Bamboo shoots - Tomahawks 2nd favorite jungle food

Bamboo shoots are my 2nd favorite Jungle edible. Why? because like bananas they are easy to identify, and simple to prepare. Just about every country in Asia used Bamboo shoots in one form or another. I have listed below a few regional uses.

In certain parts of Japan, China and Taiwan, the giant timber bamboo Bambusa oldhamii is harvested in spring or early summer. The bamboo has a very acrid flavor and should be sliced thin and boiled in a large volume of water several times. The sliced bamboo is edible after boiling. B. oldhamii is more widely known as a noninvasive landscaping bamboo.

Pickled bamboo, used as a condiment, may also be made from the pith of the young shoots.
South Asia

In Nepal, they are used in dishes which have been well known in Nepal for centuries. A popular dish is tama (fermented bamboo shoot), with potato and beans. An old popular song in Nepali mentions tama as "my mother loves vegetable of recipe containing potato, beans, and tama". Some varieties of bamboo shoots commonly grown in the Sikkim Himalayas of India are Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Dendrocalamus sikkimensis and Bambusa tulda locally known as choya bans, bhalu bans and karati bans, respectively are edible when young. These bamboo shoots are collected, defoliated and boiled in water with turmeric powder for 10–15 minutes to remove the bitter taste of the bamboo after which the tama is ready for consumption. Tama is commonly sold in the local markets during the months of June to September when young bamboo shoots sprout.

In Assam, India, bamboo shoots are part of the traditional cuisine. It is called khorisa and bah gaj in Assamese. The bamboo shoots are used as a special dish during the monsoons (due to seasonal availability) Malnad region (Western Ghats) Karnataka, India. It is commonly known as kanile in the local language. It is usually sliced and soaked in water for two to three days, where the water is drained and replenished with fresh water each day to extricate and remove toxins. It is also used as a pickle. It is consumed as a delicacy by all communities in the region.

In the Diyun region of Arunachal Pradesh, the Chakma people call it bashchuri. The fermented version is called medukkeye, which is often served fried with pork. The bamboo shoots can also be fermented and stored with vinegar.

In Jharkhand, India, they are used in curries, and commonly used as a pickle.

In Nagaland (India), bamboo shoots are both cooked and eaten as a fresh food item or fermented for a variety of culinary uses. Fermented bamboo shoot is commonly known as bas tenga. Cooking pork with a generous portion of fermented bamboo shoot is very popular in Naga cuisine.

In Manipur (India), it is known as u-soi. It is also fermented and preserved which is called soibum. It is used in a wide variety of dishes – among which are iromba, ooti and kangshu ar eto
Southeast Asia

In Indonesia, they are sliced thinly to be boiled with coconut milk and spices to make gulai rebung. Other recipes using bamboo shoots are sayur lodeh (mixed vegetables in coconut milk) and lun pia (sometimes written lumpia: fried wrapped bamboo shoots with vegetables). The shoots of some species contain cyanide that must be leached or boiled out before they can be eaten safely. Slicing the bamboo shoots thinly assists in this leaching.

In Philippine cuisine, the shoots are called commonly called labóng (others call it rabong or rabung). The two most popular dishes for this are ginataáng labóng (shoots in coconut milk and chilies) and dinengdeng na labóng (shoots in fish bagoóng and stew of string beans, saluyot, and tinapa). Bamboo shoots are also preserved as atchara, traditional sweet pickles that are often made from papaya.
In Thai cuisine bamboo shoots are called no mai. It can be used in stir-fries, soups such as tom kha kai, curries such as kaeng tai pla, as well as Thai salads. Some dishes ask for fresh bamboo shoots, others for pickled bamboo shoots (no mai dong).

In Vietnamese cuisine, shredded bamboo shoots are used alone or with other vegetable in many stir-fried vegetable dishes. It may also be used as the sole vegetable ingredient in pork chop soup.

In Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, bamboo shoots are traditional food of the indigenous Jumma people. The preparation of their dishes consist of few steps. At first bamboo shoots are collected from bamboo forest then defoliated and boiled in water. Afterwards the bamboo shoot is prepared with with shrimp paste, chilly and garlic paste and salt.

Enjoy!  Tomahawl - Scouts Out!

Basic Survival skills

SURVIVAL BASICS:
Covering the 4 essentials of wilderness survival
1. shelter
2. water
3. fire
4 .food

SHELTER:
When lost in the wilderness there are four things you will need to survive. when you find yourself lost in the wilderness areas of the world the first thing you need to do is stay calm, dont wander around in a panic and get your self more lost. sit down, think things over, inventory your equipment and make a plan.
the 1st thing you will need to do is make a shelter, it is the #1 most important element in survival. a shelter will protect you from the elements like snow, wind, rain, heat etc. and also will help protect you from possible predators, and keep you off of the ground depending on the type of shelter you build.
If you have a tent or bivvy shelter in your gear that is perfect, but chances are you will be out with little or no gear so there are several shelter options you can choose from depending on your location.
you can look for natural shelters like rock over hangs and fallen trees etc. other options include a squirrel type shelter made of sticks and leaves, a lean to made from sticks and loose bark. remember to insulate yourself from the ground also by covering the floor of your shelter with grass , leaves, ferns or other types of soft vegetation.

WATER:
water is the 2nd priority you need to take care of in a survival situation. you can go for 3 days without water, in most jungle or temperate climates water can be found fairly easily, you will need to purify it most times and that can be done by boiling it if you do not have purification tabs in your personal survival kit.
water just needs to come to a rolling boil to make it drinkable, no need to boil it 5 mins. there are also vines in the forest which will yield water if you cut them correctly. Thistle plants will also give you a refreshing bit of moisture, just scrape off the spikes and chew the stems for the moisture then spit out the pulp.
It is a fantasy that cactus will provide water, in fact most cacti are toxic to a certain extent. avoid trying to extract moisture from cactus, it is a waste of time and energy.
you can also look for water that has collected in rock deperssions and in the hollows of trees.
If in the desert look for the green indicator plants in washes and dry river beds, these patches of green will be easy to spot in the desert. if in a dry river bed look for the lowest area in the bend of the river bed and dig down until you find moist sand/dirt, dig a little deeper and see if it beging to fill with water. if you get lucky and find water in the river bed you can soak it up with a piece of cloth like a bandanna or a sock then ring it out into your mouth.
another way to get water is to walk through a dew wet field of grass and collect the water in your clothing then wring it out into a container.

FIRE:
there are numerous ways to make a fire in the outdoors, chances are you will have a lighter or matches on you when out in the woods if not, you can make a fire fairly easily with the bow and drill method of fire making
A B&D set consists of 5 components;
1. Tinder bundle - can be made out of any combustible materials that have been softened, I like to use cotton wood cambium or juniper bark. Other materials I have made into tinder bundles include milk weed and dog bane fibers, grass, aspen cambium etc. there are countless things to be found in the outdoors that will work.
You can also add extra combustibles to your tinder bundle if you cannot find enough of one type of material, things like thistle or cattail down, birch bark, and pine pitch are excellent fillers.
2. spindle(or Drill) - the spindle for your personal should be about as big around as your thumb and as long as your hand and should be made from a wood that can be easily dented with your thumb nail. Good types of wood in North America are Alder, cedar/juniper, sycamore, cotton wood, or willow.
3. fire board - the board is made from the same material as the spindle and needs to be about 2 fingers wide, 1 finger thick , and about as long as your foot.
4. Bow - your bow can be made of any type of wood you like but it needs to be from arm pit to finger tip in length. some folks like a flexible bow with an acute bow in it but I prefer a straighter stiffer bow with no flex.
5. socket, (bearing block, top rock etc) sockets can be made from deer antler, Cow bone, various hard woods or stone.

FOOD:
going without food is uncomfortable but a human can go without food for 3 weeks of more depending on their metabolism. in a short term (say 72 hour) survival situation you can easily go without eating.
it would be better to concentrate on improving your , finding water of making a fire then to waste energy on food.
buy Edibles can easily be found in the summer if you know where to look.
everything that walks, swims, flies or crawls can be eaten. if you have fishing gear in your personal survival kit you can set out trot lines or try bank fishing. scout along the streams and look for other animals like cray fish (craw daddys), or fresh water mussels.
snakes, birds, rabbits, marmots, squirrels etc. can be killed with a simple stick or club. you can throw it at the desired animal in a spinning motion to make a quick kill. The aborigines of Australia use the boomerang to the same effect. Southwestern native Americans use a rabbit stick in a similar fashion as the boomerang.

PERSONAL SURVIVAL KIT:
your PSK will depend on where you live and the type of wilderness environment you venture into. when putting your kit together remember the 4 essential of survival and go from there. your kit should be small enough to fit easily into a pocket or belt pouch. some useful items in a kit should include;
Shelter: space blanket(or 2)
Water: metal cup for boiling water and water purification tabs (aqua tabs)
Fire: Lighter (or 2),or matches in a water proof container, other options include a metal match (ferrocium rod), candle, small tinder bundle of natural fibers, trioxane fuel tabs, fire ribbon or other types of commercially available tinder.
Food: hard candies are a good choice, bullion cubes, power bars or chocolate bars, instant soup mix, coffee, tea, sugar packets, salt packets etc.
some 1st aid items like extra strength pain killers, band aids and a few bandages with adhesive tape are a good idea.
A signal mirror, small sewing kit, fishing gear, and a whistle are also excellent choices for a personal kit
invest in a good knife like a Swiss army knife(SAK) that has 2 cutting blades and a saw on it, avoid the heavy and difficult to use multi tools. You will find that the saw on the SAK is the best tool you can have for shelter building.

See you on the trail. Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Bananas - Tomahawks Jungle food of choice

One of my favorite survival foods in the tropics is Bananas. I also like the flower cooked into a stir fry of made into a salad. I have picked bananas in the wild when exploring the Philippines, Cambodia, Burma and Thailand as well as the state of Chiapas in Mexico.

I have eaten bananas boiled, fried, roasted, uncooked, and made into cakes and cookies.

There are several types found all around the world but my favorite is the small red Banana, they seem to be the sweetest of all the types.

Once, while bumming around Mindenao in the Philippines I was in the market and spied a small boy carrying a large bunch or the little red variety, I wanted six or so to eat right away. I handed the boy 2 American dollars which is about 100 pesos. He handed me the bunch of reds, snatched the 2 bucks from me, and took running like he was scalded.

I guess the 2 bucks was a lot of money to him.

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. Many varieties of bananas are perennial. Refer to the Musa article for a list of the varieties of bananas and plantains.

They are native to tropical Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics. They are grown in at least 107 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber and as ornamental plants.

Although fruit of wild species have large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have only tiny seeds. Bananas are classified either as dessert bananas (meaning they are yellow and fully ripe when eaten) or as green cooking bananas.

Almost all export bananas are of the dessert types; however, only about 10–15% of production is for export. The United States and European Union are the dominant importers.

The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy and are often mistaken for trees, but their main or upright stem is actually a pseudostem that grows 6 to 7.6 metres (20 to 24.9 ft) tall, growing from a corm. Each pseudostem can produce a single bunch of bananas. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies.
Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide.They are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.

Banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand). The assemblage of hanging clusters is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb). In common usage, bunch applies to part of a tier containing 3-10 adjacent fruits. Individual fruits average 125 grams (0.28 lb), of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter. Each individual fruit (commonly known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with an edible inner portion. The fruit typically has numerous long, thin strings (called phloem bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and inner part. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety splits easily lengthwise into three strips.

Each stem normally produces a single, sterile, male banana flower, also known as the banana heart—though more can be produced; a single plant in the Philippines has five.

Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in Southeast Asia, steamed, in salads, or eaten raw. The female flowers appear further up the stem, and produce the actual fruit without fertilization. The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry".In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. The ovary is inferior to the flower; because of stiff stems and the positioning of the ovary and flower, bananas grow pointing up, not hanging down.

Bananas are the staple starch of many tropical populations. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Both skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. Bananas' flavor is due, amongst other chemicals, to isoamyl acetate which is one of the main constituents of banana oil.

During the ripening process, bananas produce a plant hormone called ethylene, which indirectly affects the flavor. Among other things, ethylene stimulates the formation of amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar, influencing the taste of bananas. The greener, less ripe bananas contain higher levels of starch and, consequently, have a "starchier" taste. On the other hand, yellow bananas taste sweeter due to higher sugar concentrations. Furthermore, ethylene signals the production of pectinase, an enzyme which breaks down the pectin between the cells of the banana, causing the banana to soften as it ripens.

Bananas are eaten deep fried, baked in their skin in a split bamboo, or steamed in glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Bananas can be made into jam. Banana pancakes are popular amongst backpackers and other travelers in South Asia and Southeast Asia. This has elicited the expression Banana Pancake Trail for those places in Asia that cater to this group of travelers. Banana chips are a snack produced from sliced dehydrated or fried banana or plantain, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste. Dried bananas are also ground to make banana flour. Extracting juice is difficult, because when a banana is compressed, it simply turns to pulp. Bananas fried with batter is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. A similar dish is known in the United States as banana fritters.

Plantains are used in various stews and curries or cooked, baked or mashed in much the same way as potatoes.

The flower;
The flower of the banana plant is used in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine, either raw or steamed with dips or cooked in soups and curries. The flower's flavor resembles that of artichoke. As with artichokes, both the fleshy part of the petals and the heart are edible.

Banana leaves are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are often used as ecologically friendly disposable food containers or as "plates" in South Asia and several Southeast Asian countries.

Steamed with dishes they impart a subtle sweet flavor. They often serve as a wrapping for grilling food. The leaves contain the juices, protects food from burning and adds a subtle flavor.
 

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

"Old Butch" my favorite blade

I was sitting around yesterday afternoon, sippin’ a Whiskey and soda, with my Green river knife “Ol’ Butch” hanging around my neck. the sun was warm on my chest, I began to notice a slight tainted fat smell…..I soon discovered the source of the Ambiance as the handle on my Green river Knife.

Unsheathing the blade, I took a long sniff of the handle, and was flooded with memories of past expeditions, wilderness adventures, countries, people,war zones, horses and Mules, skinned deer, elk and moose – the list goes on.

This knife has been with me for 23 years. I bought it in a junk shop in Moab, Utah back in 1989 for the ridiculous price of $6.00. Later on I made a sheath for it from some raw hide salvaged from a dead horse I discovered while on a trip in the Utah desert. The handle has always been used as the socket for hundreds of my friction fires(Bow & Drill).

My knife has been to 87 countries, and 6 war zones on 5 continents – “Ol’ Butch is a comforting friend and a constant companion to me and will continue to be Just that for many years to come.

The other day I picked up 2 more American made blades . One is a Green river "Bear tooth" style blade I need to make a handle and a sheath for. and the other is an Old Hickory "Buffalo skinner" . Both are a welcome addition to my knife "Family".

I have to kinda chuckle at the knife kooks I read about online that ask silly questions like “How do I force a patina on my new Mora?” – First of all – throw away the Mora, Get a Green River and USE IT. Get off of your computers,get out on the woods, deserts, jungles and mountains. Split some wood, cut some meat(and a finger or two),build some fires, defend yourself, and simply USE the Knife!

Tomahawk - Scouts out!

Unbroken - the Louis Zamperini story

I heard there was another ww2 POW movie out. Until the other day I didnt know it was about Louie Zamperini. I remember reading about him as a kid. When I was running track and cross country in High school, he was always an inspiration. This movie is worth the watch.


Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Cafe' Du Monde' coffee

I was walking around the town of Sierra Vista Arizona today looking for butane lighter fuel/ I wandered into a Vietnamese owned .99 cent store. I wandered around the store looking for the fuel and stumbled on an entire shelf of Cafe' Du Monde' coffee. About a million years ago my oldest brother took me on a tour of New Orleans and specifically Cafe' Du Monde' for javva and donughts. It is a good memory. I enjoy this coffee very much and the history of the cafe'.

http://www.cafedumonde.com/history

See you on the trail!

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

History(Via Wikipedia)

The French brought coffee with them to the United States as they began to settle along the Mississippi. The French developed the chicory style of coffee during the civil war used at Café du Monde. Chicory adds an almost chocolate flavor to the Café au Lait. Along with this taste, the Acadians from Nova Scotia brought about other French customs, such as the beignet, to Louisiana in the 17th century. Unlike most doughnuts, beignets are squared pieces of dough with no hole in the middle, fried and most often covered with powdered sugar. Sometimes they can be seen served with fruit, jam, maple syrup or even savory items. At Café du Monde, they are served traditionally, with a thick covering of powdered sugar in orders of three.
The menu at Café du Monde is simple, as it only includes dark roasted coffee and chicory, beignets, white and chocolate milk, and fresh squeezed orange juice. The coffee is served black or au lait. According the Café du Monde’s VP, Burton E. Benrud, Jr., the beignets remain the only food item on the French Market menu and Café du Monde is committed to “keeping things the way they’ve always been: recipes have gone relatively unchanged.”
Café du Monde is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for Christmas Day and days when "the occasional hurricane passes too close to New Orleans", and is patronized by both locals and visitors.
Post-Katrina
Due to Hurricane Katrina, the shop closed at midnight on August 27, 2005. Although it suffered only minor damage, it remained closed for nearly two months. Owners took advantage of the low traffic time afterwards to refurbish the eating areas and kitchens. Six weeks after hurricane Katrina, Café du Monde began promoting its re-opening through Beuerman Miller Fitzgerald as a sign that the city’s recovery had begun. Over one hundred media outlets, including ABC’s Good Morning America, reported directly on the event. The opening of Café du Monde post-Katrina gave the city of New Orleans the boost they needed following the natural disaster. The French Quarter location reopened on October 19, 2005, to national media attention

Olson Iron works Rail Road spike Knife

Folks, head on over to http://www.olsonironworks.com/ and order your RR spike knife Jeff AKA "The big O" designed for the goat fuck tv show dude youre screwed. Jeff known his shit when it comes to making blades.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

FREE EBOOK from Jeff Olson

Check it out! get your free ebook "Contractor secrets revealed" from none other then Jeffrey M. Olson, the 2nd most snaggle toothed, piratical, bacon chawin, sumbidge to walk the walk....

http://shtfartofwar.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/contractor-secrets-revealed-free-book/

You will enjoy this FREE BOOK.

Tomahawk, Scouts Out!

The Tracker knife by Jason Hawk - The "Hell Hound" Scout

.Tomahawk Scout school in cooperation with Jason Hawk and the "Hell hound Scouts" is proud to announce the "Hell hound Scout" blade. It is the official knife of the Tomahawk scout courses and school. All of materials for these blades are scrounged, and re-purposed. That is in keeping with the Scout type nature and self reliance of the Hell hound school. Its all hand forged out of a old leaf spring steel. The handle is ATV tire, with nails for rivets. The hammer head is a hammer head.
The drop rig is made out of ww2 surplus, horse halters,mouse pads, and an AK pouch.

I really like the Mad Max meets the Flintstones look of this blade. It is lighter and more functional than the current commercial Tracker blades. Jason is making a limited run of 10 of these blades. They will not be cheap but a hand forged quality blade is worth the price.

It's companion is a modified Mel Deweese. It is Made from a saw blade with tire handles. For more information on these blades and scout classes with the Tomahawk scout or Hell-hound scout schools, contact Jason Hawk at the email posted below.

jasonhawkknives@yahoo.com

See you on the trail!

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Rodney Ansell, the real "Crocodile Dundee"

Rod Ansell, what an interesting rascal he was. Too bad he was killed in a shoot out with police back in 1999. I believe - and so do many others that this man was the inspiration for "Crocodile Dundee". Paul Hogan, of the CD franchise probably saw the same Australian TV documentary I did about Rodney, then decided to make a story/movie about it, then cut the real "Crocodile man" out.

Typical of hollywood and TV types. Having dealt with Dick-scovery channel on a goat fuck of a TV show of my own, I can see how Hogan stole the idea of his character from Rodney.

None the less, Rod Ansell was a bushman after my own heart. I can appreciate how he survived in the bush for  71 days, alone without much gear. I was going to write a full blown narrative about this man and his survival trek etc. but, In my research I uncovered some pretty good write ups on wikipedia and in another article from 1988 written by Margot Dougherty. Ill include a link from wikipedia and a copy/paste of the other here.

This cat was pretty cool, he lived a rough life on the edge, never fully entering main stream Australian society , but Im sure he found the freedom of his chosen lifestyle  appealing to say the least.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Ansell

MEET ROD ANSELL by;  Margot Dougherty

What's left of the battered green 1985 Toyota is bouncing along at 60 mph, no road in sight. The goggled demon at the wheel is heading straight for a towering thatch of young gum trees, and he has got the accelerator soldered to the floor with his bare foot. There's no windshield on the speeding wreck—no roof or doors, for that matter—and the constant whorl of dust is blinding. But the madman smashes through the trees, unleashing a shower of unhappy green ants who bite viciously through his fatigues. Oblivious, he careens through a dried riverbed, scales its four-foot perpendicular bank, resumes the race on open plain and closes in on his lumbering quarry: a 900-lb. feral water buffalo. With a nudge from the Toyota's bull bar—a specially rigged fender—the beast's hind legs buckle and it drops. Throwing on the brake, Rod Ansell, about 5'8" and pushing 125 lbs. after a good meal, hops out, wedges his knee into the animal's shoulder and ropes its tire-threatening horns. "I think," drawls the white hunter with an Aussie accent, "we've caught ourselves a buffalo."

Welcome to Australia's Top End—the wild, wild north of what may well be the world's last continental frontier. And meet your host, Rod Ansell, the buffalo catcher, cattle tosser and Aussie back-bushman who claims his own adventures triggered the creation of Mick J. "Crocodile" Dundee.

Rod doesn't tango with 17-foot crocs or sport a necklace made of their teeth. And the only thing that gets him to the Bark Hut Inn—a watering hole 50 minutes down a dirt road from his homestead—is a mail or grocery pickup. In fact, Rod, 33, doesn't care for beer, mobs or shoes. Last time he put on a pair was before boarding a plane. The ticket taker "said something about germs," Rod recalls. "I said I bet the bottom of my feet were a lot cleaner than the bottom of his shoes—I watch where I walk. He said, 'Right, mate, probably are.' " Rod wore thongs up the ramp, then chucked them.

So what does this Daniel Boone from Down Under have in common with the star of "Crocodile "Dundee? Superficially, both are handsome, blond, blue-eyed samplings of male Australiana who tend to fib about their height: Hogan gets measured with his boots on, and Ansell lays claim to an inch or two that aren't rightfully his. Other than that, they're as disparate as the Polo Lounge and the pub at Humpty Doo—a roadside attraction on the three-hour drive from Darwin to Rod's. But compare Rod to Hogan's "Croc" character, and there are more similarities.

In 1977 Ansell was stranded for two months on a deserted stretch of river in the Northern Territory. After his rescue, word of his wily survival—we'll get to that later—spread. He re-enacted the misadventure for a 1978 documentary that is still aired on TV, and he co-wrote a book, To Fight the Wild. In 1980 TV host Michael Parkinson invited Rod to Sydney to chat about his episode on his "talk-back show."

When "Crocodile" Dundee came out six years later, "people started ringing me up and saying they saw all these similarities between my experience and the movie," Rod says. Ringing up? Not exactly, He and his wife, Joanne, also 33, and their two sons, Callum, 8, and Shaun, 6, live on a rustic homestead called Melaleuca about 10 miles from the closest phone—an outdoor booth at a slaughterhouse. They communicate by radio. Still, they went to check out the film. "An excellent movie, hey?" Rod says. "Good fun. But it was so obvious where he got his material from." Not that Rod cared—until early last year.

That's when he and Dominick Macan, an adventure-tour planner Ansell picked up hitchhiking in the Territory in '86, decided to go into business. Macan, who works with Ocean Voyages in Sausalito, Calif., thought Rod's setting would make a good vacation spot. Convinced, Rod made a call to Hogan's office in Sydney to ask permission to bill himself as the "real Crocodile Dundee" in his promotional brochures. Rod got back a letter from Hogan's partner, John Cornell. "Sorry mate," it read in part, "but you cannot use 'Crocodile Dundee' in any advertising either in Australia or the U.S.A. Lawyers from Paramount and Rimfire Films [Hogan's company] would descend on you from a great height."

"I really can't understand their position," says Rod. "I explained very carefully that I was willing to sign a piece of paper saying I had no rights to royalties. All I want is the right to say what they've already said: that Hoges got the idea from myself. It could really help my little thing here." In an early radio interview, Rod claims, Hogan cited the Parkinson interview as the spark that fired his Dundee creation. No transcript of the radio show exists, but newspaper interviews with Cornell and Ken Shadie, the balance of the Dundee script-writing team, made the connection for posterity. In July of '86 Shadie told a reporter that having seen Rod on TV, Hogan "thought this was the ideal character for [himself]." Memories of Rod have since faded in movieland. "All I can say is the story came from Paul Hogan," Shadie says now. "The idea for 'Crocodile' Dundee came from Paul Hogan's head," says a spokesman for Cornell.

Rod was disappointed but undaunted. His brochure, written by Macan, cites him as the "bushman superstar" who inspired the movie "Crocodile" Dundee. What if Paramount should make good on Cornell's threat? "Well, I guess they'd win, wouldn't they?" shrugs Ansell. "They've got more money, hey?" Wife Joanne, a soft-spoken Melbourne native, stands firmer. "I think Hogan's being really bad mannered," she says. "Let him try whatever he likes. We'll stand up and knock him back down again."

Whether Rod's story is filmlore, folklore or remarkable fact, it's a yarn worth spinning. In May 1977, after a cattle-catching job in Kununurra, Western Australia, Rod decided to take a fishing trip. He entered the Victoria River with an 18-foot motorboat, a nine-foot dinghy, two bull terriers and some canned food and water. As an idyllic first day drew to a close, a large croc capsized his boat, sending him careening into the current, along with his dogs and provisions. The main boat was lost, but the dogs and dinghy survived, as did Rod's swag (a grungy canvas bedroll), rifle, knife, a can of powdered milk, another of peas and a box of wet matches. After a night of drifting out to sea, he washed up on an island off the shore of the Fitzmaurice River, north of the Victoria.

Then his real adventures began. It took two days to find fresh water upriver. When excruciating heat depleted his body's salt supplies, he says he shot a wild cow and sucked blood from its neck before curing the meat. When he craved sugar, he captured tiny bees hovering over his dogs' water tin and, webbing a strand of cotton from his shirt around their legs, followed the flying string to their hive and honey. Savvy about the wiles of crocodiles, he was careful to change his habits daily to prevent their snacking on his dogs when he was away hunting. Finally, after seven weeks, Rod heard horse-bells tinkling and was rescued by two aborigines and a white man gone walkabout from a reserve 140 miles away.

Even in the rough-and-tumble world of the Outback, Rod's ordeal made big news. In some eyes he was a hero. In others he was an elaborate storyteller. "I've been lost in the bush but never been tempted to drink cow's blood," sniffs one old-timer. "That's going too far." Others wondered just what Rod was fishing for in crocodile country—poaching is punishable by a $2,000 fine and/or six months in prison. But for the Aussie TV audience, this wry-humored anachronism who gave cattle-tossing tips and claimed to be an honorary aborigine was a charming glimpse of a culture gone by. For Rod, who flew to Sydney for the show, urban customs were no less exotic.

"I had been living in a rough camp," he recalls, "and Parkinson's people picked me up at a mission airstrip and dumped me at the Sebel Town House in Sydney—the flashiest place they could find." (The hotel is the city's answer to the Plaza, where the movie Croc stayed in New York.) Still, Rod adapted to the show's limo (another Croc scenario). He befriended the driver and directed him to Toyota dealerships to find a differential for Rod's "motorcar." The next day, the maid found the differential next to his swag—which lay on the floor next to the bed. (Sound familiar, Crocsters?) "She cleaned around it," deadpans Rod.

These days, Rod makes do back at Melaleuca. Buffalo catching, his main line of work, is a backbreaker. In exchange for cheap rent—under $16,000 a year for 60,000 acres abutting Kakadu National Park, billabongs (ponds) and rain forests included—the Northern Territory government requires that he rid his property of the wild, often tubercular buffalo and repopulate it with a domestic TB-free herd. Buffalo meat, usually exported, is an important part of the Northern Territory economy. So far he says he's caught more than 2,000 animals and has only 500 to go. None too soon. "It's one thing to catch a few buffs," he says. "I really enjoy that. But it's another to go flat out seven days a week. The novelty can wear off." The physical toll may not. Rod has broken an arm, toe, foot, shoulder and assorted hand bones, cracked his collarbone "heaps of times" and chipped his elbow. Ansell says he'd like to get into more domestic work.

To date, Rod and Joanne have had exactly two paying guests at Melaleuca, named for the paper bark trees that cover it. "It was like going back 100 years," says Bob Koch, a San Francisco newlywed who spent five days there in April on his honeymoon. Joanne—who helps with the buffalo catching, dug the 10-foot-deep ditch for the septic tank and can hold her own under a Toyota hood—has been leading their home improvement program. They've added two guest rooms to their corrugated iron-roofed home, have "proper lights with switches," fans, and, when the newly installed water pump is working, a shower, tub and toilet. "We've gotten quite flash," Rod laughs. The cement-floored common room is spare, but there are idiosyncratic homey touches: an alligator skull, dried buffalo horns, cassettes ranging from Ravel to Meat Loaf and a punching bag dangling from the ceiling. Outside, winged wildlife abounds: sulphur-crested cockatoos, wedge-tailed eagles and lorikeets. Wallabies are everywhere—including on the dinner plate—as are brumbies (wild horses), boar, buffalo and dingoes.

"I can't see us ever going into town," says Joanne, who met Rod while she was working on an aboriginal reserve in the Territory. Rod grew up in southern Queensland, the third of four children born to parents who later raised cattle. By his own admission, he was a "shocking student," interested more in filling the garage with shoe boxes of silkworms and the backyard with his 14 pet wallabies than in grammar. At 17, he left home and learned to toss cattle. The trick involves wrapping the animal's tail around your hand and feinting one way and the other until it, weighing close to a ton and very angry, trips over itself and falls. (We don't suggest trying this at home.) He crisscrossed the Territory plying his trade on a series of cattle stations and aboriginal missions until securing the lease for Melaleuca in 1985. Not even the tempting Linda Kozlowski is likely to lure Rod into the urban jungle. "All those people jammed into one place," he says, shaking his head, though a few checking into Melaleuca for a week at $1,000 each wouldn't be bad.

As for the specter of a Paramount lawsuit, Ansell adopts a "no worries" attitude. "I'll take that when it comes, as it comes, if it comes," he says, lamenting what he considers a lack of courtesy. "I mean it's not like Hoges ever called me up and said, 'Hey Rod, mind if I use bits and pieces of your story?' When I asked, I thought he'd say, 'Yeah, sure mate, go ahead.' But it didn't happen like that at all, hey?"