Thread: best way to mount game used sticks to a wall?

those are some creepy yet interesting weapons. the masks are creepier.

Originally Posted by lunchbox

those are some creepy yet interesting weapons. the masks are creepier.

Ha! Yeah, I know. Its my man room. It was a tough sell trying to get my wife to bite off on it but what else am I going to do with all the cool s*** Ive collected in my travels? Im definately not going to keep it up in the attic. I got them more beacuse of the intricate carvings the weapons had on them. I have a bunch of hand carved Sharks from Palau, Masks from Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, A. Samoa, Fiji, Norfolk, New Zeland, Thailand, Malaysia, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar and other places Ive been. I was pretty much a nomad in the 90's. Ive estimated I was on the road for a total of 6 years from 1991-1999 in the Coast Guard stationed in Hawaii.

You did a good job. I don't recall Hawaii being attacked during your watch.

Prolly cause I wasnt there much.


At first, I had a lot of my stuff confiscated by Customs because I wasn't allowed to possess...eh hem...Saltwater Turtle shells. Even though I was assured the shell was taken from a turtle that had passed and was eaten. I had dropped $300 on that drum at Teahupo'o, Tahiti just to have it ripped out of my hands by the Customs douche at Hickam AFB's MAC Terminal. Im still pissed 18 years later.

Originally Posted by nocturn

Ha! Yeah, I know. Its my man room. It was a tough sell trying to get my wife to bite off on it but what else am I going to do with all the cool s*** Ive collected in my travels? Im definately not going to keep it up in the attic. I got them more beacuse of the intricate carvings the weapons had on them. I have a bunch of hand carved Sharks from Palau, Masks from Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, A. Samoa, Fiji, Norfolk, New Zeland, Thailand, Malaysia, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar and other places Ive been. I was pretty much a nomad in the 90's. Ive estimated I was on the road for a total of 6 years from 1991-1999 in the Coast Guard stationed in Hawaii.

haha, if i were your wife, i'd probably be reluctant to hang those, too. i'd probably be scared to walk into that room in the middle of the night. after bringing that stuff over though, hanging them makes total sense. that's great that you've been to so many interesting (culturally, amongst other things) places. i normally try and buy mementos from my travels as well. i have various things from japan, korea, holland, luxembourg, england and france on my mantel and then some xmas ornaments from scotland, hawaii and mexico. yours are definitely better conversation pieces though, lol.

Originally Posted by nocturn

Prolly cause I wasnt there much.


At first, I had a lot of my stuff confiscated by Customs because I wasn't allowed to possess...eh hem...Saltwater Turtle shells. Even though I was assured the shell was taken from a turtle that had passed and was eaten. I had dropped $300 on that drum at Teahupo'o, Tahiti just to have it ripped out of my hands by the Customs douche at Hickam AFB's MAC Terminal. Im still pissed 18 years later.

that's a bummer about the turtle shell despite the assurance that it died naturally. my mom has a tiger skin that she got in vietnam that i don't really think she's supposed to have, but it's her business. the thing is hanging on a wall; its open mouth greets you as you enter the house. she grew up in a franco vietnamese household so i guess she acquired an appreciation for hunting trophies that didn't get passed down to me. she said i could have it when she's gone but uhhhh... the thing horrifies/terrifies me so who knows.

Originally Posted by lunchbox

haha, if i were your wife, i'd probably be reluctant to hang those, too. i'd probably be scared to walk into that room in the middle of the night. after bringing that stuff over though, hanging them makes total sense. that's great that you've been to so many interesting (culturally, amongst other things) places. i normally try and buy mementos from my travels as well. i have various things from japan, korea, holland, luxembourg, england and france on my mantel and then some xmas ornaments from scotland, hawaii and mexico. yours are definitely better conversation pieces though, lol.

that's a bummer about the turtle shell despite the assurance that it died naturally. my mom has a tiger skin that she got in vietnam that i don't really think she's supposed to have, but it's her business. the thing is hanging on a wall; its open mouth greets you as you enter the house. she grew up in a franco vietnamese household so i guess she acquired an appreciation for hunting trophies that didn't get passed down to me. she said i could have it when she's gone but uhhhh... the thing horrifies/terrifies me so who knows.

Haha! Yeah, she watched me come home with all this stuff back then so she knew it was coming eventually. I actually have about 25 more pieces either up in the guest room closet or hanging in my office. I kind of rotate things every 4-5 years. It all started in 1991 when I went to Guam and Saipan for the first time. I bought a cool little wooden Chamorro Canoe Paddle and that started everything. I went out of my way to buy stuff from the actual artisans on the side of the road, not from the middle man at the tourist traps and markets. I even went as far as handing a little old man in Palau $200 to make me a 3 foot long Ironwood Hammerhead shark. I told him I would be back in a year or so to hand him the remaining $200 and take the shark home. Well, fast forward 14 months and he had died 3 months earlier. Before his death, he told his son to keep a eye out for me and to give me the shark that he had finished, which he did. His father also requested that we call it even on the remaining $200 because I was a good customer. I would have none of that so after a long, arduous argument with his son, I slid the remaining cash into his money box before I left. that was the last time I stepped foot on Palau...December 1996.

I haven't made my way to Europe as of yet. Well, I can't really say that. I have been to Liverpool, Isle of Man (Douglas) and the Azores but never stepped foot off the boat so technically I haven't been. Most of my travels have been to the South/Mid Pacific, Asia/Asia Minor and Mid/South Africa. North to Hokkaido and south to Christchurch.

I'm currently planning a trip to Ireland, England and probably either Portugal or Italy next spring/summer for our 20th Wedding Anniversary. Thats if I have any coin left after I buy the monster Rock that the wife is expecting.

Yeah, that Turtle Shell issue sucked because the Customs Officer told me that that particular Turtle Shell could put me in jail because it was a endangered species, either a Loggerhead or Green. I asked what would happen to it. He said it would be destroyed. What a shame, It was stunning. It was polished like Mother of Pearl and had a seal skin stretched over it with highly polished tiger striped shells, shark teeth and black coral bits. It was about 2.5 feet in Diameter and a foot deep. Oh well.

Here's a pic of that one wall:

Not too scary, lol.

hahaha, i have an overactive imagination. that brown guy looks like he's going to dig my eye out with the eye gouger.
that's really awesome that you have all these memories and stories from your travels though.

i've mostly gone to asia and europe because i have friends and family in various places and once you're in one country, it's pretty easy to go to a few others...
we, too, are hoping to make a trip to europe next spring/summer but it'll just be to the same places i've been to before since i haven't taken my husband to see the town my cousins live in in france yet and i have a craving for north sea shrimps which you can only get in belgium or holland.
your wife is a lucky woman. travels AND a new big rock to celebrate, wow!

Funny! He won't gouge your eyes, He's a "Bush Fairy" from Botswana. He's in charge of fertility, nookie and all things "improper"...like me. LOL I can't remember his actual name though. From left to right: Mozambique Elder, Botswana Bush Fairy, Inuit Mask (Vancouver Isl), Samoan Eye Gouger, Samoan Mask, Maori War Mask, Samoan Chest Buster, Madagascar Sea Fairy (smells GOOD! Made of Sandalwood), Kenyan Medicine man mask. What sucks is I've seen a few variants of the Madagascar Fairy at Pier 1 over the past few years. Not EXACTLY like mine but pretty close. The sandalwood separates it from the pack though. Sandalwood is pretty rare in that size and pricey if you can find it. Mine also has coral and shell chips versus the egg shells on the one at Pier 1.

In retrospect, I really had a fantastic time in the CG during those years. I logged well over 300,000 miles flying and 29 countries. I was part of a 6 member NESU team thats sole job was Repair/Replace and Humanitarian. We traveled around the Pacific Rim repairing U.S. assets damaged by Typhoons, Tsunamis and other natural disasters. Loran, Omega Stations, Navigational Light Structures, etc. When we were done with those, we would rebuild local structures including homes and businesses. It was BY FAR the most satisfying position I ever had...dream job for a 20 something really. Although my wife didn't like me being gone as much as I was but we didn't have kids and she LOVED the bank I was making being a Geo Bachelor and receiving Haz and Flight Pay. Too bad the introduction of GPS made that detachment obsolete and they disbanded in 2000. Seems like yesterday. The people of the Mid and South Pacific are absolutely the most beautiful people on the planet...Bar none. Personality, humbleness, character, graciousness, love for people...they are at the very, very top of the chain. What they lack in physical treasures, they more than make up for in Love and Caring. My heart would just break for them after a Earthquake or Super Typhoon would come through and destroy their homes (and I use "homes" loosely) and families. People in this country have no clue what the true meaning of "poor" is, not at all. Our poor are spoiled rotten...Awww, No Cell Phone or Flat Screen? BITCH PLEASE! A Typhoon would kill half their extended family and they would smile and invite you into their home for a hot dinner, in which they would eat *after* you, knowing damn well that could be the last hot meal they'd have for 3 months. Unfounded, they treated us like kings. To the point that it would make some of us uncomfortable. We would fly in, repair the local Nav Light for 2 days and then fix their shack, shanty, tiki hut homes one by one for up to 10 days. We'd fly out to Yap and then to PI, Guam, Saipan or Kwaj, get drunk, restock the supplies and do it all over again for up to 3 months a trip. They're just on another level of Human Being. We, unfortunately are slipping in the wrong direction and could use the people of Micronesia and Marshall Islands as a baseline for how we should treat our fellow humans. [/end rant]

Sorry for the long post. Battling insomnia tonight.