Tallies by carving notches in wood, bone, and stone were used for at least forty thousand years.
All lost persons carve notches on pieces of wood, each notch indicating another day they've been lost.
Actually, it's a good idea to carve several notches right away, just in case you get found within the next fifteen minutes.
The actual job was to get information back to your government, not to carve notches on your pistol grips.
Patton is said to have carved notches into the pistols he carried, representing the men he killed with them.
"We don't carve notches in our guns, Pats," John told his daughter.
"Tandy's a good hand with a gun, all right, but he'd never carve notches on his gun."
Banks wouldn't have been surprised if he had carved notches in his truncheon.