I frequently see images of adult persons carrying very long, skinny sticks, mostly, I think, from “third world” countries. Including possibly Australia’s Outback. In some images the person is carrying two or three. Not those bundles of firewood. Usually only one.
The only example I could quickly find was this video, 10-13 seconds in.
My initial feeling was they are weapons, but then I remembered how many of us, mostly boys, picked up and carried similar sticks as kids. We used them more as tolls than as weapons. More than anything, though, they were just cool, and seeing them now kinda makes me want one.
I know many hikers carry sticks, even though they don’t really need them. I have a walking stick that doubles as a target shooting support that I like to carry, but those more “primitive” ones look cooler than mine.
Maybe some of you know why those folks (in the images) carry those cool looking sticks.
Peace,
mangeorge
I have a lovely wooden walking stick, as well as a nice blackthorn shillelagh, and I sometimes take one or the other out with me for no real reason. other than I kinda like them. Invariably, this conversation will ensue repeatedly through the course of a day:
Them: Oooh, what happened?
Me: I brought a stick.
Them: Did you hurt yourself?
Me: No. Just brought a stick.
Them: But you’re limping.
Me: No, I’m not… I just brought a STICK.
These sticks are used to control cattle when they are taken for grazing in forests and grass lands etc…
Plus it serves as a protection to some extent.
that is what methinks…
Of course, this is the first image I pictured when I read the thread title.
Me too.
Wow, even astronauts on the moon carry one! How cool is that?
My husband has a stick he got in the service. He got it when he climbed Mt. Fuji and it has the checkpoints burned into it.
My uncle was a cane guy. He had an umbrella stand full of very cool looking canes. It’s a great collectible item.
As a child, I was either taught or “just knew” (as kids do through some kid hive mind) that you had to carry a stick when walking through long grass in the Australian countryside, “in case you see a snake”.
As an adult, I’m still not sure what I was supposed to do with it, and it seems to go against my adult-acquired knowledge of what to do, which is “keep the fuck still”, but people still do it.
Edit: I seem to remember it was something about the snake attacking the stick rather than you.
Perhaps to pole-vault out of the way? eiyyeeeeeeee!!!
We have a neighbor who walks with a stick.
He uses it to herd his desert tortoise, which takes a daily walk around the block. You don’t want Tank out in the street, now.
I dunno about you guys, but in my experience walking in the woods here in Ontario a stick is a handy thing to have. It is useful in lots of ways:
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you can poke the ground in front of you to see how mushy it is;
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you can use it as a support crossing brooks by walking over logs;
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you can brush brambles and thick weeds out of the way with a stick;
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it is a stray dog deterrent. If they see you have a stick they will leave you alone. [I’m willing to bet this is of the greatest value in 3rd world countries, which often have packs of semi-feral dogs roaming about]
Plus they are simply damn cool to make, and require little skill to have fun with. I made this one:
The eyes are bits of malachite I picked up; the tines are cast deer antler I found; the wood is a maple sapling I dug up, to get the roots for carving.
My mother is from Australia. As I was growing up in the rural American south, she always kept a ‘snake stick’ around. The one time she needed it, we couldn’t find it. A copperhead had wandered into the house during my birthday party, probably because of all the kids stomping the hell out of the yard- I suspect it was looking for peace and quiet. Anyway, there was semi-agitated, poisonous snake in the living room during a children’s party. She said ‘get me a stick’. I couldn’t immediately find THE stick. Somebody brought her a chunk of firewood, which she dropped on the snake, killing it.
Based on this, while it lacks the key moment of hitting the snake with the ‘snake stick’, and in view of my mother’s general attitude regarding snakes, I think the point of the snake stick is to beat snakes to death.
Yikes, Malthus, that is absolutely the coolest thing I have ever seen in many years of clicking on “look what I made” links here from the Dope. 
I agree with the suggestion of snake sticks. Where I live, it is very remote, with an ample supply of rattlers and moccasins. A long stick is useful to “clear the brush” ahead of you, warning the snake out of your way.
In third-world countries, carrying sticks tend to be for 3 purposes:
- herding cattle/goats/llamas/etc
- feral animal control – people who walk/run in rural areas do this, too – it’s a cheap, easy, non-lethal weapon
- snakes – the purpose of a “snake-stick” is to give you a longer reach (hopefully) than the snake’s striking ability. A snake-stick allows you to throw the snake a good distance away (hopefully you know how to do this, by getting the stick under the snake and tossing it in the other direction, I’ve seen some idiots end up basically dropping the snake at their own feet!) so you can get a bit of a head start in running the fuck away
But, if it’s long and thick enough, beating the snake to death works too
Of course, it’s also helpful as a walking stick – check the solidity of the ground before you step, check for snakes in tall grass, add extra support when climbing up or down slopes. Can you tell I grew up in rural Tennessee? I have a very nice shillelagh myself that I take with me when I am wandering about the countryside.
There were a lot of rattlers where I grew up too, in Bakersfield, but they pretty much stayed out of the way. You would rarely see one unless you knew how to find them.
All of us kids had, and were proud of, our Cutter snakebite kits and carried them everywhere. For a while, anyway. These red rubber kits were sold just about everywhere.
So it’s very likely that we saw ourselves battling giant rattlers with our sticks.
Thanks, I’m blushing. :o
But really, whittling away on a walking stick is an easy, fun little hobby that doesn’t take much real skill.
Malthus, I covet one so badly right now. agog
(Also among the proper uses of a stick in Ontario: use the sharp flat edge as you would a table, to remove your beer cap. :D)
Ain’t havin’ none of that “twist-off” crap, eh?
I don’t know how to say “I love Malthus’s stick” without being misunderstood.
I need to break out my Dremmel (oh. my. god.) and see what I can do.
mangeorge
Thanks again, all. 
If you plan on doing some stick carving, here’s a tip: find a suitably-sized sapling, and uproot it. The roots actually provide lots of interesting shapes for carving - just look at the roots, see what you think they sort of look like, and make them look more like that with a bit of carving.
Strip the bark off the rest, sand, add some Tung Oil.
It’s really easy! Then, you have a walking stick/beer opening implement/snake wacker that is fun.