The Accurate Reloading Forums
Re: What is the correct weapon for these?
14 April 2004, 12:14
Russell E. TaylorRe: What is the correct weapon for these?
Ah, yes... camel spiders. What weapon? I simply used my "magnum" 15D LPCs (leather personnel carriers).
E-gad... it's things like this picture that remind me -- and believe me, it doesn't really take any reminding AT ALL -- that I'm SO glad to be home.
Russ
14 April 2004, 07:33
RustyFriend of mine who works for Boeing had a co-worker in Iraq send him this picture of camel spiders. Yikes!
14 April 2004, 07:42
vapodogRusty, I'd think a .44 mag handgun loaded with the CCI shotshells would be the ideal ticket. For sure I don't think anyone wants to save the meat!!!
I'm sure some will prefer the .45-70!!!!
14 April 2004, 07:46
SaeedWe used to shoot them with air rifles in the head.
Taste really great roated on an open fire.
14 April 2004, 07:53
OldsargeI don't see why they wouldn't. An anthropologist down in South America reported that once he overcame his revulsion at the local custom of doing the same thing with Bird Catching Tarantulas he was amazed to find that they tasted very much like crab. Since all three are arachnids, this shouldn't surprise anyone. The hard part for Westerners (the only culture on the planet that
doesn't eat insects) is the overcoming the revulsion. I may have to come on over to Dubai and give them a try, myself. What's the preferred Camel Spider season? I'm getting my airgun scope fixed and re-centered today . . .
14 April 2004, 07:54
vapodogQuote:
Taste really great roated on an open fire.
Saeed.....you gotta be kidding!!!!!
14 April 2004, 07:55
OldsargeSee? I was right. "Overcoming the revulsion" is, indeed, the problem. Vapodog, you've never been hungry . . . really,
really hungry!
14 April 2004, 07:58
WyoJoeA flame thrower for these.
14 April 2004, 08:00
vapodogQuote:
Vapodog, you've never been hungry . . . really, really hungry!
I grew up on a dairy farm in Southern Minnesota. We were poor people but there was always meat, cheese, bread and butter, and eggs and produce from a large garden. Right sir.....I've never been real hungry.....and I'm very thankful for that.
14 April 2004, 08:03
Bob MehaffeyWhen I worked in Iran one about half grown came up the bathtub drain and into the bathtub. I was trying to kill him with a broom and he screeched like a mouse. I damn near jumped out of my shoes.
14 April 2004, 08:08
hogfan12 gauge with #7 lead!!!!!!
14 April 2004, 08:26
vapodogCrimi Hogfan....don't ruin the meat!!!!!...(just kidding)
Things that look terrible that taste great: lobsters, crabs, codfish, squid, oysters, snails,.....you get the idea.....Ain't no way anyone eats those spiders!!!!!
14 April 2004, 08:50
Michael RobinsonI'd want an open-choked pump shotgun with a load of seven and a halfs.
Looks kind of like a soft-shelled crab. I'd try one breaded and deep-fried, with a wedge of lemon and some tartar sauce.
14 April 2004, 08:52
MacD37They look like an over sized Texas bug called an EARTH URCHIN, only about ten times as big! Probably a cousin from the old country! Looks better than a raw oyster, for sure, and I eat those by the dozen! I wish I could get Crawfish that big!
As for the proper rifle, I used to have a Daisey double barrel BB gun, wish I still had it, they are about $1K, to $1.5K today.
14 April 2004, 08:57
SaeedThat photo has been Photoshoped!
There is no camel spiders that big.
Just thought my friend Rusty is pulling a fast one on us.
I have eaten roasted locust, and they WERE delicious.
14 April 2004, 09:02
RustyNews to me I thought they were real too!
Whew!
14 April 2004, 09:02
OldsargeDamn! And I had such hopes, too.
Anyway, here's the "straight dope"
Urban legends about the camel spider (properly termed a solpugid or solifugid) are as old as the proverbial hills, but they made a huge resurgence when vectored by American troops in Kuwait during Desert Storm. They're not quite as big as your hand (unless you're a five-year-old), and very shy and secretive. They do like to hide in the shadows, and they do run very, very quickly for a critter (they can reach about 10 MPH, the fastest known non-flying arthropod). They make no noise whatsoever, they have no venom whatsoever, and they do not eat flesh--they eat small desert arthropods like crickets and pillbugs. The rumors of their attacking camels, or crawling onto sleeping GIs' faces, apparently stem from one of two things, both of which may be true to some extent: (1) they may use hair to line their burrow when they are about to lay a batch of eggs, said hair being clipped from dead camels or other dead mammals (and a sleeping GI is not much different), and/or (2) dead camels are covered with flies, and crawling over a camel corpse may make for a convenient way to get a good meal of flies.
We have camel spiders in the sandy parts of the southwest U.S. and Mexico (in Mexico they are called matevenados), considerably smaller than the Middle Eastern types, but of the same shy, unassuming habits. Completely harmless and beneficial critters, like the desert equivalent of a praying mantis.
--SDSTAFF Doug
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board
14 April 2004, 09:03
dogcatSend one to Louisiana, south of I-10, let the locals taste it. Tell the locals they are out of season and good to eat and they will be extinct in about 6 months.
14 April 2004, 13:00
AtkinsonI have seen Transulas in Texas twice that big, hell boy you ain't got nothing there!!
The Del Carmen Catawhampuses of the Big Bend and Northern Mexico eats them btw...
Napalm works real on them...
14 April 2004, 17:15
M1TankerWhen I was in Kuwait one of the infantry LT's woke up with a 3" Camel spider on his face. It is the only time I have ever heard a grown man scream like a girl. He emptied his entire M16 mag into the thing managing to put a whole bunch of holes in his sleeping bag and pack full of gear that was under his cot. Needless to say he never lived that down and had to see the task force commander to explain his reaction. It didnt go very well for him on the colonels carpet.
14 April 2004, 18:56
OldsargeEh Russ, y'get that sort of thing with lieutenants. Takes'em a while to settle in. I once, in my usual unfortunate habit of thinking out loud, muttered that one of the most important jobs of a senior NCO was to keep junior officers alive long enough to get to be senior officers so they'd be good for something. The major behind me responded, "Man, you've got that right!" He'll be O.K. . . . eventually.
15 April 2004, 03:32
MikelravyMy favorite line from a crust old non-com "I don't have time to be an officer, I'm too busy training them"
15 April 2004, 08:32
jeffeossothat's easy...
size 15 courtney boot, followed by a coal shovel...
jeffe
15 April 2004, 09:50
Russell E. TaylorQuote:
When I was in Kuwait one of the infantry LT's woke up with a 3" Camel spider on his face. It is the only time I have ever heard a grown man scream like a girl. He emptied his entire M16 mag into the thing managing to put a whole bunch of holes in his sleeping bag and pack full of gear that was under his cot. Needless to say he never lived that down and had to see the task force commander to explain his reaction. It didnt go very well for him on the colonels carpet.
I got as far as "emptied his entire M16 mag into the thing" and realized this soldier had gotten himself a visit to "the man." I can see things both ways, I suppose, but... out of concern for all those rounds going other places besides into or around the camel spider... I'd have to say he made a gross error in judgment. Americans in Iraq have shot up a lot of other Americans in Iraq because they made grave mistakes in handling their assigned weapons. So, I'd have to say that going "rock 'n' roll" on a camel spider out of "reflex" probably wasn't a smart call. I can understand it, though. I wouldn't have condoned it, but I'd have understood it.
Personally, I slept with a knife handy for such "close encounters." People were always careful about waking me up. However, I have to point out it's hard to shoot someone three tents away when you're using a knife.
Hooah.
Russ
15 April 2004, 18:23
M1TankerLike Russ I much prefer to carry a knife for the creepy crawlers. For some wierd reason when others know you carry a VERY sharp knife and can use it they are VERY careful when they disturb you.
(It took me about 10 edits to finally get the pic to show up)
Here is a pic of a 3" black scorpion from pincer to tail that tried getting cozy with me while in Kuwait in 2000. He was one of hundreds I skewered that rotation. And yes I did take a bite of him but he tasted so bitter I spit him out. They are much better roasted. Not kidding.
The funniest part of the whole LT/camel spider incident was the high pitched shrill scream. I have 4 older sisters and never heard one scream like that LT did. I am not sure which embarresed him more: his going Rambo or the delightful girlish shriek.
16 April 2004, 02:11
jeffeossoHey,
that looks like a RANDAL k-nife in your paaws...
jeffe
16 April 2004, 03:53
M1TankerActualy it is an Old Timer that I put a real nice set of walnut burl scales on. The burl came from a walnut tree on Ft Hood. I saw this big round burl up in the tree while out in the field and went out a week later and cut the burl off.
17 April 2004, 04:42
OldsargeQuote:
"Overcoming the revulsion" is, indeed, the problem.
The Revolution begins . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16047-2004Apr15.html
17 April 2004, 09:57
Pete ETanker,
Am I the only one twisted enough to wonder who put the spider on the LT's face in the first place?
I confess to have done some fairly wicked things to LT;s with slugs in the past, but those camel spiders would really give you scope for some fun!
Regards,
Pete
17 April 2004, 16:44
M1TankerI openly admit to pulling some very nasty stunts on frsh Butterbars. This one included. But in this instance it was completely Mother Nature at work. Here are some of my personal favorites, especially to Lt's fresh from West Point: send them to the first sergeant and ask him for a PRC (pronounced prick) E-8, checking the armor on the tank for "soft spots" by pinging the tank with a hammer and circling the "dud" spots with chalk.
And my personal favorite: having them hold the leads to a TA-1 field phone to "make sure it is operational" while squeesing the plunger. Gives one hell of an electrical shock.
18 April 2004, 08:08
Pete ETanker,
They are such easy targets though?
I remember one, a Mr Snaith, who attended a company "O" group with both eyes blacked out because some how boot polish got on to his bino's! Another we had eating sheep shit on a Survival Course...he "saw" a couple of the NCO's do it and did not want to loose face infront of the men...What he did not see was the slight of hand which meant the two Instructors were actually eating rolled oxo cubes!
happy times!
Regards,
Pete
18 April 2004, 20:40
M1TankerIf it wasnt for us NCO's setting the LT's straight the trouble they would get themselves into is unmeasurable. Just because we have a little fun while doing makes it more interesting for everyone else.
