the same 'fee', who shall be similarly answerable to us. (5) For so long as a guardian has guardianship of such land, he shall maintain the houses, parks, fish preserves, ponds, mills, and everything else pertaining to it, from the revenues of the land itself. When the heir comes of age, he shall restore the whole land to him, stocked with plough teams and such implements of husbandry as the season demands and the revenues from the land can reasonably bear. (6) Heirs may be given in marriage, but not to someone of lower social standing. Before a marriage takes place, it shall be made known to the heir's next-of-kin. (7) At her husband's death, a widow may have her marriage portion and inheritance at once and without trouble. She shall pay nothing for her dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance that she and her husband held jointly on the day of his death. She may remain in her husband's house for forty days after his death, and within this period her dower shall be assigned to her. ( No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without a husband. But she must give security that she will not marry without royal consent, if she holds her lands of the Crown, or without the consent of whatever other lord she may hold them of. (9) Neither we nor our officials will seize any land or rent in payment of a debt, so long as the debtor has movable goods sufficient to discharge the debt. A debtor's sureties shall not be distrained upon so long as the debtor himself can discharge his debt. If, for lack of means, the debtor is unable to discharge his debt, his sureties shall be answerable for it. If they so desire, they may have the debtor's lands and rents until they have received satisfaction for the debt that they paid for him, unless the debtor can show that he has settled his obligations to them. * (10) If anyone who has borrowed a sum of money from Jews dies before the debt has been repaid, his heir shall pay no interest on the debt for so long as he remains under age, irrespective of whom he holds his lands. If such a debt falls into the hands of the Crown, it will take nothing except the principal sum specified in the bond. * (11) If a man dies owing money to Jews, his wife may have her dower and pay nothing towards the debt from it. If he leaves children that are under age, their needs may also be provided for on a scale appropriate to the size of his holding of lands. The debt is to be paid out of the residue, reserving the service due to his feudal lords. Debts owed to persons other than Jews are to be dealt with similarly. * (12) No 'scutage' or 'aid' may be levied in our kingdom without its general consent, unless it is for the ransom of our person, to make our eldest son a knight, and (once) to marry our eldest daughter. For these purposes only a reasonable 'aid' may be levied. 'Aids' from the city of London are to be treated similarly. + (13) The city of London shall enjoy all its ancient liberties and free customs, both by land and by water. We also will and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall enjoy all their liberties and free customs. * (14) To obtain the general consent of the realm for the assessment of an 'aid' - except in the three cases specified above - or a 'scutage', we will cause the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons to be summoned individually by letter. To those who hold lands directly of us we will cause a general summons to be issued, through the sheriffs and other officials, to come together on a fixed day (of which at least forty days notice shall be given) and at a fixed place. In all letters of summons, the cause of the summons will be stated. When a summons has been issued, the business appointed for the day shall go forward in accordance with the resolution of those present, even if not all those who were summoned have appeared. * (15) In future we will allow no one to levy an 'aid' from his free men, except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and (once) to marry his eldest daughter. For these purposes only a reasonable 'aid' may be levied. (16) No man shall be forced to perform more service for a knight's 'fee', or other free holding of land, than is due from it. (17) Ordinary lawsuits shall not follow the royal court around, but shall be held in a fixed place. (18) Inquests of novel disseisin, mort d'ancestor, and darrein presentment shall be taken only in their proper county court. We ourselves, or in our absence abroad our chief justice, will send two justices to each county four times a year, and these justices, with four knights of the county elected by the county itself, shall hold the assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place where the court meets. (19) If any assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, as many knights and freeholders shall afterwards remain behind, of those who have attended the court, as will suffice for the administration of justice, having regard to the volume of business to be done. (20) For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his merchandise, and a villein the implements of his husbandry, if they fall upon the mercy of a royal court. None of these fines shall be imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the neighbourhood. (21) Earls and barons shall be fined only by their equals, and in proportion to the gravity of their offence. (22) A fine imposed upon the lay property of a clerk in holy orders shall be assessed upon the same principles, without reference to the value of his ecclesiastical benefice. (23) No town or person shall be forced to build bridges over rivers except those with an ancient obligation to do so. (24) No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other royal officials are to hold lawsuits that should be held by the royal justices. * (25) Every county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing shall remain at its ancient rent, without increase, except the royal demesne manors. (26) If at the death of a man who holds a lay 'fee' of the Crown, a sheriff or royal official produces royal letters patent of summons for a debt due to the Crown, it shall be lawful for them to seize and list movable goods found in the lay 'fee' of the dead man to the value of the debt, as assessed by worthy men. Nothing shall be removed until the whole debt is paid, when the residue shall be given over to the executors to carry out the dead man’s will. If no debt is due to the Crown, all the movable goods shall be regarded as the property of the dead man, except the reasonable shares of his wife and children. * (27) If a free man dies intestate, his movable goods are to be distributed by his next-of-kin and friends, under the supervision of the Church. The rights of his debtors are to be preserved. (28) No constable or other royal official shall take corn or other movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless the seller voluntarily offers postponement of this. (29) No constable may compel a knight to pay money for castle-guard if the knight is willing to undertake the guard in person, or with reasonable excuse to supply some other fit man to do it. A knight taken or sent on military service shall be excused from castle-guard for the period of this service. (30) No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or carts for transport from any free man, without his consent. (31) Neither we nor any royal official will take wood for our castle, or for any other purpose, without the consent of the owner. (32) We will not keep the lands of people convicted of felony in our hand for longer than a year and a day, after which they shall be returned to the lords of the 'fees' concerned. (33) All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast. (34) The writ called precipe shall not in future be issued to anyone in respect of any holding of land, if a free man could thereby be deprived of the right of trial in his own lord's court. (35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard width of dyed cloth, russet, and haberject, namely two ells within the selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly. (36) In future nothing shall be paid or accepted for the issue of a writ of inquisition of life or limbs. It shall be given gratis, and not refused. (37) If a man holds land of the Crown by 'fee-farm', 'socage', or 'burgage', and also holds land of someone else for knight's service, we will not have guardianship of his heir, nor of the land that belongs to the other person's 'fee', by virtue of the 'fee-farm', 'socage', or 'burgage', unless the 'fee-farm' owes knight's service. We will not have the guardianship of a man's heir, or of land that he holds of someone else, by reason of any small property that he may hold of the Crown for a service of knives, arrows, or the like. (38) In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it. + (39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. + (40) To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice. (41) All merchants may enter or leave England unharmed and without fear, and may stay or travel within it, by land or water, for purposes of trade, free from all illegal exactions, in accordance with ancient and lawful customs. This, however, does not apply in time of war to merchants from a country that is at war with us. Any such merchants found in our country at the outbreak of war shall be detained without injury to their persons or property, until we or our chief justice have discovered how our own merchants are being treated in the country at war with us. If our own merchants are safe they shall be safe too. * (42) In future it shall be lawful for any man to leave and return to our kingdom unharmed and without fear, by land or water, preserving his allegiance to us, except in time of war, for some short period, for the common benefit of the realm. People that have been imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the land, people from a country that is at war with us, and merchants - who shall be dealt with as stated above - are excepted from this provision. (43) If a man holds lands of any 'escheat' such as the 'honour' of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other 'escheats' in our hand that are baronies, at his death his heir shall give us only the 'relief' and service that he would have made to the baron, had the barony been in the baron's hand. We will hold the 'escheat' in the same manner as the baron held it. (44) People who live outside the forest need not in future appear before the royal justices of the forest in answer to general summonses, unless they are actually involved in proceedings or are sureties for someone who has been seized for a forest offence. * (45) We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or other officials, only men that know the law of the realm and are minded to keep it well. (46) All barons who have founded abbeys, and have charters of English kings or ancient tenure as evidence of this, may have guardianship of them when there is no abbot, as is their due. (47) All forests that have been created in our reign shall at once be disafforested. River-banks that have been enclosed in our reign shall be treated similarly. *(48) All evil customs relating to forests and warrens, foresters, warreners, sheriffs and their servants, or river-banks and their wardens, are at once to be investigated in every county by twelve sworn knights of the county, and within forty days of their enquiry the evil customs are to be abolished completely and irrevocably. But we, or our chief justice if we are not in England, are first to be informed. * (49) We will at once return all hostages and charters delivered up to us by Englishmen as security for peace or for loyal service. * (50) We will remove completely from their offices the kinsmen of Gerard de Athée, and in future they shall hold no offices in England. The people in question are Engelard de Cigogné, Peter, Guy, and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogné, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers, Philip Marc and his brothers, with Geoffrey his nephew, and all their followers. * (51) As soon as peace is restored, we will remove from the kingdom all the foreign knights, bowmen, their attendants, and the mercenaries that have come to it, to its harm, with horses and arms. * (52) To any man whom we have deprived or dispossessed of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, without the lawful judgment of his equals, we will at once restore these. In cases of dispute the matter shall be resolved by the judgment of the twenty-five barons referred to below in the clause for securing the peace (§61). In cases, however, where a man was deprived or dispossessed of something without the lawful judgment of his equals by our father King Henry or our brother King Richard, and it remains in our hands or is held by others under our warranty, we shall have respite for the period commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a lawsuit had been begun, or an enquiry had been made at our order, before we took the Cross as a Crusader. On our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once render justice in full. * (53) We shall have similar respite in rendering justice in connexion with forests that are to be disafforested, or to remain forests, when these were first afforested by our father Henry or our brother Richard; with the guardianship of lands in another person's 'fee', when we have hitherto had this by virtue of a 'fee' held of us for knight's service by a third party; and with abbeys founded in another person's 'fee', in which the lord of the 'fee' claims to own a right. On our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once do full justice to complaints about these matters. (54) No one shall be arrested or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman for the death of any person except her husband. * (55) All fines that have been given to us unjustly and against the law of the land, and all fines that we have exacted unjustly, shall be entirely remitted or the matter decided by a majority judgment of the twenty-five barons referred to below in the clause for securing the peace (§61) together with Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he wishes to bring with him. If the archbishop cannot be present, proceedings shall continue without him, provided that if any of the twenty-five barons has been involved in a similar suit himself, his judgment shall be set aside, and someone else chosen and sworn in his place, as a substitute for the single occasion, by the rest of the twenty-five. (56) If we have deprived or dispossessed any Welshmen of land, liberties, or anything else in England or in Wales, without the lawful judgment of their equals, these are at once to be returned to them. A dispute on this point shall be determined in the Marches by the judgment of equals. English law shall apply to holdings of land in England, Welsh law to those in Wales, and the law of the Marches to those in the Marches. The Welsh shall treat us and ours in the same way. * (57) In cases where a Welshman was deprived or dispossessed of anything, without the lawful judgment of his equals, by our father King Henry or our brother King Richard, and it remains in our hands or is held by others under our warranty, we shall have respite for the period commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a lawsuit had been begun, or an enquiry had been made at our order, before we took the Cross as a Crusader. But on our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once do full justice according to the laws of Wales and the said regions. * (58) We will at once return the son of Llywelyn, all Welsh hostages, and the charters delivered to us as security for the peace. * (59) With regard to the return of the sisters and hostages of Alexander, king of Scotland, his liberties and his rights, we will treat him in the same way as our other barons of England, unless it appears from the charters that we hold from his father William, formerly king of Scotland, that he should be treated otherwise. This matter shall be resolved by the judgment of his equals in our court. (60) All these customs and liberties that we have granted shall be observed in our kingdom in so far as concerns our own relations with our subjects. Let all men of our kingdom, whether clergy or laymen, observe them similarly in their relations with their own men. * (61) SINCE WE HAVE GRANTED ALL THESE THINGS for God, for the better ordering of our kingdom, and to allay the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, and since we desire that they shall be enjoyed in their entirety, with lasting strength, for ever, we give and grant to the barons the following security: The barons shall elect twenty-five of their number to keep, and cause to be observed with all their might, the peace and liberties granted and confirmed to them by this charter. If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us – or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice – to declare it and claim immediate redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the chief justice, make no redress within forty days, reckoning from the day on which the offence was declared to us or to him, the four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who may distrain upon and assail us in every way possible, with the support of the whole community of the land, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, or anything else saving only our own person and those of the queen and our children, until they have secured such redress as they have determined upon. Having secured the redress, they may then resume their normal obedience to us. Any man who so desires may take an oath to obey the commands of the twenty-five barons for the achievement of these ends, and to join with them in assailing us to the utmost of his power. We give public and free permission to take this oath to any man who so desires, and at no time will we prohibit any man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel any of our subjects who are unwilling to take it to swear it at our command. If one of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country, or is prevented in any other way from discharging his duties, the rest of them shall choose another baron in his place, at their discretion, who shall be duly sworn in as they were. In the event of disagreement among the twenty-five barons on any matter referred to them for decision, the verdict of the majority present shall have the same validity as a unanimous verdict of the whole twenty-five, whether these were all present or some of those summoned were unwilling or unable to appear. The twenty-five barons shall swear to obey all the above articles faithfully, and shall cause them to be obeyed by others to the best of their power. We will not seek to procure from anyone, either by our own efforts or those of a third party, anything by which any part of these concessions or liberties might be revoked or diminished. Should such a thing be procured, it shall be null and void and we will at no time make use of it, either ourselves or through a third party. * (62) We have remitted and pardoned fully to all men any ill-will, hurt, or grudges that have arisen between us and our subjects, whether clergy or laymen, since the beginning of the dispute. We have in addition remitted fully, and for our own part have also pardoned, to all clergy and laymen any offences committed as a result of the said dispute between Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign (i.e. 1215) and the restoration of peace. In addition we have caused letters patent to be made for the barons, bearing witness to this security and to the concessions set out above, over the seals of Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, Henry archbishop of Dublin, the other bishops named above, and Master Pandulf. * (63) IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND that the English Church shall be free, and that men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their fullness and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and all places for ever. Both we and the barons have sworn that all this shall be observed in good faith and without deceit. Witness the abovementioned people and many others. Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign (i.e. 1215: the new regnal year began on 28 May).

I would say the main reason is demand, I just do not think it is there these days. I had a Remington 742 30-06 and a Browning BAR 270 and they were both great functioning rifles that had good big game accuracy. There was something about them that made me not fall in love, and they went down the road. I just have a preference for single shots, bolt actions and lever actions. I do like auto loading shotguns for the reasons mentions above. I also have several rimfire rifles and some handguns that are autoloaders and like and use them quite a bit. Guaranteed if there was enough demand and a profit to be made some manufacturer would jump on it I think. If I had to have an autoloader today I would look for a Browning BAR in the configuration and caliber I wanted. Al

I too am amazed at the accuracy of these pcp guns and the power also, real tight groups with the JSB exact pellets. I still use a hand pump to charge which works ok for the P-Rod but the 25 cal M-Rod gives me a workout. The other downside to the M-Rod it is big and heavy and a bit too powerful in the house. I am seriously considering a compressor now that they have become somewhat affordable. Those hostage targets are a blast. Al

A couple of years ago while at the Syracuse gun show I came across and interesting firearm, a Flobert parlor gun. A couple of pics below of Floberts. Back before Nintendos, Gameboys and other assorted video game consoles for indoor entertainment folks actually set up shooting galleries in a room in their homes. The firearms they used were called Parlor guns which fired a pellet from a cartridge using just primer compound at very low velocities. No longer manufactured for many years these old firearms are collector pieces these days. I found the concept and idea interesting so I decided to see what I could come up with to duplicate a parlor gun. A plain BB air rifle or pistol would work but did not have the fine accuracy I wanted. I looked into PCP air guns and found what for me a perfect choice, the Benjamin Marauder P-rod. I am familiar with Benjamin air guns as I have a full size Marauder 25 cal rifle which is surprisingly accurate, I have hunted with it and have taken several Squirrels, but a bit much to be firing in my house. The P-Rod is a combo pistol and rifle as it has an easily attached shoulder stock conversion, and most importantly the powder can be kept down low for indoor shooting. At the ranges it is shot the accuracy is great, out to 25 yards it will shoot ragged holes and if pumped up to full power has plenty of pop for Squirrels-Rats-Chipmunks etc. if hunting was desired. While I do not have a "Parlor" I have a long hall to my back door from my kitchen table where I have a well made bullet trap on a stand to catch pellets, a lot of fun can be had on a cold winter day. Al

It is a good upgrade Carlos, I have one of those Lee presses, I use it mostly for depriming cases but it will work well for all loading operations and will load ammo that is as accurate as presses costing much more. Al

Greg has plenty of interesting tales, problem Bears like the one below, he also trees quite a few Bobcats. I am proud of his Airedales as their bloodlines trace back here to my kennel and a lot of years hard work paid off with some pretty fair hunting dogs. About Bears We've lost one steer, one pig, 150 meat chickens, and thirteen turkeys in the past ten years, all on the ranch. We haven't lost any on our summer range in the mountains. Some neighbors have had pretty big losses on summer range to both grizzlies and wolves. I think the bear in the picture came back a few nights ago and got in with the last two pigs but he was only interested in their grain and rolling in the mud. Pigs are in the barn now and dogs are out all night!

All worthwhile mods in my book Rob, I am the same way always trying to make my firearms better. Looking forward to your report on how she shoots. Al

Not much of a Deer hunter these days, I allow myself one Deer, the first crack I get at something legal it's over. Al

What a crock of hocus pocus crap, when in Rome you do as the Romans do Troll Boy!!!!!!! Al

Yes it is, Greg says the same thing, it is delicious. Al

I never purposely shoot for the shoulder Wolc, I would say the vast majority of my shots on Deer of the typical heart lung variety and with those type of shots not much edible meat is wasted. The ammo I used out of the 45-70 for Deer was factory 300 gr hps, not being driven at very high velocity the expansion is not violent but their large diameter and weight account for a good size hole with complete pass throughs giving good killing performance. A couple fell pretty much where they stood but one heart shot buck sprinted a heck of a distance before he went down, dead on his feet but did not know it. Al

Just about every firearm I have ever owned has been messed with by me in one way or another, it is a big part of the fun for me. I have acquired a good collection of gunsmithing books and these days with the internet and youtube just about every mod I have wanted to do is shown in detail. Everything from stock refinishing and bedding, triggers, actions, and sights modified from factory to what suits my tastes. It is not hard if you have the tools and are given good instructions on how to do it. Al

Starting with the Ruger number 1 rifle, if it is in nice condition $950 is a very good price. Good minus a scope Number 1s are going for 1500 to 1600 dollars all day long and some want much more. The 45-70 cartridge is a classic that has been around since the late 1800s and remains popular to this day largely because it was once a US military cartridge and there are a pile of rifles over the years that have been chambered for it. With the right loads just about anything that walks can be taken with a 45-70. I have some experience with the cartridge owning a Marlin 1895 lever action and a Thompson Center single shot Encore, have killed three Deer with the Marlin and can say it will do the job. As for being a single shot I personally do not find that to be a handicap, many moons ago my first hunting gun was a Savage single shot 22 and that rifle took it's share of small game. Today I am a big fan of single shots and own several including a couple of Number 1s. The last two Deer I have taken have been with single shots and down through the years have taken quite a few others. The Ruger Number one is a Rifle that exudes class, there are not many firearms that can equal it's classic lines and look. Al

Greg Hertel Wyoming rancher and on the side Lion hunter has posted some of his adventures on my Airedale board. He has had some pretty good success this winter and I thought I would share some of his photos and a story over here. Al We took a couple of days off after the last run, dogs were tired and it was really really cold. I hiked a few drainages every day just to scout and see what was around. This morning it was -5 and clear. Right at daylight we headed up a route to the base of the Mesa that sits about the ranch. It was going to be a warmer, sunny afternoon and I knew it was going to be the last day of snow on the Mesa, so our plan was to check all along it this morning. I had my bluetick hound on a leash, Stitch and Etta were running loose. Etta was above me as we were approaching our high point and Stitch was across a gully checking out a small patch of juniper and cottonwood. All of a sudden he started barking like he does when looking at a grizzly. I turned Buddy loose and Etta went charging over there. They were all treeing hard as I approached to see a cat down low in a small cottonwood. As I approached, Stitch climbed up in the tree, which he usually never does. He was able to get right under the cat and grabbed its tail in his mouth and started pulling. I was videoing but quit when he got under the cat. The first picture shows him starting to climb up there. The cat came out of the tree and landed right on the rest of the dogs. I hit it with my ski pole and it took off and treed a short distance away. Buddy, my bluetick had a small cut on his leg but the rest were unmarked. Stitch was going nuts treeing but did not try to climb up that tree. I don't like them to climb up with the cats, too much can go wrong. Was a pretty exciting morning. Greg

More Jim Thorpe

Did not watch it but caught some highlights on the local news, that old liver spot Pelosi sitting behind sleepy Joe is a perfect complement. She looked like a trained chimpanzee jumping up and down clapping and smacking her lips cheering on her hero's lousy first year's performance. Al

Some years back before the Ruger Number 1, the Browning Hi Wall and Marlin 95 were chambering these modern firearms in 45-70 the Siamese Mauser conversion to that cartridge was a fairly popular option to make and get the most potential out of the old military shell. Some of my old loading manuals have special loads exclusively for that conversion. Your Siamese Mauser is one of the better ones I have seen, with the right ammo you could hunt just about anything with that rifle, congratulations. Al

Nice trailer Moog and a smart move going with aluminum. I was in the market a few years ago and even considered good used as a first option but it seems like every steel trailer I looked at had rust problem and that carried over to brand new ones on the lot. I said the heck with that and went with an aluminum model. I have a steel dump trailer and I found the best way to hold the rust at bay with that is to use truck bed paint. Zero rust and it wears like iron. Al

This is a solvable problem that is happening not because they are 38 spl, it is the particular loading of this ammunition I am betting. Run off a dozen empty cases through your sizing dies and load them up with a moderate load and see if they still stick, also powder itself has a lot to do with dirtiness, there are some powders that perform well and are pretty clean burning. Al

And he gives his typical deflection answer, If I was a betting person I would bet no and the same for his alter ego Left Field! Al

The loose fitting cases of the 38 ammo should not effect their performance, they in fact load in the cylinder easier when using a speed loader. The 38 special cases also work better for light target loads especially with very fast powders like titewad or bullseye, their smaller case capacity gives better ignition with those light 2 to 3 gr powder charges. Those 38 cases can also be loaded with very heavy plus P loads that can come close to 357 ballistics. Make sure they are never used in a 38 spl gun. Al

I cringed every time I saw what was probably an expensive rifle getting dropped and banged around. I once had a Ruger 77 458 Winchester mag, it was a heavy recoiling rifle but nothing like the 700 nitro in the video. I think half the problem was those guys were holding the rifle way too loose. Al

Some Arab guys trying out an 700 Nitro Elephant Rifle

Was a good day to hit the Squirrel woods, they were moving good, got a couple this morning and have enough for a good meal, am done for the year on Squirrels. Al