Need Help In Central Texas.........

[BC witness]

Good point on the snake avoidance, Bigtex. We have desert rattlers in the Okanagan Valley, and timber rattlers in the mountains inland from the coast, the dry side of the Cascade range. In my youth, I spent summers picking fruit in the OK Valley, and they were very common in the orchards. There was a little tourist trap roadside zoo that had a snakepit, and the owner used to pay us $2 a head for live rattlers, so I have some experience catching them. What a kid won't try for a little money when he's 15 or 16, hey? I ran into a big timber rattler about 5 years ago, hiking across an alpine meadow on a cattle track. That sound triggered reactions from 50 years earlier, and I was out of his striking range in a heartbeat. The fact that the logging road up that mountain had a hand painted sign naming it "Buzztail Road" should have been a hint.

 

Regarding your compass post, I never walk away from my truck without a small Boy Scout type compass in my pocket, even though there is a compass and gps app on my smartphone. Just having a compass with you doesn't help if you don't know which direction you start out in, so it's important for a new user to remember to take a bearing from your starting point, and to regularly check your bearing as you go.

 

As many of us live in cooler climes than Texas, it's also important to make provision for hypothermia protection, with a firestarter and a space blanket meeting minimum needs.

[Bigtex]

A year ago.......some time in early March, we had a warm day, but still wasn't looking for snakes. My habit is to avoid close proximity to ledges regardless of the Season, and this day was no different. In fact, I was a good ten feet from a ledge at a slightly higher elevation to my right. I heard a movement noise, not a rattle, and with a quick glance saw a massive Diamondback heading my way.......didn't have time to do anything except freeze in mid-step. He went right between my bare legs and light weight shoes faster than I have ever seen a snake move. I was very lucky he had other things on his mind.......no kit that day, and at least 4 hours on a good day from a hospital. 

[Bigtex]

It was 70's Saturday, back in the 30's yesterday, and down to the teens tonight. Nice hike on Saturday though, and found some new prints.....best one below.

[BC witness]

That's a very intriguing print, Bigtex, how many more were visible in the trackway? Some shots of the area, showing type of cover and terrain would really be appreciated, too.

 

My group's outing on Sunday was snowed out. When we met at the cafe for breakfast at 7 AM, the snow was blowing almost horizontally, and didn't let up, so we cancelled, as our area has some steep, narrow logging roads into the valley that would be very dangerous in those conditions.

[Bigtex]

Hey BC.....I would describe the central Texas Hill Country as arid scrub flats, lots of Limestone, with wooded hills & ravines (my stomping grounds) including Live/Red/Post Oaks, Maples along the creeks, and a lot of what's called 'Cedar', AKA Juniper, with an average canopy height of about 30 feet. I find tracks on almost every hike, lotta activity around here, and are along game trails leading in and out of my small town. There's a Power-Line that goes through town running North & South, and I am pretty sure it's a migratory highway for BF's too. I find tracks all year long, so some must stay year around. Here's a picture of the Power Line and wooded hills, also notice the trail in the grass.....path of least resistance. They are traveling in and out of town using the wooded creeks & ravines, and are raiding trash cans, dumpsters, and small pets.     

 

 

[BC witness]

Bigtex, I love the powerlines, they are some of my favorite huntinhg spots, with that endless "edge cover" habitat. Here, they go up and over 6 to 10,000 ft high mountains, but the opportunities are the same, in fact my snow trackway 30+ years ago was on a powerline service road, crossing over a pass from one valley to the next.

[Bigtex]

Posted this picture before, but always worth a second look.......Fox's can climb trees. 

[Guest Cervelo]

That's awesome!!!

[Guest]

Bigtex you should take Cervelo on a good hike, maybe a weekend camp. I know if I lived closer I would be trying to work an invite. I think a lot of the stuff you show is pretty amazing. Some of the old archaeological stuff, the oddities, and mysteries. Like that alter like thing. You might get lucky and be able to show him some good tracks first hand, I'd like to hear his take on them. 

[Guest Cervelo]

We've talked about it and I for one hope to make it happen someday!

[Guest]

I don't blame you Cerv, that is some fascinating country he is hiking in, and not just for Bigfoot either. I took a little archaeology about a thousand years ago, and I have seen stuff in his pictures I would love to see first hand. 

[Bigtex]

Man.....I would love to have Cerv for a weekend of hiking & camping, you too JohnC, and anyone else for that matter.....come on down! This was/is my goal many years ago when I started the thread. Yes JohnC, there are many cool things out in these woods, and evidence, to me anyway, of a very old society of stone building folks. I find Indian stuff, but this is much older IMO. The weird alter you mentioned reminds me to hike over there next cold day, as their is a killer beehive nearby in the old Oak pictured below, and they are aggressive little buggers. The Red X marks the entrance to their hive, and has been there about 5 years now. Also pictured is an interesting rock wall formation, does this look natural or man made? It's appears to be a wall, as the back side looks the same, looks very old, completely out of place regarding surrounding structures, and looks like heat fused it together. The pictures are only one section, but there is much more, and broken up in large chunks scattered about........some violent natural phenom appears to have occurred in this area in antiquity.   

[Bigtex]

I posted this pic before, and illustrates one of natures snap-shots in time, as it was a very bad day in Central Texas! This is Limestone, and shows the ripples of an ancient beach. The rougher looking raised chunk at one end is all that's left of the pumice type material that once covered this beach, has worn away from countless years of water erosion, and is now in one of the main creeks that feeds the Colorado River in this area. There is subtle evidence all over this area of a major eruption at some point in the distant past.

[Guest Cervelo]

I don't blame you Cerv, that is some fascinating country he is hiking in, and not just for Bigfoot either. I took a little archaeology about a thousand years ago, and I have seen stuff in his pictures I would love to see first hand.

Bigtex's thread is my favorite, I hope he never stops posting....it's just all really cool stuff regardless...just like you say bigfoot or not he's got a fascinating playground at his disposal!!

[JKH]

This really is an excellent thread, thank you Bigtex.

 

Found this most bizarre scene yesterday, is a real head scratcher, and would like to get opinions.

 

This poor Deer seems to have been impaled, or skewered on this tree limb. The limb is not attached to the tree (Cedar, aka Juniper), couldn't find tree it came from, and appears to have come off the tree & dried out long before the Deer came along.  I guess it could have impaled itself running through the woods, just never seen anything like it before......any ideas?

 

Also, the piece of spine in the picture is just scattered older bones from another kill, and is one of the areas with many Deer kills shown in previous posts.

 

I'd like to ask a favor, can you repost this from page 34 into the Tree Manipulation thread in General Discussion? One of the guys there posted about an apparently speared deer, and I think all would find it of interest. Thanks!