Or a deserter looking for more Covid protections

But you are right probably Canadian or combo First Nation horse thief’s

Found the previous owners dog grave with rock headstone that the name was etched into. 20 feet from my stand. Cleaned the grave site up and headstone. Still hunt that spot. I shot my first archery buck there and my wife shot her first hog and buck there this year. Figured the ole pup is bringing us good luck.

Interesting story.

Found this yesterday while clearing a trail for my utv. It was carved into a tree down by the creek. Can anyone tell me the date?
It was carved deep into the tree. Under it was the initials SW and above it some other initials. Three differnt people who were with
me all say three different dates, 1735, 1836, 1930.

Where is the tree located? County, near by City?

What kind of tree is/was it?

Is the tree still growing?

Nice of you to do that.

Out in the country, near Hughes Springs in east Texas. Largest city is Texarkana about an hour away.
Tree is dead now. A storm came through two years ago and ripped off the top. But I don't know what
kind of tree it is.

1930 or 1936 my guess

1836 or earlier would be out because the tree would be a lot bigger if it were that old.

I'll bet 1936 and it had something to do with the Centennial of Texas Independence.

Is the property in Cass County or Morris County? If you have the time and are really curious you could go down to the County Clerk/Recorder's Office and do some Deed research.
Go back to about 1900 and then go forward looking for family names that might match some of the initials.

It's in Cass County. I might do that since I now own the land.

I'll try to get a pic next time, but we have an old grave on our place, complete with a metal fence. Mother and child as I recall, the McGregor family. Mills county.

If when you bought the place you used a local Title Company stop by and ask if they can help you in your search. They probably already have the deed trail.

Found this old spur on the place many years ago.

Thanks, I'll give them a call.

My buddy bought the 1,000 acres next to their ranch about 10 years ago in Bosque with a grave. I took a picture of it because of the name. It was a man, woman and child from the 1950 to 1970 or so. It was surrounded by a stone wall. I showed it to my parents friends with the same name and sure enough it was his uncle. He told.me he grew up hunting his uncles ranch in Bosque since he was a kid. Small world. My parents used to go out there and I never knew I was hunting the same property. Got a buck on the wall from there.

Found a rusty horse shoe this season on our lease in Menard County....a relic from days now past. It's now hanging on the wall of my hunting trailer, hope it brings some luck.

1936....any of the other dates simply make the tree too old (odds are next to nothing to have a tree still alive or standing 287 yrs later or even 186 yrs later). 1936 is believable at 86 yrs old.

Had to big enough to carve on. That took some years, yes?

That is really neat. Guess I need to start looking at the trees a little better.

Surveyors back in the day would mark property lines by referencing a big rock or tree. I recall reading old Republic surveys where the survey would read something like “northwest corner is ten varas west of a tree marked with a X-X”
I met a surveyor that had pictures of some of the old marks that he had found, those trees are still around.
I don’t think this is one of those marks but it would be interesting if it is near an old property line
With two sets of initials you almost expect a heart between them.

Had to big enough to carve on. That took some years, yes?[/quote]


Yes, but the date carved in the tree doesn't mean it was the date it was done. I could go out to one of my Water Oaks (36" across and probably 75 yrs old) and carve 1492 into it. The significance of the date in this case is simply not known and knowing a little bit about the most common tree species in East Texas....(and logging practices) I'd say its highly unlikely the tree is 100 yrs old, let alone older.

What ever it is I hope there are not any still lurking around. Awesome find.

It is a Faux version of a Saber tooth tiger for sale for like $15.00, would that make a hell of a prank on a hunting buddy or kid to have it partially buried where they are hunting!

Good idea

Time to resurrect this great thread. What you got?