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The proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick" fits Bowie resident John Dodge well enough, except when he walks the forested paths of Old Bowie he often carries two or three.

Walking the trails several days a week, often for hours at a time, Dodge, 63, is on the hunt for large sticks and tree limbs that he can handcraft into walking sticks. He's made more than 200 walking sticks already, each unique in its size, shape, wood type and design. The local trails and roadside brush are his hunting ground. He looks for small, straight saplings, at least an inch in diameter that vines have constricted. When he finds a good specimen, he uses a small handsaw to hack it down.

"It's right under a power line so I wouldn't feel any guilt at all in taking that one," Dodge said as he pointed out a sapling along Hillmeade Road that will likely be cut by roadside maintenance crews.

Though he's seen some great sticks on his walks through Northridge Park, Dodge said he never takes them from any parks or private land so that he won't be fined.

Once he's cut a good stick, he strips bark away from portions of it and lets it dry. To totally dry out the wood can take as long as six months, so sticks of varying degrees of completion line the tool shed he works out of in his backyard. The next step in the process is to sand the sticks down, which he does with a handheld wood rasp. Then he tacks the vines in place to ensure they don't fall off, attaches a rubber tip to the end and finally seals the stick with clear Danish oil.

"My idea of a walking stick is something that is balanced to swing with your arm," he said, holding the stick near the center to show the way he's engineered it. "Mine are designed to be effective walking sticks to carry by your side."

Dodge uses any tree that he thinks will make a nice design, from heavy oaks and fragrant sassafras, to red-hued cherry trees and smooth black gum.

"The maple has a nice smooth bark and I like to leave it on because when I put the oil on the stick it's a nice chocolate color," he said.

Now retired from the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, Dodge said he was never into woodcarving until recently. He made his first walking stick in 1980 when he happened upon a nice-looking vine wrapped branch while hiking. It wasn't until he fully retired last year that he started making the walking sticks regularly. The process takes between five to 15 hours and he now sells them at The Shops at Fabian House, an antique and craft store in Old Bowie, for $30 to $40 each.

Fabian House owner Bob Schaefer said people have bought the sticks both for practical purposes and decoration. He recalls one father coming in the store with his son and pointing out that these were the kind of walking sticks they needed for long hikes rather than the frail sticks they usually just picked up along the way, which broke halfway through.

"They are really substantial," Schaefer said.

Bob Thompson, owner of the Old Bowie Town Grille, keeps one hung above the doorway of his restaurant for decoration but jokes it could make a good deterrent for anyone who tries to come in after closing time.

Dodge said when he goes walking to look for potential walking sticks he can end up spending as much as five hours stomping through Bowie trails. But he enjoys the walk as much for the peace and quiet as for the finds he'll make. Each time he walks through a trail, whether he's been there before or not, he'll nearly always find a good specimen for his wood carving. It seems like there's always something new that has sprouted or he spots a tree that he has never noticed before.

Pulling his car to the side of the road several times as he's driving through Old Bowie, he points out nearly 10 more sticks he may come back for later.

"You never know where you might spot some," he said.