When out n about doing the trekking bit ... a walking stick goes a long way in helpin ya see stuff ... if ya use it so it sounds like a third foot step ... animals don't shy away or run as easy ... they do count footsteps.
Anyone who rides a horse knows this ... on horseback you can get up pretty close to game n critters fore they figure stuff out.
A walkin stick can also be used as fishun pole tent pole crutch and defense...
had a possum turn red eyed evil once and it got sent to the promised land via walkin stick airlines.
Got a buddy who carves em up in Pa. and he can't make em fast enuff.
Mee 2 cents
i agree with that ,i use one just to help with walking also had to whoop off a crazed blue-jay kept buzzing my head and i did nothing to provoke him i just thought my head was a big pecan i guess.
Them birds will peck ya eyes out ... mean they are
Batter upp' a hit n a run Blue jays nothing ...
lol
I usually grab a good long stick from the ground and use it, gonna hafta work carving me up a nice one....
No one mentioned to steady you while crossing swift streams, and my favorite, feeling around the edges of bushes, rocks and logs in heavy snake areas. You never know where these little deviles are hiding................ bullfrog
Snakes do not like sticks swung down wiff great force
Ruins thar day ....
but dont pick up a snake and hit a stick ;D ;D
I have three or 4 walking sticks I've made. Make them from saplings or blowdowns. I even brought one back from Washington state. I really like them for going through the tall grass and bushes where you can't see your feet. Sort of shuffle the stick along ahead of me. :D
Better to have the snake bite the stick than bite you
then ya bite de dust
lol
They make for a fine rifle rest also. ;D come on guys I can't believe no one mentioned this already. :D :D
every one here shoots so well we dont have to shoot from a rest
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Tom's right! I'm surprised you ain't heard of our shooting ability! I can hit the broad side of a barn all day long without a rest!
Quote from: Ranger on September 18, 2008, 11:23:28 AM
Tom's right! I'm surprised you ain't heard of our shooting ability! I can hit the broad side of a barn all day long without a rest!
Even if your standin' inside with the doors shut!!.....LOL
I once red a study where they said that a good walking staff used properly would take about 25% of the effort off your knees. As you get older, anything that helps the knees is good. The last time I deer hunted I found the value of a good stick. I had to walk about 1/4 mile across a plowed field at 5AM to get to my blind. I was in a lot better shape and didn't fall down when I got to the blind. That one hike across the field in the dark on slippery mud convinced me. I don't enter the woods without it.
I guess I should carry a stick now. The Garter snakes in my aera get HUGE! once saw one almost 10" long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ROFL ROFL ROFL. This is one reason I like the southern guns, the pointy butt plate makes a great walking aid in up-hill stituations.
I found the value of walking sticks years ago on a 50 mile hike in the Adirondaks. I won't hike without one now. I will usually find a stick at the beginning of a hike.. If it suits me after a while I will keep it. If not I will find another candidate. When I find one that suits me I'll work on it whilest sitting at the campfire. Strip off and carve whatever stikes my fancy at the time. Usually dates and location,etc. When I get home it goes into an large old crock pot where I keep old walkingsticks and canes that I have collected. ;D They help preserve memories of previous hikes. Sometimes I will take one out and use it for old times sake.
Pathfinder, You should come to my house. I've had a few garters over 3' here. Almost tempted to use them for bow backings.LOL.
I've come across a few of the Masuaga[sp] rattlers we have here,more of a pain in the butt than dangerous. Caught a 7 1/2' blue racer once at a customers house as she was doing some pruning under her shrubs, grabbed him by the neck more out of self defense than bravado bunkr, took him home and let him go in the woods next to my house, not many mice for the next few years!
Have made two out of cedar (mountain juniper). One was just a straight sapling with the bark peeled off, some sanding and a coat or two of tru-oil. The second was a straight limb that had been covered in dirt long enough for most of the sap wood to rot off, leaving the very dense heart wood, a dark reddish brown that I've covered with a gloss polyurethane. Neither one had seen that much use, but maybe someday one of them will go with me on a real trek.