By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Unexpected.
We were expecting a peaceful paddle through autumnal marshes and creeks. We were certainly not expecting the locals to put up such strong resistance—
Come to think of it, we’ve already had Unexpected as a photo challenge theme. Here‘s another fellow who was quite prepared to defend his turf :-)
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.
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Wind Against Current 
Brings back recollections of the movie “Deliverance.” Do I hear banjo music coming from the shoreline?
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I was thinking that very thing… :-)
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OMG! Seriously?
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Well, I think just a bit seriously…
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Scary!
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He didn’t have an arrow on his bow… so safe, but just a bit intimidating—which I think was the idea :-)
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I think I probably would have capsized faced with that, even with no arrow it would be a shock!
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Out of the frying pan into the fire… (There must be a nautical equivalent of that saying :-) )
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Out of the dinghy and into the drink? Still in the boat but upside down? Abandoning ship for shark-filled waters?
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Great suggestions—must remember at least one of them for the next time that situation arises! :-)
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lol ;-)
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Hehehe…. this is one superb image for the challenge :)
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Thanks!!
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Yikes! :)
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:-)
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Oye – what’s to like, until/if you can focus of the foliage?!
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Well, this focuses your mind on something quite different :-)
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Reblogged this on Locating Frankenstein's Brain.
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Thanks!
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Good grief.
It’s hunting season… DUCK!!!
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Not duck—deer! ;-)
Yes, it was duck-hunting season, but he said he was hunting deer, with his bow and arrow…
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I tried that once, on a small Michigan river, from my kayak which at the time (circa 1980) was known as a slalom (whitewater) boat.
While there were many deer down on the riverbanks during the day, it never worked. Being right handed I could only shoot the bow off the port side, and the deer were inevitably off the starboard. That and as soon as I dropped the paddle to pick up the bow, the squirrelly little boat would begin to spin.
I did much better duck hunting from kayaks in later years… after the first broadside volley which nearly capsized me from the recoil of my old 12 gauge. Live and learn and then give up such nonsense. Imagine an Inuit with a walrus on the end of his harpoon line…
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Deer-hunting with a bow from a whitewater boat—there‘s quite an image :-)
In his case, I think, the canoe was just a means of transport—he would get out onto land to do the actual hunting…
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Wow hopefully a posed photo Vlad. Yikes definitely unexpected.
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Not posed at all. I paddled up and he aimed his bow at me quite spontaneously. He was however quick to tell me that he had no arrow on his bow…
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Looking a bit closer, I can’t help but notice that there is a shotgun barrel pointing off the port bow…
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sorry, amidships to port…
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Yes, backup ;-)
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OK… beautiful antique wooden bow.
Behind Nimrod, on the surface and just even with his left elbow; is that a real duck or just a decoy?
Pardon my curiosity.
;)
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I didn’t appreciate the beauty of the bow—am not a bow connoisseur :-)
That behind Nimrod is neither a duck nor a decoy, but a kayak—one of our companions on the paddle. I chose this photo out of several because the other paddlers were not visible in it—almost. Sharp eyes!
There were six of us and only one of him, and he’d already allowed the other five to pass by, so he was making a fairly futile stand ;-)
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What the heck!?
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Just showing off a bit :-)
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Whew! :-)
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That was definitely an unexpected photo! :-)
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I thought it might be…
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I guess the shotgun is to finish off any wounded Kayaks ;-) I guess the Bow and Arrow has the advantage of not alerting deer if he misses at the first attempt.
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Now that I think about it, an arrow through the skin of a skin-on-frame kayak might not be such a good thing. Hardshells might be more resistant.
Some people prefer to hunt with bows, and some places only allow hunting with bows, or cross-bows…
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Canvasbacks are good to eat.
-chuckle-
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:-)
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I can’t claim that level of knowledge on the effects of arrows v pellets and bolts from a crossbow although I do believe that the latter is pretty lethal! I hunt with a 200mm Canon lens and long may it stay that way ;-)
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200mm seems like a pretty large caliber ;-)
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;-)
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Pingback: Travel Theme-Unexpected | WoollyMuses
And I thought, it’s only me who have to handle with savages.
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They are just defending their territory :-)
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Yes, like animals.
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wow
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:-)
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Oh my
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:-)
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Geez, what’s up with the animosity?!
Anyway, great pic for the theme :-)
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Friendly animosity… :-)
Thanks!!
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The side view was more than a little shocking. Poor form (and possibly illegal) for a hunter to aim his weapon at a person, loaded or otherwise.
The purpose of the shotgun unknown, not legal to shoot deer in mid-October in the southern zone. Maybe he wanted to take out a few ducks along the way or bag a coyote.
Use of “nimrod” interesting, presumably in the biblical sense, but in woodchuck slang it is applied to jerks, a meaning very much on point with respect to this mighty hunter who would not have misunderstood.
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I thought of using your side-view photo, Michael. The stretched bow certainly looked more shocking in that photo, but it was also very clear that he had no arrow, robbing the scene of some of its drama…
I’ll make sure not to call anyone I meet up in those parts Nimrod, especially during hunting season ;-)
Thanks, Michael!!
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:-) Good to know he had no arrow! :-)
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Good for me to know ;-)
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are you serious!!! even if he didn’t have an arrow, i would have been scared! now this is totally unexpected!!! :)
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I admit I was a little taken aback… ;-)
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At least his “bark” was worse than his “bite.” :)
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:-)
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Rambo – Part XXIV.
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Rambo in Retirement :-)
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My goodness…why was he so hostile?
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Not really hostile—just showing off, because he could :-)
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