The moral of the story is: a hiking stick confrontation may not be the best way to make a friend, but it is one way.
With this story in mind, I have compiled a short list of the ways that walking sticks may be employed for the benefit of the owner.
First, they are great for general hiking. They help maintain your balance on uneven ground and help getting up and down hills.
Also, no matter if you can’ t afford trendy hiking togs, a walking stick signifies that you are a serious participant in outdoor activities. And if some passers-by happen to comment unfavorably about your unfashionable attire you can resort to number two.
Number two: As mentioned before, it can be very handy in self-defense, close quarter combat situations, giving the random lout a good thrashing. And in certain situations, making new friends. In the early nineteenth century, the French developed a fighting technique they called Canne de Combat, using the walking stick as a weapon.
Also, in the later nineteenth century, an Englishman named Edward William Barton- Wright included elements of walking stick or staff fighting techniques in an eclectic martial art called Bartitsu. Sherlock Holmes is reputed to have been a practitioner. Number three: Pole vaulting over rattlesnakes. Number four: Mushroom hunting. The stick can be used to turn over leaves and other debris on the forest floor without resorting to bending over. This use alone can spare one a goodly amount of back pain and extend a hunt by30 percent or more.
Number five: Fending off wildlife. There are times when traversing the back country that one may inadvertently come between a mama black bear and her cubs. This might possibly provoke a protective instinct in the female and cause her to charge. If you find yourself in this situation, breathe regularly, slow your heart rate, and try not emit a stink of fear. Then take careful aim and bop the bear smartly on her snout. She may be deterred long enough for you to escape. This may also work for wolves, mountain lions, and rabid raccoons.
However, if you happen to come between a mama grizzly bear and her cubs, disregard the previous course of action, and consider your relationship to a higher power. Also, if you find yourself in any of these predicaments in Brown County, please report them to the proper authorities ASAP.
Number six: Quagmires and quicksand. If you are out hiking and happen to stray off the path and into a bog of quicksand, do not struggle! I do not claim to be an expert, though I have spent considerable time researching the subject as depicted in many Tarzan and various other adventure movies.
If you do happen to stumble into it and are inexorably sucked down in the thick sand soup, keep your wits about you, stay calm, and when / if another hiker happens to come along in time, you can extend your walking stick out for your rescuer to pull you from certain doom. However, if no other hikers come by, then see my advice about grizzly bears.
Brown County has some of the best hiking country. Whether you choose Brown County State Park, Yellowwood State Forest, or the Hoosier National Forest
for your next adventure, don’ t forget your walking stick.
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