Hunting & Gathering With a Fiddleback & a Friend

Mistwalker

Mistwalker

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
19,051
Well...wrong time of year for hunting game...with all the yellow jackets, white flies, and horse flies buzzing around, I'd have to be pretty darn hungry to dress any game this time of year. However I am continuously hunting for images for the slide show later this summer. I thought I'd share a few pics.

The Fiddleback is a mid-tech Hiking Buddy. Totally digging the CPM S35VN for my environment. The sheath is made by another friend of mine. He usually makes sheaths for his own knives, but he did me a favor and made one for me so I could set the Hiking Buddy up the same as the other knives I use in class instruction. The "friend" is a prototype made for me by Dylan that I have been field testing for a while. 15 - inches overall with a 9.75 - inch blade. The size, shape, and weight distribution puts a good bit of capability in a relatively small package. I guess this time of year...you could say the snake boots are also friends :)

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The canopy is well developed now.

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Spiders sure seem to like it here. Grand Daddies are rather odd looking up close...

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Normally I tend to study plants for their characteristic and properties...edible, toxic, medicinal, useful in fire starting etc.. I am starting to wonder if maybe I should study this plant for aphrodisiac applications...

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Grabber flies are quick. When this one landed on the leaf with his meal it sounded like someone smacked the leaf with a stick.

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LOTS of white flies...

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The grapes are looking good!

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But what really made me happy was finding the Japanese Wineberries, a relative of the Raspberry that was once cultivated in various parts of this country for making wine. I am thinking about transplanting some of it back home. To me it almost appears like a plant form another world, much as the passiflora does.

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Sure is tasty, like a sweeter raspberry with a less intense flavor.

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This guy was checking them out too :)

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mistwalker said:
Thanks Britt! Kind of a tough crowd around here today, I guess it's a good thing I saved the longer version for later in the W&SS section :)
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It's just so HOT here today that the thought of being out in the woods among the bugs, stickers and snakes makes my head hurt. It has cooled down to 91F here at 9:35PM. This is not the Virginia I signed up for....
 
TxSportsman said:
Excellent pictures. Am new around here but I have really enjoyed these posts. Thanks
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Thanks man, glad you enjoy the post. I still regret not exploring southwest Texas with a camera when I was out that way.



swonut said:
It's just so HOT here today that the thought of being out in the woods among the bugs, stickers and snakes makes my head hurt. It has cooled down to 91F here at 9:35PM. This is not the Virginia I signed up for....
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I know right?! The heat index here this weekend was around 104F. This should just make you guys like my longer threads even more, it's like going to the woods with an air conditioner :)
 
mistwalker said:
Thanks man, glad you enjoy the post. I still regret not exploring southwest Texas with a camera when I was out that way.





I know right?! The heat index here this weekend was around 104F. This should just make you guys like my longer threads even more, it's like going to the woods with an air conditioner :)
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If your out this direction again give me a heads up :thumbup:
 
Jomammie said:
Really great pictures. Especially enjoyed those crazy looking berries...
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Thank you, glad you liked them. Yeah, I remember the first time I found that patch, I studied them for hours. I have waited on it to spread out some so I can transplant some of it elsewhere.


TxSportsman said:
If your out this direction again give me a heads up :thumbup:
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With the current work load it will be a while, but if I head that way I'll let you know man, thanks.
 
I love the photo of the snail and the wineberries on the blade. Thanks Mist!
 
Awesome stuff. Always learn something new from your photo & outing posts
 
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I love these posts, the pics are just great. The snail is neat shot. Starting to feel like I'm missing out on the mid tech HB. I have an awesome custom...need more help selling myself on it.
 
Mist, you & Phil take fantastic pictures!

What sort of camera equipment? I've attempted some pictures with my point & shoot but just cannot seem to find the right light or settings.
 
Fabulous pictures Brian!

This series of photos brings back memories from thirty-five years ago when I was studying horticulture in college. I had an entomology class on Tuesday nights where we watched films with lots of close-ups of various creepy-crawly creatures. I had nightmares every Tuesday after class.

I have matured in my appreciation of insects since those days. Even so, spiders are still on my "spray-um or stomp-um" list if they are close to where I am living. I lived through a badly infected Brown Recluse spider bite about eight years ago. That experience changed my outlook on the arachnid family.

Thanks (I guess) :eek:

Phil
 
VANCE said:
Great pics mist
That snail gives me the heebie geebies:eek:
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Thanks man, lol, the snail does?


Bush.Hacker said:
Awesome stuff. Always learn something new from your photo & outing posts
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Thank you, glad to hear/read that!


tac4me said:
I love these posts, the pics are just great. The snail is neat shot. Starting to feel like I'm missing out on the mid tech HB. I have an awesome custom...need more help selling myself on it.
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Thank you, I'm glad you like them. I was glad to see it, and I've owned a few awesome customs, but I was really wanting CPM S35VN because I live in an extremely damp and humid environment. Plus a lot of the time my gear is stored in my truck or in a shed, and the CPM S35VN has excellent corrosion resistance, and it takes a heck of an edge.


kevroo said:
Mist, you & Phil take fantastic pictures!

What sort of camera equipment? I've attempted some pictures with my point & shoot but just cannot seem to find the right light or settings.
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Thanks Kev! I was out shooting photos for a slide show, so most of these were shot with a Nikon D7000. The settings change with the lighting conditions.


Comprehensivist said:
Fabulous pictures Brian!

This series of photos brings back memories from thirty-five years ago when I was studying horticulture in college. I had an entomology class on Tuesday nights where we watched films with lots of close-ups of various creepy-crawly creatures. I had nightmares every Tuesday after class.

I have matured in my appreciation of insects since those days. Even so, spiders are still on my "spray-um or stomp-um" list if they are close to where I am living. I lived through a badly infected Brown Recluse spider bite about eight years ago. That experience changed my outlook on the arachnid family.

Thanks (I guess) :eek:

Phil
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Thank you Phil! Useful plants has been a life long study for me it seems, as well as the environment I am in in general. You would probably not like hanging out with me in south Florida, I really get into photographing the spiders down there :)
 
Mist,
Great shoot as always. I can almost taste those berries! Better than the snail for sure.

If you ever run across an Indigo or Racer, I would LOVE some closeups :) I never had an Indigo and it has been years since I saw a Racer.

The flies remind me of Summer days and nights on the Eastern Piedmont- I swear that every insect there was trying to sink its bits in me! Chiggers, ticks, 'squitas, flies and spiders.

Where my wife grew up, they kept spiders as pets and used them for fighting on sticks. I'll leave them alone if I can but many get the squash if they get inside.

Bill
 
Thanks Bill, it has been about 35 years since I saw an indigo here, not sure what's up with that. Lots of insect life here to capture for the slideshow.

No interest in a pet spider, but I do like to observe them in the wild.

The non poisonous snakes don't worry me. All the berries in that area draw small mammals, and the small mammals draw these guys...

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