Outdoorsman Thread

[treefarmer]

There you go Ray, Doodlebugs was what we called 'em. I don't recall hearing about ant lions before. We used to drop a tiny bit of sand in the hole and watch them kick it out.
Treefarmer

[Dinadan]

Wow - I amazed that there are four of us here that even know that ant lions or doodlebugs exist, much less played with them!

I wonder if any boys today know about them, and how to get them to bite a twig. I kind of guess that video games have superseded ant lions. When I think about it, there really is not any good habitat for ant lions in a modern subdivision. Seems like they like the dusty sand under a roof.

[cudgee]

Jack jumper ant.jpg (5.13 KiB) Viewed 1920 times

We have these in Australia. They are aggressive and if disturbed actually jump onto you and inflict a very painful bite. Can kill small animals with their venom. We stay right away if we discover a nest. Hope you all have a good weekend.

[doglegg]

Ray, Philip, Mel, these are in a dusty area under some trees. They don't do good in our old hard baked ground. But if there is a dusty area they always seem to be there. We called them doodle bugs too. Thanks for your comments.
Cudgee that sucker looks fierce. I guess fire ants are as close as we get to them. But I bet there is no comparison.

[cudgee]

Ray, Philip, Mel, these are in a dusty area under some trees. They don't do good in our old hard baked ground. But if there is a dusty area they always seem to be there. We called them doodle bugs too. Thanks for your comments.
Cudgee that sucker looks fierce. I guess fire ants are as close as we get to them. But I bet there is no comparison.

Hi mate, we also have fire ants here. They were found here about 20 years ago, spreading from Asia. They are the same as you have from my limited research. They found their way to USA from South America in the 1930's, but are all the same species. In the state where i live they are not found, too cold, but have infested our northern states which are more tropical climates.

[royal0014]

We used to have 'doodle bugs' in our barn/lean-to.
Never heard 'em called ant lions ....

Sadly, I've not seen their little funnels in years ... we put down hardware cloth
in that part of the barn because I got fed up with the cats pooping in the soft dirt!

[RobesonsRme.com]

Some ants are members of the same family as wasps and hornets, Hymenoptera, I think.

Charlie

[philco]

We used to have 'doodle bugs' in our barn/lean-to.
Never heard 'em called ant lions ....

Sadly, I've not seen their little funnels in years ... we put down hardware cloth
in that part of the barn because I got fed up with the cats pooping in the soft dirt!

Well Chris that makes you a doodle bug party pooper.

[royal0014]

[doglegg]

We used to have 'doodle bugs' in our barn/lean-to.
Never heard 'em called ant lions ....

Sadly, I've not seen their little funnels in years ... we put down hardware cloth
in that part of the barn because I got fed up with the cats pooping in the soft dirt!

Well Chris that makes you a doodle bug party pooper.

And messed up the cats pooper party as well.

[dlr110]

UPDATE: My brother and his wife are getting settled into the lodge where they will be for the next 14 to 18 months. Here are some more of his photo's that will be on Facebook "Creation Images." I think his photography skills are getting better all the time, but I can't wait to get up there and see it all for myself, only 16 more days to go! You can't tell that I'm getting excited....right!

At sunset after the storm in Kennewick, WA.

Dawson Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park, BC.

A canola field in Alberta

Columbia River in Kennewick, WA.

[Mumbleypeg]

Beautiful pictures - I can understand your excitement, I’ll bet you can get a great view of the star-lit night sky from Alaska too. Will be waiting for your reports on that.

I’ll contribute a few pics along the lines of some of the recent posts in this thread.

Cracks in the “blackland prairie” in my pasture. These are fairly common for this time of year. I’ve seen a lot worse including some I could step into that were over 6 feet deep. (I stuck a 6 ft long piece of steel re-bar down one once, and didn’t hit bottom! )

Spider web at night. This species builds elaborate webs at night but takes them down before morning. I have accidentally walked into them at night and as a result had the spider crawling on me. Not a pleasant experience but never been bitten by one either. Click to enlarge the picture.

We have ant lions aka doodle bugs here, under trees and in the barn - places where there’s dry dirt. We played with them when I was a kid (we called them doodle bugs also). I introduced my grandchildren to them several years ago.

Ken

[doglegg]

Ken, I remember losing a shoe in one once. And we used to stick the longest stick we could find down them to see how deep. And that is a great night pic of the spider web. Funny that they take them down. My son used to cut a branch or big weed to hold in front of him while walking to his deer blind on dark mornings to avoid the spider webs.

[Dinadan]

Those cracks in the blackland look hazardous. Around here, when second growth pine has been timbered long ago, sometimes there will be a vertical hole where the pine taproot rotted out. I have gone down all the way to my thigh a couple of times when I stepped into one of those - they are usually covered with pine needles.

I like that spider web too. Try this next time you are out at night. Take a powerful tight beam light, hold it low, and shine it across grass. Put your eye behind the light so that you can see eyes reflecting. It is amazing how many spider eyes shine back at you. I always knew that there were tiny shiny eyes in the grass, but I never thought about it long enough to realize that all those little eyes were spiders until I came across a paragraph in a nature book. After I read that I zeroed in on a few of the eyes one night and checked close up: sure enough - spiders!

[dlr110]

Beautiful pictures - I can understand your excitement, I’ll bet you can get a great view of the star-lit night sky from Alaska too. Will be waiting for your reports on that.

I’ll contribute a few pics along the lines of some of the recent posts in this thread.

Cracks in the “blackland prairie” in my pasture. These are fairly common for this time of year. I’ve seen a lot worse including some I could step into that were over 6 feet deep. (I stuck a 6 ft long piece of steel re-bar down one once, and didn’t hit bottom! )
13A7D0A5-AA04-4A21-97CC-5C6BE424AF44.jpeg

Spider web at night. This species builds elaborate webs at night but takes them down before morning. I have accidentally walked into them at night and as a result had the spider crawling on me. Not a pleasant experience but never been bitten by one either. Click to enlarge the picture.
20F596A1-099C-44EC-AAFF-C59FD9B74246.jpeg

We have ant lions aka doodle bugs here, under trees and in the barn - places where there’s dry dirt. We played with them when I was a kid (we called them doodle bugs also). I introduced my grandchildren to them several years ago.

Ken

And it didn't hit bottom????? That's a scary thought Ken. Is your property anywhere near that fault line that runs down through Texas?

[Mumbleypeg]

Nope it didn’t hit anything. I had visions that if I let go of it, some guy in China would find it. Probably make it into pocket knives and ship it back!

I’m about halfway between the DFW metro-mess and the Red River - nowhere near any fault lines that I know of. But we have plenty of blackland clay soil. Years ago I attended a workshop at the Ag Extension Service office. The guest speaker was a professor from a Texas A&M, a Ph.D. in horticulture. He said our blackland clay soil was great - all you have to do is till in enough compost, sharp sand, and fertilizer, and it’ll grow anything.

Ken

[doglegg]

Hey Ken, there is a minor fault line that runs through Dallas and north. If memory serves me I read that it was active back in the mid 1800's.
Funny what you said about the Chinese guy finding it. My older brother used to tell me that if I listened to some of the deeper cracks I could hear Chinese people talking. I did listen lots of times but never heard any.
And yes it is good for growing things. My Grandfather was a farmer up around Bonham and my dad farmed there till the boll weevils turned him into a mechanic.
Also as a little boy I loved walking on the old black dirt after a rain and it cloding up on the bottom of my shoes and making me feel taller!

[jerryd6818]

He said our blackland clay soil was great - all you have to do is till in enough compost, sharp sand, and fertilizer, and it’ll grow anything.

Ken

[WillyCamaro]

[sunknife]

I was shooting some arrows in the backyard in preparation for deer season which is about 5 weeks away and thought I'd show some pics of the most recent osage self bow I've made. Aside from knife collecting making and hunting with self bows is my other hobby/passion. I was given some osage staves by a friend who lives near a town named Rising Sun, IN. He has a limitless supply of this fantastic bow wood growing on he property.Made from one solid split of hedge apple with a jute handle wrap. Here are some pics for all you other archers, hunters and anyone else interested in the outdoors and handmade objects of wood. Thanks for looking.

[Doc B]

That's some gorgeous work, Greg!

[sunknife]

Thank you so much Doc, really appreciate the compliment. I've been making 'em for a little over 20 years now and still not tired of the hobby.
No matter how many a guy makes no two are the same, keeps it interesting.

[Quick Steel]

That is a wonderful skill you have, producing a work which is both utilitarian and beautiful/

[Steve Warden]

A beautiful piece of work, Greg.
Good luck this deer season!

[sunknife]

That is a wonderful skill you have, producing a work which is both utilitarian and beautiful/

Thanks QS, very kind of you.

A beautiful piece of work, Greg.
Good luck this deer season!

Thanks to you as well Steve, most seasons I need all the luck I can get to collect venison.