> > > Heh. I've camped quite a few times(always in Florida), and I've never encountered any pigs, wild or otherwise. Mosquitoes? Yes. Snakes? Amazingly, no. I've seen a few snakes in my yard, though, but only one was poisonous. I gave him the axe.
> > >
> > > Nyperold
> >
> > Generally when I camp I'm armed to the teeth. I carry nunchaku (nunchucks to those who aren't in the martial arts), a WWII bayonet (this is useful for debarking sticks for kindling, which is the real reason I carry it, but also scares the bejesus out of anyone who sees it ;), and when I've gone camping in bear infested areas I've been known to carry throwing stars and sais (2' long round-bladed short swords that throw quite nicely).
>
> I want to go camping with you shadowfax. It sounds like it would be camping with one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. How much does a pair of sais cost anyhow?
>
> Speed'usedtowatchtheTMNTcartoonreligously'ball



hehe. something like that. Actually if you wanna be technical, I also sometimes have a walking stick along if I'm in the mountains, and the walking stick just happens to closely resemble a bo staff, so that's another potential weapon. (of course, if you ever get into okinawan karate, you'll start to realize that everything is a weapon of some sort ;) I rarely have any of the weapons out during a trip however. The bayonet only comes out when I'm scraping wood (who wants to ruin a swiss army knife on something you burn up?), the sais are tucked into a quick-access pocket of my backpack, the nunchakus are in one of the two water bottle holders on the backpack (I only have one mouth, so I don't need two ;), and the stars are in a case in my pocket (it's a fast open case, however ;) once last summer the nunchakus came out because a rottweiler was growling at me on the trail. I didn't end up having to use 'em because the dog's owners finally came and took it away. IMHO it's rather foolish to let a vicious dog run loose on a trail. It might get hurt by a nut with ancient weapons ;)


And sais cost anywhere between 20 and 100 US dollars. 20 bucks will get you a good pair of practice octagonal chrome-plated steel sais that look very good from a distance (close inspection reveals chips in the chrome at the tips) and work just fine. 100 will get you brushed aluminum sais with dragon inscriptions and fake japanese writing all over them (i.e. showmanship BS that I don't take much stock in ;) I use the $20 sais. They work just as well as the $100 ones and don't make me look like a poseur ;) Some do prefer the round sais ($40 for a really good pair) because they're MUCH more resistant to chipping of the chrome, but the traditional sai is octagonal (did more damage going in that way), so that's what I stick with.