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Spectacular trees... ever come across them?

@IkemanTX I’ve never heard of an Indian Marker Tree. So the thought is that the tree in the picture was purposefully manipulated? Are these fairly common? I’ve seen a couple like this in KY but just figured they were aberrant growth forms
 
KYHunter said:
@IkemanTX I’ve never heard of an Indian Marker Tree. So the thought is that the tree in the picture was purposefully manipulated? Are these fairly common? I’ve seen a couple like this in KY but just figured they were aberrant growth forms
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Indians used them to communicate with others and to point towards villages, water crossings etc... they usually just bent a small sapling over and tied it down in the direction you needed to go. As the tree would keep growing its gonna turn back up towards the sky and makes the dog leg at the bottom of them
 
Anyone that gets near Tionesta PA, check out a place called Hearts Content. Pretty cool old growth park.

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IkemanTX said:
I haven’t gotten to get back out and measure just yet, but I am hoping to get circumference and canopy measurements this week. I don’t have a clinometer, so I can’t get a height on them. But, that should get me in the ballpark to see if they warrant official measurement.

The same day I ran across two of those, I also ran across what might possible be an Indian Marker Tree. Indian Marker Trees are trees intentionally manipulated to bring attention to something that needed communicating. It could mark a territory boundary, direct you on a trail, point out an important feature, or a myriad of other purposes.
They are exceedingly rare, and considered important finds.

I have contacted a Representative of the Texas Historic Tree Coalition, and they have asked for me to take some measurements of this tree to see if it is old enough to possibly truly be an Indian marker tree. My first instinct was that it was too young, but it was explained to me that the drastic malformation of the tree drastically restricts its vascular system causing it to grow MUCH slower than other trees. I plan on doing some very detailed measurements this week as well. I hope to get back to y’all about what they say. It surely does resemble a marker tree to a “T”
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I've been rifle hunting from the same stand for 40 years now and am pretty in tune with the area. There two maple trees within sight of my stand that have this shape. They are only 6-8 inches in diameter now but I can remember when they were ravaged by a buck as saplings. They were both almost broken off at their bases but managed to heal and grow back toward the light. Over the last 20-25 or so years they have developed shapes very similar. They are distinctive enough I use them both as landmarks heading into my stand in the dark.
 
If this one is a marker, I don’t know what it points to.
It is south of the red river, but points south. Maybe it marks your direction after crossing the river.


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IkemanTX said:
If this one is a marker, I don’t know what it points to.
It is south of the red river, but points south. Maybe it marks your direction after crossing the river.


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Click to expand...

Yeah, most of the ones I find remain a mystery.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
Anyone that gets near Tionesta PA, check out a place called Hearts Content. Pretty cool old growth park.

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Click to expand...


I've been there several times. My family has a camp about 10 min from there. 20 acres of virgin forest with 300-400 year old white pine and hemlock trees.

Sadly, recent wind storms have knocked over a lot of the oldest ones, but there are still a few sleeping giants in there...
 
I swear I have a trail tree by the shell middens I hunt. It's young-looking, but it makes sense that the stress could stunt it. I'll take a pic the next time I'm out and run it by you knowledgeable fellers. That would be cool as heck.
 
Found this pic in my storage. It’s from July of this past year....

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I heard back from the Arborilogical historian, and it looks like this tree might JUST be large enough to be a marker tree. They want to do some more research on the tree, but warned me that it can’t be designated as a marker tree without being able to prove direct association with tribal usage of the land, as well as what its purpose was.

Obviously this makes every nominated tree a long shot, as the landmark or item reference by the tree may no longer exist. If I get any other info, I’ll update here.



All climbing methods, platforms, saddle designs, and/or use of materials possibly mentioned in the post above are not peer reviewed for safety, and should only be used as an example of my own method. Do your own research and testing before becoming confident in any DIY solution to support your life.
-IkemanTx
 
Also, I found these two cool trees while putting out a mineral site.

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All climbing methods, platforms, saddle designs, and/or use of materials possibly mentioned in the post above are not peer reviewed for safety, and should only be used as an example of my own method. Do your own research and testing before becoming confident in any DIY solution to support your life.
-IkemanTx
 
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