Oops...I should have noticed the "rusty" sig. Anyway, yeah, the wading staff has come in handy for a lot of things...getting the fly from high branches, wading of course, hiking up and down banks, saved my fav hat from washing downriver once and almost as importantly as the aforementioned, warding off all sorts of critters over the years, including but not limited to snakes, a crazed wild turkey that was talons out, screaming bloody murder and coming at my face and this is the clincher, a pack of 'running wild' domestic dogs that were coming for me with murder in their eyes. Hope I din't take away too much from the intent of your post rusty !

Cheers,

MontanaMoose