Who carries a lucky buckeye?

[BUGEYE]

since I was enough to know what pockets were for, I've carried a buckeye.
except for basic training, when I have my pants on, it's in my pocket.
they seem to last about 2 years until they crack, then I put in a new one.
btw, on that first day of basic, we had to empty our pockets and the DI promptly broke both blades off my barlow and when he saw my buckeye he went berserk.  all the cuss words that I know today, I learned from that DI.
his favorite college team must have got whupped by ohio state or something.

[Pat/Rick]

I don't. I have read that the practice goes back quite a ways. Did native americans carry these?

[dukkillr]

Got some trees near the traditional dove fields we plant every year.  Part of the start of fall each year is the process of picking them and selecting that year's buckeye.  We've always believed that the luck is over at the end of the season and you need a new one next year.  I leave mine in the back pouch of my big game pack where I also keep the caping knife and the tags.  I've always figured I don't want to waste the luck on waterfowl or upland stuff and then not have any left to kill that big bull or buck.

[Graybeard]

Carried one regularly for many years but have kinda slipped out of the habit. I have one in my medicine bag but don't carry that around my neck very often anymore either. I always pick them up when I see them.

[williamlayton]

Here is a chance for you boys to whoop and holler, laugh and call names, have a real good time with this Ol Texas boys.
I know the name Buckeye, but what the heck fire is it. A tree, Hummm, I was way off on my thinking--I thought it was  plant>
Set me straight.
Blessings

[BUGEYE]

I have about 50 left from Illinois, I've never seen a buckeye tree down here in Georgia.
I wonder if my Illinois lucky buckeye works down south?

[AtlLaw]

I've never seen a buckeye tree down here in Georgia.

I don't know as I have either...    I got (get) mine from a friend in SC.  I'll ask him where he gets them from.  next time I see him... should be the first day of deer season...   

[Pat/Rick]

DGW used to have them in their catalog.

[Graybeard]

I've heard that further north they actually become trees. Here in the south they do not at least not technically speaking. They are more bush like than tree like. You might compare them to a sumac in that it too grows more bush than tree like and the trunks aren't quite wood in the sense we think of trees being but more pithy.

I've seen them perhaps as much as 8' tall but most are more along the lines of 4' to 6' tall that I've harvested from. I generally find them in low lying areas with streams nearby. You may have passed by them and never knew what they were unless they have the "nuts" I suppose you'd call them open or recently dropped.

I've seen them in GA as well as Bama.

[dukkillr]

In west-central Missouri the ones we pick are from crappy looking trees, maybe 15-20 feet high.  The sorta have that sickly look that young walnut trees have.  My understanding is that there are different kinds of buckeyes.  I've got a knife with, "California Buckeye" wood for the handle, and it doesn't look like the wood from the trees we have.

[jamesrus]

The Buckeye was used by native americans because it had a high content of Tanic acid used in the tanning of leather. Also the nuts could be roasted and mashed and made into a nutritional meal called Hetuk, the roasting cooked the Tanic acid out.  Where i live in northeast Louisiana buckeye plants rarely grow over 6 feet tall, and they grow on the lower usually southern sides of hillsides with a good suppl of water. The nuts are usually present in the early fall. My grandfather used to keep them in his pocket for his health. He told me he started carring them as a boy and he lived to the age of 86. The last 6 years of his life he lived with a rare form of bone cancer that was usually terminal within a short time. When diagnosed he was given 6 months to live. But his faith in God and his buckeye balls kept him going for 6 years.

Jamesrus

[powderman]

After reading all of this it's plain that I've never seen a buckeye tree or bush. Up til now I thought the nut resembled a chestnut, and I really thought they might be one and the same. POWDERMAN. 

[drdougrx]

Can someone post a pic?  I can't remember that I've ever seen one.

[BUGEYE]

Can someone post a pic?  I can't remember that I've ever seen one.

I don't have a pic.  but they Do look like a chestnut  or, a mohogany colored hazel nut.
I have them from chestnut size down to pea size.

[LHS]

A good Buckeye has to come from Ohio....
We had many of the trees on the farm growing up, including a large one that had a trunk almost 24" thick.

We used to pick them up by the hundreds and my parents would give them out when they set up at antique shows they set up at down south.

[ironglow]

  I didn'tknow what a buckeye nut was either, so I had to look it up.  Now, reading the description the folowing link offers..
  I have to wonder about the reason some guys carry them ?       Just kidding..I think the article may have gotten carried away in one direction.

        http://www.luckymojo.com/buckeyes.html

     It does look like a chestnut, however..

[BUGEYE]

when my daughter comes home to spend the night, we always take her out to eat and before we leave home she asks if I have my gun and my lucky buckeye.
she thinks I'm nuts.

[Slowhanddd]

Well I don't carry one,but my Grand Dad did every day of his life.At least as long as I can remember.He died in 1982.I still have the one that he last carried.I keep it in a jewelery box with all my important stuff.I just went and took it out.Still looks the same as i remember.He was from the Springfield Mo area.Brought a small tree back from there when I was little.Maybe two,three feet tall.When he died it was only four to five feet tall.Dang thing had to be 25-30 yrs old.Lousy picture,but it's about the size of a quarter.

[LHS]

Someone remind me next fall to pick up a bunch to distribute to folks here!

Still a few trees on the parent's farm.