Boomerang build-a-long

As stated in a previous post – the non-returning boomerang (or rabbit stick) was the hunting weapon of open arid environments like southern California.  If made and thrown properly, they should fly in a straight line for over 200 yards, hovering just a couple feet above the ground.  The dimensions I use are from Errett Callahan’s article “The Non-returning Boomerang” in the Bulletin of Primitive Technology.  I just finished a new non-returning boomerang and took pictures along the way.  Hopefully this one will bring me some sweet lagomorphic meat.

You can see a clip of me throwing this boomerang here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy7h4YzMN_s

It starts with a big log of coast live oak, the bend must be just right, and it can't have any branches.

Chopping away

Eyeing a straight section

I found that sawing every few inches and splitting off the chunk was the fastest way to remove wood.

Progress...

The rasping begins...

Roughing out a handle.

Coming along.

Width should be 2 1/4 inches along the whole limb.

Just chop away the green..

Thickness should be 3/8ths of an inch.

Rasping away... about half way there.

All sanded... just needs oiling and burnishing.

Finished! Except for flight tuning..

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Specialist Eval Results!

Well we are back from an incredible week of tracking with some of the best trackers in the world in California’s Los Padres National Forest.  You may have never heard of Dave Moskowitz, Brian McConnell, Jonah Evans, Nate Harvey or Mark Elbroch but they are the superstars of the tracking world and it is a real treat to get to spend time with them.  Congratulations to Barry Martin for earning his Specialist certificate in track and sign!  He has been working very hard towards this for a number of years and it is well deserved.  I missed two questions (a trotting bobcat that I thought was walking and owl pellets that had been collected by a woodrat) and got four bonuses.  It takes three bonuses to replace a missed question so I ended up with a 99.5%.  When a person is one question away from a 100% they are given a chance to redeem themselves in the “Gauntlet”.  This is ten of the hardest questions Mark Elbroch can find and if you get all ten right, you are awarded the Specialist certificate.  Unfortunately, I missed a set of owl tracks (see pic below).  The next eval is in New England in October so it is time to start studying!

We had some pretty cool questions including Llama tracks, bear fur stuck to a telephone pole, holes from a shotgun blast, a kangaroo rat skull and a human urination spot!  Check out Jonah’s website (naturetracking.com –> Tracker Evaluations —> photos of past evals–> Los Padres NF eval) for more pictures.

Rainbow over our camp ground

Cool Lichen

Beautiful Los Padres National Forest

Dreaded Owl tracks...

Congratulations Barry!

Desert shrew tracks

Snake scat

Llama tracks

Cool clouds

Ice halo

Stilleto fly larvae

Bobcat kitten

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