TOPIC: New Handle for an Old Digger

Very nice roots there Billy !

That last one reminds me of some toys that my Boy plays with - Transformers.

He's big and stout and has some big old arms for sure.

On the walking... I agree with going deep and long... but it is not uncommon around here in my area to find some real good seng right on the side of black top roads (in some areas). I found a really nice patch of 4 and 3 prongers within 6' of a black top road a couple years ago.

On opening day this year I did a rather extreme hunt. I started walking at 6 am... had a distance to travel to get to the good stuff, and then when I finished hunting I had a rather long walk back home. I got back to my home at 4:00 that evening. That's 10 hours, but now some of that I had to stop and rest, so probably 9 hours of walking.

I have no idea how many miles I walked, but I had a blood filled blister on the bottom of my right foot big toe and some mighty sore feet. It took me a couple of days to really recover from that.

After doing that a few times, my body seems to get used to it fairly quick, and I can just go on real easy in the woods. While hunting yesterday with my 10 year old, he was begging his (51 year old) dad to stop and rest (several times).

Seng hunting is rather extreme exercise and no doubt very good for getting you in shape.

TNhunter

Looks like you guys are in the groove, congrats on the great finds.....aint it amazing how much enjoyment a simple thing like seng can provide !!!


SengNveins

Outstanding root Billy! One emperor root in a life time is special. Two years in a row, a real blessing. Congrats!

Glad to see you are finding time to get out some and enjoy God's great creation

Thanks guys I appreciate the comments by/the/way the 1st emperors root sold and I was well pleased with the price that time

5 I have been going before work lol i couldnt take it any more not going had to stop and that was the only way,but it is short trips before to long i want a real trip to my honey hole for this season it is one that I havent hunted in some time and man it is a all day deal,but may turn out to be sweet :o)

Here is a rare top that I found back in 2009 I believe it was nothing like I have ever saw and have never saw another one like it.

I have asked my friends and none of them ever saw one either.

This plant had 1 stalk and 10 leaves all on there own little steam the middle of the 10 leaf no prong top did produce a small berry pod

The neat thing is not only was it that odd made but it ony stood about 7 inches tall off of the ground.

The root weighed near 1/2 of an ounce and was 23 years old.

Thought that I would share that with you all.

Billy.

Yes Billy that is a rare top for sure

SengNveins

neat, i probably wouldn't even have recognized that one
i saw this the other day

anonymous picture upload

I have seen some weird things happens to seng roots and tops after it has been dormant for very long periods of time and then comes back up. This was especially so in Northern West Virginia where a lot of logging goes on every year or a fire burns out some nice seng forests. I once dug a small 4 prong on the lower side of a logging road which was covered over probably 15 or more years prior by the bulldozer pushing out the road. The stem above the ground was only about 7 inches tall but below the ground the stem squirrelled down and around some 2 1/2 feet or more before I finally got to the root. The root was close almost 2 1/2 inches in diameter at it's thickest point and at least a foot long but had very little weight to it. I have also dug seng where the tops had 7 leafed prongs and the roots had well over a hundred growth rings. I believe that these may have large 4 prongs or possibly 5, 6, 7 or 8 pronged plants at one time that got knocked back by being dormant way too long.


Frank

That is way neat it looks as if Billy you have found some great roots as well as some great plants.I was just wondering how is your mountains down in Bell Co.Is there much stiping that goes on down there?I was also going to tell you my cousin found a monster 4 prong it had seven leaves on each prong,and about half way down the stem it looked like there was two more prongs trying to grow they had little leaves 3 on each side.