Hiking staff's

[COUESAZ]

I saw scott's post to amanda about the backpack in the classifides. He talked about his staff he uses. I use one made out of a yucca pole. I make them for my family all the time. My brother and I have used them for years. I still have one I made in high school. I am now 32. It is my wifes now. I use mine to glass off of while walking in the rough coues deer country. It has saved my butt tons of times. We even used them one time to prob a tarp over us in a monster down poor. It was kind of like an old army tent it worked great.

 

This is the first year I have seen other hunters use them. We saw a group that all had them and used them for glassing. Just something to think about. You may think it is just another thing to pack around. You would be shoked to know how much it saves your knees and leggs.

 

So do you use one???

[CouesWhitetail]

I don't use one. I know several people who like to use them and swear by them, but I just can't get comfortable with one. Makes me feel more unsteady and more likely to trip. But I guess that's just me.... I do like the idea of using them to steady your binos if you are quickly looking over an area before moving on.

 

Amanda

[crotalus]

Yucca Poles are a God send. I've been using them for over fifteen years and my father has used them all his hunting life, he's 63 now and still hunting hard. The poles make great shock absorbers, stabilizers and snake sticks, not to mention great gifts. In the lower SE mountains of Az the poles serve their purpose well, I wouldn't be caught without one... old secret that is definately getting around.

Ernest

[COUESAZ]

Yes it is. I have used mine to shoot from also. If the grass and brush is tall and you are firced to shoot standing up it works great for a dead solid shooting stick. It took me a while to get used to it but now it works well for me using either hand. Just a side note you can get the rubber crutch ends at home depot. And that helps to grip the rocks better. I have seen some guy's wrap rabit fur around them in spots and it seems to be a good tuch.

[firstcoueswas80]

i have one also, my dad and i have ben making them since i can remember. i have one that i worked long and hard on, canded it down real real fine, torched parts of it then stained it and carved my name in it with a wood burner. i also put a leather leash on it for a handle. we also put rubber tips on the bottoms so they dont make noise and we use them for the same reasons

[Red Rabbit]

I started using a yucca staff about two years ago and really liked the extra stability coming downhill or walking sidehill. I wrapped the staff's handle area with some soft, sticky, sweat-absorbing grip tape for tennis racquets. I will try the rubber tip. Yucca has a great strength/weight ratio; I can't believe how sturdy it is for being so light.

This past November on the coues hunt, I tried a regular hiking pole (contoured cork grip, wrist strap, shock absorbing, adjustable length, carbide tip, $29) from Popular. It saved me from one slip/fall for sure when a rock rolled underfoot. I missed the extra length of the yucca staff, though. My friend's knees were getting sore, so I offered him my pole, but he declined saying that it would just be one more thing to carry. I never noticed it as a burden, but rather as an aid to stabilility. In fact, I think they save energy rather than consume extra E.

 

Doug/RR

[az4life]

Okay, I have considered using a hiking stick, but never considerd a yucca since most of them I see are too far gone to support their own weight, let alone helo me. P have thought that the extra thing to carry would be more trouble but I am open to the idea.

 

Could someone with experience in making these pass on the knowledge? How to select one, proper diameter, and length, and what lenght is best? How to prepare and maintain it, and is there a better time of year to find good solid ones etc...

 

(rubber or rabbit tips, cloth tape) from the above posts, but detalis will help more.

 

Thanks

[COUESAZ]

I like mine to be tall enough to put my binos on while standing up. If that is not important to you than it need to be atleast shoulder length. Get the rubber crutch tip at home depot. drill a hole in it to put a leather lanyard through were your hand will go.

 

To prep them all you do is strip all the skin off and sand it down. I used to do it all whith a knife but now I use a sander. I then spray it with a laquer of some kind to water seal it. I like mine to fit in my hand very nice but yet do not go to thin.

 

I make about 10 a year for friends and family. Have even sold a few on ebay and yard sales. The store baught wood ones are not tall enough and are to heavy for me. I have thought about the fiber glass ones that you can change the size on to pack away in my pack . But i just cant get away from the bond made with my hand made staff. It is like a hunting partner now. I do not go out without it.

[wetmule]

If you can get over the fact that you are carrying one more object and get used to it you will be amazed at how many more deer you will see steadying your binos on the stick. I have friends that have used them religiously for twenty plus years hunting coues and they all have numerous monster bucks on their walls. They are especially good when you are out covering the country puttin the miles on or if you are hunting tight,thicker country. Obviously if you are perched on top of a mountain or edge of a canyon for hours at a time the staff will just be laying there. But the times in between long glassing stints they are invaluable. They are also excellent for steadying a rifle. Just my two cents

[firstcoueswas80]

my dad had a hunt way back in the day and after he tagged out he, found a Oak limb that was straigh and made one out of it, that was easily 10 years ago, and hes is not a small fella (6'4 320) and the piece of oak still supports his weight.

[Rembrant]

In my early 20's, while climbing out of a big ponderosa over a bear bait, a limb broke and so did I (seven stable broken vertibre). Since then Arthur's been steadily creaping up on me. You know, Arthur Itis?

Anyway, just this year I picked up two rake handles to help me climb desert mountains (I think you guys are way ahead of me with the yucca stalks).

And I know this is gonna prolong my hiking carrer. For big scary Backpacking trips, I tape ankles, knees and use 2 sticks.

These are awesome! Now if my footing is wrong, I can correct it while I distribute my weight on the sticks. My knees don't have to be crooked while I negotiate my footing. When it gets real steep, my arms help pull me up the mountain. Now I lean on the sticks to get a blow instead of my knees or having to find a seat. Coming down the mountain, I use the sticks below me and ease myself down a step or two. This is where the longer length is important. Coming down is when we biff it, right? Not any more.

I know I don't want to shoulder my rifle and use two sticks while hunting. Maybe one stick, or I may not use sticks at all while hunting - haven't figured it out yet. But getting in and out of the mountains is a whole new ball game for me now.

Great topic!

Mike

[25-06]

Great topic is right. I am going to have to make me one now.

[muskeg]

I have just learned to use my rifle as a walking stick. Just need to constantly make sure there isn't a bullet up !!!! In fact when my rifle is on my shoulder (rarely) or hiking without a rifle (rarely) I feel a little awkward.

 

But my guns look like it also. But I have my guns to use not just to look at.

 

Like when a hunter shows up, for a Goat hunt, I always say "better take a picture of that gun now, it will never look the same again."

 

On this Coues hunt I will be packing along a very lightweight tri-fold stool. This should help while glassing with the bino's. I always have a spotting scope on tripod for the closer look.

 

I thought those Yucca were like protected or something. Or am I getting that mixed up with those plants that just bloom once every hundred years?

[Rembrant]

Most of the desert plants are protected. But the reason they are is because landscaping folks have a history of ripping off the desert of LIVE plants and charging people that want them in their yards.

It has gotton so bad that a person is required to have a permit to transport a desert plant from private property!

Dead cacti are also protected; sagauro and cholla in particular. You can get a permit from the Forest Service for a dead and down saguaro if you jump through hoops, stand on your head, pay ten dollars a linear foot and go to where they tell you to.

I really don't think anybody would mind if a guy had a yucca stick. If you gathered a hundred of them and were selling them in a retail store the yucca stick police might be lookin for you.

I also know that the BLM allows the public to gather rocks and dead plants from BLM land, but only "as much as a person can carry to their vehicle in their hands."

There's some wiggle room for ya.

Mike

[crotalus]

Just another tidbit, the plant we are talking about is really the "Desert Spoon" or sotol, right? It's really not a "true" yucca but grows close to the ground about 3-4 ft in diameter with a long fiberous green leaf with curved "thorns" and a terminal spike(pole) smack-dab in the middle of the plant we like to harvest for the sticks. The tip of the pole is covered with hundreds of flowers and maybe even seed pods. It is usuualy found above the 3000 ft elevation. Unlike the true yucca pole that grows high above the ground and probably to far for most of us to reach.The spike is what we use to make the hiking sticks and can range from about 3 ft to over 10ft. The only thing I can add to Arizona Guide's advice on making the pole is to harvest them after the summer rains(late Sept-early Oct or Dec/Jan , hopefully they would have been pollinated by then) and do not use any that have bee holes or are obviously past their prime (usually gray and dried out). They flower/seed only once every few years and serve as a "host" to many of our desert critters, so they are rightfully protected. As for the legal part of collecting these poles....again they are protected(but not like the saguaros and the likes) so visit the state's Agriculture webpage section of Native Plants; pretty technical stuff so it would be easier to call your local Agriculure office and find out. Last thing we need is to have a bunch of hunters fined for harvesting to many sotol poles.

Ernest