Most of my land is prairie fields, but there's a wet weather creek that runs through the middle, and all around it is a thicket of yaupons and greenbriar, mixed into the post oaks, ashe-juniper and a few mulberries.
I didn't get a close pic of the thickest part of the yaupons, but you can see some of the green in the background area. There's also a nice mature yaupon getting some sun on the left in front of that juniper.
The thicket gets tight enough for crawling room only, and that's where the straightest shoots are. It's easy to imagine the original natives would have sent their youngsters in to collect the shoots. My arms look like I got into a tussle with a raccoon after all those greenbriars were done with me.
The first day I went out it was about 5:30pm, and I was eager to get some nice shoots. A pack of hogs was tramping through the leaves about 100yards away, but the brush was too thick to see them. Their racket urged me to keep moving when they sounded closer... both of our paths were leading down to the creek bed. Because I was just a little rushed, the first day's harvest was a bunch of so-so shoots that needed straightening, and some might end up too short.
The next day I set out earlier while the hogs were still sleeping. Without that added pressure I was more comfortable taking my time and crawling into the thick brush to look for the "Grade-A" stuff.
I ended up with 70-80 shoots, mostly Yaupon, along with some Possumhaw Holly (which is like a deciduous yaupon, and not the same as possumhaw viburnum), American Beautyberry (which straightens really well), and one straight shoot of Hercules Club that looked too good to pass on.
The "Grade-A" bundle were all long and straight enough to bind as they were. I built a fire with deadfall in the Webber to straighten the rest.
My end arrows would be 29-31" long, turkey feather fletchings from my own birds, and tips made from spent 7.62x39 steel casings
For now, the bundles are set aside to dry. I might glue the ends on the short ones to hopefully save their length. I'll update this thread as these progress.
Thanks for looking.
