War clubs and a Tomahawk

I recently watched the new movie in the Predator series called "Prey" It was ok, a bit woke and production needed a serious technical advisor. But its a perfect film for dumbed down knuckle heads. However, it did inspire me to head out to the shop and bang out a few war clubs, one bone tomahawk and one steel tomahawk.

They were fun builds and I will probably make more in the future but I had limited materials available. I made two skull crushers from river stones, One steel tomahawk, one mule deer antler war hammer, one buffalo jaw tomahawk, one skull crusher from a cut down croquet mallet, and one gun stock war club with a deer antler spike.

Tomahawk

Tying up a Buffalo robe for shipment

 

I just recently sold my last buffalo robe to a pimp in Maine. I needed to bundle it up for shipment so I employed some old skills I learned as a Mule packer in Montana and New Mexico back in the day. 

Tomahawk

Roof Koreans

I lost all of my guns in a boating accident. Im going to invest in some roof Koreans

George Hayduke and his canteen cup

We old Infantry guys love our canteen cups. Mine - the one pictured was issued to me in my first TA-50 issue at Ft. Bragg when i served with the 82nd Airborne Division. I have used it all over the world for over 40 years, still going strong.

I was recently re-reading "The monkey wrench gang" by Edward Abbey and came across this passage where G.W. Hayduke the old Green Beret insists on using his G.I. canteen cup instead of a plate.....it kinda sums up how old grunts feel about their beloved cups.
"Grab a plate" said Smith to his customers, "And load up".

There was no hesitation; He served the steaks. Last in line and distaining a plate, Hayduke held out his G. I. canteen cup. Smith draped a giant steak over the cup, covering not only the cup but Hayduke's hand, wrist and forearm. "Eat" said Smith.

"Sweet holy mother*&%k" said Hayduke.

I am legend

So, I finally got around to watching "I am legend" This story written by Richard Matheson in 1954 was first adapted to film in 1964 in a film called "The last man on earth" starring Vinny price. Then it was redone in 1971 as "The Omega man" starring Charleton Heston. I heard recently that there is another low budget B movie titled "I am Omega" starring Mark Dacascos.

The picture/snap I posted here is the only one from the film that shows will smith even remotely holding his weapon properly. Im sure the tech advisor they hired to show mr. smith how to hold his weapon and move like a soldier was good, Im doubly sure smith didnt listen.

In this scene he is hunting deer in the city. Let me say, he cant hunt for shit. He has a rear end shot at the deer but lets it go.. Hes supposedly in survival mode, hunting sportsmanship is off the table at this point. He should have whacked it in the ass then went to quickly finish it off.

Then just before the scene closes a lion kills the deer he is hunting....what does he do? NOTHING. Me? I would have killed all 3 of those lions, then made a hash of deer and Lion backstrap for me and my dog that evening. I would have had 3 lion skins also.

THE LAST FUCKING THING I would do is let 3 lions run around my AO. I would all apex predators and practice a scorched earth policy, salvage everything I could, especially booze, C-gars, weapons, Ammo,food, fuel of all types, and cool art work just for my own house. THEN burn down everything in site.

1 more thing, if Lt. Colonel Nevil was trapped on the island, how did the lady get on there to rescue his dumb ass when he got his panties in a bundle about his idiot dog dying, then went out to kill zombies. the Colonel was an idiot. Leave it to hollyweird to fuck up a great story.

But, Im no expert


Just my 2cents

PREDATOR: DARK AGES

 Pimpilicious.

BLACKTAIL CANYON ODDITIES - Ft. Huachuca, Arizona

Blacktail Canyon Information Coordinates: 31.5670384°N, -110.4184137°W
Approx. Elevation: 5,072 feet (1,546 meters)
USGS Topo Map Quad: Pyeatt Ranch
Feature Type: Valley

Time: over a 2 day (48 hour) period

Month:November

Year:2014

Subject : odd sights and sounds in blacktail canyon

Blacktail canyon is a spooky place even in daylight when you are among friends. The canyon name must come from the black tail rattle snake, as this area is perfect rattler habitat.

My friend Matt and me went into the canyon many times in winter to collect firewood, and, each time we always felt like we were being watched. This place has a real creepy feeling. Oddly one 4^th of July Matt and me hiked up the canyon and sat down to eat lunch and we both found ourselves shivering with cold, this is an odd thing on a 100+ degrees (Fahrenheit) day.

It was over the 4 day Thanks giving weekend I asked Matt to drop me off in the canyon with my gear and enough water for a week. Blacktail canyon has no running water or springs. I hiked in my mountain of gear and set up my tarp and hammock as usual. As always I felt like I was being watched.

After I set up my camp I took a hike up canyon to have a bit of a scout and see what or who was about; it was hot (even for November), and I had not brought any water along with me. As a consequence I became dehydrated. Once back in camp , I cooked some food on my svea stove, drank a few cups of coffee with flax milk and honey, then at about an hour before sunset I retired to my hammock with my Mp3 player and some audio books.

As I was gently swinging in my hammock and listening to W.E.B. Griffins book “The Corps” I saw what looked like tracer rounds shoot between me and my tarp! At first it was slow - or just a few – then numerous “tracers” shot by for a few seconds followed by these weird looking “bug like” creatures that were the same color as the “tracers”. These bug like things looked a bit like paisley patterns I have seen on shirts, they were animated and moved in a manner like that of a worm.

I didnt know what to make of it but chocked it up to dehydration. As I lay there in the gathering twilight listening to my audio book, I though I heard a sound beyond that of what I was listening to. So, removing my ear buds, I heard this strange trumpeting sound which only lasted a few seconds at a time. It sounded like the noise was coming from the hill side I could see to the west of me. Very strange indeed!

I lay there listening. The creepiness of Blacktail canyon began to inch its way into my brain and I was spooking myself out and jumping at every sound. Eventually I settled down and went to sleep.... I awoke some time later to the brightest lights I have ever seen. 4 lights to be exact. The lights were coming down from the same hill side to the west I had heard the sounds come from. Oddly the lights made no sound , I mean there was no engine noise, or sounds of people (Illegals) who were trespassing on Ft. Huachuca. Believe me, if a group of people were walking in the dark down a hill side there would be lots of noise.

It was strange, and I did get up, put my shoes and jacket on . I sat in my crazy creek chair watching the lights and listening for any type of sounds. I heard nothing, not even bugs or birds. These lights came from the ridge line, descended the hill side, then went back to the ridge line then disappeared, maybe over a period of 10 minutes (?). The lights (4) were in a * *** (v down) formation as they descended then in a ** ** (^ up) formation as they went back up hill. I made a mental note and marked the area of the lights in my mind so that in the day light I could survey the area through my binoculars.

Over my morning cup of Joe, I glassed the ridge line and the hill side through my binoculars and saw nothing other than typical sonoran desert type habitat. I did notice that the hill side itself was very steep and possibly a 45 to 50 degree slope. This degree of slope would be nearly impossible for any people to descend in the dark, regardless of having lights. So, this to me ruled out people activity.

I didn't do much that day except stay around camp and work on some small projects I had brought along. Once again, there was that ever present feeling of being watched.

Late in the afternoon I cooked some grub, then grabbed my Mp3 player and retired to my hammock for the evening. Then it happened again! Tracers! No shit, so much for my previous evenings dehydration theory...... I laid there watching these “tracers” shoot by along with the weird bug looking things for a long time. They finally stopped and I simply fell to sleep. I didn't hear any odd trumpeting sounds that evening but later on I did see those 4 lights again!

Same thing, down the slope in one pattern then back up the slope in a different pattern....I tried to sleep but was in and out all night long. In the morning I decided to pack up and walk my ass back to town. I had enough of blacktail canyon and its anomalies.

I have never been back (Neither has Matt) to collect fire wood or simply look around. But I can tell you this....A friend who was a civilian cop on Ft. Huachuca told me some strange stories and about calls that were made to the department about this place.

If you ever find yourself at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, go check out blacktail canyon, you might see some things you cant explain.

Arizona Bigfoot

Hannigans meadow bigfoot encounter

Time: dark – night/raining

Month: May

Year: 2009

Location: Near Hannigans meadow, white mountains Arizona

Subject: strange vocalizations in the night

Until 2009 I had never given thought to Bigfoot or any other such thing.My first encounter with wilderness paranormal was Back in 1990 while working at a wilderness school in Utah. My partner Luke and me had a group on Boulder mountain. This Mountain is the highest wooded plateau in North America, 11,000+ feet in elevation. In the rocky mountains most tree lines are around 9000+ feet or so. This makes Boulder Mountain unique. Anyway, we were bringing our group down off the plateau and moving toward the Awapa plateau when we discovered some huge barefoot , human looking tracks in the snow and mud. These tracks gave me cause to think about who or what had made them. I have been racking up similar experiences ever since.

In 2009, I was hitch hiking back to southern Arizona from visiting friends in Utah. I had been stuck at a place called witch well several miles south of Sanders ,Arizona on highway 191. For 2 days I couldn't get a ride. Luckily there was a water spigot at the witch wells tavern and I was able to keep hydrated. On the morning of the 3^rd day an elderly Navajo couple in a pick up truck stopped and offered me a lift. They were going to Tucson and were headed all the way down Hwy 191 past Benson, Az where I needed to go.

Cool! I hopped into the back of the truck and we were zipping down the road at about 70 mph when the window opened up and I was handed a chicken sandwich, some chips and a dr. pepper....I love hitching, it is the only endeavor I can think of where this type of thing occurs. One minute you are about dead from heat stroke and dehydration and the next minute you are zipping down the highway sipping a cold beverage and eating a sammich! Love it.

I was enjoying my sandwich and cold beverage while taking in the scenery. My “hosts” pulled into a circle K in Saint John, Az to fuel up , so I hopped out and went inside to buy, water, some bananas, a couple of bean burritos, and various other sundry items.

We took off and headed toward Alpine where we stopped again and got some coffee and had dinner at the bear wallow cafe.

The surrounding hills at Alpine made me decide to stay longer in the mountains so I told my “Hosts” that I would bang on the roof of the truck when I was a nice looking spot to camp. About maybe 10 or 12 miles down the road from Alpine, I saw a great looking spot with aspens and ponderosa pines – it was beautiful.

I banged on the roof as agreed and the driver pulled over. I hopped out and grabbed my pack, then stood chatting with these folks for a few more minutes. Before they pulled off the Mrs. handed me a bag of stuff like soda pop, sandwiches, chips, cookies, etc. I gave them a hardy thank you! And we waved good bye as they sped off down the road.

It was indeed a pretty place! I had never been in the white mountains before. I grabbed my 2 one gallon water jugs and bag of munchies then headed back into the woods.

I walked a pretty good ways back away from the road – maybe 800 yards or so. On the walk in I heard what sounded like someone hitting a tree with a stick, like whack!, whack,whack! I found a decent place to set up camp near an old oak tree, with a good flat area. I built a shelter or poncho hooch as we called it in the Army. As I was making the “Hooch” , I kept hearing the tree knocks and they seem to be moving around me in a arc or circle. The sound seemed to always come from a different place.

I cleared an area for a fire and got a blaze going. I heated some water and made some coffee and corn chowder, and ate a burrito. Not bad! As I was tending the fire, I heard thunder and saw some pretty threatening clouds building. I do love rain, especially when Im camping. The rain held off until about dark then it began to pour and I dove into my poncho hooch and forted up for the evening.

I loved laying in my shelter and hearing the rain beat down, it was comforting , I was warm, dry and secure in my shelter, I had some munchies close at hand (no I didn't hang a bear bag). Soon, I fell to sleep to the sounds of rain and rolling thunder.

Later on in the night I was awakened to by some odd and scary sounding vocalizations. The rain had stopped and so did the thunder – and it was pitch black. I cant really describe the way the vocalizations sounded but I can say they sounded like gibberish with whoops and whistles, snarls, stick banging, and even something that sounded like a question – yes, a question, but in a language that was not understandable. It sounded something like “Whaaaadu wadda wah” and it was repeated 3 times....Honestly, at first I though someone was out there in the dark fucking with me, but I remembered how far I was from the road and I was pretty well hidden among the trees.

It was scary, I will admit, and marks the 1^st time I was ever truly scared in the wilderness. Except for maybe that Grizzly bear encounter in Montana back in '84.

These shenanigans kept up for a few minutes then just faded out. I don't remember any smell good or bad. Had I been thinking I could have turned on my camera on video mode and at least got some audio of this strange encounter. I have never been in the habit of carrying a head lamp or flashlight with me camping. Why? Its simple, when its dark I go to bed.....

Needless to say but, I didnt sleep any more that night....I stayed wide awake for all the rest of that eternal night....it was the night that lasted for several nights. Or so it seemed. I was wondering who or what it could have been that paid me a visit, nothing “Normal” that's for sure.

As soon as it was light I took a long look around, opting for an aggressive stance rather than a submissive one. I went to the area I thought the “Beast” had stood and looked in the pine duff for any tracks, distinct or otherwise. I did see some depressions but couldn't say what they were for sure.

So, with a shrug of my shoulders, I started packing up my gear and lit a shuck for the highway. I went back to Alpine. I got a ride from a lady that worked a fire tower in the area, she told me about the mogollon monster that had been sited in the area since the 1860s. Especially around Hannigans meadow where I had been camping....Later on I did some research into the Arizona Bigfoot, and there are numerous sightings and encounters dating, as I was told to the 1860s. Even a few deaths.

You can check it out yourself, A simple internet search will reveal lots of great stories referencing the Arizona Bigfoot.

DOG MAN ENCOUNTER?

Time : after moon rise

Month: March? April?

Year: 2012?

Location (Latitude: 31-33'48'' NLongitude: 110-20'04'' W): Upper Garden canyon picnic area. Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (stealth camp)

Subject: Dogman?

It was under a full moon in either the months of march or April in 2012 while stealth camping near the upper garden canyon picnic area on Fort Huachuca military reservation, that I had an interesting sighting or encounter with what I can only describe as a dogman.

Earlier in the afternoon my friend Matt had dropped me off on Garden canyon road with enough food and gear to last me for a week. I headed into the woods and went to one of my favorite stealth camping sites on base.

I did the usual things like set up my hammock and tarp, ate some chow, read my book, listened to music on my Mp3 player etc. My habit while camping is to go to bed when it gets dark. Im pretty lazy when it comes to making a fire . Why? Well, fires require fuel, fuel means work, and besides a fire is impractical while stealth camping. Nothing gives you away quicker than a fire.

Anyway, I lay in my hammock listening to music when I noticed a lot of light activity around the Aerostat blimp on base – I think my camp was only about 2 miles as the crow flies from the blimp.

I turned of my Mp3 player and just watched the lights circling around in the sky. A wind had picked up and my tarp was flapping loudly in the breeze so I got up and took it down, thereby enjoying an unobstructed view of the beautiful Arizona night sky. I concentrated mostly on the lights in the sky and noticed that the moon was on the rise, I took in that spectical as well. The ambient light under a full moon in the Sonoran desert is enough to read a book by. It was bright and since the wind had died down, I put my tarp back up to cut out the moon light while I tried to sleep.

I lay in my hammock drifting in and out of sleep kind of “cat napping”. I drank some water and watched the circling lights some more. I notice one light descend to the road and I could see the brightness of that light through the trees. No, it wasn't the moon light, the moon was high in the sky by that time. Odd I thought, there was a nice cool breeze blowing down from the peaks and I then fell to sleep listening to crickets, whippoorwills and pygmy owls.

Sometime later (Maybe 2 hand spans of the moon) I awoke to total silence in the woods, not one sound could be heard –no bugs, no birds, no wind - not even in the distance – I did have an odd mechanical like sound in my ears -

I was laying in my asym hammock on my right side when I did hear an odd sounding breathing, so I rolled over on my back and looked over my left shoulder and I saw was what I can only describe as an anubus (the man with the jackal head seen on Egyptian tombs), holding up the edge of my tarp looking at me. I was terrified and couldn't move. I could hear its odd breathing and smelled a odor that reminded me of a cat box. Finally the spell broke and I shouted a colorful metaphor and grabbed for my browning high power. This beast dropped my tarp edge, ran 2 or 3 steps on its hind legs, then dropped down on all fours and ran off into the moonlit shadows of the scrub oak forest. I had wondered about how tall is was bipedal. I usually set my tarps high enough for myself to walk under with out stooping. That would have made this thing 7 or 8 feet tall. Maybe black or Grey in color. It was hard to tell in the moonlight. This was a sentient being of some type, definitely real.

No, I hadn't been drinking, nor had I been smoking weed and doing 'shrooms, I simply saw yet another oddity in the Huachuca mountains.

It was pretty scary, there was still no sound of any kind or any breeze blowing. I took down my tarp and packed my gear all the while listening for anything, and sound besides the sounds of my packing – nothing came to my ears.

I sat down in my crazy creek chair and pulled my 9mm browning Highpower, waiting for daylight. That was one of the longest nights in my memory. Slowly the sounds returned to the forest .Once the sun had nearly cleared the Mule mountains to the east and it was light enough to see, I cached my food and shouldered my packed then bushwacked back to my friends house in town. Honestly, I have never been back to stealth camp in that area. I have gone back to the area only once for a day hike.

Once I was back in town, I told my friend Matt about it and he called it a “dogman”. I had never heard of such a thing, so I got online and did some research. What I found is that there have been literally hundreds of sightings around the world of what people were describing as a Dogman. Their collective descriptions sounded exactly like what I saw. It was definitely a unique experience.

The pronhorned Antelope

The North American pronghorned antelope (Antilocapra americana) is the fastest animal in the world. Some would argue that it is infact the cheeta that is fastest. I disagree. Why? while it is true that the cheeta can run up to 60 miles per hour for short bursts, The North American Pronghorned Antelope (NAPA), can run a sustained speed of 45 miles an hour or so, for 3 or 4 miles. Pretty Impressive. I have had Male antelope cut in front of my truck while driving on a gravel road, and just stay there and run straight down the road as if racing me and my truck.

 The other day I was exploring the edge of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah and found the skull cap from a Proghorn. It was pretty old and well weathered. I was reminded that the Pronghorn Antelope is the only member of the horned species that actually sheds ist horns - like the deer family sheds their antlers.

Back in the day on the voyage of discovery, Lewis and Clark made several observations on the behavior of the pronghorn and how the local tribes hunted them. They described the animal, which they referred to as the "Antelope" or the "Goat", as follows:

Of all the animals we have seen the Antelope seems to possess the most wonderful fleetness. Shy and timorous they generally repose only on the ridges, which command a view of all the approaches of an enemy ... When they first see the hunters they run with great velocity ... The Indians near the Rocky Mountains hunt these animals on horseback, and shoot them with arrows. The Mandans' mode of hunting them is to form a large, strong pen or fold, from which a fence made of bushes gradually widens on each side. The animals are surrounded by the hunters, and gently driven towards this pen, in which they imperceptibly find themselves enclosed, and are then at the mercy of the hunters.