Fascinating thoughts about those incredible adventurers of long ago come to me every time I head afield with my bow and arrows, contemplating the mind-boggling survival difficulties and unfathomable challenges they faced from the dawn of man forward.
Think about it — early man, naked and confused as to how to navigate the dazzling, primordial goo of uncharted creation! What is edible? Which berry is good for you and which ones are deadly poisons? How do I keep warm when the temperature drops? What in the hell is that giant beast that roams the forests and plains killing other animals as enormous as a mountain? What can I possibly do about my painful tooth?
I mean, really think about it. How many people died from eating all sorts of weird stuff before they figured out that boogery oyster and slimy snail were edible?
Can you imagine!
Talking about rugged individualists and visionary adapters, our ancestors literally pulled off miracles to survive and flourish.
In that context it is easy to conclude that modern man has it incredibly easy, and in most cases, society has become embarrassingly soft and spoiled.
When Doctor Saxton Pope and Art Young discovered Ishi, the last of the Yahi tribe in Northern California around 1911, his timeless, aboriginal hunting lifestyle fascinated the anthropological community, mostly because of the bowhunting foundation of their culture.
When Fred Bear, Howard Hill, Roy Case, Ben Pearson and others heard about all this in newsreels produced by Pope and Young, it fanned their already roaring archery flames and kicked off what has become the modern era of definitive nature participation via the bowhunting lifestyle.
I for one scream HALLELUJAH!
As I daily wander the game-rich hinterlands of 2020 with my state-of-the-art Mathews compound bow and quiver loaded with phenomenally straight, spine-matched carbon arrows, tipped with mass-produced, scalpel-sharp replaceable-blade, balanced broadheads, checking my digital trail cams and consulting the wind currents on my cell phone weather app, and stalking my custom blended, strategically placed food plots, I am well aware of the indescribable convenience and technological advancements that represent my best Ishi pursuits in this day and age.
I am not fooling myself for a minute daring to think I am experiencing the same wild dynamic of the Lewis and Clark meat provider, but I will tell you that the spirit of my bowhunting life today is as pure as that of Ishi and our historical founding fathers, roughing it as rough can possibly be.
I started out my bowhunting life in the 1950s with an Osage Orange longbow, not that far removed from the basic weapons of Ishi.
My arrows were natural turkey-feather-fletched cedar shafts tipped with some of the original broadheads of the day, like the Bear Razorhead, MA3s and MA2s, the Bodkin and others.
In order to kill game with this primitive gear, I had to hunt just like Ishi; slow, stealthy, acutely aware and spiritually dedicated to connect with the beasts.
Absolutely nothing has changed for me in the last 65 years except for the fact that I’ve learned enough lessons to improve my strategies and successes.
It’s 2020 and I rage in the 5G swirling dust of the post-modern world arena, clamoring, fighting, struggling, improvising, adapting and overcoming to the absolute best of my ability.
And honestly speaking, matching lick for lick the obstacles encountered by the earliest pioneers, in our own way, we may very well face more daunting tasks today than at any other time in history.
We may not stumble into Donner’s Pass, but between pandemics, quarantines, political savagery and global corruption, we certainly have our work cut out for us like our forefathers could never have imagined.
The great Fred Bear said in one way or another how important it is to go hunting with the right attitude, respecting not only the game we pursue, but the instinctual responsibility to be good stewards of our precious natural resources. He stated how such an attitude will cleanse the soul.
All of this modern technology could compromise that attitude if we let it, but with genuine forethought and awareness of God’s miraculous creation in which we participate with goodwill, I am convinced that we can be and should be, and indeed are, as pure and one with the Great Spirit as Ishi, Cochise, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Fred Bear et al.
Purity is never found in one’s hands, but in our hearts. Therefore, I am a purist to the day I die.
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With more than 40 million albums sold, rock legend Ted Nugent is equally well known as the nation’s most outspoken proponent of our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, conducting thousands of pro-gun, pro-freedom, pro-American interviews in major media worldwide. Nugent is a New York Times best-selling author whose works include Ted, White & Blue —The Nugent Manifesto; God, Guns & Rock ‘n’ Roll and Kill It & Grill It. This year, his award-winning Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show celebrates its 500th episode! For all things Nuge, visit www.tednugent.com