Rambling....

[Bopeye]

Call me whacked out or whatever, but I do believe we can be one with nature at times. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen for me at times. Special moments that I will never forget.
I was setting on a log a few years back, pondering on the mysteries of the cosmos or something of equal importance, when a grey squirrel crawled up on log next to me and just sat there. I could have reached out and touched him. We sat there for a little while and he was looking at everything but me. Who knows........maybe he was pondering the mysteries of the cosmos too, but whatever the reason..........he was a very welcome companion on that day. I sat and watched him for the next hour or so dig around in the leaf litter making his living until he finally went out of sight.

I know to the rest of the world that moment in time means nothing, but to me.........I don't have the words.  

If it's all the same to you Al, I don't want to pet a grizzly......

[FinsnFur]

I've had that same thing happen Bopeye. But I start visualizing the thing jumping on me thinking I'm a tree, sinking those rat claws into me 

I became one with nature this weekend, by the way. Did you see my picture 

[THO Game Calls]

Jimmy,

It sounds like you are a tracker.  You have made mention of things like this in other post that I picked up on here on FnF, but never over on the other site. 

Back in the mid 80's I was sent to Tom Browns school in NJ for two weeks.   Learned a lot there.   You're right about slipping through the woods still hunting.   Used to love to do that with the long bow and the smoke pole.  Now, you get shot in any of the gun seasons trying that here.   Early bow season you can do it though.   But I find still hunting to be very exhausting.   At the end of a day I am whooped.   It's very hard on my eyes too.  I'm more of a sitter now days.   Like to fall asleep under a tree - ask Browning204 LOL.  Living in the city, it's such a joy to get away from the traffic and the noise and all the day to day things that so many people just accept as normal.   

I'm not sure any of us will ever be able to become one with nature in the woods today.   But we can be accepted.  It's a mind set.  I think the animals can sense it.   

I wonder how it would have been to have been alive back when guys like Simon Kenton were paving the way for the rest of us with the other long hunters, or the mountain men and fur trappers of the Rockies.   I wonder how many of us could survive that kind of life today?  Not many I think.  And one day we may have to find out.   We live a soft life.  A good life in most respects, but I think it has muted our senses and left us helpless should we lose the modern day things we have come to rely on in place of our own wits.

Al
THO Game Calls
www.thogamecalls.com
thogamecalls@comcast.net

[Jimmie in Ky]

None of us could deal with what Simon Kenton did in his lifetime. And if just half the stories are true he was one hell of a man . He was one of my heroes as were Jedediah Smith, Daniel Boone, Bluejacket, Tom Fitzpatrick and Kit Carson.

I too often wonder about modern man surviving such times. I know the next generation can't already, thye are softer than we are. And they think there is absolutely no need to know how to produce their own food or even buildany kind of shelter. I have been aiming to learn how to build the cane fishtraps the cherokee made for a long time and just haven't done it yet. Jimmie

[Bopeye]

I can show ya how to build cane fish traps to be used in a river.........
That's no B.S. Learned it from an old man here when I was in my early 20's. He was still using an outhouse and getting his water from a well until he died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 87. Tough old bird. He had two hernias the size of your fists and finally decided to go get them checked out. They went to take them out and saw he was full of cancer as well. Never heard him complain of pain........ever.
I wish I would have listened more closely to him when he was here. 

He had a rooster that only had one leg. He said it lost it's leg in a trap, but anywho, he whittled that crazy bird a wooden leg and put it on...........funniest dang thing I ever saw!!! 

[Jimmie in Ky]

That was bout the only thing my grandfather didn't know or decided I didn't need to    He taught me about a lot of other things over the years as I grew up. As for th rooster he and my grandmother would have had dumplings  She always said I was born a hundred years too late.  I put a many a frogleg on their table with a bow.

Now would that be the woven like a basket trap about five feet or so long with the funnel at one end? Jimmie

[ohiobob]

Al
thats not Rambling to me,,its just the good ole truth 
Bob

[Troy Walter]

Nice post Al there are many hunters that rate there hunting trips on what they kill.I personal quite hunting with a good friend because when we would go out of town hunting he would get mad if he didn't kill something.He wouldn't enjoy the time he had being away home because it was all about killing.

[Bopeye]

Now would that be the woven like a basket trap about five feet or so long with the funnel at one end? Jimmie

Oops......different type trap. This old man would take river cane and make a makeshift corral with it and would weave grapevine through the river cane. The fish would go in very easy, but would have a heck of a time finding their way back out. They rarely got back out, but it happened some. He'd then take a fish net and just scoop out the fish he wanted. Once he got his share he would simply uproot the river cane and let it float away. I'll put a makeshift drawing up if I can make one that looks worth anything.

[Arkyyoter]

Excellent post Al.....seems north and south are not so far from one another in certain aspects.....I enjoyed the post.

While Jimmy and Bop were conversing, it made me think. They are right...the old ways of doing many things are passing/have passed...perhaps we should make a sticky thread on how to do what things some of us may know....like the cane fish traps etc......to simply preserve them. I am certain our parents/grandparents passed things down to most of us...these things and the way to do them are being lost daily as that generation dies out, so for posterity, perhaps we should......

It would provide hours of entertainment/information for us all here in the off-season...heck, it might even cause us to reflect a little on pleasant things...

Ya'll think it is a dumb idea or a good one??

Anyway, sorry Al....didn't mean to hijack your thread....just made me think and become a little melancholy for a few.


Joe

[THO Game Calls]

Not a hi jack at all.  I think it's a great idea.  I also think we might want to start something on a survival thread.  What to take, to do, that kind of stuff.   I know most guys carry a cell phone, but sometimes you get someplace where it wont work.

I think we should get Jimmy to start something on tracking too :)

After we started this, I went to the atic and dug up an old box of books.  I have one I got back in 1985 or 6 from Tom Brown.  It's called wilderness survival I think.  It was one of the books we used in his classes.   Man that thing is beat up LOL.

Lt's see where it goes.

AL
THO Game Calls
www.thogamecalls.com
thogamecalls@comcast.net

[ohiobob]

Joe
I think it is a GREAT IDEA !!! 
Bob

[Jimmie in Ky]

I knew about that one Bopeye, it is a very useful subsistance tool when you need it. But it is also an obvious one now and with folks being what they are today they tear them up instead of using them. A lot of those were built so that only a rising river would destroy them and they were in constant use by the whole tribe or neighborhood while they lasted. Then another was built to replace them when damaged. There are also several diferent styles to that trap and all are very effective when in the right place. There are very few people living today who have seen one of these in use, you are very fortunate to have had that oportunity.

The basket trap can be concealed and used constantly over a long period of time. Unless someone is very observant they are not likely to be found and raided or destroyed. And being made of wood still totaly legal in many states.

I agree that a thread on old methods of doing would be a good one. There are several such sites on the web but they are very hard to find. The particular trap I am looking for , I have only seen in renderings by traveling artist done during the period.Naturally being the type of people we are today, none of these traps are still in existance in their real form.Perhaps among all of us with our various hobbies we can learn how these things were done and recreate them.

Al, I learned tracking by observing what I saw in the woods and fields as a boy. Way back when I was reading the stories of my heroes from days long past. I spent as much time in the fields as time and my parents would allow. I read everything I could get my hands on that pertained to th outdoors or that period in our nations history. I have read so much on animals and their signs that I imediately recognized a track last winter when I saw it for the first time. I would have loved to take the time to learn more about that animal in that place but time would not allow it. But by paying attention to what I observed , I know that cougars in the LBL stay away from coyotes when possible. It explains why I have missed finding the sign I was asked to look for. I even found my pics of these tracks hidden in my cameras memory.

There are a lot of little things that can make folks more sucsesful in the outdoors when observing sign in the fields. I can try and teach this online if folks wish. All the sign you see has a story to tell, you just have to learn how to interpret what you see.  Jimmie

[Bopeye]

Arky, my friend, that is an absolutely excellent idea! 
I'm all for it.

Jimmie, sorry I had the wrong trap in mind, but I asked my father about it. He remembers the old oblong shaped basket traps that were woven with saplings. He didn't know how to make them though, but he did remember some of the old timers using them.

Here's a sorry pic I drew using paint program, so it's poorly done.........I hope you get the idea though.

The arrows denote the flow of the water and direction of fish traveling.
The large vertical sticks denote the river cane sticks.
The narrower haphazardly placed lines denote the woven grapevine.

That old man use to catch a lot of fish in these buggers. He'd approach the trap from upstream to scare more fish into the trap and muddy the water. He claimed by muddying up the water the fish would be more disoriented until he could reach the opening of the trap. He would then stand in the opening keeping one leg to completely block the escape route. Then he would allow the current to clear the mud away for him to see the fish. Once he saw the fish, he'd just start scooping them out.
Here's a poorly drawn picture, but you get the idea.

[FinsnFur]

       

[Bopeye]

Ya ever seen a cattle corral? It works like that.............

[Jimmie in Ky]

i see we have Jim wondering what the heck we are talking about. Poor Yankees just don't get it do they 

There is also a v pattern trap that is a suscescion of v's that get smaller as the fish pass through each one. The idea is similar to a sorting shute. But the end result is that the fish all wind up in the small section at the end where they are easily netted. these are set with the current coming down through the trap , Opposite of your diagram. These were left in constant operation. Most useful during spawning migrations. 

I think the trap your dad told you about was the one I am looking for. Anyone have any ideas of where I can find the info to build it.Jimmie

[ohiobob]

Or you can just use some Carbide and a Baby Food Jar 
I REALLY DO Think the Idea of putting all these things and Jimmies Know How and EVERYONES know how is a VERY GOOD IDEA  and I would read everything on it
Thank you
Bob

Joe and Al,,you guys have a great idea for sure,and you too Jimmie

[keekee]

Jimmie,

I have a Native American book I have had for many years. It has instructions and pictures of the trap your looking for in it. If I can get it scanned I will post it for you to print off if you like?


Brent

[Bopeye]

Ya ever see the traps that Ragnar Benson made? Crazy simple, but effective.......
I believe he learned a lot of his trapping techniques from a native american grandpa or something like that.